\ LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PRESENTED BY JOHN S- ANNA GILLESPIE CITIES OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ITALY II IN VENETIA, PARMA. THE EMILIA, THE MARCHE, AND NORTHERN TUSCANY ^CITIES OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ITALY/ BY AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE '/ AUTHOR or "WALKS IN ROMS,' "DAYS NEAR ROME," ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES II IN VBNBTIA, PARMA, THE HMILIA, THE MARCHE, AND NORTHERN TUSCANY LONDON DALDY, ISBISTER & CO. 56, LUDGATE HILL 1876 IT** Right tfTnuuiatu* it JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS. TO H. R. H. PRINCE LEOPOLD THESE VOLUMES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXI. MMB VENICE. THE APPROACH I CHAPTER XXII. s. MARK'S AND ITS SURROUNDINGS 13 CHAPTER XXIII. THE GRAND CANAL 46 CHAPTER XXIV. SOUTH-EASTERN VENICE 80 CHAPTER XXV. NORTH-EASTERN VENICE IOI CHAPTER XXVI. WESTERN VENICE 11$ CHAPTER XXVII. THE GIUDECCA AND IL REDENTORE, S. GIORGIO, THE ARMENIAN CONVENT, S. ELENA, AND THE LIDO . 134 CHAPTER XXVIII. CHIOGGIA 140 CHAPTER XXIX. MURANO AND TORCELLO 145 CHAPTER XXX. TREVISO, UDINK, AND AQUILEJA *57 CHAPTER XXXI. FERRARA , 166 vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXII. PACK PIACENZA 185 CHAPTER XXXIII. PARMA 204 CHAPTER XXXIV REGGIO AND MODENA 23! CHAPTER XXXV. BOLOGNA 246 CHAPTER XXXVI. RAVENNA 295 CHAPTER XXXVII. FAENZA AND FORLI 353 CHAPTER XXXVIII. RIMINI AND S. MARINO 363 CHAPTER XXXIX. PBSARO AND FANO 385 CHAPTER XL. ANCONA 391 CHAPTER XLL LORETO AND THE MARCHE 4OI CHAPTER XLII. URBINO 420 CHAPTER XLIII. GUBBIO 432 CHAPTER XLIV. PISA ; 440 CHAPTER XLV. VOLTERRA 483 CHAPTER XLVL LUCCA 490 CHAPTER XLVU. PISTOIA AND PRATO 507 VE ICE CHAPTER XXI. VENICE. THE APPROACH. It is I hr. by rail from Padua to Venice 4 frs. 50 c. : 3 frs. 25 c. : 2 frs. 30 c. (The station is about an hour in a gondola from the Piazza S. Marco, which is the centre of Venetian life. A gondola with one gondolier costs I fr., each piece of luggage 20 c. extra. Hotels- New York, a large new hotel well situated near the entrance of the Grand Canal; Europa, very good; Bretagna, all these are in the same situation. Vittoria, on one of the side canals, good, but with terrible smells. Danieli, Kiva degli Schiavoni, old-fashioned. Inghil- terra, Riva degli Schiavoni, a small but very comfortable house, plea- sant and sunny in winter and spring, hot in summer. Restaurant. Quadri, Piazza S. Marco (right), excellent for lunch- eons if you are in a hotel, for everything if in lodgings. Caff/. Florian (left), Piazza S. Marco. Quadri (right). Gondolas (the cabs of Venice) cost (with one gondolier and four pas- sengers) I fr. the first hour, and \ fr. for each hour afterwards. For the whole day 5^ frs. English Church. Close to the Accademia, on the right Photographer celebrated for portraits Ant. Sorgato, 4674 Cam- piello del Vina S. Zaccaria, behind Hotel d'Angleterre. Venetian Jewellery. The street near the Ponte di Rialto, left bank. It should be known that almost everything bought in the Piazza S. Marco costs treble the price asked in the Frezzaria and other less fashion- able parts of the town. Wood Sculpture. Travellers should visit the Atelier (2795 Canal Grande) of Valentino Besarel. It is only in Italy that you find this in- teresting type of the untaught artist of unerring taste, whose art is the sole object and interest of his life. He is a native of Cadore, where his ancestors were carvers of wood in Titian's time. VOL. II. I 2 ITALIAN CITIES. THE railway from Padua to Venice crosses a flat plain covered with vineyards, whose garlands reach almost to the edge of the lagoons. It is at Mestre that all the in- terest begins. Hence, across the soft grey distances, the towers of Venice are seen on the horizon, repeating them- selves in the water. Throughout the still expanse, poles rising at intervals mark the " pathways in the sea." In the nearer foreground boats with great red and yellow sails are finding their way out into the open water by narrow runlets through the tall reeds. The traveller now hurries past Mestre ; but till a few years ago it was important, as the place where, wearied with a long journey by diligence or carriage, he embarked for Venice, while gladdened by the first