THE TRAVEL LOVERS LIBRARY ITALY FLORENCE THE TRAVEL LOVERS LIBRARY ITALY FLORENCE PIERRE GAUTHIEZ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SRLB URL TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Arrival. The Spell of Florence. The Baptistery. Santa Maria del Fiore. Opera del Duomo. Or San Michele. The Palazzo Vecchio. The Uffizi Galleries. Mercato Nuovo and Por Santa Maria. The Borgo Santi Apostoli. The " black palaces ". The Bargello. The Badia. The house of Dante. 9 CHAPTER II. Santa Croce. The Pazzi Chapel. Old Florence. The house of Michelangelo. Sant'Ambrogio and its frescoes. The Annunziata. The Etruscan Museum. Accademia clelle Belle Arti. Cloisters of San Marco, the realm of Fra Angelico. Cloister of Scalzo, Andrea del Sarto. The Riccardi Palace and Benozzo Gozzoli. San Lorenzo. The Lauren- tian Library. The Medici Chapel. Santa Maria Novella. Fresco by Andrea della Robbia in the Square. 81 CHAPTER III. The Gardens of Florence. The Cascini. Ponte Vecchio. The Palaces of Oltr'Arno. The Church of Santo Spirito. The Carme- lite Church and Masaccio and Lippi. The Pitti Palace and its Museum. The Boboli Gardens. The Viale dei Colli. Porta Romana. Arcetri. Porta and Costa San Giorgio. San Miniato del Monte. 123 CHAPTER IV. The surroundings of Florence. The Chartreuse Monastery of the Val d'Ema. The Acciaioli. The treasures in the Monastery. Fiesole, the Citadel of Light. The Tuscan Paradise. The Franciscan Monastery. Days and evenings at Fiesole. The Fiesole Cathedral. Sant'Ansanb Chapel. San Girolamo. The Sanctuary of the Hill of Fiesole. Fonte Lucente. The Triumph of Light. 141 Entrance to the Boboli Gardens. Florence. The Marzocco. CHAPTER I Some cities in the world are as dear to us as people, but can such a feeling be justified towards a foreign city and above all, towards a city so intensely foreign as Florence? I believe so, and I should like to shpw how and why one can gradually become so bewitched by the fair land of Florence that, if forced to leave it, one is haunted by a longing to return. It is not always the first impression that conveys this enchantment. I remember my very first glimpse of Florence how long ago ! on a mournful autumn evening, grey and rainy. In the last century Florence was badly lighted. 9 FLORENCE Hideous hotel conveyances of a nondescript character rattled over the wet, badly-laid flag-stones of the old streets. That morning we had left Milan, glowing with light, full of life and movement and elegance. Now we were traversing a little dark city to reach our lodging near the Cascini Gardens : a city which smelt evilly and which was almost asleep at seven o'clock in the evening. Our room, in an ancient palace which had been converted into an inn, was huge and sepulchral in the flickering light of a candle. And I repeated to myself later, as the deep shadows engulfed me : " I am in Florence, in Florence ! " The following day brilliant sunshine awakened me. I rushed to the window which overlooked the Arno. Before my dazzled eyes stretched the quay along the river, the little river which wound its way between banks of sand and grass. I saw the hill which rose on the opposite side, crowned by olive trees and a little church with a battered steeple, and below to the left, a great basilica of marble and gold amid fields and hills, all bathed in a mellow golden light. This divine light, pearl-coloured I find its praises on every page of the old book in which I scribbled Ponte TrinitA. FLORENCE TAe Ponte Vecchio. Ponte Trinitd and the Ponte Carraia. my impressions. And this was my first vision of Florentine beauty. I have watched the Arno at all times and seasons, sometimes yellow with the deluges of winter which swell it to a real mountain torrent, or radiant under the spring and summer skies, reflecting the colours of gold and jade. Dilapidated boats wind their way between the debris on the banks; the sand- workers ply their trade, and the fishermen go bare- legged with a hollow gourd at their belts. That morning we set out along the river into the distance where the shining hills stood out against the horizon. We admired the ancient bridges, so proudly poised, especially the Ponte Santa Trinita with its marble reliefs and statues. It was here that the carriage turned to ascend the road up the exqui- site hill which is the Pincio of Florence, worthy of the city whose full beauty can be best seen from its summit. After passing a suburb which first struck us as sordid, but which we later grew to love, we left the city and began the ascent of the hills from which we were to look down upon it. Soon we passed through flowery gardens, and there below us lay ii FLORENCE The Lttng'Arno Acciaioli. the city where of old the Paradiso was conceived. But Dante saw it in too great a blaze of glory, a Paradise too far above human effort; in reality it was rather the light of a suave and divine Purgatorio which lit up before our eyes the town of Alighieri. Nothing can express the beauty of this Elysian light. Half unconsciously our lips murmured the words, " Soft light of oriental sapphire 1 " In the distance towards Pisa was reflected a subtle radiance. It was the spirit of the sea shining on the great expanse of water invisible behind the Pisan hills. And Florence lay before us ! The old man who drove the carriage was no check on our rapture. A true Florentine, he delighted in the admiration shown by strangers for his native city, and pulled up as often as we wished. The soft morning splendour enveloped the Arno, Florence and Fiesole, and touched Statue of Winter. The Casein* Gardens. 13 FLORENCE caressingly " la tour ailee de la Seigneurie " and the steeple of Santa Croce, turning the Cathedral to purple and amber. It played over the churches and the rosy roofs of the houses, it glistened on the Arno, its rays slid along the quays and the facades of the palaces, and quivered among the rose bushes and trees of the Cascini Gardens, and crept up the slopes of the hills, rose-coloured sentinels on the horizon. This was our first revelation of the triumphant city. On the way down, as we passed an olive tree, a little hand was stretched out to pluck the tip of a branch. At this the old coachman jumped down, and seizing a whole bough, with natural gallantry and a radiant smile, handed this emblem of peace and light to the child who regarded Florence with wondering eyes. It is in this light of youth that I have always thought of the City of Flowers. And yet I have seen many of the famous and magnificent spectacles of. the world. But it is not only beauty which enchants. There must also be the true secret, the eternal treasure; that which, since everything, even the inexpressible, must have a name, we know by that magic word, charm. Florence. General view looking towards the Duomo. 14 FLORENCE Florence. General View looking towards Santa Croce. And one of the greatest charms of Florence is the crown which Nature has set upon her; for her countryside, her valleys and hills, and Fiesole, are surroundings of incomparable beauty. Our love for the city itself is born of its history and art. The more one knows of them, the more one loves this city of which one's first impressions are sometimes unpleasing. One must avoid " le mal des chefs-d'oeuvre ", one must live here quietly and grow into it by degrees. Without, peace and happiness, the ascent to Paradise. Within, amid a Purgatory of streets, alleys, smells, noises and dust the solace of beauty, ever present, ever visible. Why was this colony of Sulla's which grew up at the foot of Fiesole called Florence? If I dared, I would discard all philology and reply : because it had to have the name of a flower. But a number of reasons have been given to account for the name Florence, and I will quote one, for I know them all in spite of my efforts to forget them. What a lot of unnecessary information one accumulates on one's way through Life ! It is stated, then, in an old rhymed chronicle : FLORENCE The inhabitants, in order that it should not be forgotten That the city was founded in a field of flowers, Gave it the beautiful name which it has made glorious. It is true that this bountiful land bears flowers at all times of the year. At Christmas, the parapets of the embankments, the stones of the squa- res, the balustrades of the palaces, are nothing but a bul- wark of flowers framed in arbutus and laurel leaves. But let us call a truce to etymo- logy. Now let us vi- sit the little shop beside the Palace of the Archbishop at the corner of Calinara and the Piazza. From this spot we can study the earliest monu- ment of the city, the Baptistery of St. John the Baptist, and from no- where else can one get so good a view of the fantastic modilions and romanesque architecture of the ancient church. The weather, the sun, the rain the Italian rain have softened and toned down everything in its coloured ornamentation that would otherwise appear too blatant to the eyes of those unaccustomed to the charm of this hybrid architecture. The Baptistery. 16 FLORENCE Saint John the Baptist, whose church is the centre and, as it were, the heart of the city, is the patron of Florence. His Baptistery was until the xnth century the municipal church : his face is stamped on the fine silver and gold florins which were used by rich and powerful Florence to pay all those who traded with her. The Baptistery, being thus the corner-stone of all the monu- ments which later arose beneath the skies of Florence, had to have three doors, facing North East and Souti. worthy of the Sacra- The St Z enobius Column. ment within, and Flo- rence laboured at this task for a hundred years. The first of these doors was made in the southern side of the octagonal building by Andrea Pisano, who worked for six years on it. It represents the history of Saint John the Baptist. It is a work of art and would be without rival were it not for the other two doors which were added later by Ghiberti. This happened in the first years of the xvth century. Lorenzo Ghiberti, a child of chance, then hardly more than an apprentice, was studying painting far away from Florence, which in those days was vexed by the feuds between the Malatesta, Princes of Rimini. After he had been studying for a year, he heard from his friends in Florence that a competition was to be held for The Baptistery. Tomb of Pope John XXIII. 17 FLORENCE a design for the doors of the Church of Saint John. The young artist did not hesitate, but went to Florence at once and joined in the contest. Each competitor was given a copper plaque, and the subject set was Abraham's Sacrifice. Ghiberti wrote a Memoir in which he tells us : " Six competitors entered for this test, which demanded a wide know- ledge of sculpture. The palm of victory was granted to me both by the judges and by my fellow competitors. After lengthy discussions by experts, it was admitted by everyone that I had surpassed all my collea- gues. " This was in 1402, when Ghiberti was only twenty- two, but with rightful pride he claimed supremacy over his fellow competitors, who were also " mere boys ", but who became men such as Filipo Brunelleschi, Jacopo della Guercia and other less famous yet able artists. On the 23rd November, 1403, Ghiberti was commissioned to make the door. It took him no less than twenty years to accomplish this task, but when completed, it was what Michelangelo in the next century called " The Door of Paradise ". The reliefs on the second door (the last of the three) designed by Ghi- berti, represent the principal events in the The Baptistery. The Ghiberti Doors (detail) . 18 The Baptistery. The Ghiberti Doors (detail). FLORENCE Old Testament, while those on his first door are inspired by the Gospel. In the document, dated the 2nd January 1425, which commissioned him with the new work, Ghiberti is described as a " great master ". His door was not com- pleted and placed in position until the i5th June 1452, after twenty-seven years of toil. It seems to us that from the mo- ment of our first sight of Ghiberti 's work we are initiat- ed into real Floren- tine art " 1'arte schietta " as it is called a subtle and precise art whose elegance is quiet and refined. The smallest detail in each scene is treated with the delicacy of a master goldsmith, yet at the same time with the bold touch of a great sculptor, so that nothing de- tracts from the va- lue of the whole. The technique of the reliefs is as good as the composition of the groups. Then, to form a marvellous frame, the master lets his fancy run riot on the jambs of the doors and, with perfect taste, creates numbers of little busts, as vigorous as if they were alive. The old gilding emphasizes The Baptistery. The South Door by Andrea Pisano. The Baptistery. The Ghiberti Doors. the proud beauty of the half-turned figure of a youth and gives cha- racter to the heads in the background, as full of life as were the fa- mous artists and citizens whose portraits they are. And all this beauty stands in the open air, bathed in that light which the master never forgot when he planned his wonderful effects. 20 FLORENCE Even the floor of the Baptistery, where the immersion fonts were sunk, is a work of art, and the Florentine weavers used to come here frequently to draw inspiration for the designs for their famous fabrics. For it is like the finest embroidery, this Tuscan mosaic work on the ground. It is applied almost to an extreme in the Cathedral of Siena, the floor of which is so elaborate that it is hardly ever uncovered, like rare lace or precious stuff, protected from footsteps that might spoil it. And since in Dante's city a little mystery, ma- gic, and even astrology, must perforce be mingled with its historic monu- ments, part of the inlaid pavement by the east door of the Baptistery represents the Signs of the Zodiac. Over an altar stands a figure of the Magdalen of the Desert by Donatello - an old haggard woman - an admirable example of its class, like the skeletons of Milan or Bar-le-Duc, but in itself hideous and repul- sive, " sad as truth ". This Baptistery is a unique treasure even for Florence, for it is the oldest of her many wonders. It remains intact, though it has taken part in the life of the city. Happy is the town which can build up its his- toric memories round such a monument ! Thg Baptistery . The Ghiberti Doors When we leave the (two p ane i s) . 21 FLORENCE The Baptistery. The Ghiberti Doors. Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Baptistery and turn to look at the Cathedral, we are horrified at its hideous facade, and struck dumb at the sight of the alien style which was imposed on these venerable stones in the nineteenth century. It is even more ugly than the facade of Santa Croce, if that be possible. But let us remember once and for all that a sentence of Dante's should invariably be applied to all the modern " adornments " of Florence : " Let us not speak of them, just look at them and pass on ". It would be even better not to look at them at all 1 The lasting glory of the beautiful Cathedral is its dome, which we might indeed call " the dome of domes ", so vast is the cupola. It is unrivalled in form, power, and colour. Light, whether of the morning or of the evening, seems to gather there and transfigures and illuminates its majestic proportions. After seeing this enormous, flower-like dome rising against the sky, we can easily understand how Santa Maria del Fiore won its fanciful name. Arnolfo del Gambio and even Giotto and Andrea Pisano who laboured at it for half a century and witnessed its 22 FLORENCE early beauty, were eclipsed by Filipo Brunelleschi, the stubborn creator of this almost terrifying marvel. The architect Brunelleschi fought an epic battle for the realisation of the immense idea by which he was haunted. To surpass by a thousand cubits the ambitions of the earliest master-builders, to erect over the largest church in Italy a dome in comparison with which the Pantheon of Rome would seem a mere toy such were the aims of the design made by this peerless sculptor and architect who, together with Donatello, is the most natural and least conventional of the Florentine masters. This huge church is by no means a museum overcrowded witt masterpieces as so many others are. There are certainly many beautiful things : round the choir, in the mid- dle of the building, at the foot of the vast altar, and on the walls which stretch away out of sight; but they are not too ob- vious, one has to search for them. The most cele- brated of these is the picture of Dante by Dome- nico di Michelino which is painted on the north door. The poet, whose work had been read and quoted in this temple and The Baptistery. The Ghiberti Doors. The Walls of Jericho. FLORENCE in many other Florentine churches, stands facing his beloved Florence a gigantic figure and a tiny city, in fitting and ap- propriate proportion. Crowned with lau- rels, a loose-fitting tunic over his slim, nervous body, Dante holds an open book in his left hand while gesticulating with his right; the vague circles of the Purgatory are shown above as if the supernatural spirit of his great poem drifts over Florence. The Baptistery. Detail of Door by Andrea Pisano. We become conscious of Donatello as soon as we stand under the dome erected by his friend Brunelleschi. Donatello's so-called Joshua would be doubled in value if it were certain that the original was that fantastic The Baptistery. Detail of Door by Andrea Pisano. The Baptistery. Detail of Door by Andrea Pisano. writer Gianozzo Manetti. The huge figure of Saint John, with its robust grace, which perhaps inspired Michel- angelo to create his Moses for Rome, belongs to the admirable school which we shall find later in Or San Michele. Another sculptured saint by Donatello 24 The Catnedral Dome by Brunelleschi. 25 FLORENCE The Dome and the Campanile. is probably a portrait of Poggio. All this shows the close connection between realism and imaginative creation which is the secret of the power of these early Florentine masters. Ghiberti, who provided the dazzling designs for the windows, also made the triumphant shrine for Saint Zenobius. In the sixteenth century this casket of Ghiberti's, which he had left in the dull splendour of bronze, was gilded. Whether we approve of the gilding or not, we must admit that the bas-relief of Saint Zenobius restoring life to a dead child, on one of the four sides of the shrine, is a rich and noble piece of work. It was such works as these that the great men of this golden age created for their own amusement, while engaged at the same time on more formidable tasks, such as the doors of St. John the Baptist, which were the labour of a life- time. There are beautiful doors, too, in the north sacristy of Santa Maria del Fiore, made by Luca della Robbia. The Ascension, in high-relief on the door of the old south sacristy, is also his work. In addition there are two of those exquisite kneeling angels with which he has decorated the country shrines throughout his beloved Tuscany. These quaint forms 26 FLORENCE which might have served as models for the angels of Michelangelo in San Dominico at Bologna, seem to radiate in their calm strength and joyous youth the piety of the man who dedicated his life to the beauty of Christianity. All the works of this famous pupil of Girolamo Savonarola (including the scenes on the beautiful door which was later completed by Michelozzo) bear the stamp of his artistic yet wonderfully balanced mind, the restrained vigour of his hand, his exquisite taste and true Christian spirit. The incomparable Luca della Robbia and his nephew and great-nephew Andrea and Giovanni, manifest themselves to us everywhere in and near Florence, always marvellously prolific yet always great. In fact, Florence, rich as she was in great masters, never had any greater than these. It is a joy to look upon so much spiritual and physi- cal beauty as there is in all these works of art : in the Ma- donna of the early Pisan school which hangs over one door in Santa Maria del Fiore, and in the radiant Assumption of the Virgin, in an oval frame, the work of Nanni di Banco, to take only two examples. Florentine his- tory has left its mark on the splen- did stone floor of the church. Upon it trod the rebels and assassins of the Me- The modern facade of the Cathedrat. Florence from the Campanile. dici times and the crowds inflamed by the oratory of Savonarola. It was in the old south sacristy that Lorenzo de Medici, called the Magni- ficent, took refuge when his brother Giuliano had fallen at the foot of the High Altar stabbed by a dagger, at the moment when Cardinal Riario, one of the conspi- rators, gave the signal for the attack by the Elevation of the Host. Lorenzo de' Medici, with his cloak rolled round his left arm and pro- tected by his sword, was able to escape the mur- derers. Then the furious mob set out to stab and hang the conspirators with the same frenzy with which they would have acclaimed them and borne them in triumph through the streets had they been the stronger party. An indifferent prince, but a good poet, such was he who was saved for Italy by the gates of the sacristy on that fine April day in 1478. To eyes accustomed to churches and their towers all in one, the Italian habit 28 The Campanile and South side of Santa Maria del Fiore. 29 FLORENCE (which can be observed as soon as the frontier is crossed) of placing the towers alongside the churches instead of making them a part of Ch&sse of St. Zenobtus. the building itself, seems very .-strange. Sometimes, even, they are built at a considerable distance from the church as, for instance, the Cam- panile at Venice. The bell-tower of the Cathedral at Florence is nearer than that to the main building; it was even connected with it at one time by a passage demolished in the fifteenth century, but whose two entrances have been preserved. Planned by Giotto in 1334 from a model, the original design of which on parchment is kept at Siena, the Campanile should have been crowned by a spire over ninety feet high, the supports of which can still be seen on the platform of the tower. But the -original plan was not carried out. Once the beautiful mellow bells had been hung, the square shaft was finished off with a low, pointed roof which crushes its slen- deraess by cutting it off too abruptly. Windows were then carved in the tower, but though they are beautiful they give to the building an over ornate appearance, disagreeable to eyes which look for the whole effect rather than for detail. In this building we can see sharply portrayed the character of southern art with all its debatable points, which might render us unjust to its makers were we not bound to admit, in fairness to the Old Masters, the excellence of the detail they loved. 30 From a distance the Campanile seems overcrowded with ornamentation. At first one is tempted to quote though with less reverence the famous phrase of Charles V : "It ought to be put under a glass case ". For this structure, in spite of its 414 steps and its number of large statues, has so much delicate moulding and so ma- ny bas-reliefs which are like lace, that it does not seem fit to stand in the open and face the rain, sun, and A bas-relief by Mino da Fiesole moon, nor does it seem strong enough to shelter its massive, triumphal bells. It might be described as a perfect example of a tiny gem, but the close proximity of Brunelleschi's mighty dome makes it look too frail. One can understand the desire of Giotto, whose idea was despised, to throw a spire into the sky. This would have gained for the building in height what its gigantic neighbour causes it to lose in bulk. Its statues are all by Donatello or ar- tists of his school, and the most beautiful of them represent real Florentine citizens whose names were illustrious in those days; men with fine faces, bald heads A bas-relief by Mino da Fiesole. FLORENCE and slim bodies, descendants of a heathy race not overburdened with superfluous flesh. Below the statues we see the fine embroidery of bas- reliefs, enclosed in their clearly chiselled frames ; marvellous little scenes, the beauty of which is not eclipsed by the number of others to be found in Florence, this city of sculpture. They are valuable pictures, designed by Giotto and carved by the great Pisan masters, including Luca della Robbia, and they are specially valuable as reproductions of the life and customs of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Is not, for instance, the dress of the children seated before their teachers in the schoolroom, that worn by Dante Alighieri in his childhood? And the amazing quality of della Robbia's rustic scenes ! The countryside is still like that in the depths of the Tuscan valleys, amid the radiant little mountains which the inhabitants call by the grand name of " le Alpi ", Alps in miniature, so friendly, so much more easily accessible than the real, vast Alps. A Museum has been filled with the art treasures from the Cathedral and though it would have been more fitting if the church's greatest jewels, the galleries round the or- gan where the great Squar- cialupi used to play, had not been removed, we may console ourselves with the reflection that it is probably easier to study Luca della Robbia's ten bas-reliefs in the well-lighted Museum Lower part of the Cathedral. ms where the y are shown on a level with our eyes, than if they had been kept as Singing Galleries round the organ above 32 FLORENCE one's head in the twilight of the nave. Delia Robbia emerges trium- phantly from this test of close examination under a bright light which might have proved fatal to other ar- tists. His desire was to illustrate Psalm CL : " O praise God in His holiness; praise Him in the firmament of His power; praise Him in His noble acts; praise Him accord- ing to His excellent greatness; praise Him in the sound of the trumpet; praise Him upon the lute and harp; praise Him in the cymbals and dances ; praise Him upon the strings and pipe; praise Him upon the well-tuned cymbals ; praise Him upon the loud cymbals; let Interior of the Cathedral. everything that hath breath praise the Lord ! " So this divinely inspired Christian soul created ten bas-reliefs with a display of genius so lofty and sure, so splendid in its clarity and simplicity that, if Florence were to fall into ruins and these alone were saved from the wreckage, they would be sufficient to prove to the world the supremacy of the Florentine sculptor. Luca took his models from the school and from the square where chil- dren played at throwing the discus; they were Florentine boys of that 33 Luca della Robbia. The Tribuna. indefinite and tender age when childhood blossoms into youth. The two most celebrated panels of the series are justly considered to be : the one in which the Singing Children are seen full-face, with a phylactery un- rolled before them; and the group in which the Children are in profile, leaning over each others' shoulders to follow the service from a missal held by the two smallest. How heartily they sing, these two youngest, keeping time with the beat given them by the hand of an older boy ! And what eager movement is expressed in the bent heads of their elders in the second row ! And in the first group, in which the singing boys face the spectator how fine are the features still softened by extreme youth ! What pretty cheeks has that child who is slightly turned away ! What a simplicity there is in their attitudes and in the line of the dra- peries which seem to sway on living bodies; and how full of grace are their feet, whether bare or clad in sandals or soft boots ! It seems as if Our Lady of the Flower, whom the sculptor has so marvellously re- vealed to us in his various work, chose this occasion to send him divine inspiration so that he might fitly decorate the Singing Galleries where Her praise was to be sung. Luca della Robbia, having reached the apogee of his power, created for Florence the heavenly School for Song. In this Museum there are also wonderfully preserved embroideries 34 worked for altar cloths, and vest- ments from designs by that precise and delightful artist, Pollaiuolo, whose exquisite St. Tobias is in the Turin museum, while many of his delicate masterpieces are to be seen in the Uffizi galleries. And finally, Brunelleschi's models of the cupola and lantern of Our Lady of the Flower are included in this collection known as the Opera del Duomo. On the way from the pious city to the city of civil strife and secular art, as we walk along the main street of Florence, the noisy Via Calzaioli (street of hosiers), we pass the studio of Donatello and Michelozzo, No. 17. Luca della Robbia. The Cantoria. And that truly Florentine church of Or San Michele will be, as it were, our way of transition between the Baptistery and the Bargello, be- tween Santa Maria del Fiore and the Palazzo Vecchio. Originally a loggia, it was con- verted first into a chapel and later, in the fourteenth century, into the church of Or San Michele. This Go- thic church, cubic in shape, belonged to a Society founded on the loth August 1291, whose purpose was not only worship of the Madonna by singing hearty Lauds to Her praise, but also the performance of chari- table acts. Privileged as they were by the Republic, these great men Luca della Robbia. The Cantoria. 35 The Fountain of Neptune (detail). FLORENCE of Or San Michele, protectors of widows, orphans and the poor, were public benefactors. Only a few years after the church had been erected and possibly not even completed, an incident occurred which adds to its glory. One evening a young man, Dante Alighieri, was passing the door of the church within which was the miraculous picture of Our Lady. Compline was being sung. But let us hear what Dante says about it himself in the 5th part of his Vita Nuova : " One day the noble Beatrice was seated in a place where the words of the Queen of Glory are spoken, and I was there, too, standing so that I could see the one who is my whole blessedness. " As the low responses of the litany came slowly through the mist of incense, Dante was lost in contemplation of his beloved, who later would lead him to the feet of that same Queen of Glory enthroned in Paradise. Or San Michele, the St. Severin of Florence, was the resting place of the Blessed Virgin, and as Dante lived in the obscure little street so near the church, we may think of him among the crowds of worshippers assembled in front of the picture (which was destroyed by fire in the fourteenth century but which was faithfully restored by Ber- nardo Daddi); and pic- ture him, after his ban- The Fountain of Neptune (detail). FLORENCE ishment, before the Madonna of the ancient St. Severin in Paris. This little Or San Michele is the most touching of all the Florentine churches, not only because of the infinite refinement of its devout or- namentation and the perfect shrine made by Orcagna for the sacred picture, but also because it is the temple and sanctuary of earlier Flo- rence, chaste, industrious and sober. The statues which adorn the outside walls all round the building, are so low that the passers-by may touch them. They are marvellous bronze figures (in the over-ornate niches of a later generation) presented to the church by the pious Florentine Guilds. The silk weavers come first with the statue of St. John the Evangelist, because their Guild was under the protection of Or San Michele, while the wool combers had the Cathedral for their patron church, and the merchants the Baptistery. The next niche is empty; the statue of the Madonna that used to be there was moved into the interior of the church after it was struck by a Jew who was later killed by the mob. The Guild of physicians and apo- thecaries, which also included artists and moulders and numbered Dante among its members, is represented on the walls of Or San Michele by a Madonna in a setting of lilies and bearing the donors' coat of arms. There are many other exquisite works by the same master decorating the church, on the facade of which he placed a medallion with the coat of arms of the masons. The statue of St. James was the gift of the furriers, and leather workers. The flax spinners and joiners set up the rugged figure of St. Mark by Donatello, which was regarded by Buonarotti as a bold piece of work. The farriers were represented by the good St. Eligius, who was always a favourite with Tuscan artists. Ghiberti's St. Matthew was the gift of the vast and wealthy Guild of the wool combers and weavers, which in the fourteenth century employed 30,000 persons in its 200 shops. Its Guildhall adjoins the church and is, in fact, connected with it. Donatello's statue of St. George as a slender young knight leaning on his shield was given by the iron workers and smiths. The statue here is a copy, the original having been placed, for reasons of safety, in the Bargello. St. Thomas by Verrocchio, and St. John the Baptist by Ghiberti are the two other statues worthy of mention, while the remaining works are much less important. But above all we are deeply impressed by the 37 FLORENCE grand spectacle of a laborious race sharing equally in the honour of attending and decorating their church. What appeals to our imagination is the splendid offering made by these Florentine Guilds, whether manual or intellectual workers, in their joining together to do honour to their patron saints. After all these churches, we must pass on to one of the most impor- tant and beautiful of the civic buildings, whose tower stretches up far against the Florentine sky the Palazzo Vecchio. It is the Town Hall of Florence, the Palace of the Government if you like to call it so, the vital centre of municipal life, the headquarters of the official world, of the council and municipal administration. Though the free commune of Flor- ence for several centuries past has been but a regrettable memory, the anc- ient halls of the Palazzo Vecchio are still open to the traffic of Florentine life. It is a monument without rival, like an old citadel, with its powerful yet fantastic style, with its slender tower thrown into the sky, and its painted embrasures and escutcheons which are like emblems of wars and festivities. The old Palace is a relic of a great age. In its halls sat the citizens whose portraits we find everywhere, whose memories haunt the city. Pages of history are inscribed on the defaced yet triumphant stones. How many hours one could spend in the loggia opposite in the clear Tuscan mornings, musing on those who once moved within its vast embrasures ! And at nightfall, when the Piazza della Signoria is empty and silent under a "moonlit sky of dark velvet, the Old Palace seems vaster and its tower more slender than ever, while the tolling of the big communal bell seems to resound through the passing centuries. " Le temps oi se faisait tout ce qu'a dit 1'histoire ", or at least all that it attempted to say, for history is well aware of its impotence in face of such witnesses as this incomparable Palazzo Vecchio. What is it that bewitches us in this Palace of Florence? Is it its position in the square, or the severity of its lines, or its tower like an aigrette or pinnacle ? Who can say? But it grips the imagination more than any other similar building. The vane on the tower is in the shape of a lion, and the Marzocco who guards the entrance to the Palace is also a lion. This animal was regarded as the symbol of Florentine freedom, which is doubtless the reason why lions were always kept in a neighbouring menagerie. The -38 - Or San Michele. 39 choice is no stranger than that of an eagle as an emblem of courage. Savage beasts of prey were fitting symbols of human deeds and of the human con- ception of " Li- berty " and " Ro- man civilisation ". But beyond historic memories and ghosts there is nothing of much Or San Michele. St. Eligius. value in this magnificent Palace; there is only a formally ornamented courtyard, enlivened by a fountain with a sculp- tured child by Verroc- chio ; while a trivial stair- case leads to the highly ornate rooms above. One must recall in thought the citi- Or San Michele. Statue on the Facade. zens who filled these im- mense halls where Savo- narola assembled them. One must strive to ima- gine this race of men with iron wills and implacable passions, unscrupulous partisans, who lived in- tensely through good and evil days but who had an instinct for beauty in its " chaste and sober " form, contemporaries and readers of Dante, contem- poraries and patrons of Giotto, Brunelleschi and Donatello. Since the great days of ancient Greece, liberty, that is to say the free expression of conflicting pas- sions, had never brought forth such sweet 40 Or San Michele. The Madonna. FLORENCE yet bitter fruit. The life of the citizens of Florence was so steeped in struggles and sufferings, in faith and civil warfare, that the smallest of their creations remains for ever a treasure. Then, Dante, the man of unri- valled genius whose great works justly hold the Past and the Future, arose from this nation. His power, even af- ter his death, is so overwhelming that not one of the Ita- lian poets may even approach him, and he stands, as it were, apart. A bleak build- ing, bearing the ap- propriate name of the Uffizi (the Offi- ces), annexed to the Grand-Ducal court, contains every type of historic or artistic Florentine treasure. It contains the ar- chives of Tuscany, a museum of paint- ings and sculpture, the Medici collection of gems, and the National Library. Florentine libraries are in most cases museums, as we shall see later. The National Library in the Uffizi galleries, together with the Marucellian and a few others, is mainly used as a study for general work. The number of books allowed to be taken home is unusually large, which enables the foreign student to work in the solitude of his Or San Michele. The Tabernacle. 41 FLORENCE room without being disturbed by the noise of a public building. This " liberality " on the part of modern Florence is worthy of the old conception of the word. A staircase leads us to the Uffizi Museum. Upon entering the lofty rooms we are at once delighted by the excellent light reflected from the Arno which can be seen winding below in the sunshine. In the Uffizi, the Early Tuscan School is revealed in its full en- chantment to the eyes of the foreigner. It is true that to experience its greatest power and charm one must visit the exquisite little museum at Siena with its Madonna by Neroccio, which has no equal even in the Uffizi. But yet, as soon as we enter these corridors, the beauty and mysticism of the early Tuscan masters becomes apparent to us in the Annunciation of Simone Martini and LippoMemmi. Here it is no longer an epic fresco as in the Pa- lace at Siena, nor is it a picture of real life, but it is an Altar-piece, vast and perfect. The balance be- tween the pure, timid Ma- donna shrinking away and gathering up her veil, and the Angel with wings re- sembling those of a bird of prey, is maintained ad- mirably and with religious reverence. The paintjfigs of these masters, like the sculpture of the della Rob- bias, are always intense, yet gentle, true illustra- tions of the Gospel. Dante by Giotto. It is well to remind visitors to Florence that a constant interchange of pictures takes place between the Uffizi, Pitti and Accademia Galleries. The old Palace (Palazzo Vecchio). 43 FLORENCE Looking at such works as these, we begin to realize that it is im- possible to understand the primitive Tuscans outside Tuscany, just as we cannot know the Lombards outside Lombardy. And this revelation seems to apply to a great many other ar- tists. One can possi- bly get to the bottom of a Rembrandt without going to Holland and, on the whole, the painters of the Netherlands (with the exception perhaps of Franz Hals, who is rather indifferent in his purely materialistic genius) withhold no secret from the visi- tors to other Euro- pean museums. But I defy even the subt- lest of amateurs to begin to understand elsewhere a work such as I have just described, permeated with strange mys- tery, of a restrained and almost rigid strength, the figures placed amid buildings and draperies which seem quasi-Byzantine in their deliberate brilliance and their studied crafts- manship. Something new in Art ! What a journey would one not take to find it? And yet novelty is ever present in this blessed country, if one only knows where to look for it. It is by no means a new truth, that the only way to get to know The Uffizi and the Palazzo Vecchio. 