sight of the promised city. " Not but that the aspect of the city itself was generally the source of some slight disappointment, for, seen in this direction, its buildings are far less characteristic than those of the other great towns of Italy ; but this inferiority was partly disguised by distance, and more than atoned for by the strange rising of its walls and towers out of the midst, as it seemed, of the deep sea, for it was impossible that the mind or the eye could at once comprehend the shallowness of the vast sheet of water which stretched away in leagues of rippling lustre to the north and south, or trace the narrow line of islets bounding it to the east. The salt breeze, the white moaning sea-birds, the masses of black weed separating and disappearing gradually, in knots of heaving shoal, under the advance of the steady tide, all proclaimed it to be indeed the ocean on whose bosom the great city rested so calmly ; not such a blue, soft, lake-like ocean as bathes the Neapolitan promontories, or sleeps beneath the marble rocks of Genoa, but a sea with the bleak power of our northern waves, yet subdued into a strange spacious rest, and changed from its angry pallor into a field of burnished gold, as the sun declined behind the belfry towers of the lonely island church, fitly named ' St. George of the Sea-weed.' As the boat drew nearer to the city, the coast which the traveller had just left sank behind him into one long, low, sad-coloured line, tufted irregularly with brushwood and willows : but, at what seemed its northern extremity, the hills of Arqua rose in a dark cluster of purple pyramids, balanced on the bright mirage of the lagoon, THE LAGOONS. 3 two or three smooth surges of inferior hills extended themselves about their roots, and beyond these, beginning with the craggy peaks above Vicenza, the chain of the Alps girded the whole horizon to the north a wall of jagged blue, here and there showing through its clefts a wilder- ness of misty precipices, fading far back into the recesses of Cadore, and itself rising and breaking away eastward, when the sun struck oppo- site upon its snow, into mighty fragments of peaked light, standing up behind the bars of clouds of evening, one after another, countless, the crown of the Adrian Sea, until the eye turned back from pursuing them, to rest upon the nearer burning of the campaniles of Murano, and on the great city, where it magnified itself along the waves, as the quick silent pacing of the gondola drew nearer and nearer. And at last, when its walls were reached, and the outmost of its untrodden streets was entered, not through towered gate or guarded rampart, but as a deep inlet be- tween two rocks of coral in the Indian sea ; where first upon the travel- ler's sight opened the long ranges of columned palaces, each with its black boat moored at the portal, each with its image cast down, beneath its feet, upon that green pavement which every breeze broke into new fantasies of rich tessellation ; when first, at the extremity of the bright vista, the shadowy Rialto threw its colossal curve slowly forth from behind the palace of the Camerlenghi ; that strange curve, so deli- cate, so adamantine, strong as a mountain cavern, graceful as a bow just bent; when first, before its moonlike circumference was all risen the gondolier's cry, 'Ah! Stall,' struck sharp upon the ear, and the prow turned aside under the mighty cornices that half met over the narrow canal, where the plash of the water followed close and loud, ringing along the marble by the boat's side ; and when at last that boat darted forth upon the breadth of silver sea, across which the front of the Ducal palace, flushed with its sanguine veins, looks to the snowy dome of Our Lady of Salvation, it was no marvel that the mind should be so deeply entranced by the visionary charm of a scene so beautiful and so strange, as to forget the darker truths of its history and its being. Well might it seem that such a city had owed its existence rather to the rod of the enchanter, than the fear of the fugitive ; that the waters which encircled her had been chosen for the mirror of her state, rather than the shelter of her nakedness ; and that all which in nature was wild or merciless, Time and Decay, as well as the waves and tempests, had been