44 FLORENCE a museum is to see it and see it again, revisiting it at leisure, letting your impressions vary considerably before they take definite form, in- stead of trying to absorb at once, as do the crowds of tourists, what can only be under- stood by degrees. From the mo- ment that we come face to face in this gallery with the paintings of the Tuscan school, it is borne in upon us that certain mas- ters, whose art we have merely guessed at hitherto, can only be properly under- stood at Florence. One of these is Sandro Botticelli. Another is Andrea del Sarto. His por- traits prove that he was above all a fresco painter. We may consider our- selves fortunate _____ _.,,, ,__ when we find works The Verrocchio Fountain. of ^ uns P Ut b ? the crazy hand of the " restorer ", and when we can see the flower of his art those dry-point retouches which he transferred from his favourite medium to his pictures. The churches and cloisters of Florence show us his great- ness as a fresco painter. Botticelli in his Judith and Calumny, and Pollaiuolo both show the detailed touch of a goldsmith. Pollaiuolo's designs for the inimit- 45 FLORENCE able embroideries in the Cathedral are specimens of a painstaking and consummate art. Lorenzo di Credi by painting the portrait of a master like Verrocchio naturally doubled the value and importance of his work. On the other hand, the portraits by Bronzino, strange and precise as history itself, seem to lack just that secret virtue which is nearly the whole art of painting. What a great masterpiece is the strange and enthralling Madonna of the Magnificat. The painting represents a melancholy Virgin-Mother with heavy eyelids and exquisite, sad lips, and beautiful angels with distressed eyes looking more like supernatural youths than messengers of God. The naively corrupt art of the first Renaissance is nowhere expressed more pow- erfully than in this picture, which shows us the gradual deve- lopment of Botticel- li's art and the full triumph of the sen- suous mysticism of the great master who was worthy of re- ceiving inspiration from Dante and gui- dance from Savona- rola. Perhaps the most famous picture so long in the Accade- mia and lately trans- ferred to the Uffizi is the Primavera of Bot- ticelli which the Me- dici possessed as com- panion picture to the Venus now in the Uffizi. This work was An old street near the Palazzo Vecchio. FLORENCE Gentile da Fabriano. The Adoration of the Magi. intended to illustrate the verses of Angelo Poliziano on the hunting parties of Giuliano, brother of the Magnificent, and had a revival of popularity many years ago. It was by no means rare, when I was young, to find reproductions of it in the rooms of students. In the Venus the goddess is naked and the landscape is perhaps even more radiant than the sacred wood of the Primavera. Let me quote the verses composed by Maestro Angelo Poliziano about each picture. First the Primavera, whose figure, without doubt, represents Giuliano's friend, Simonetta Vespucci : What glorious divinity the hunter sees, Candid in soul, in vestments unconcealed, With roses, lilies and fair flowering green. The golden ringlets of her glorious hair Reach down across her brow, humbly divine. About her laughs each twig, each bough, each tree... Her eyes are bright with sweet serenity 47 Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi. The Annunciation. And in them Cupid holds his torch concealed. The air around is scented everywhere Where'er she turns her eyelids amorous; Her face is glorious with celestial grace Soft painted o'er with lily and with rose. All winds are hushed to hear her words divine, And every song-bird stills his melody. And this for the other picture, The Birth of Venus, whom the young hunter discovers in the wondrous palace of Diana : A maiden beauteous above all earthly dreams Sails o'er the waves, by playful Zephyrs blown, Upon a shell she stands; and all the skies seem glad. Real seems the spray and real the shining sea. The goddess, beauteous as a flash of light, And all the air laughs round her form divine. Could'st swear indeed that she was born of spray This goddess whose frail hand twists up her hair. -48- FLORENCE They are charming verses bestrewn with the laurels and iris of Florence, as are the pictures of Botticelli. The Medici Princes preserved both poems in their family records, as well as the pic- Botticelli. The Primavera. The Three Graces. ture, adorable as the memory of their own vanished Spring. Whether by Botticelli or by Verrocchio, that picture which shows the angels leading the young Tobias over the Tuscan fields, reveals to our eyes the celestial realms. There is also a double masterpiece by Piero della Francesca, whose 49 FLORENCE exquisite works are found in the museums of Lombardy. This is a portrait of the good Duke Federigo of Urbino and, of his wife Battista Sforza, with a beauti- ful allegorical triumph painted on the back of the folding pa- nel. The Duke of Urbino is re- presented as a kindly man of the apothecary type, with the profile of a Punchinello and, as Bonaventure des Periers would say, " rage-vetu ". Clad in a bright red gown and head dress, he creates a friendly and thoughtful impression in spite of his bourgeois ugliness, while the face of the modest lady, his wife, her hair drawn back from her delicate brows, is grave and gentle. The court of these Dukes of Urbino, lovers of art as they were, was the only peaceful refuge in the Italy of those terrible days. But they were deprived of their posses- sions by the nepotism of the Popes or in the interests of Barbarian kings. Except for the great unfin- ished Adoration, Leonardo da Vinci is not represented by his principal works in Tuscany, but we find a picture by Boltraffio, his greatest pupil, and it is one of the pleasantest works of a time when existence was a hard struggle. It gives a unique picture of those treacherous times which, owing to ignorance or irony on the part of History, bear the name of the " Renaissance ". The youth painted by the Lombardian artist is beautiful yet strange, and so are many of the faces gathered here by the masters of three great centuries. 5 FLORENCE iv era. The greatest charm of museums is that they enable us to study the human nature of a certain epoch in the intense figures created by great masters, making us forget our present existence and realize our dreams in the magic world of colour. As to the " Tribuna " one does not feel inclined to give a separate description of the more or less carefully selected works which it contains. At present, the " strong and mighty " among the critics hang Titian's Venus and doubtful Raphaels in prominent positions, to men- tion only the more noted examples, and then call on us to admire them. There are so many other treasures at the Uffizi, that it is hardly neces- sary to enumerate the works which are not typical of this famous collection. The artists' portraits of themselves are of a special va- lue, not only because many of them are beautiful but chiefly by reason of the psychological interest almost invariably at- tached to them. Masters of all periods are assembled here; these worshippers of colour and form present their paintings of them- selves as they wished their public and the future generations to see them. From the point of view of art, some of these portraits are without compare, as for instance that of Filippino Lippi, while from the documentary point of view almost every one is of interest. The study of mankind, still in its infancy, would have here unique FLORENCE material at its disposal in analysing these strange beings, the artists. The collection of drawings is exceptionally rare and admirable. From a technical point of view there are some magnificent designs left by the great architects of that epoch, such as Bramante, San Gallo, Pe- ruzzi, Vasari himself, and Bramantino. But what a great joy it is to be able to study, analyse and copy, in the light of a Tuscan day, those quiet and delicate creations of the early Tuscans : the Masolinos, the Pisanellos, and those exquisite sketches which give a foretaste of the wonders of Fra Angelico ! Him we see here in his charming Madonna Crowned, surrounded by a group of dancing and singing angels, who form another crown of glory and triumphant joy; also in a fascinating little predella where the Blessed Virgin is seen on her death-bed on the threshold of eternal life. We find so many of his wonderful works in the cloisters and museums of the city that at last we begin to regard them Piero della Francesca. Frederic Duke of Urbino and his wife Battista Sforza. FLORENCE as divinely inspired. Here, in the Uffizi, they are only sketches, ex- periments, dream-fancies of the artist-saint, like this enthralling little Madonna in her oval frame. Botticelli. The Madonna of the Magnificat. And then there are the artists of earlier days, bent in the working attitudes of real life. One, for instance, is painting something in his album, his legs crossed, his whole being concentrated on his work, while the picture bears the inscription, " I must become a good architect and a good painter ". But there are so many other interesting works that it would take one a whole year to study them. 53 Botticelli. Judith. in a country whose capital pos- sesses those treasuries of beauty, the Vatican and the Baths of Diocletian, the corridors of the Uffizi are quite good enough for these second-rate antiquities. Evidently the Italian Grand Dukes when collecting precious curios, considered their value as much as, if not more than, their beauty. The beautiful collection has been placed in a room in a sunny corner of the Palace, where it is seen at its best. Nothing is lost of the richness and beauty There are some really fine antiques amongst the sculpture collected by the princes. The Niobe group and the Grinder are, of course, renowned, but I must confess that, compared with the antiques of Rome, many pieces here seem to me but mediocre ; some are restored and nearly all are dull. The truth is that the antique, unless of the very first or- der (and then it is priceless), is the most depressing ob- ject in the world. In a town with so fine an archeological museum, and Moroni. Unknown Portrait. 54 FLORENCE glittering from these busts of rare stone, shining on the enamels and the rock crystals; and whether they are works of Cellini or his school, or of Giovanni da Bologna and his pupils, these exquisite and stately Boltraffio. Unidentified Portrait. treasures are delightful in the best sense of the word. Beside these, we find the famous series of engraved stones and cameos. But the two masterpieces which have no equal in this collection are the inlaid pax attributed to Maso Finiguerra, and the model that Michelangelo made for the Thinker, that statue of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, which is in San Lorenzo, Let us now leave the Museum for a while and stroll under the galleries, in the dust which spreads the scent of vanilla when it is disturbed by the flight of pigeons. For every hollow in the Palazzo Vecchio and all the recesses in the niches of the Uffizi, with their ugly statues, are inhabited by pairs of beautiful tame pigeons. They beat their wings against the hands of visitors who feed them with golden maize, just as if they were hawks perched on the gauntlet of a fal- coner, and if you like you may allow yourself to be covered from head to foot with their rustling wings. 55 FLORENCE Fra Angelica. The Death of the Virgin. Under these arcades with their stone benches we also find old books and prints, a second-rate and confused collection, and little ancient bronzes and bells embossed with the Medici palle, and remains more or less Etruscan and mouldings of every kind. In the Loggia dei Lanzi, named after the lance-men, in Orcagna's magnificent arcade whence we get such a beautiful view of the Palazzo Vecchio, stands Benvenuto Cellini's famous Perseus. The original of the statue was a young rascal of the streets, sly, muscular, cruel, not afraid of Medusa nor of anybody else in the world except of those who would force him to work. The name of this Tuscan youth (according to " The Life of Cellini " by himself) was Cencio Gambetto, and he was the handsome son of a prostitute called Gambetta. " I chose this child as a model for my Perseus ", says Cellini, " as there are no books that teach us the art of painting and sculpture better than the book of Nature ". Eventually la Gam- betta defrauded Cellini, who summarily sent her son about his business. Yet how beautiful is this statue, so true to life, slender, full of movement a supreme creation ! And, after all, it is only this that matters. We need pay no more 56- Filippino Lippi. Portrait of himself. FLORENCE Fra Angelica. Coronation of the Virgin. attention to the story than the sculptor paid to the metal which he flung into the mould; had he also thrown in the boy who served him as a model, he would still be forgiven. We see Cellini's Perseus in the full grace and strength of a youthful victor; the head slightly bent, the insolent, curly head of a rogue, with all the muscles showing underneath the clear skin. In his right hand he holds a short falchion, a pistolese, one of the steel weapons manufactured at the cruel city of Pistoia, of which one was probably used by the murderer Lorenzaccio. In his left hand Perseus ostentatiously swings the head of the Medusa, while with his right foot he tramples on her headless body. It is a cruel picture of an age which delighted in bloodshed, the creation of an artist who rejoiced in murder. The son of Gambetta, this human faun tamed by Benvenuto, 57 FLORENCE is the embodiment of the Renaissance a handsome and elegant monster. How this statue must have pleased the fortunate successor of Alessandro de' Medici ! I must confess that I like the Piazza della Signoria and its rival the Mercato Nuovo (for where, alas ! is the Mercato Vecchio to-day?) best on the days when the peasants with their kerchiefed heads, and the farmers, bulging with their own importance and with money, to say nothing of Chianti wine, encumber it with their goods, and fill the air with clamour and mirth. The Mercato Nuovo is a delight to the eyes if not always to the ears. On a beautiful morning when the Tuscan sun shines mistily on the slender, graceful loggia erected for Cosimo I by the architect Giovanni Baptisto di Tasso, throwing its rays on the flowers, the pots and pans, and the coloured straw goods that are sold here, a picture of ancient Tuscany unfolds itself before us in all its ra- diance and simplicity around the porcellino, that little bronze boar, of which a guide of 1824 naively re- marks " water issues from its mouth ". The bunches of flowers, the straws like rays of sunshine forming fantastic cobwebs, the coming and going of the peasants who plait their straws as they walk, their hair adorned with silver balls, necks swathed in flowery kerchiefs all these sparkle and glow to-day as they did in by-gone times. Those were the prosperous Lorenzo di Credi. Venus. 58 Lorenzo di Credi. Portrait of Andrea Verrocchio. FLORENCE Catherine de' Medici and Henri III (Ufftzi Gallery). days when the Florentine weavers held the world's markets as far as Great Britain, of merchants whose caravans marked out the roads in Europe and the Levant, of Florentine bankers who imposed their terms and their currency on everyone and complained and talked and grumbled under this very roof and on these very pavements, over 59 FLORENCE which floated the red and white standard of the Com- mune when the City was at war. Once upon a time there were two large stones here, fixed to the ground; one, against which bankrupts were publicly thrashed, had to "be replaced as it was worn out after much use. Such were the severe customs of the age of Dante. Later on, the same " sacred " stone was used (for I believe it to be the same in spite of what has been said to the contrary) as a pillory at which bankers who were " guilty of stealing too much for their rank ", were beaten if they were careless enough to let themselves be caught in the act. Now the stones have been taken away, and these men are not punished at all; is it not they who govern us and keep the world under their yoke? The important Guild of the Silk Weavers was situated quite close, in that characteristi- cally Florentine street, the Via Por Santa Maria which runs to the marvellous Ponte Vec- chio. Between buildings full of embrasures and escutcheons, narrow and dusty in the sunlight which streams through it from south to north, this little street filled with the jingle of bells and the click of mules' feet lies in a district where we must ramble and breathe the old Flo- rentine air, that mouldy yet spiritual air of an ancient city. If you keep to the right and, having passed the little old cafe, turn to your left, you will find yourself in the Borgo Santi Apostoli, and there, in a de- serted square, is hidden the little Roman basilica of the The Knife Grinder (Ujfizi). 60 Benvenuto Cellini. The Perseus. Niobe (Uffizi). FLORENCE ninth century, which the French poet Villon called " 1'ecclise des Sains Apostoilles ". From the exquisite beauty of this church Brunelleschi drew inspiration for his San Lorenzo and the church of Santo Spirito. Thus it shares with the Baptistery the honour of serving as a model for this master builder. Vasari tells us in his Life of Andrea Tafi that Filippo, the son of Ser Brunelleschi, Donatello, and other masters of those times, had acquired their art chiefly through studying these two Florentine churches, the Baptistery of St. John and the church of Santi Apostoli, the lat- ter's no- ble out- line ap- proaching the beauty of an earlier age. In our opinion it has even sur- passed it ! In this austere and ancient Ba- silica, darkened by the northern light, we find decorations on the doorway following the graceful de- sign by Benedetto da Rovezzano, who also made the tombstone for Odon Altoviti on the left side of the nave above an altar which covers the remains of Donate Acciaioli. At the end of the same aisle we see a ciborium, made of clay and enamel- led by Andrea and Giovanni della Robbia. This old Borgo is the dis- trict of ancient palaces. The Dan- tesque Castle of Altafronte was Cellini. The Pedestal of the Perseus. 61 The Bargello. not far from here. The Palazzo Altoviti, restored by the same sculptor who made the tombstone for Odon Altoviti, stood at the back of the Basilica. Quite close in the Via Porta- Rosso we find that some- what " over- restor- ed " Palazzo Da- vanzati, whose in- genious ornamenta- tion yet excellent craftsmanship gives us an idea of the intimate customs of those men of the fourteenth and fif- teenth centuries and of the objects which surrounded them. Almost at every step the attention of the passer-by is arrested by some ancient stone, coat- of -arms, or mutilated tower. Here, then, is a vi- sible fragment o*f the ancient remains of the heart The Mercato Nuovo. of Florence, before modern " improve- ments " imposed their horrors upon it. There is another little square quite near, which can be seen on the left of the Por Santa Ma- ria going towards the Ponte Vecchio, concealing an ancient church unfortunately spoilt by the ingenious Tacca, who was a marvellous sculptor of dryads and fountains, but The Mercato Nuovo. The Bronze Boar. 63 FLORENCE whose taste in architecture was somewhat extravagant. A horse-shoe is fastened on the main door and legend has it that it was taken from the hoof of Charlemagne's charger and fixed on this door in the pre- sence of Roland and the Archbishop Tur- pin. This story should be included in the fascinating " Legends of Flo- rence " collected by Charles Godfrey Le- land! The Carlovin- gian epoch was more vivid and popular in Italy than in any other European country. The bal- lads of the highways were a direct source of inspiration even to Boiardo and Ariosto, and conse- quently this age was represented in a very picturesque manner. The epic horse-shoe dedicat- ed by the paladins to St. Stephen was first mentioned in a chronicle by Henri de Bornier, who invented brides for gallant knights, daughters for Roland, and sons for Piero Aretino. But the " Chanson de Roland ", itself, must be allotted to France alone. The greater value, however, of this church, so unfortunately tampered with by Tacca, lies in its later historic memories, for it was Borgo SS. Apostoli. 64- FLORENCE here, from this same pulpit, under these arches, that Giovanni Boccaccio in 1373, upon the request of his fellow citizens, publicly explained the text of Dante's " Divina Commedia ", and was granted 100 golden florins by the Commune of Florence. The true Florence of early times we find in the same quarter where Dante was born and grew up; in the chuch known as the Badia and in the Palazzo Bargello. The Florentines have established their National Museum, in the ancient Palace of Justice or the Palazzo del Podest& which was the original name of the Bargello They could not have chosen a better building to guard their relics than this feudal castle with its severe and defaced contours. The fact that both the building and the collection it contains (except that of Carrand which is out of place here) belong to the Florence of early days and bear no marks of the modern city, makes this Mu- seum of unique va- lue. All the treasures of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centu- ries collected here bear witness to true Florentine greatness and real Tuscan art. Nothing could be more beautiful or imposing. The present pa- lace with its austere lines and embattled tower was rebuilt in Borgo SS. Apostoli. -65- FLORENCE the fourteenth century on the foundation and ruins of a castle dating from 1250. Within its walls was administered the so-called " Justice " of those days. There dwelt in all her terrifying power the goddess who, according to a poet, is : " That old human Themis with bandaged eyes " Who let Jesus be crucified by crime and vice " And counts God as one of her liberated convicts. " She was indeed well lodged within this proud building with its staircase, now decorated with escutcheons, mounting grandly in the open air to a loggia of noble outline on the first landing. There is a room in the Bargello con- taining arms which are the remains of a collec- tion pillaged in the Donatella. Si. George. eighteenth century. We find here fal- conets, cannons and cul- verins, swords and fire-arms, of a rather in- ferior period, and all the odds and ends of ancient wars. Now and again our atten- tion is arrested by some fine object which makes us regret that this collection was mu- tilated owing to the stupidity and greed of an ignorant age. What would be the value to-day of the articles that were given away for the sum of 12,823 Italian lire in 1775, taking into consideration the work and the metal, gold, silver, steel, and the costly chasing? There must have been some splendid specimens of armour; those remaining are 66 Donatella. David. FLORENCE of the sixteenth century and consist of battered iron corselets which we are told were used by the powerful troops led by their gallant founder, Giovanni delle Bande Nere. An attendant at the Museum told me one day that the Prince Imperial, wanted to try on one of these cuirasses and, in spite of his being muscular and athletic owing to his exile in England, he could not stand its weight; yet this armour did not crush the troopers of the Great Medici. The men of that age are recalled to our memory by the feudal escutcheons which we find on the walls of the courtyard. Near the corner of the little Piazza Sant' Appolonia an ancient inscription in Leonine verse dates from the year 1255. And we come across the coats-of-arms of the Podest and the Jud- ges of Rota who lived here in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, wliile under the arches of the porticos the em- blems of the va- rious parts of the city are en- graved and painted. The stones of the palace were trampled upon and damaged during the riots caused by the acquittal of that terrible man, Corso Donati, Michelangelo. The Madonna. - 67 - Donatella. St. John the Baptist. Michelangelo. Brutus. in 1295, an d by the assault of 1304 led by the Adimari. Fire and flood ravaged it, yet it only grew more dig- nified and beautiful. According to some old documents, " this an- cient Palace was em- battled by means of corbels and brackets, and its roof was vault- ed from underneath in such a manner that it could never afterwards be set on fire ". Be- neath these battle- ments were painted the escutcheons of the Church, the House of Anjou, the People, and the Commune. Con- cealed spouts were ar- ranged on the roof for pouring water on the passers-by. Even the vaults of the Palazzo del Podesta were decorated by the painters. Fine diapered windows served as ornamentation of the tower, and the iron lion on the top stood out against the Florentine sky. His brother, the Marzocco the fetish of the city, was seated at the foot of the steps. The cyma used to bear the inscription " Si leorugiet, quis non timebit? " above which stood the lion; but unfortunately these words cannot now be distinguished. The museum also contains the finest pieces of Tuscan sculpture, at least all those which were deprived of the privilege of remaining where the artists originally placed them, either on the buildings or in the gardens which they were destined to decorate. For no matter how The Bargello. 68 FLORENCE beautiful a museum, it is but a place of exile for a work of art, especially for objects made of bronze and stone. One of the rooms is devoted to Benedetto, a sculptor born at Ro- vezzano, a little suburb on the outskirts of Florence. First we see the fragments of the great work which this delightful artist undertook for the monks of Val- lombrosa, and, perhaps in order to em- phasize the contrast between grace and strength, one of Michelangelo's proudest statues, the Bust of Brutus has been placed next to Be- nedetto. The Brutus is un- finished, as is the Virgin of the Medici Chapel, and is perhaps even more beautiful because of this, for it seems to show the very marks of the chisel and mallet applied by Buonarotti, that unri- valled master. The Masque Ricciarelli. Bust of Michelangelo. of a Faun next to a. Madonna with Jesus and St. John the Baptist in bas-relief show us once more the two aspects of Michelangelo's genius, that of a satyr and believer. There are some very fine bells in the gallery which overhangs the inner court. One of them, cast by Bartolomeo of Pisa, is of the thirteenth century. Dante might have heard its sound, which resembles that of a little cow bell. Cast in 1249, it evidently pleased the artist who made it so much that he inscribed on it the words : " Bartolomeo of Pisa made me ". Another bell of the fifteenth century bears the inscription " May the Lord be praised, may our country be free ! " Thus these old bells of Tuscany still speak to us after having sung for so long ! The large room contains Donatello's works. To celebrate the 5Ooth anniversary of this artist, all his original works, as well as casts from his principal masterpieces scattered over Italy and other countries, 69 FLORENCE were gathered together in one building, but this collection pre- sents a greater interest from the documentary than from the artis- tic point of view. The Marzocco or lion, holding the Florentine coat-of-arms, which long stood in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, has been moved to this museum for preservation. Nothing is lacking to make his glory com- plete. There is even an inscription written in 1379 by the Florentine writer Franco Sachetti and in- Mino da Fiesole. The Virgin. herited by Marzocco from his predecessor, the primitive lion. This inscription runs as follows : " I hold the crown of my great country in order that Liberty should be maintained by everyone ! " The statue of St. George in marble, first placed on Or San Michele by the smiths, was afterwards removed and now stands here, a proud figure of- a youthful conqueror. The same spirit that animates this marble is radiated from the bronzes of the youths, St. John the Baptist and David. These are creations of a new ge- nius, natural and, if one may say so, of this earth, a genius which takes human beings as they are in full freedom of life and crudeness of form, and sets them before us without the slightest altera- tion of shape or movement. The youth Verrocchio. David. 70 FLORENCE shown in bas-relief, with his thoughtful mystical face and large sad eyes, and the arro- gant nervous figure with its defiant air and muscles tighten- ed by the tension of the body, are equally excellent in their craftsmanship. The originals of these works were taken straight from the streets of Florence or from the country meadows and were modelled either naked or covered with a skin from a sheep or a wolf, and they are excellent because they are true to life; they really lived and they still live for us to-day. Then comes the head of an old man, probably Niccolo da Uzzano. Nothing is lacking in the harmony of this re- pellant bust. The close-cropped head, the shrunken features, the squinting eyes under lids lifted by the sad effort of old age all is masterly. Even the crude colours with which the bust has been daubed do not spoil the realistic effect. In connection with this work, the accusation of moulding on A . della Robbia. The Virgin and Child. the living body, once made against Rodin, has been mentioned. Alas ! the mentality of the envious and fools never changes. In the ancient Chapel of the Condemned, in the old oratory dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, Dante's picture was discovered under a thick 71 FLORENCE Pollaiuolo. A Young Warrior. layer of paint, on the 2ist July 1840, and also those of Giotto (who painted the first mentioned fresco) and Guido Cavalcanti;- three splendid figures, great men of the great age in Florentine thought and art. Through the will of a friend I received the first copy of Dante's portrait, painted at the time when the original was discovered, by Sturler, a pupil of Ingres, who then lived in Florence and has since illustrated the Divina Commedia. Being an ardent follower of Ingres, he has reproduced, the features of Alighieri. It is Dante in his early days, with a sensitive, nervous face in which, despite its youthfulness we already see the Etruscan traits and tragic expression of the later Dante, the disconsolate exile. The copyist has inscribed on a white label : " Dipinto da Giotto in Firenze, restituito alia luce da A. Marini " and in a fold of the ribbon : " copiato dal originalo da A. D. Sturler nel 1840. " This copy bequeathed to me by Albert Boulanger Gave (Inspecteur des Beaux- Arts), who received it from Sturler himself, is of the same period as the water- colour by Kirkup. Both copies are relics. In this Chapel of the Condemned, un- til the eighteenth century, those sentenced to death were attended by the Black Friars during their last hours on earth. The un- fortunate men on the threshold of death rested their eyes on the picture of the great poet who had pre- ^^J ceded them beyond the grave. Dante and their mournful wat- chers were with them, as Cathe- rine of Siena was with the pri- soner Nicholas Tuldo, even on the scaffold. It would Mino da Fiesole. A Bust. 72 FLORENCE be a relief to think that Girolamo Savonarola that great lover of Dante, had been put into this chapel on the eve of his death, and that he, too, could have rested his eyes on the poet's picture. But unfortunately he was kept in the Alberghettino, in the inner- most recesses of the Tower of the Signoria, and it was there that the innocent mar- tyr reached the height of his sacrifice be- fore being burnt at the stake in the Piazza Grande. Fine jewellery, crosses, monstrances and church fur- niture, ivories, crystals and am- bers have been collected in this Chapel and its sacristy. Finally we enter the room containing the great bronzes. Here we see again the master- pieces of Donatello, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Vecchietta and Verrocchio. Vecchietta who, among these artists, is the least known abroad and who, accord- ing to a notice put up here, was " a goldsmith, painter, sculptor and architect ", is represented by a superb recumbent statue for a tomb in bronze. Whether producing busts of veiled women or Ducal sta- Bust of a Duke of Burgundy wrongly stated to be Machiavelli. Desiderio da Settignano. Bust of a Young Girl. tues, the Tuscan artists plunged themselves entirely into their work. If the " Head in Wax ", that jewel of the Lille museum, was called a moulding, are the similarly realistic works that fill the churches of Florence less beautiful for their realism? 73 FLORENCE Nothing is more difficult than to paint or model a child. To fix those fleeting effects of an ever- changing expression, scarcely form- ed, and resembling a breeze that glides over the waves or lightly touches a flower, to give a definite and accurate picture of the in- tangible, is almost to attempt the impossible. And yet sculptors like Desiderio da Settignano and Mino da Fiesole succeeded in such ven- , , , , ,,, , tures by sheer grace and subtlety Pisanello. Medal portrait of John Paleologue. of style. Their works make us understand so well the charming passage from Ghiberti's memoirs with regard to an an- cient statue : " It has a thousand delights, im- perceptible to the eye, whether in strong or medium light, but acces- sible to the touch of our fingers. " And indeed one would like to caress such forms in order to , J T/- ,- appreciate them fully. Medal portrait of Philip Maria Visconti. The sentence in which Ghiberti bestows praise on Giotto by saying : " It seems as if all his genius is de- rived from Nature, ' could be applied to all the true Tuscan masters. It is Nature again, but in a simpler form, that Pisanello. Medal portrait of Alfonso of Aragon. FLORENCE illuminates the severe, hardened features of Michelangelo who, as an old man, inspired Daniel Ricciarelli da Voltaira to model his bust in bronze. This poor devil, da Voltaira, had the misfortune to be obliged to execute the hypocritical opera- tion on the frescoes of Buona- rotti which gained him the name of the " breeches-maker ". He was regarded as an indiffer- ent artist, and yet, through his great love and gratitude for his old teacher, Michelan- gelo, he was able to display a spark of real genius. He creat- ed a head of a Titan with a face full of melancholy and contrasting lines furrowed by three-quarters or more of a troubled century. And in this rugged form Michelangelo seems to live before us once again as in that famous picture where he is painted in his old studio cap and old Roman cloak. Jean Boulogne, the sculp- or of Douai, who was adopted by Italy under the name of Giovanni da Bologna, is es- pecially famous for his flying figures of Mercury. But we find . , .. .., , ,. Giovanni delle Bande Nere here better things than these. by Francesco di San Gallo. The birds of prey which seem to be soaring aloft, eagles, and a turkey spreading its tail, originally mo- delled as decorations for the Medicean Villa di Castello where Giovanni delle Bande Nere spent his childhood, these are works of a master dis- playing the traditions of a sculptor- naturalist, and the craftsmanship without compare which is so manifest in the museums of old Rome. 75 FLORENCE Among other treasures there are busts of a Burgundian Duke who passed for a long time as Machiavelli (and indeed this brutal head would suit the Florentine , historian well), of Francesco Sassetti by Antonio Rossellino, of Piero Melini by Benedetto da Maiano, and of Matteo Pal- mieri who left some exquisite legends on Dante and was modelled by Antonio Rossellino as early as 1468. This bust, having stood long over the door of the Palazzo Palmieri, became defaced by the sun and rain. Pollaiuolo is represented by a figure of a young warrior with a face full of the arrogance and elegant insolence so characteristic of the fifteenth century. We also find here the best work of Francesco di San Gallo, the statue of Giovanni delle Bande Nere, that hero of the fifteenth century, and that of the French King, Charles VIII, whose pathetic figure is admirably execut- ed by an unknown sculptor. It would be difficult to enumerate all the works that haunt our memory for ever. What is a library in comparison with these immortal figures ani- mated by supreme art? To add to our knowledge of the great masters, the Mu- seum contains a collection of medals, which include magni- ficent specimens. There are medals by Pisanello showing triumphant faces, and those by San Gallo confirming and au- thenticating his finest work, for this artist was in the habit of making a medal of the original simultaneously with each of his busts (as in the case of his Gio- vanni delle Bande Nere). Tomb of Hugo d'Andebourg. 76 Quite close to the Bargello the belfry of the Badia stands out against the Flo- rentine sky. We recall the pas- sage which that morbid magi- cian Gabriele d'Annunzio in- serted among the horrors of his novel : " The stones of the Bargello were heaped up against a silvery sky. The blue Campanile of the Badia await- ed the first star to light up its spire. " By some miracle the old tower was treated with respect in the destructive seventeenth century and, while so many churches in Italy and elsewhere were spoilt, this Benedictine Abbey which had already been rebuilt in the thirteenth, was well restored in the seventeenth century. A passage from Dante's Paradise (XV. 97. 99) refers to this old campanile : " Florence within the circle of these ancient walls, " Where even now resound terce and nones, " Stood peaceful, pure and sober. " And by some very old commentators it is added : "In the said walls there is an ancient church called la Badia, whose bells chime terce and nones and other hours, and by these sounds men of various A Street with the Bargello. 77 FLORENCE trades begin and end their working day. " Thus the Florence of earlier days is revealed to us, restrained and industrious, the true Florence with her austere life and great art. In spite of its misfortunes the Abbey of the Black Friars preserves within its walls some great works of Tuscan art. The tomb of Gianozzo Pandolfini by Desi- derio da Settignano or his pupils; and the three mas- terpieces by Mino da Fiesole; namely, the tomb of Bernardo Guigui; the monument to Hugo d'Ande- bourg, the Marquis Imperial of Tuscany and founder of this monastery in the tenth century; and the altar with the figures of the Virgin, San Leonardo and >*, San Lorenzo which is almost a replica of that other admirable altar in the Cathedral at Fiesole. The subtle and sensitive Mino, who is repre- sented in the Tomb of Hugo d'Andebourg Bargello by (detail). the beautiful busts of Piero and Giovanni de' Medici (1454 and 1463), Rinaldo of the Moon, and that of a Young Woman in profile on which we read the charming words : "It is due to Mino that I saw light, " this pure-blooded Tuscan, son of divine Fiesole, lavishes his masterpieces on us with a generous hand.' There is only one painting in the Badia, the finest work of Filippino Lippi, St. Bernard's Vision of the Madonna. This picture is valued all the more when it is realized how worthy the work- manship and the subject are of each other. For the painter was inspired by the faithful knight of Our Lady, the Saint who composed so many ser- The Abbey. Chapel Door -78 Filippino Lippi. The Madonna appearing to St. Bernard. mons in praise of the Virgin and completed the " Salve Regina ". the noble Saint who led Dante to the feet of St. Mary in the Paradiso. It would be difficult to find more admirable execution than in this masterpiece of the boys of Fiesole and Mugello, those little shepherds whom I saw but yesterday on the slopes of Monte Giovi between San Michele and San Clementi, the pure, angelic profiles of their sweet faces rapt in ecstasy in the presence of the Mother of God. In addition to these great wonders, the Badia possesses tapestries of gold brocade faced with velvet dating from the fifteenth century. 