won to adorn her instead of to destroy, and might still spare, for ages to come, that beauty which seemed to have fixed for its throne the sands of the hour-glass as well as of the sea." Ruskin, Stones of Venue. " I saw from out the wave her structures rise As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand : 4 ITALIAN CITIES. A thousand years their cloudy wings expand Around me, and a dying Glory smiles O'er the far times, when many a subject land Look'd to the winged Lion's marble piles, Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles ! ' She looks a sea Cybele, fresh from ocean, Rising with her tiara of proud towers At airy distance, with majestic motion, A ruler of the waters and their powers : And such she was ; her daughters had their dowers From spoils of nations, and the exhaustless East Pour'd in her lap all gems in sparkling showers. In purple was she robed, and of her feast Monarchs partook, and deem'd their dignity increas'd. " In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more, And silent rows the songless gondolier ; Her palaces are crumbling to the shore, And music meets not always now the ear : Those days are gone but Beauty still is here. States fall, arts fade but Nature doth not die, Nor yet forget how Venice once was dear, The pleasant place of all festivity, The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy ! " Byron, Childe Harold. Venice, founded c. 421, owes its existence to the panic inspired by the destruction of Aquileia, of which not one stone was left upon another. Many of the inhabitants of Altinum, Concordia, and Padua fled before the barbarians, to the 72 islands which had formed in the lagoons of the Adriatic, and there they built a town. "In the northern angle of the Adriatic is a gulf, called lagune, in which more than sixty islands of sand, marsh, and seaweed have been formed by a concurrence of natural causes. These islands have become the City of Venice, which has lorded it over Italy, conquered Constan- tinople, resisted a league of all the kings of Christendom, long carried on the commerce of the world, and bequeathed to nations the model of THE FOUNDATION OF VENICE. 5 the most stable government ever framed by man." Daru, Histoire de la Republique de Venise. " It was for no idle fancy that their colonists fled to these islands ; it was no mere whim which impelled those who followed to combine with them ; necessity taught them to look for security in a highly disadvan- tageous situation, which afterwards became most advantageous, enduing them with talent, when the whole of the northern world was immersed in gloom. Their increase and their wealth were the necessary conse- quence. New dwellings arose close against dwellings, rocks took the place of sand and marsh, houses sought the sky, being forced like trees enclosed in a narrow compass, to seek in height what was denied to them in breadth. Being niggard of every inch of ground, as having been from the outset compressed into a narrow compass, they allowed no more room for the streets than was absolutely necessary for separating one row of houses from another, and affording a narrow way for pas- sengers. Moreover, water was at once street, square, and promenade. The Venetian was forced to become a new creature ; and Venice can only be compared with itself." Goethe. " A few in fear, Flying away from him whose boast it was That the grass grew not where his horse had trod, Gave birth to Venice. Like the water-fowl, They built their nests among the ocean-waves ; And where the sands were shifting, as the wind Blew from the north or south where they that came Had to make sure the ground they stood upon, Rose, like an exhalation from the deep, A vast metropolis, with glistening spires, With theatres, basilicas adorned ; A scene of light and glory, a dominion, That has endured the longest among men." Rogers. For nearly noo years the colony thus formed was governed by a series of Dukes or Doges, amongst whom perhaps the best known names have been those of Sebastiano Ziani, under whom Frederick Barbarossa humbled himself in the portico of S. Mark's before Pope Alexander III. ; Andrea Dandolo, who took part in the 4th Crusade and the conquest of Constantinople ; Marino Faliero, beheaded on ITALIAN CITIES. the Giants' stairs for aspiring to the sovereign power ; and Francesco Foscari, deposed after having been forced to drive his own son into permanent exile.