79 FLORENCE When the good Brother saw us admiring these splendid fabrics which decorate the panels of the church with their sombre lustre, he simply remarked that " there was enough stuff to cover the walls of the Badia several times over ". Outside there is a small cloister with orange trees, poor, city-grown orange trees, and yet delightful. And on the other side in the Via Pro- consulo we find the neighbouring church of San Proculo where Giovanni delle Bande Nere and Maria Salicati were married in the middle of November 1516. The Badia whose bells chimed the hours to Dante, is the centre of the quarter where the poet lived. His house is quite close, at the foot of the Tower San Martino, and he was registered among the citizens of the Parish of San Martino Vescovo. This part of the town has never changed. It is a dark little borough in a powerful city, with not much space between the narrow, tall buildings which rise alongside the towers as though struggling for air and light. When Dante wanted to see the sun and the stars, he had to go to the Piazza del Duomo or to his beloved villa on the outskirts of Florence. Michelangelo. Masque of a Faun. 80 Piazza di Santa Croce. CHAPTER II Dante, the Franciscan, never saw the Church of the Brothers of the Minor Order, which, with its huge cloisters, was to replace the ancient Church and the Refuge granted to the Franciscans so that they might build in their place the future Santa Croce. He would have loved this austere and simple church, made to hold a pious people and to resound to the echo of popular sermons. The appall- ing facade with its " Turkish bath " style, does not debase it any more than the absurd statue of Dante spoils the old square, with its picturesque houses, beneath the crystalline light. Italy regards Santa Croce as her Pantheon, but it is not for this that we come here. 81 FLORENCE Seen from the square, what could be more beautiful than the noble Church of St. Francis, with its slender campanile ? From the neighbouring gardens and from the terraces which hang above it along the Lung'Arno, it is particularly striking, for from there one can see the sides, the flying buttresses, the proud unbroken line of the primitive design. Even the colour, a pale pink which baffles description, is delightful. We can almost believe that the skies have bequeathed to the Florentine churches the colours of the dawn, the fires of mid-day, the purple of sunsets, the witchery of moonlight, that their stones are steeped in them and coloured by them. Donatello would again have had precedence in Santa Croce with his strange Annunciation and his Crucifix, had not Luca della Robbia triumphed over him with his two old saints and more especially with a St. Francis of Assisi, which has been placed reverently against the light. Here we are in the domain of St. Francis, and every detail recalls him, culminating in the triumphal frescoes of Giotto. On the pulpit carved by Benedetto da Maiano the history of the Saint is depicted in marvellous little carvings. Santa Croce. Modern Facade and Campanile. 82 Santa Croce from the Cloisters. -83 FLORENCE Set in the wall is a sepulchre, which is regarded as the most famous in this city of tombs : that of Leonardo Bruno Aretino, in which two geni support the escutcheon proudly and gracefully. The historian of Florence is ^K worthily entombed. The other monument, to Marsuppini, the work of Desiderio da Settignano, would be almost too pre- tentious if one dared to find fault with so rich a fantasy. Not only were the noble frescoes white- washed in the sixteenth and in the eighteenth cen- tury, but in the nineteenth century this coating was re- moved and, as the guide who conducts strangers around proudly remarks, " the pro- fessors repainted them ". And this in truth the profes- sors did, with monumental impudence. The ghosts of the ancient masterpieces still show through from beneath these presumptuous embel- lishments, but where is the primitive splendour, the tra- gic beauty of Assisi? Among the side chapels we are assured that there is one where Dante received the robe and the " cord about his loins of the Franciscans. " I had a cord bound around me Donatella. The Annunciation. the insignia of the Third Order (Inferno XVI, 106). - 84 - FLORENCE And the ancient commentators say : " The cord that he bound around him signified that he belonged to the Minor Order, but he was not received into the Order in his infancy ". Behind the great cloisters is the Chapel of the Pazzi, the most famous from the point of view of art because it was designed by Brunelleschi and its cupolas were de- corated by Luca della Robbia. The Evan- gelists and the Apostles surround the cu- pola and decorate the walls. One may be forgiven for preferring the four Evangelists, more subdued in colour and more noble in attitude, to the Apostles with their blatant co- louring. The artist was not Tomb of Leonardo Bruno. always able to overcome the great temp- tation of the worker in faience, even here. Leaving this Franciscan temple where the fervour of love and the majesty of death resound under our steps, we go out into the suburbs which surround the Church of the Poor Man of Assisi. This is the ancient, the true Flo- rence, without well-dressed people, without motor cars. Near here is the old Via Ghibellina, where stands the house of Michelangelo. It contains no treasures of sculpture or design, but the pious tradi- tion which has preserved it for Florence, has maintained in it a feeling of touching Della Robbia. St. Francis. FLORENCE intimacy. One can almost see the little man with his huge hat, buried in his great coat, his face pointed, drawn, as he is shown in the most curious of his portraits, a likeness which seems ready to speak, as that other of Beethoven, hag- gard and unkempt. And here is the narrow chamber for which alone the house was worth preserving : the room of Michelan- gelo. It was in this obscure corner that the master of sculp- ture and fresco, the subduer of marble and colour, the builder of St. Pe- ter's, the Dante of concrete form, dreamed his vast dreams. An old sword, a stick, and slippers have been placed there. Au- thentic or not, these relics add a touch of childlike Santa Croce. The Interior. simplicity to the narrow den : and it is touching to see how they bring home to us the human eccentri- cities of this great genius. Near by, at the corner of the Via dell'Agnolo, that statue of the Madonna once stood which now adorns the courtyard of the Bargello. They took it down when it would have sufficed to protect it. But it is 86 The Pazzi Chapel. Frieze of the Evangelists. the same with the shrines at the cross-roads they are always being destroyed or taken away. No municipal councillor could ever become resigned to leaving these old streets alone I A little further on is S. Ambrogio, the Church of the people, which receives the peculiar " incense " of the great market close by. This church possesses a fine altar by Mino and the beautiful fresco of Cosimo Rosselli, more beautiful and interesting because of the portraits in it, which are very convincing owing to their Floren- tine costumes, such as were worn at the end of the fifteenth century. They are life itself, a miracle of painting, depicted with elegance and devotion. It was a pleasing custom among the great Florentine families to give their name to the foundation or embellishment of a church. The head of a Moor or a ne- gro with a head-band, which is the emblem .of the Pucci, adorns the doorway of SS. Annunziata, even as on the architrave Santa Croce. The Pulpit. -87 - FLORENCE SS. Annunziata. The Cloisters. of a more famous church we recognise the emblem of the Ruccellai. Among the more noble churches of Florence, SS. Annunziata attracts us by its sense of life and on account of the affection in which it is held by everyone, even by the inhabitants of the city themselves : it is cheerful and beloved of the people, a little tawdry, ornate, truly Italian, with its incessant coming and going. For all that, it contains many wonderful things. In the first place in the cloister we find that old marble carving, the bas-relief of a horse- man in a coat of mail on a galloping charger. It is the French bailiff of Aimeri de Narbonne, the honest Guillaume de Durfort, who fought in the Florentine army at Campaldino, where Dante first bore arms. This church contains the chapels where the Florentine artists are buried. Benvenuto Cellini lies here, for even a person possessed must rest at last. The house where he passed his erratic, tempestuous life is quite near in the Via della Pergola, N 57. Andrea del Sarto is also buried in this church, but his real memory 88 FLORENCE survives here in that by which alone an artist should be recalled : his works. A Holy Family of incom- parable beauty, and some frescoes, unfortunately under glass, but of great freshness and charm, reveal the master in all his power and naive elegance, with that delicate brush work which he knew so well how to shower on the completed fresco like a kind of magic pollen. Near the Chapel of the Pucci and next to that fascinating Museum of Anthropo- logy where I passed so many happy hours with Montegazza and Papini, is the house built by Andrea, where- in he died, and about which de Mus- set wrote his drama, " The House of Andre " : There is also in SS. Annunziata, on SS . A nnunziata . Iron-work of well-head. a well-head, a most beautiful lily of wrought iron, of which Quentin Matsys and the Antwerp school could well be envious. There is much fine crafts- manship in gold and silver on pious subjects, and some rather doubtful statues, such as that of the sinister Bishop of Marzi, who countersigned the safe-conduct for Lorenzaccio, a fugitive from justice, after the murder of Duke Alexander. All this is some- what in disorder as must have been the waxen heads once placed here as ex-voto offerings, whose removal we can only deplore. This picturesque disorder con- tinues in the pretty square, which catches every ray of sunshine and in which play the famous The Tacca Fountain. 89 FLORENCE fountains, designed by Tacca, looking like an illustration for Ariosto. One of the least known, but most interesting museums of Florence, well arranged by a worthy savant, adjoins SS. Annunziata. This is the Archeological or Etruscan Museum, situated in a beautiful palace and surrounded by delightful gardens. The Etruscans are for Florence the purest growth of the race. It was their traditions and legends which inspired Dante Alighieri. I have written this before and I find to confirm my statement the following passage, hitherto unpublished, by Gabriele d'Annunzio : " This winged witness, Sadness, the sadness of the Etruscan Muse, this was the com- panion in exile and in Hell of the great Etruscan, wrapped in his black melancholy. Have you never thought that Dante took the art of the Etruscan vase-painters and glorified it with his all powerful touch? Is not the first Canto made up of red figures on a black ground and black figures on a red ground? Can you not discern in his works the glow of Cosimo Rosselli. Procession and Miracle of the Sacrament (S. Ambrogio) . 90 Andrea del Sarto. Birth of the Virgin. that metallic black seen on certain pottery ? And his shades, do they not resemble the living in the same way as the Manes sculptured on those alabasters? " The Etruscan race has a feeling for tombs and it can be seen every- where how all the greatest Florentine art centres round sepulchres. They did well to grant a place in the gardens of the Museums to the specimens of Etruscan tombs, with their curious frescoes and their funerary furnish- ings. While it cannot take the place of a journey to Chiusi or to Volterra, an inspection of these is a splendid preparation for the glories of Etruscan art which are to be seen in the galleries there. It was the Etruscans who created the Inferno and perhaps also the Purgatory, and their art is FLORENCE 1 I < ID suited to those strange reveries which even seduced the limpid soul of the Greeks and the genius of Plato. How fascinating it is to wander among these fantastic forms, with their poignant and mysterious appeal ! The dark enchanted kingdom of mourning and vainly sought slumber is revealed by never-to-be-forgotten figures and scenes. If it be true that art is great and pathetic in so far as it resembles a dream, or even a nightmare, how greatly should we feel its force here, where the spell is so strong that one forgets the outside world the hollow world of to-day. Whether they are pottery, sepulchral monu- ments, armour, bronzes or vases, they all speak the strange and sacred tongue of the ancient religions and customs only half-revealed to us, which pre- vailed in Italy be- fore the days of Lucretius and Virgil. It was the ancient soil of Tuscany which restored to us long hidden treasures, certain little bronzes so beautiful that the Duke of Florence and Benvenuto Cellini took pleasure in cleaning them, when they once again saw the light. Into what ecstasies would the Chimera of Arezzo have thrown Edmund de Goncourt had it come from Japan ! In any case this winged monster, this heraldic beast with formidable claws, found a champion to commemorate its resurrection in the pen of its com- patriot, yet another monster vomitted by Arezzo, Piero Aretino. It would have needed greater I The Arezzo Minerva. The Idolino (Etruscan Museum) FLORENCE genius than his to describe adequately the charming little Minerva with its exquisite patina of oxidised metal. It was in the same soil of Arezzo that she lay hidden for so long. How divine she is, this goddess of An Etruscan Bas-relief. intelligence and rhythm, or of wisdom if you like, for true wisdom is perfect harmony. What could be more fascinating than a mirror? When a name was sought for the most beautiful of the lakes among the Alban mountains, it was called " The Mirror of Diana ". All feminine beauty of face and expression is reflected in the mystery of this almost magic object. And when it is ancient it seems as if eyes long closed have left in it their charm. There is in the Archeological Museum a certain mirror which lay for centuries near the Chimera in the dumb and frozen earth. I have a copy of it before me. It is round like the moon from which, perhaps, it is mo- delled. Its handle is adorned with very intricate filigree work which resembles the delicate water plants of inland lakes. And I believe that here, in the depths of the Archeological Museum, during the clear Tuscan nights, the Minerva of green bronze slips down to view her beauty in this mirror, in which of old the gods beheld themselves. 93 Bust of a Pharaoh. FLORENCE x A few fine fragments from Egypt and some gems from the art of Greece rest side by side with these relics of Etruria, daughter of one and contemporary of the other. The bust of a Pharaoh in red granite is magni- ficent. It is well worthy of a place in the Egyptian Museum at Turin, unique in all Europe, or in the vast halls of the Vatican where there are so many treasures. It was a happy thought to group around the sacred pictures and pagan statues nu- merous articles of common use, and thus to surround these half legendary people with much that can explain to us their mode of life. Similarly, in the other collection, of which the jewel is the Greek bronze statue of a youth so justly named " Little Idol ", Idolino, nothing is more touching than to find, with their almost Latin names, " vomere ", " bidente ", the workmen's tools still rusty from the earth of the fields, the spade, the hoe, the pick, the rake, the ploughshare, everything that brings Virgil back to us so clearly. " Dicendum est quae sint agrestibus arma ". These are in truth the sacred weapons, the most beautiful that a man can wield in times of peace. Another part of the ancient convent which forms this mu- seum contains rich tapestries, embroideries and ancient ma- terials, and, in addition to the delightful wardrobe of Signer Victor Alfieri, there are won- derful clothes of all colours, with magnificent and outlandish but- tons, which were produced in such quantities in the eighteenth century, that epoch of masque- The Chimera of Arezzo. 94 FLORENCE rade especially in Italy. It is interesting to imagine the august father of Myrrha in this motley garb. The tapestries are particularly good, especially those designed by Bacchiacca and Bronzino. And from France, the reproduc- tion of the marriage feast of Henry III and Catherine de' Medici, and the rich Gobe- lins whose borders display the produce of the earth and the monsters of the sea, are of unique beauty. This Museum, among specimens of the rarest carved stones, so charm- ing that one could spend an after- Michelangelo. David. Profile. noon before each case, also con- tains the precious collection of Florentine coins, collected by or- der of the Magistrature and con- tinued up to the time subsequent to the People's Government. There are more tapestries in the entrance of the mediocre building known as the Accademia delle Belle Arti, but these are semi-fabulous in subject. In par- ticular there is an exquisite Ter- restrial Paradise, with a fair Eve, beautiful enough to account for any sins, even those most diffi- cult to explain, such as Original Sin. And the old expression, " les Michelangelo. David. Full face FLORENCE Filippino Lippi. Death of the Virgin (fragment). betes de tapisserie ", was never better illustrated than by the hordes of fabulous animals which form the varied and sumptuous cortdge of our first parents. The first exhibit in this museum devoted to the arts is the largest sculpture in Florence, the David of Michelangelo. It is too celebrated for us to swell the numbers of its followers, but it can be proud of having inspired a worthy local guide to make the following remark . " This David is a colossus modelled from a boy with an ideal head. It gains much in beauty and in movement if seen through a diminishing glass. " What a chance for the shortsighted ! This reminds me of the mirrors with which they supply you at the Sistine Chapel so that one can admire without inconvenience the frescoes on the ceilings which have caused so many stiff necks ! The valuable and instructive collection of Tuscan paintings in the Accademia building contains many well-worn pictures and many which have suffered from the attention of the restorer. But the whole is a splen- did collection for the student ; certain masters, such as Gentile da Fabri- ano, being represented in great numbers, and others, such as Perugino and Ghirlandajo, from an entirely new aspect. In addition there are* the predellas, those tiny pictures which were intended to compose the gradino, the sectional cornice supporting large 96 FLORENCE altar-pieces such as the famous ones of Filippino Lippi and Sandro Botticelli, and which allow the imagination of the artists to have full play in the charming sketches of familiar subjects such as St. Eligius as a black-smith. And, although Angelico's huge Last Judgment is naive and full of life, it is in the series of small pictures that his art is best re- vealed to us. Everything representative of ancient Tuscan art is here in the Accademia. The shepherds of Ghirlandajo and the monks of Perugino are such living portraits that the figures in other pictures seem idealistic and almost fantastic beside them. And, as decoration for a marriage coffer, an old painter has portrayed the marriage of Boccaccio Adimari and Lina Riccasoli in priceless pictures which recall for us, even as do the old illuminators, the life of other times and mediaeval Florence in all her delicate glamour. Little figures which seem to have escaped from an Tobias and the Three Archangels (Painter unknown). 97 FLORENCE old pack of cards file before our eyes with a simple roguishness ; youths in corselets, damsels in tall peaked caps and with stupendous trains ! One seems almost able to follow the cortdge as it passes under the flowery loggia to the sound of fife and trumpet. Quite near, there is a sacred spot where Fra Angelico reigns supreme. This is the Cloister of San Marco, and if, on returning here, I dare not repeat the cry of my youth " A whole cloister painted by Angelico ! ", at least one can see within it all the beautiful thought which the mystical painter bestowed so lovingly on his work. Nothing has been destroyed of the work which the good Brother accomplished during the nine years he spent here; at S. Dominico in Fiesole his memory alone remains, here his paintings are intact. " A monk famous as a painter " says the critic in solemn Baedeker. It would seem that one can reverse this statement and say " a painter famous as a monk ". And by some strange chance, this son of San Domi- FLORENCE nico had, as a monk, something of the spirit of Saint Francis. Love, the Charity of God, the Gospel of Saint John, such is the flame pure and inextinguishable which inspires all his art. First of all there is the Crucifixion, his masterpiece among many masterpieces. Even the most doubting of amateurs must feel the spell of this picture. Even the selfish and egotistic softens before this miracle. And the greatest miracle pictured on the is the expression on the faces and in attitude of the saints assembled at the foot of the cross where the Master of their souls is dying. In addition to this monumental work, San Marco also contains the wnt. most charming and the purest of the pictures painted by the happy Brother. This is the Annunciation, surrounded by the gems brought from the sacristy of Santa Maria Novella, and near the little Madonna of the Star. This is the most beautiful of the pictures painted by the 99 gentle mas- ter. Nothing could be more sweet than this An- nunciation. The Angel kneels be- fore the Bles- sed Virgin who listens and regards the figure with tender reverence, her arms crossed over her breast as if to still the beating of her heart. She bends her beautiful head, attentive, obedient. The Christians of those days had such true faith in the divine mystery that the Virgin of Angelico received without fear the commands of her God; and the miracle performed in her and by her is accepted by the young maiden without surprise. So many other masters from age to age have represented Mary as frightened by the Angel, her modesty a little affronted ; this one painted by Fra Angelico is so chaste that the thought of maternity could not cloud her pure brow. She accepts, she bows, she rejoices. The Marriage of Boccaccio Adimari and Lina Riccasoli. Benedicta tu in mulieribus. " In the cells of the novices, Fra Angelico amused himself by edifying the little monks with a se- ries of mys- tical fres- coes. The The Marriage of Boccaccio Adimari. FLORENCE most brilliant is perhaps the Crowning of the Virgin, the triumphal apotheosis of the incredible existence brought about after the Annun- ciation a mother crowned by her son, by her God and on the humble wall of this cell a miracle has been wrought. The Marriage of Boccaccio Adimari. In a lunette there is an image of St. Peter the Martyr, finger on lip, counselling silence. Admirable counsel for the sons of Saint Dominic whose property this building is. Did Girolamo Savonarola, whose cell is a few paces away, with his relics, his manuscripts, and his admirable and cruel portrait by another Dominican, Brother Bartolomeo della Porta, ever lift his great shortsighted eyes to the picture which gave him such a good example ? A curious old picture, copied from the origi- nal in the Corsini Gallery, shows the martyrdom of the monk in the Piazza della Signoria; ancient Florence of militant liberty and tyrannic democracy rejoiced to see his ashes flung into the Arno that day. But that Florence is crushed for ever, under the most sordid of yokes, that of the plutocracy. Over the stake where Savonarola died they raised the golden calf, to which we all bow the knee nowadays. 101 FLORENCE In San Marco, to recall to us the old Florence of struggles and factions which was so joyously destroyed half a century ago, are collected many Fra Angelica. The Beheading of SS. Cosimo and Damian. beautiful old stones, escutcheons, pious bas-reliefs, old debris which was thrown out of the houses. Under the little belfry, decorated with red finials, which rang the knell of the Florentine republic, has been gathered much that bears witness to its strength and beauty. These remnants; the flowers that spring up one by one before the cloisters which contain these relics of the living past; a beautiful basin of clear water where goldfish swim; what more is necessary to create a haven for pleasure or repose? Going out through the splendid grille of the pharmacy we experience one of these truly Florentine contrasts as we enter the Chiostro della Scalzo, which is quite near, to study more of the work of Andrea del Sarto. After the mystic life so sublimely portrayed in San Marco, we find here the realistic art, comprehensive and powerful, of a master who held 102 San Marco. The Cloisters* 103 FLORENCE all nature in his hand in order to exalt its beauty. In this little cloister of the Brotherhood, into which drifts the perfume from the adjacent Medici gardens, the restless and thoughtful Andrea drew these groups conjured up by his imagination, at once so virile and so exquisite. Look at his Faith and the half-naked young man in the Baptism of Saint John; these are finer things than the master has left us elsewhere. The young man makes one think of the strange V-:taYin6Q oonarcnp*Mer ' I i OONC1PIES IKMEK.O r PARU5 f". \M T VOCAbLS NOW :f IHfV.'M LV'.E ' s 7 '' ; - t - T : '"''!' ' ! - i .FVa Angelica. The Annunciation. scene described by St. Mark (XIV 51) after the flight of the Apostles 104 FLORENCE leaving their Holy Master alone : " And there followed Him a cer- tain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his body; and the Fra Angelica. Coronation of the Virgin. young men laid hold on him : And he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. " Do you remember the face of Andrea del Sarto, that excellent crafts- man? A plebian and almost bohemian painter, with burning eyes, sad and brutal at the same time, and with an expression of suffering, mystery and energy. In order to show his skill, he has used here only flat tints and the difficult art of chiaroscuro. The result, however, is rare, and one would have to return to Prudhon to find similar passages in light and shadow and such virtuosity of design, almost without feeling in its mastery and grace. 105 FLORENCE The ancient Palace of the Medici (the Riccardi), was planned by Michelozzo after the designs of his master, Brunelleschi. It is one of the earliest and the most famous of the great Florentine palaces of the first Renaissance, those monuments of wealth and defence. It retains in addition to a majesty of line and a masterful sobriety of or- nament, an interior decoration beyond compare, including a chapel with a fresco painted by Benozzo Gozzoli. This fresco is one of the gems of Florence, in spite of the mutilations and the strange caprice by which it is displayed in a dark chapel where artifi- cial light is necessary to see it. This fairy- like cavalcade of the wise men going towards Bethlehem along the tor- tuous ways of a legendary country is a most brilliant achievement; the handsome lords in gold and bright colours on their splendid chargers, preceded and follow- ed by pages, holding in leash or slipping spotted cheetahs and slender greyhounds; the sparkling cortege winding along amid the jingle of bri- dles decorated with gold and silver and embroidered har- ness; wonderful castles, trees of Eden, rocks of marble where echo the golden-shod hoofs of the white and bay coursers; princes clothed in cloth of gold and crowned with flowers, coloured as a missal or a dream, form a wonderful vision. Continued on another wall, it shows us a glimpse of the celestial world, with crowds of angels, the words of the Gloria shining in their halos, beautiful beyond expression especially those who kneel with the reflection of the glory of God shining on their faces. On leaving this building, we pass the first old dwelling place of the Medici and also the Church of San Giannino, where the body of the first Medicean Duke lies, that Alexander whom Lorenzaccio assassinated 106 FLORENCE " You will all die ", Ariosto declared to these triumphant princes. And die they did by killing one another. That inscription placed on the reverse of a medal is true : " Salus publica ". Such murders make for public health, a cleansing operation, both moral and civic. The Medici are to be found in the church where their sepulchres are built, where Michelangelo and Donatello exhausted all their art in their service, where the most beautiful workmanship is set as a jewel in the pompous tombs of San Lorenzo. The centre of a populous quarter, erected in a square on sloping ground, where the life of the suburbs swarms beneath the sta- tue of Giovanni delle Bande Nere, the church of Brunelleschi, built on the site of an ancient Ambrosian basilica, has retained by the grace of God its simple facade of un- even stones. It has not suffered the shameful veneering which has dishonoured the most fa- mous of its Florentine sisters. Austere and grey, it remains the true image of olden times. All its decorations, espe- cially in the interior, in the old sacristy where Donatello triumphs, whether bronze cordage, the bust of a saint or the tombs of Verrocchio and his beautiful fountain, behind their intricate grille, have this rugged and severe character. This church, even more than Santa Croce, brings back the spirit of the ancient dead. The cloisters are paved with death as are the vesti- bules and the underground chapels. Nevertheless, the monks, who live in queer little nooks, are happy ! Outside the church two memorials have been added ; a Library and the Burial Chapels of the Medici. The Laurentian Library, one of the most beautiful in Italy or in 107 FLORENCE the world, is entered by steps on which stands a grinning figure of Paolo Giovo, erected here by Francis di San Gallo. It was a happy chance that placed the statue here; the Lombard apothecary who was made Bishop by pontifical influence, the bastard and lying histo- rian, a true Purgen in a mitre, is a good door- keeper. Michelangelo de- signed the vestibule, the curious staircase and the huge desks which support the most valuable manuscripts, attached by chains. And as if for contrast, Giovanni da Udino has made stained glass windows of a charming fantastic de- sign, light as air in their brown and golden tints. The library itself, created by men of great taste, such as the early Medici, was saved from disso- lution by that same Sa- vonarola who has so often been accused of vandal- ism and barbarism. It was one of the rare vir- Andrea del Sarlo. Faith. tues of a Pope such as Clement VII that he arranged and housed the treasures which Leo X had begun to collect together after the troublous period of the factions. The arms and emblems of the Medici have a just right to their place on these panes through which the subdued light falls on priceless mosaics and rich illuminations. And, if 1 08 FLORENCE I prefer above all other things among these treasures those which stand out like the Petrarch, an exquisite- portrait of a woman, the wonderful Attavante, or the verses by Lorenzo the Magnificent, illustrated by Botticelli, or some old French manuscript such as a history of St. Anthony, from which one can copy figures worthy of Villon, this is purely a personal taste. And I should never, ignoramus as I know myself to be, dare to give an opinion on the gems of art and science which are heaped together here. Little by little, for some unknown reason, the melancholy always aroused by a library, the scent of death given out by old books, takes possession of us, numbing and imperious. It is the moment to pass on to the mortuary chapels of the Medici. Unless one is in the charge of a savant or of an official of the place, such as my friend the ex- cellent Guido Biagi, whose name will never be for- gotten here, one must leave San Lorenzo and go round it to find the en- trance to the two chapels. The first and most famous, the Sacrestia Nuova, is known all over the world for its tombs built from designs by Michelangelo and carved by his hands. Here are the figures repre- senting Day, Night, Dawn and Twilight, strangely re- cumbent on heavy black marble slabs. Here is in- terred the body of Giuliano, the Duke of Nemours, that Medici who was in the pay of France and a French prince; and his cousin Lo- Bartolomeo della Porta. Portrait of Savonarola, rlEQN/MH ERRAUJtNSN VI Hi- i'I'i-' "Hr l/K'r.hhCilis 109 FLORENCE renzo, the Duke of Urbino, the father of Catherine, Queen of France : one is a bareheaded warrior, his face dwarfed by a thick neck dis- closed by his fantastic armour : the other figure is helmeted, hiding beneath the visor a face dark with shadows of doubt; he was sus- pected of poisoning the handsome herald flaunting near him, his staff of office in his hand. This double memorial is remarkable for a twofold reason; in the first place for the figures of the Princes which preserve for ever the memory of that haughty and dangerous race, the triumphant Medici, and the decadent and insolent authority of a doubtful dynasty; and secondly for the sombre mystery evoked by the rugged figures, especially Night Benozzo Gozzoli. The Procession of the Magi. and Day, so strangely attached to the sloping cornice of the funerary marble. The powerful and rough demi-god, still half enwrapped in unquiet no slumber, the wo- man with her wi- thered body and deformed and pen- dant breasts, they are the formidable forerunners of our modern sculpture, at any rate of that part of it which is of value. These are the first examples of the attempt made by a great master to reveal in marble and stone those emotions whi c h human words can express but poorly, the an- guish and sorrow of our time. These are figures from an Inferno which Dante never des- cribed. It is not the vengeance of God that has overtaken them, it is the horror of a world dumb and dejected, of a night without hope. The Day can give no light, the Dawn cannot break, the Twilight brings no respite to the sufferings of these exhausted creatures, neither can the Night, the empty Night, bring them rest or consolation. They are living corpses. Their sublime flesh is colder than that of the dead beneath the splendid sarcophagus above which they strive unendingly to attain their sad desires. Everything here speaks of the torment of death and the mutability of human effort. Only the figure of Giuliano is well balanced. In order to connect the left elbow and thigh of the other figure known as " The The Riccardi Palace. in FLORENCE Thinker " it was necessary to put a support between the two; draw it, as I have done, more than once, and you will be seized by the cramp which seems to distort this strange figure. As for the four recumbent forms, they seem like tortured bodies awakened from a nightmare. How can I express the delirious anguish which racks us all from age to age, and has done for centuries? Michelangelo laid it bare for us here with his mighty chisel when he hewed his Virgin and Child, which is perhaps his most extravagant work in sculpture. Did he wish to show the pain felt by Mary as she bends over the herculean little god who turns on her with so violent a movement? It is foolish to attribute feelings to the masters; it is enough to bow before their art and to submit without question to their yoke. And no yoke is more heavy and overwhelming than that of Michelangelo. How gay the Florentine streets seem when one emerges after such an encounter ! It is useless to try and rest our exhausted eyes by looking at the interesting and curious tombs of other Medici, which surround the chapel known as the Princes' Chapel. Nevertheless these are a triumph in the art of " pietra dura ", those many -coloured mosaics in which the Florentines excel : there are agates, onyx, opals, red jaspers, porphyry, speckled granite and sardonyx re- flecting the colours of peacocks' fea- thers all that a country rich in beautiful marbles and crystals can produce, and all that it has borrowed from the world, glitters before us and shines in fabulous escutcheons and magic panels. But if you really wish to enjoy this marvellous play of colour you must come here first. Do not go beforehand to the Chapel Verrocchio. Fountain in S. Lorenzo. 112 FLORENCE S. Lorenzo. of Michelangelo, for it is impossible to appreciate anything after that. It is better to dive into the thousand amusements of the streets. Talk to the hunchback selling matches and vying with the blind man selling old books. Try to overhear the conversation of the street-loafers, the archgossips of Florence and, if it is near Christmas time, stop in front of a travelling peep-show. Someone will probably steal your handkerchief but, if you detect the theft, as once hap- pened to me, and seize the hand of the thief in yours, just release it again saying " No, my friend, none of that ! " and you will see with what an ineffable air he will reply " Many thanks, Sir ! " Here Punchinello reigns supreme ! The Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella bears on its over ornate fa9ade the name of Giovanni Oricellari, that is to say Ruccellai. If the facade is due to the patronage of this powerful family whose palace, built by the famous artist and humanist, Leoni Baptist Alberti, is quite near, with the famous Oricellari Gardens not far away in the suburb, FLORENCE Michelangelo. Reading Desks in the Laurentian Library. Santa Maria Novella itself dates from far earlier than the fifteenth century. It was in 1278 that a Cardinal Legate came to lay the first stone, and Dante's master, that strange Brunette Latini, in the entourage of Guido Cavalcanti, exchanged with those of the opposite faction the kiss on the mouth which was the sign of universal reconciliation. This Church preserves the most ancient of all pictures of the Ma- donna, attributed by some to Cimabue and by others to Duccio, the Sienese. But its greatest treasure among many other illustrious memorials of history and art is the tomb of the " Beata Villana ", a woman lying under a canopy, a charming figure of simple holiness and Michelangelo. Reading Desk. 114 Cloisters of S. Lorenzo. FLORENCE confident repose. The suave genius of Bernardo Rossellino has never created a more noble figure. Behind the altar in the choir where one can sit in the beautiful stalls sculptured and inlaid by Baccio d'Agnolo, Dominico G h i r - landajo has paint- ed his master- piece, the frescoes taken from the New Testament ; a masterpiece alas ! almost in- visible, partly because of the confusing light coming through the beautiful stained glass windows which shadow them, and partly owing to the extreme height at which these frescoes are placed. What wonderful eyes our ancestors must have had to admire them without ladders ! Michelangelo. Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici. It is in vain that the works of Ruskin and explanations of the frescoes, with readings from the mas- ter to support them, draw crowds of English people here under the 116 FLORENCE guidance of the most rigid professors. Although they are designed after a rather monotonous formula, these splendid frescoes are worthy of a better position by reason of the interesting portraits of the Torna- buoni and Ruc- cellai women, the costumes of the period, and the details and incidents dis- played and painted by the most conscien- tious of the old masters. In the Cha- pel of the Strozzi, Orca- gna has left a fresco inspired by Dante, in which the figure of Alighieri ap- pears. He is a young and se- date Dante, more mature than in the first picture painted by Giotto and yet very diffe- rent from the tragic and al- most more than Michelangelo. Tomb of Lorenzo de' Medici. human figure portrayed by Raphael Sanzio on the walls of the Vatican. Other very celebrated frescoes adorn the huge and beautiful cloisters 117 FLORENCE of Santa Maria Novella. I do not know why peo- ple generally ignore the Green Cloister which the School of Giotto has covered with a kind of Bi- blical tapestry, where one can find a little of every- thing, including another portrait of Dante. Without entering into any disputes "regarding the authorship of the Spanish Chapel frescoes of the School of Giotto, consecrated to the glory of the Dominicans and the Dominican church, we must agree that the first view of them is overwhelming with its aggravating recurrence, always a little harsh and strange to the eye, of black and white; the black and white habit of the monks; the black and white coats qf the dogs in the symbolic pack of hounds; a crude black and a harsh white. These figures which resemble a swarm of insects, or knaves from an ancient pack of cards, the crowd, the disorder of the dazzling throngs, are disconcerting at the first glance. And then little by little, they sort themselves out. In spite of the obvious and unskilful touches of the restorer, wonderful details become apparent, exquisite groups appear and curious figures emerge from the crowded whole. And if one is fortunate enough to find a convenient scaffolding on which to mount and so get nearer, many little figures are revealed, conscientiously working at their tasks, bent forward un- der their hoods, their necks squeezed in the collars of their / luoco, so simple in the frame / work in which they are placed. Michelangelo. The Virgin (unfinished) . Donatella, Bust of S, Lorenzo^ FLORENCE Simplicity and sincerity, those two poles of supreme art, we shall find again when we have crossed the dusty square where the old Palace of Minerva hides the cloisters. In the Loggia of Saint Paul, which was once an ancient convent. Michelangelo. Figure of Day. Andrea della Robbia has placed under an arch his Meeting of St. Francis and St. Dominic. And this is almost as great, I say it without fear of irreverence, as the magnificent chants in the Paradiso, dedicated by Dante to the two Saints who founded the Orders. It is more of this earth but it is by no means less grand. The gesture of divine charity which unites these men in a fraternal embrace, the two faces trans- figured by love and virtue, the hands so gentle and prodigal of good deeds stretched out towards the heart and soul of their brother man form a picture straight from the Gospel. To experience an emotion equally subtle and touching, we must go to Pistoia, not so far away, and view in the church of St-John-without-the-City the sublime group of the Magnificat. Referring to Luca della Robbia Manetti writes " He was a man endowed with beautiful manners and great intelligence ". And this 119 FLORENCE Piazza Santa Maria Novella. praise may be aptly bestowed on that other great della Robbia, namely Andrea. Inspired by the profound faith of St. Luke, their work is worthy of illustrating the passage of his Gospel (St. Luke I, 39-45) where he speaks of Elizabeth as follows : " And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; " And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Eliza- beth; " And it came to pass, that, when Elizabeth heard the salu- tation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost; MB Palazzo Stvozzi. 