* * The order of the Doges has been 697 716. Paolo Anafcsto. 726 737. Orso I. 742 755. Deodato Orso. 755 756- Galla. 756 764 Dom. Monegario. 764 787. Maurizio Galbaia. 804 809. Obelario Antenorio. 810 827. Angelo Partecipazio. 827 830. Giustiniano Partecipazio. 830 837. Giovanni Partecipazio I. 837 864. Pietro Tradenico. 864 88 1. Orso I. Partecipazio. 881 886. Giov. Partecipazio II. 886 887. Pietro Candiano I. 888 912. Pietro Tribuno. <)I2 932. Orso II. Partecipazio. 932 939. Pietro Candiano II. 939 942. Pietro Badoero Partecipazio. 942 959. Candiano III. 959 976. Candiano IV. 976 977. Pietro Orseolo I. 978 979. Vittore Candiano. 979 991. Tribolo Memmo. 991 1009. Ottone Orseolo. 1026 1030. Pietro Barbolano Centranigo. 1030 1043. Dom. Flabanico. 1043 1071. Dora. Contarini. 1071 1084. Dom. Selva. 1084 1096. Vitale Falieri. 1096 1102. Vitale Michele I. 1 102 1117. Ordelaffo Falieri. 1117 1130. Dom. Micheli. 1130 1148. Pietro Polani. 1148 1156. Dom. Morosini. 1156 1172. Vitale Michele II. 1172 1178. Sebastiano Ziani. 1178 1192. Orio Malipiero. 1192 1205. Enrico Dandolo. 1205 1228. Pietro Ziani. 1229 1249. Jacopo Tiepolo. 1249 I 2 5 2 - Marco Morosini. 1252 1268. Riniero'Zeno. 1268 1275. Lorenzo Tiepolo. 1275 1280. Giovanni Dandolo. 1288 1310. Pietro Gradenigo. 1310 1311. Marco Giorgio. 1312 1328. Giovanni Soranzo. 1328 133 . Francesco Dandolo. 1339 1342. Bartolomeo Gradenigo. 1342 1354. Andrea Dandolo. 1354 1355. Marino Faliero. 1355 1356. Giovanni Gradenigo. 1356 1361. Giovanni Delfino. 1361 1365. Lorenzo Celsi. 13651367. Marco Cornaro. 1367 1382. Andrea Contarini. 1382. Michele Morosini. 1382 1400. Antonio Venier. 14001413. 14131423. 14231457. 14571462. 1462 1471. 14711473. '473 '474- '474 1476. 14761478. 14781485. 14851486. 1486 1501. 1501 1521. 15211523. 15231528. 15281545. '545 1553- '5531554- I554I556. I556I559- 15591567- 15671570. 15701577. '577I578- 15781585. 15851595. 15951606. 1606 1612. 1612 1615. 1615 1618. 1618. 1618 1623. 1623 1624. 1624 1630. 1630 1631. 1631 1645. 16451655. 16551656. 1656. 16561658. 1658 1659. 16591674. 1674 1676. 1676 1683. 16831688. 16881694. 1694 1700. 1700 1709. 1709 1722. 1722 1732. I732I735- '735-174'- 17411752. 17521762. 1762. 17681779. '779 '?88. 17881797. Michele Steno. Tommaso Mocenigo. Francesco Foscari. Pasquale Malipiero. Cristofero Moro. Niccol6 Tron. Niccol6 Marcello. Pietro Mocenigo. Andrea Vendramin. Giovanni Mocenigo. Marco Barberigo. Agostino Barbarigo. Leonardo Loredan. Antonio Grimani. Andrea Gritti. Pietro Lando. Francesco Donato. Marco Trevisan. Francesco Venier. Lorenzo Priuli. Girolamo Priuli. Pietro Loredan. Alvise Mocenigo I. Sebastiano Venier. Niccol6 da Ponte. Pasquale Cicogna. Marino Grimani. Leonardo Donato. Marco Memmo. Giovanni Bembo. Niccolo Donato. Antonio Priuli. Francesco Contarini. Giovanni Cornaro. Niccolo Contarini. Francesco Erizzo. Francesco Molin. Carlo Contarini. Francesco Cornaro. Bertuccio Valier. Giovanni Pesaro. Domenico Contarini II. Niccold Sagredo. Alvise Contarini II. Marc Ant. Giustiniani. Franc. Morosini. Silvestro Valier. Alvise Mocenigo II. Giovanni Cornaro. S'eb. Mocenigo III. Carlo Ruzzini. Alvise Pisani. Pietro Grimani. Francesco Loredan. Marco Foscarini. Alvise Mocenigo IV. Paolo Renier. Lodovico Manin. ARRIVAL AT VENICE. 7 " We take no note nowadays, and the Doges and magnificent Senators took no note of the generation of true founders, who must have buried themselves, with their piles and stakes, upon the mud-banks, to lay a feasible foundation for the place, founding it, as every great human city is founded, upon human blood and sacrifice. But there stands the city of S. Mark miraculous, a thing for giants to wonder at, and fairies to copy if they could. The wonder leaps upon the traveller all at once, arriving over the broad plains of Italy, through fields of wheat and gardens of olive, through vineyards and swamps of growing rice, across broad rivers and monotonous flats of richest land, by the Euganean mountains dark upon the pale sky of evening, and the low swamps gleaming under the new-risen moon. The means of arrival, indeed, are commonplace enough, but lo ! in a moment you step out of the common- place railway station, into the lucid stillness of the Water City, into poetry and wonderland. The moon rising above shines upon pale palaces dim and splendid, and breaks in silver arrows and broad gleams of whiteness upon the ripple and soft glistening movement of the canal, till, yet alive with a hundred reflections, and a soft pulsation and twinkle of life. The lights glitter above and below, every star and every lamp doubled ; and the very path by which you are to travel lives, and greets you with soft gleams of liquid motion, and soft gurgle of liquid sound. And then comes the measured sweep of the oars, and you are away along the silent splendid road, all darkling, yet alight, the poorest smoky oil-lamp making for itself a hundred twinkling stars in the little facets of the wavelets ; ripplets, which gleam far before you, shining and twinkling like so many fairy forerunners preparing your way. Not a sound less harmonious and musical than the soft plash of the water against the marble steps and grey walls, the wave and wash against your boat, the wild cry of the boatmen, as they round with magical precision each sharp corner, or the singing of some wandering boatful of musicians on the Grand Canal, disturbs the quiet. Across the flat Lido from the Adriatic comes a little breath of fresh wind, touching your cheek with a caress ; and when, out of a maze of narrow water-lanes, you shoot out into the breadth and glorious moonlight of the Grand Canal, and see the lagoon go widening out, a plain of dazzling silver, into the distance, and great churches and palaces standing up pale against the light, our Lady of Salvation and S. George the greater guarding the widening channel, what words can describe the novel, beautiful scene." Blackiuood, DCCV. The impression produced when the great bridge is passed, and the train glides into the Railway Station of Venice is 8 ITALIAN CITIES. one never to be forgotten. Instead of the noise of a street, and its rattling carriages, you find, as you descend the portico of the station, the salt waves of the Grand Canal lapping against the marble steps, and a number of gondolas, like a row of black hearses, drawn up against them. Into one of these you step, and noiselessly, ghastlily, without apparent motion, you float off into the green water. " Let me this gondola boat compare to a slumbrous cradle, And to a spacious bier liken the cover demure ; Thus on the open canal through life we are swaying and swimming Onward with never a care, coffin and cradle between. " Monckton Milnes, from Goethe. It is perhaps best, and no mere romantic idea, to enter Venice for the first time by moonlight. Then all the shabby detail, all the ruin and decay, and poor unartistic repairs of the grand old buildings are lost, and the first views of the Grand Canal are indeed surpassingly beautiful, and you are carried back to " the golden days of the Queen of the Adriatic." "A city of marble, did I say ? nay, rather a golden city, paved with emerald. For truly, every pinnacle and turret glanced and glowed, overlaid with gold, or bossed with jasper. Beneath, the unsullied sea drew in deep breathing, to and fro, its eddies of green wave. Deep- hearted, majestic, terrible as the sea the men of Venice moved in sway of power and war ; pure as her pillars of alabaster, stood her mothers and maidens ; from foot to brow, all noble, walked her knights ; the low bronzed gleaming of sea-rusted armour shot angrily under their blood-red mantle-folds. Fearless, faithful, patient, impenetrable, im- placable every word a fate sate her senate. In hope and honour, lulled by flowing of wave around their isles of sacred sand, each with his name written and the cross graven at his side, lay her dead. A won- derful piece of the world. Rather, itself a world. It lay along the face of the waters, no larger, as its captains saw it from their masts at evening, than a bar of sunset that could not pass away ; but for its power, it must have seemed to them as if they were sailing in the ex- THE TEACHING OF VENICE. 9 panse of heaven, and this a great planet, whose orient edge widened through ether. A world from which all ignoble care and petty thoughts were banished, with all the common and poor elements of life. No foulness or tumult, in those tremulous streets, that filled or fell beneath the moon ; but rippled music of majestic change, or thrilling silence. No weak walls could rise above them ; no low-roofed cottage, nor straw-built shed. Only the strength as of rock, and the finished setting of stones most precious. And around them, far as the eye could reach still the soft moving of stainless waters, proudly pure ; as not the flower, as neither the thorn nor the thistle, could grow in the glancing fields. Ethereal strength of Alps, dream-like, vanishing in high procession beyond the Torcellan shore ; blue islands of Paduan hills, poised in the golden west. Above, free winds and fiery clouds ranging at their will ; brightness out of the north, and balm from the south, and the stars of the evening and morning clear in the limitless light of arched heaven and circling sea." Ruskirts Modern Painters. It is not a mere following up of the list of sights indicated in these pages, which can give the impression of what Venice ought to convey, and is ready to teach through the wonderful histories and allegories which are engraved in the sculptures of her walls as in a marble picture-book. Venice, like Orvieto, is full of the deepest material for thought, and many of her buildings are still like an index to the historical and religious feelings of the time in which they were built. " At Venice, as indeed, throughout the whole Christian world, the legend was the earliest form of poetry ; and if it did not strike root there deeper than elsewhere, it at least adorned the infancy of the republic with an infinite variety of flowers, which retained all their beauty and freshness in the proudest days of its prosperity. Each temple, monastery, religious or national monument, was surrounded from its foundations with its own peculiar legends, which increased with every succeeding century ; and, not satisfied with these local traditions, the people took possession of those of Egypt, Asia Minor, and Greece, which became naturalised in the Lagunes in proportion as the relics of saints and martyrs were transported there, in order to preserve them from the out- rages of the Infidels now become masters of those countries in which the earliest Christian churches had been founded. " Rio. io ITALIAN CITIES. Venice is still one of the most religious cities in Italy. Prayer never ceases here : the Sacrament is constantly exposed in one or other of the churches, and the clergy succeed one another in prayers before it, night as well as day. Each day spent in the water-city will add to its charm, but, from the first all is novel and enchanting : the very cries of the gondoliers have something most wild and picturesque. They are thus explained by Monckton Milnes : " When along the light ripple the far serenade Has accosted the ear of each passionate maid, She may open the window that looks on the stream, She may smile on her pillow and blend it in dream ; Half in words, half in music, it pierces the gloom, ' I am coming stall but you know not for whom ! Stall not for whom! ' Now the tones "become clearer, you hear more and more How the water divided returns on^he oar, Does the prow of the gondola strike on the stair ? Do the voices and instruments pause and prepare ? Oh ! they faint on the ear as the lamp on the view, ' I am passing Preme but I stay not for you ! Preme not for you ! ' Then return to your couch, you who stifle a tear, Then awake not, fair sleeper believe he is here ; For the young and the loving no sorrow endures, If to-day be another's, to-morrow is yours ; May, the next time you listen, your fancy be true, ' I am coming Sciar and for you and to you ! Sciar and to you ! " * To English eyes the sailors and facchini with their large earrings are almost as curious as the young dandies in the * From the verb Stalir, to go to the right : Premier, to go to the left ; and Sciar or Siar, to stop the boat by turning the flat part of the oar against the cur- rent- VENE TIAN GEOGRAPHY. \ i Giardino in summer with their almost invariable fans as well as parasols ! Travellers will do well to select a Hotel as near as possible to the Piazza S. Marco, which is in itself filled with interest and delight, and is the centre of everything else. Here they may devote every extra moment to revisiting the most glorious church in the world, and hence they will gradually learn to make their way through the narrow streets which wind labyrinthine-like over the closely-packed group of islets. The best way will be to make the tour of Venice first in a gondola, and then, when partially familiar with the position of things, to follow up your explorations on foot, for every square, every house even of the city, may be visited by land as well as by water, as the 7 2 islands on which the town is built are connected by from 350 to 400 bridges. Most difficult however is the geography, and the only real guide is a narrow white marble thread in the pavement, which, passing through several of the principal footways, always leads to the Rialto. The Calle y as the narrow streets are called, are, in their way, as full of interest as the canals. "Jusqu'aux ruelles, aux moindres places, il n'y a rien qui ne fasse plaisir. Du palais Loredan, ou je suis, on tourne, pour aller a Saint- Marc, par des calif biscornucs et charmantes, tapissees de boutiques, de merceries, d'etalages de melons, de legumes et d'oranges, peuple"es de costumes voyants, de figures narquoises ou sensuelles, d'une foule bruis- sante et changeante. Ces ruelles sont si etroites, si bizarrement etriquees entre leurs murs irrcguliers, qu'on n'apercoit sur sa tete qu'une bande dentelee du ciel. On arrive sur quelque/M3zrt7l, quelque campo desert, tout blanc sous un ciel blanc dc lumiere. Dalles, murailles, enceinte, pave, tout V est pierre ; alentour sont des maisons fermees, et leurs files forment un triangle ou un carre bossele par le besoin de s'e'tendre et le r.osard de la batisse ; une citcrne delicatement ouvrag^e fait le centre, ct des lions sculptcs, de figurines nucs jouent sur la margcllc. Dans 12 ITALIAN CITIES. un coin est quelque eglise baroque, un portail charge de statues, tout bruni par 1'humidite de 1'air sale et par la brulure antique du soleil; un jet de clarte oblique tranche 1'edifice en deux pans, et la moitie des figures semblent s'agiter sur les frontons ou sortir des niches pendant que les autres reposent dans la transparence bleuatre de 1'ombre. On avance, et, dans un long boyau qu'un petit pont traverse, on voit des gondoles sillonner d' argent le marbre bigarre de 1'eau ; tout au bout de 1'enfilade, un petillement d'or marque sur le flot le ruissellement du soleil qui, du haut d'un toit, fait danser des eclairs sur le blanc tigre de 1'onde. " Taine. For a passing stranger it may be well to divide the sight- seeing at Venice into eight divisions. 1. The Piazza of S. Marco and its surroundings. 2. The Grand Canal. 3. The South-Eastern quarter of Venice from S. Zaccaria to the Public Gardens. 4. The North-Eastern quarter from S. Moise to S. Giobbe. 5. Western Venice from S. Trovaso to S. Andrea. 6. The Giudecca, the Armenian Convent, and the Lido. 7. Chioggia. 8. Murano and Torcello. In the arrangement of Venetian sight-seeing it should be remembered that few of the churches are open after twelve o'clock, and the Academy closes at three. The mornings therefore should be given to sights in the town, the after- noons to general explorations. CHAPTER XXII. VENICE, s. MARK'S AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. WE will suppose the traveller threading his way from one of the neighbouring hotels to the Piazza S. Marco. " It is a paved alley, some seven feet wide where it is widest, full of people, and resonant with cries of itinerant salesmen, a shriek in their beginning, and dying away into a kind of brazen ringing, all the worse for its confinement between the high houses of the passage along which we have to make our way. Overhead an inextricable confusion of rug- ged shutters, and iron balconies and chimney flues pushed out on brack- ets to save room, and arched windows with projecting sills of Istrian stone, and gleams of green leaves here and there where a fig-tree branch escapes over a lower wall from some inner cortile, leading the eye up to the narrow stream of blue sky high over all. On each side, a row of shops, as densely set as may be, occupying in fact, intervals between the square stone shafts, about eight feet high, which carry the first floors : intervals of which one is narrow and serves as a door ; the other is, in the more respectable shops, wainscoted to the height of the counter and glazed above, but in those of