120 FLORENCE " And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb; " And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me ? For lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears the babe leaped in my womb for joy; " And blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. " And behold the aged woman at the feet of the Virgin, the mother of our Lord. What can we say save that the work is worthy of the text it illustrates. Fresco in the Spanish Chapel. 121 In the Cascini Gardens. 122 In the Boboli Gardens. CHAPTER III The gardens of Rome are justly famous, but one hears too little of the gardens of Florence. In great part, however, this is the fault of the Florentines, for the institutions to which the gardens belong, or their owners, make them almost inacessible. But the most beautiful of them all, the Cascini, is open to the public. These fair fields and woods at the gates of a city where there is not a single tree in any of its squares or along the sun-baked streets, make you think of those exquisite verses of Florian, " A park close-bordered by a river " Here the river is at best a little stream, too often dry, but the park itself is beautiful. When the first touch of Spring is seen in it, the little 123 FLORENCE crocus buds sprinkle the close-cropped grass with their blossoms, multi- coloured as the wings of some fabulous bird. Again it is beautiful in the month of periwinkles, refreshed by heavy showers. Here are solitary walks where, they say, poor Shelley dreamed the most marvellous of his poems. But why do they call him " Poor Shelley. "? Rather " Happy Shelley " to whom the gods granted the boon of dying young, in a mighty tempest be- neath the waters of the Ligurian Sea ! There are huge trees in the Cascini, and quivering long- leaved reeds. In summer crickets are abundant, and the Florentines have a special holi- day in which to catch some of the little harlequins and imprison them in their melancholy city houses. But it is in the autumn that the Cascini Gardens are most beautiful. They are carpeted with exquisite periwinkles, some of a deep mauve colour that I have never seen elsewhere. I can recall well the canneggiole rustling at the end of the path and the whole Tuscan countryside darkling with velvet shadows. The setting sun changing from a purple fire to a pale rose shines behind the cypresses Ponte Vecchio. 124 FLORENCE and poplars; a silver mist of olive trees trembles in the breeze on the lower slopes of the hills; and far away in the distance the bold line of the Pisan hills rises against the pearl-coloured sky. On the other bank of the Arno some children have made a great bon- fire, the reflection of which quivers in the ripple of the waters; a little child crows and shouts with j oy and claps his hands be- fore the brazier as he watches the flames leap up. He worships the fire and sings a wild song, to it. By the light of the first stars we return home. Pass- ing Santa Trinita, open late by a lucky chance, let us stop to look at the monument to Benozzo Federighi, that wonderful work of Luca della Robbia, darkened by wavering shadows of twilight and those thrown from the lamps of the Sanctuary. As we pass the Palazzo Strozzi at the corner of the street buried in shadows, we see the iron-work designs of Caparra or Giovanni da Bologna. At last we wander through the large square of Santa Maria Novella, from which unfolds a vast expanse of sky, a limpid vault of blue-black, sprinkled Santa Trinita. Tomb of Benozzo Federighi. 125 FLORENCE Masaccio and Filippino Lippo. St. Peter and the revived child. with brilliant stars, while the beautiful bells in the Campanile toll solemnly through the mellow autumn air. Without a doubt there is not another bridge in the world more inter- esting to cross than the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Thanks to this bridge we can picture to ourselves the passages from one bank of the river to the other in the cities of bygone days. On either side of the bridge there are numbers of little stalls built under the corridor which connects the Umzi Galleries and the Palazzo Pitti. They contain all manner of strange goods; trinkets of doubtful use such as are offered to one on the Italian lakes, coral, or " lava from Vesuvius ", gilt- work, filigree-work, showy tinkling iron-work, everything that catches the eye and attracts Masaccio. The Tribute Money. Cloisters of the Carmine. 127 FLORENCE Pitti Palace. The Facade. the hand ! I should think a negro would imagine himself in Paradise hunting among these masses of odds and ends. It is pleasant, however, to raise the cover over the cases and to enter these shops suspended between the river and the sky. The Arno looks so pretty through the windows at the back, and the light sparkles so gaily on the varied wares displayed by the stall-keepers. How many times I have bought things there : Frogs and tortoises in turquoise ma- trix, Renaissance medals produced in Naples, necklaces made in Genoa, gar- nets of doubtful quality, and all for the pleasure of sitting in the little huts alight with the reflections from the ri- ver, from which could be heard the cries of the sand -workers. The fishermen fill their huge gourds and the freshness of Boboli Gardens. The Reservoir. 128 FLORENCE the river comes in through the open windows together with the scent of the dust blown up from the Lung* Arno, and the smell of cooking. A little square opens on both sides right in the middle of the bridge and from there the view of Florence is delightful, with the perspective of the quays, the Lung' Arno in the brilliant light which stretches out to meet the clear glow of the horizon, and the Oltr' Arno, sombre and dilapi- dated, under the mass of old ruins whose bases are washed by the shal- lows or buried in the sandbanks of this capricious river. There are many " black palaces ", along the river in the district on the south side of the Ponte Vecchio : the palaces of the Bardi, the Torrigiani, the Guicciardini, at the foot of the Costa S. Giorgio, or on the other side the Palaces of Bianca Capello, of the Serristori and the Machiavelli, all more or less in good repair, leading into the Borgo San Frediano and close to Bellosguardo, that hill with its many fine villas. Especially worthy of note are two churches and some beautiful gardens, and there is also that unique building, the Palazzo Pitti. In Boboli Gardens. The Reservoir. 129 FLORENCE Boboli Gardens. The Reservoir. the Piazza Santo Spirito, Filippo Brunelleschi built a church which was burnt and afterwards rebuilt from his design at the end of the xvth cen- tury. The building has preserved a remarkable nobility in spite of unfor- tunate changes and clumsy detail. A simple majesty dwells in this great edifice, bathed in a light as grey as the stones of the walls themselves; nothing is clear, mystery seems to float around it, one must know where to look for the precious altar pieces, or where to find the famous pictures, but nowhere else could they be so well displayed. Unknown to tourists, rarely visited, the church of S. Spirito seems to retain the pious soul of ancient Florence. How many times in the twilight, when the shadows crept into the nave, have I pushed open the door of this age-old refuge? Elsewhere one looks and admires, here one can dream at ease and pray in peace. Those whose see this church in the harsh months of winter can never realise its full beauty. The austere S. Spirito has cloisters' where June mingles with summer sunflowers, pomegranates, oleanders, and roses worthy of the Garden of Eden. And when from the belfry, which is 130 FLORENCE reputed to be the most beautiful in Florence, the sweet toned bell rings the evening Angelus, one would not be surprised to see the Madonna of the holy legends appear among these flowers which seem to breathe her glory. It is quite another spell that the church of the Carmelites weaves. The frescoes of the Carmine are among the finest in Florence, the city of frescoes. There, Masaccio, whose bold yet melancholy work remains for us to see, has shown us what the ideal art of the Flo- rentines could do with everyday life : and Filippino Lippi gives us here the proof that for long, this art has, without degenerating, fol- lowed the simple and splendid path traced out for it by the first masters. It was here \hat his great father, Fra Filippo, learned the art of painting by copying these works of Masaccio, which his son was to com- plete. The spirited little monk, Filippo Lippi, that orphan befriended by the Carmelites, refused to take his novitiate Boboli Gardens. Viottolone. seriously and drove his masters wild by his lack of discipline. Instead of studying his Latin Grammar with due care, he scribbled caricatures FLORENCE of the good fathers all over his lesson books. The Prior, a good man, and a man of understanding, encouraged him to take up painting and design ; and from that time the little monk set himself to copying those marvellous figures that Masaccio had just completed on the walls of the chapel. It is from that source that he attained that pre- cocious talent, " not yet being ", as Vasari tells us, " of a ripe age ". This talent he transmitted to his son whose works are here. I do not know why the suburbs of towns always attract and hold me so. Perhaps it is because they are near the country. The suburbs of Flo- rence, in addition, have been the dwelling place of many artists and poets, especially English poets. Behind the old palaces with their numberless rooms, terraces open out over superb gardens, steeped in melancholy. The largest Palace in Florence stands here. It was the powerful house of the Pitti, rivals of the first Medici, whose desire it was to raise beneath the skies of Florence a palace more beautiful than any possessed by the Medici, and who piled up in the Oltr' Arno these herculean walls Titian. Portrait of Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici. 132 which look as if they were built by the same Etruscans who made the ramparts of Fiesole. It is stupendous and it would be called beautiful, if the pre- sent day could realize the beauty of sheer size. It is a barrack, as are most of the palaces of the Princes. Much less ugly than the Vatican, for instance, and so strange in character that it is of great interest. The colossal palace crushed beneath its weight the fortunes of the family which created it, as the weight of an Egyptian Titian. Portrait of Aretino. pyrarnid crushes the proud body of the dead. Bought by the triumphant Medici in the sixteenth century, enlarged, embellished, and spoilt, it stands before us, on the hill, a superb monument to human pretensions and the folly of riches. It has no ornaments on its huge walls but heavy bosses of stone, almost unhewn, and the lines are more impressive thus. They seem as if hewn by a legendary stone mason, by some Polyphemus. This rough exterior encloses the most striking of contrasts. The monster hides within its rugged and heavy shell the rich ornaments and fantastic decora- tions which have always been regarded as necessary by the reigning Princes. It also contains a Museum, a Tintoretto. Portrait of Zeno. true Museum of the Princes, composed of exquisite works and collections, such as the aristo- crats of a bygone age sought to amass, from Paris to Dresden, from Petersburg to Ma- drid. Among the pictures, however, I will single out those which are truly Italian or Florentine and which have no ri- vals anywhere in the world except perhaps in Paris, owing to ancient friendships or wars, and in the Prado at Madrid, in memory of old conquests and dead rulers. Passing through the splendid halls bearing the names of ancient gods and planets, halls of the Iliad, of Saturn, of Jupiter, of Mars, Apollo and Venus and many others, the first things to be seen in this collection of Grand-ducal mythology are the beautiful portraits of illustrious Ita- lians : Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici by Titian, thin faced, shifty in his hunting dress of tan velour; the Inghirami of Raphael, with a shifty look on his puffy face; his Cardinal Bibieni, only a copy of the original which is in Madrid : the crafty face of the prelate, the dabbler in literature and author of more than free comedies recited at the court of Urbino by that Balthasar Castiglione, who triumphs in the Louvre, and, last of all, the unforgettable portrait of Leo X by Raphael, the gross Medici Vandyk. Portrait of Cardinal Bentivoglio. 134 FLORENCE with dull eyes, with the other Medici standing behind him, his successor, Clement VII, that execrable Pontiff who seems to watch him from the shadows, and to await his turn to represent the Venice of the Renaissance. Tintoretto's portrait of Zeno is followed by the enormous Piero Aretino of Titian, where the master displays in the terrible breadth of shoulder of the triumphant pamphleteer and on the impudent face of the insatiable monster, all that a long and necessary familiarity had revealed to him of strength, fire and vice at the house of this ancestor of literary hacks, this patron of journalism. In the fine faunlike figure of Cardinal Bentivoglio, Vandyk puts up a noble struggle against his powerful Italian rivals, and Rubens' portraits here would be his master- pieces were they not surpassed by that astonishing sketch of the Evils of War, an unparallelled work carried out with a strength which, confident of success, took delight in the most perilous adventures. I do not pretend even to give the names of the pictures enumerated in the catalogues, and if I retain the memory of the Portrait of Andrea del Sarto painted by himself, or the Concert by Giorgione, I know too well that a whole volume would not suffice to exhaust the merits of these treasures. There are some which are overestimated, but there are many more still which are unknown or unrecognised. Whole days could be passed in revisiting them, and in discovering each day some work of great penetration and power which yesterday escaped the attention of which it was worthy. One can well believe that successive generations of rulers, Medici, Bonapartes, and the house of Austria, have left here precious and interest- ing souvenirs, and that the treasures in this beautiful museum have been increased by a collection of furniture, rare trinkets, miniatures, valuable objects of all kinds, among which one can spend the rainy days happily if only one likes ancient lumber as much as true antiquities. Fine days in Florence pass like a delicious dream in the Boboli Gardens, which overlook and shed their perfume on the great palace. These gardens contain buildings and sculptures by the masters of the Renaissance, among them the wonderful basin of Giovanni da Bologna, in which the gods and the heroes disport themselves amid latticed ba- lustrades. There are also, among some rather ugly baroque statuary, several large figures. 135 FLORENCE But the glory of the Boboli lies in the mysterious alleys of evergreens where one can wander alone and at peace; in the anemones which grow on the terraced slopes; in the light which plays over the humble and plebeian gardens which surround it on the hill; and in the rather old- fashioned grace in which it is steeped. Right at the top there is a terrace which to an old Florentine seems like the entry to Paradise itself. It is a little old terrace with a spouting jet of water and wild olive trees and flowers which encroach on the paths around the fountain; it is a fairy -like little terrace with bronze monkeys in the middle of the clear pool surrounding the slender plume of sparkling drops. From this terrace we look over the hills, the valleys and the plains of Tuscany, we can see the mountains of the Casentino below and, on the other side, the deep shadows which hide Prato, rich in its abandon, the rough Pistoia where della Robbia triumphs, and, about thirty leagues away, Siena the wonderful. I have more than once been locked in the gardens and risked being kept there the whole night, through sitting too long on the low wall that overlooks Galileo's villa, lost among the olive trees and the blue mists of the country I did not feel the cold wind that sometimes blows in the winter from the snow-covered Appenines. I must confess that I sometimes carried away beneath my cloak a carna- tion or a chrysanthemum, plucked in the garden, together with one or two anemones and an oleander flower. The gardeners in the Boboli are lucky men. I have seen many fair spots on the earth, perhaps too many, but there is none other that I would select with such joy and certainty, should some magician make it possible for me to live where I pleased. After such beauties it is better to return to the city slowly without plunging at once into the dark streets. To do this there is the hill road going up towards San Miniato. The way leads past the proud and melan- choly Torrigiani Gardens, through that part of the suburb where stands the palace in which two English poets used to live, Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Later is passed the Porta Romana with its two shaky doorways studded with enormous nails, through which echoed the hoofs of the horse ridden by Charles V when the Germane-Spanish Caesar entered vanquished Florence. Now, the Porta Romana is garlanded with vines which clothe it in a mantle of imperial purple during the autumn. It is 136 - FLORENCE the most frequented and animated of the ancient gates. At certain times the din there is overwhelming, and only a native of Tuscany would find it possible to guide his vehicle through the contrary currents where mules, horses and donkeys hurl themselves, intercrossing, colliding, biting and kicking each other, amid savage yells, whinnies and brayings, the whole scene watched by a battered fresco of the Virgin enthroned among the patron saints of the city. : Rubens. The Philosophers. 137 FLORENCE Arcetri, a small suburb, is hidden between the Viale dei Colli, which turns and winds ingeniously according to the lie of the ground, and the walls of the royal gardens which are on the west. Here Galileo passed his days of struggle and torment in the Gioiello which still stands near the Convent where his daughter and consoler, Sister Maria Celestina, lived. Not far away is the Cock Tower, another abode of Galileo, sur- rounded by gardens and displaying its weather- cock of wrought iron. But Arcetri contains another relic besides these : this is the antique marble pulpit from which Dante spoke in the Councils of the Flo- rentine Commune. Al- most corresponding to the present-day muni- cipal councillor, he spoke from the pul- pits of the following churches : S. John the Baptist, the Badia, S. Proculo, S. Reparata, S. Pie- tro Scheraggio. This last church preserved an old Romanesque Ambone which probably came from Fiesole. This old square pulpit, with columns and bas-reliefs, is now in the little church of St. Leonard at Arcetri. It is very well preserved, and carved with pictures representing the life of Christ, and has Leonine inscriptions. S. Leonardo is to be found in the little street with echoing pavements skirted with oh' ve trees, near the Porta S. Giorgio, The Porta Romana. - 138- the most rustic and pic- turesque of all the gates, with its mounted saint in stone sharply denned against the light. The dark gulf of the Costa San Giorgio lies behind, where we many find the house which sheltered Catherine Benincasa, Saint Catherine of Siena, in the days of the furious struggles when she al- most perished by sacri- ficing herself in the cause of peace. Lower down a glint of gold catches the eye. We have seen it before, shining like a piece of armour, from the Lung' Arno and the ter- race of the Boboli Gardens. This is the mosaic door of San Miniato del Monte. The Romanesque church, one of the best left to us from the eleventh cen- tury, displays a many -coloured facade, encrust- ed with marbles, even surpassing in beauty the Baptistery of St. John. Arranged in this way, with their colours faded and dulled by centu- ries, the ornamentations which might seem a little bizarre to the eyes of strangers or ama- teurs, do not strike us as out of place as they might do in the Duomo of Siena. The Church of San Miniato possesses a rare quality ; it is as beautiful close at hand as it is K from a distance. It contains a splendid mor- San Miniato. Church of San Leonardo. Dante's Pulpit. 139 FLORENCE tuary chapel, that of a Portuguese Cardinal, John, who died about the middle of the fifteenth century. Half way up the hill beneath San Miniato, among magnificent cypress trees and terraced lawns, the walls of another church are revealed to us, a Franciscan Abbey so dear to Michelangelo that he called it " the beau- tiful peasant ", la bella villanella. Michelangelo will be remembered for ever in this place. Outside San Miniato is the gate of the ramparts, built in 1529, which enabled Florence to fight for nearly a year against the Imperial armies who would have enslaved her for ever San Miniato. Tomb of John of Portugal. 140 Val d'Ema. The Certosa. CHAPTER IV It is rather a difficult task to find, in the countryside of the Val d'Ema, the Chartreuse Monastery which is hidden there. The famous monastery rises fortress-like amid the cultivated fields and the clumps of cypress trees. Wonderfully situated on a rise which domi- nates the pleasant, fertile plains and looks across to the noble range of distant mountains, with villas and hamlets scatter- ed here and there, the Char- treuse of the Val d'Ema, though so near the city, is al- ready in the real country. In the Tuscan country. 141 FLORENCE The Florentine countryside is the halo which surrounds Florence, and the fact that, only a few paces outside its walls one can enter the Paradise of Virgil, would make me love this city, even if it had no other charms. While it is yet winter, in the woodland paths of Arcetri you may find violets and those golden-winged but- terfly flowers of the broom which are the heralds of true Spring. The colours of these flowers seem to tint the sky and to float beneath the silvery grey of the olive trees. Here stands the Chartreuse Monas- tery on a jutting rock called the Mon- taguto, a volcanic outcrop on which wave the plumes of cypress trees. Grey and feudal, its heavy walls and its arched stairway rise , _ The Certosa of the Val a Etna. before us. Its church The Wdh of Michelangelo. is decidedly medio- cre; the sixteenth century, so lacking in taste, made it heavy and clumsy. But there are many treasures accumulated in the chapels, corridors and cloisters, since the fourteenth century when Niccolo Ac- ciaioli, a great citizen of Florence, seneschal of Naples and favourite of Queen Joanna, founded it in 1341. This great and kind-hearted man 142 The Certosa of Val d'Ema. The Acciaioli Tomb. the son of Niccolo Acciaioli, a young fop called Lorenzo after the Saint to whom the Chartreuse monks are dedi- cated. A magnificent cavalcade bore the body of the young man to the church, and it was laid under a marble slab on which his figure is shown in full armour, wonderfully carved, his dagger and sword at his side, his steel shoes on his feet and golden spurs on his heels. The escutcheon with a lion rampant, the arms of the Acciaioli, is on either side; his face is calm and his long hair is drawn down on his right shoulder. who loved the Chartreuse monks and enlarged the Mo- nastery of St. Martin in Na- ples where Tasso took refuge later, reposes here as do many others of his race. His noble sepulchre which is sometimes attributed, with several others, to Orcagna, shows him between Gothic columns, clad in ar- mour above escutcheons and triumphal inscriptions where his most impressive titles are enumerated. In the pavement there are strange carved tombstones which are like the figures from old playing cards. The first is Tombstone of Lorenzo Acciaioli. FLORENCE Fiesole, The Cathedral and Piazza da Mino. Niccolo's father lies near his grandson. His effigy looks like a figure from the Divina Commedia, an old figure of antique Florence, with his close bonnet, his grand robe with its great revers, and his belt of cloth of gold. His Aunt Lapa is also here in her nun's habit. She was a friend of Saint Brigitte of Sweden, who instituted mixed convents and had such tiresome visions which are described by J. R. Huysman thus : " In her intercourse with Heaven, she was assisted by a morose and weary God, who revealed to her nothing unexpected, nothing new ". A famous diplomat of the family, Cardinal Angelo Acciaioli, is entomb- ed in another chapel. Crowned with a mitre, his hands laid flat on the cross, he displays on the funeral pillow the rigid, austere yet perverse face so common among certain prelates and among many old women; it is doubtful whether this pompous "Prince of Pontiffs ", bony and withered under draperies unique in style and delicacy, may be attributed to Donatello, all one can say is that it is worthy of him and that it is one of the finest and most noble effigies that can be seen in this land where sculpture is so plentiful. The tomb of yet another prelate, Leonardo Bonafede, whose recum- 144 Fiesole from the Piazza San Domenico. 145 FLORENCE Certosa of Val d'Ema. Window by Giovanni da Udino. bent statue by one of the San Galli is seen on the chequered pavement of the Chapter-House, is also very interesting. There is nothing of the Bishop about this old Carthu- sian, who was the godfather of Catherine de* Medici and died, Bishop of Cortona, at the age of nearly a hundred, save the mitre which crowns his grizzled head ; his countenance is lined; his feet are bare as should be those of a good monk, and his clothing is that of his Order. If one sees it before the other memorials it seems a wonderful work, but as a matter of fact it is not their equal. The sixteenth century was not able to carry on the lofty style and the proud intensity that animated and refined the art of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. You must wander about this vast building, through its corridors, avoiding those sight-seers who must be shown everything yet see nothing. On every visit you can find something new to marvel at : here a marble font attributed to Mino da Fiesole but which I do not believe to be his; there some stained glass after Giovanni da Udino is it really as good as that at San Lorenzo ? Here again are some beautiful doorways and intricately carved basins; there, a St. Laurence among the angels surmounts the door of the refectory strange dwelling-place for one who died upon the gridiron ! It was the della Robbias who mo- delled this young man with his pure, sweet features. It was they, also, who made the medallions in the cloisters; heads of apostles and saints cruelly damaged in the earthquake which, in 1896, shook this part of Tuscany. I myself saw, in the winter afterwards, these wonderful works of art cracked and broken into fragments in the corner where they had been collected. Now, however, these masterpieces have been restored with 146 FLORENCE that sureness of touch of which Italians alone seem to possess the secret. The damage done by this catastrophe, so violent that, had it lasted a few moments longer, it would have hurled to the ground all the belfries On the way to Fiesole. and all the towers of Florence, has been repaired, and the signs of this scourge which periodically visits Florence have been almost obliterated. Among these beautiful faces, the most beautiful is that of St. John. For the well-loved apostle who rested on the breast of the Divine Master, the piety and the genius of the della Robbias have found a nobility and a dignity unequalled; and this young face, so masculine and yet withal so pure, is well worthy of representing the greatest of the Evangelists. Two other apostles, Thaddeus and Simon, have gentle beardless coun- tenances; but none of them is as good as the St. John, in which power and grace are united. These faces would be still more beautiful if they were in a better light; the divine light of Tuscany which we find on the hill at Fiesole, that hill from which sprang Florence. Florence was still only a marsh when Fiesole was already rising 147 FLORENCE Fiesole. The Roman Amphitheatre. towards the Tuscan sky which gilds it now, and the ramparts of the Etruscans as well as the ruins of Roman times are there to prove it. It is, if one may use a barbarous expression, the primitive acropolis of this country. But in spite of the charm of the old ways among the villas, the paths among the brooks and fountains, it is the carriage road that is the most charming. It rises snakelike on the terraced hill-side and each turn of the road seems to reveal a new corner of Paradise. In Spring the lower slopes are covered with exquisite Bengal roses. The village boys throw into the carriage branches of flowering lilac and peach blos- som, and twigs of almond blossom, if they see a young face therein. It would perhaps be wiser to go and admire circumspectly the Medicean Abbey in the hollow with its austere gateway and its beautiful sculpture. But the olive trees are glistening in the sun, the glades are in flower, the scent of carnation and rose is in the air; so let us go up, soothed by the slow upward movement. Even such a marvel of art as the basin by Mino, a masterpiece of Tuscan grace, delicate and intricate, is not worth the radiant sky beneath which the artist himself was born and worked. - 148 - FLORENCE A shimmering mist drifts over Florence unfolded before our eyes, over the pearl-coloured fields, and over the hills which are the first stages of the ascent to Vallombrosa and the Casentino. We seem to float above the earth in an element more subtle and rarified than the air we breathe. Dante's villa was here, and it was in this valley of Affrico, moist and overgrown with hawthorn, where the little brooks undermine the roots of the giant oaks, that he conceived his great love for the Tuscan soil. It was here that Boccaccio saw Affrico pursue the nymph Mensola. But the road ends at last in the main square of Fiesole and it is advisable to go on foot up the narrow street which leads still higher to the Franciscan convent. Thwarting and disregarding the wiles of the beggars who swarm here, and even more those of the children, we stop in the little square to. admire an enormous cypress of rare beauty whose splendour was sung in the verse, more spontaneous than polished : " Glory to the finest tree of Tuscany ! " From here the view is sublime. One day in particular it was clearer Fiesole. Ruins. 149 FLORENCE than we had ever seen it before and the horizon was cloudless. A ver- milion and azure light seemed to emanate from all the harmonious forms, as old as Italy itself, of the Pisan and Umbrian mountains. Let us sit down a little higher up at the doors of the Convent and lean against the foot of the Franciscan crucifix, whence the head of the dead Christ in marble looks down on us with a gracious smile. The good monks of this convent, of the true primitive race, made me free of this spot during my prolonged visits here. The tiny porch with a Gothic roof built on the white terrace sur- rounded by splendid cypresses revealed to me one morning in the grey dawn a scene worthy of Fra Angelico. Some novices were taking leave, no doubt after a Retreat, of the Prior who led them to the gate of the Monastery Each in his turn received the blessing and the fatherly acco- lade of the Prior, who sent them back to the service and struggles of the everyday work of the Franciscan Order. I spoke of Angelico, but it would take also the della Robbias to commemorate those naive gestures and those faces lit up by the true Charity of God. Fiesole. On the way to the Franciscan Convent. 150 FLORENCE I knew Jbhe good Prior very well and he showed me the exquisite little convent, the church where the monks lose themselves in prayer, the beautiful sculptured sacristy and, in the depths of the old ramparts, his cold cell where a clear spring bubbled out from the wall. I was invited'to wander at will in the beau- tiful gardens which overlook the valley of the Mugello. In giving me permission to come and work every day the Prior told me that an En- glishman had once written a novel there. I assured him quickly that I would do no such thing, and went away to the little well where the Franciscan robes of coarse brown cloth are washed. I strayed for many- hours under the four- teenth century clois- ters, and visited many times the cell of St. Bernardino of Siena, that true and chaste son of Francis of Assisi, where the emblems of Christ borne by the saint in procession may still be seen. The whole monastery is built on Etruscan walls, for this is the capital of ancient Faesulae. Behind, there is a little wood from which one can look out over the sombre Mugello, and where, in front of Monte Senario, there is a verdant patch from which spreads out the whole of the valley of the Fiesole. Piazza da Mino. 151 FLORENCE Arno. The chapel contains yet another Lippi. But we are drawn by the spell of the surrounding wilderness where the old silent villas with their melancholy fountains look like places in one's dreams. Going down into the valley where a train winds and puffs along, we reach the castle of the Medici, the great Trebbio with its oaks; the country was once forested as one can tell from the names in the vicinity. From here can be seen the mediaeval castle with its arched roof, its antique embattlements, its cisterns of living stone, the wild flowers and the rosemary on the battered keep ; a true castle for some sleeping beauty is this old dwelling where Giovanni delle Bande Nere and his son the Duke of Florence were brought up. Caf aggiolo, a little further on, is too much renovat- ed, too haunted by the phantoms of the Napoleonic Empire. There I have held in my hand the papers of Pauline Borghese, and touched her carved furniture. One could think that her perfume still clung to that desert- ed room. But phantoms are very far from here. The air is very clear at Fiesole. We go up to Monte Ce- ceri above the huge Fiesole. Fonte Lucente. 152 FLORENCE Fiesole. The little place. quarries from which Florence was built and which are still worked near the Palagio. Under the golden light as we ascend the ancient heights whence is hewn the " Pietra Serena " in huge blocks, we feel as if we were rising into the sky itself. From the summit the snowy Appenines seem to touch the clouds. We skirt an old wood and, with our hands full of wild tulips, we set out to find the Roman roads and mysterious villas of Alto Fiesole. A little lower down is a mansion, the Palagio, which commands the route to the quarries, which has the great charm of Italian country houses, stately yet rustic. Then we ascend once more, accompanied by some of the country folk who courteously guide us among the tangled paths and press upon us gifts of violets and mignonette. That immense prospect dominated by Fiesole should be seen in the evening. Florence sleeps beneath the folds of a velvet mist; the hills and the mountains are ashen; here and there the ripples of the river, which draws towards the sea at Pisa, towards those fantastic estuaries 153 FLORENCE where float the souls of the dead, begin to sparkle and glitter among the ravines, blood-red under the setting sun, or opal coloured beneath the moon. It is then that the songs of Orpheus, Elysian melodies, murmur to the touch of light fingers, as if the soul of the twilight echoed sweetly, while its perfumes are exhaled beneath the olive trees. Fiesole, so full of light, contains the noblest and highest works of art. First there is the Romanesque Cathedral, massive and barbaric, with its raised choir. In a chapel there is a most beautiful bust beneath a pompous funeral canopy. It is the monument by Mino of Bishop Leonardo Salutati, his old face austere and spiritual, his expression eloquent. Then, without despising the small Museum with its few works of art and another somewhat uninteresting church, let us pass on to the end of a little street to find a chapel, Sant' Ansano, between Medicean villas. It retains on its white walls Botti- cellian processions, Triumphs of Time, of Love and of Reli- gion, a delightful Sie- nese painting. There is also a child's head by Andrea della Rob- bia, one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen, the face a little drawn, the eyes wandering and un- even, the mouth half Fiesole. Cypress. '54 FLORENCE Fiesole. The route to the Franciscan Convent. open in a voluptuous smile, and the hair in disorder. Facing it there is a young girl with a calm expression as if in contrast, but always with the attractive, vague eyes which these sculptors sought to portray. A so-called Michelangelo is interesting, but much more charming is the Saint Ansano whom the brothers della Robbia have created as a companion to the Evangelists and Apostles of the Val d'Ema. A Byzantine ivory of an angel, grown green with age, is also very wonderful. The Triumphs are worthy of more attention and above all that one which depicts a purple standard and a graceful woman's form leaning against a chariot; also the one which seems to bring Dante's Elysium before us. The good monk who looks after these treasures, flattered by the interest aroused in us by his chapel, showed us its terrace of flowering lemon trees which looks out over the steep lanes. On the other side of the slope there is the church and the Medicean cloister of San Girolamo on an eminence overlooking the valley and surrounded by cypresses rooted in the stones of the ancient Etruscan walls. The immensely steep 155 FLORENCE steps lead up through the terraces of olive trees where the anemones bloom, and the path comes out at last in front of the Franciscan convent at the very top. This is above all a country of wonderful churches, little rustic ora- tories such as Muscoti and San Clementi. On the slopes of Monte Giovo crystals strew the ground where the little shepherds in felt hats come smiling to greet the stranger; the mountains of Vallombrosa and Casentino are very beautiful seen from the stone-flagged threshing floors; and the snow-capped Falterona beloved of Dante rises above the velvety blue mountains where St. Francis of Assisi had his favourite retreat. I have seen the Spring awaken over the square of Fiesole as in the days of the ancient feasts, heralded by the great white bullocks decorated with bunches of lilac, sheaves of iris, tulip blossoms and star-like ane- mones. But I have seen nothing more beautiful than the tiny chapel nestling on the banks of the Mugello. Fonte Lucente, the Sparkling Fountain, is appropriately named, for nowhere else is the day more beau- tiful or the light more delicate. It hides the entrance to an ancient quarry where, on a rough stone, a poor stone mason once carved a crucifix and the other masons worshipped the Divine Image at the time when the road lay over the spot where the little church is now built. UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY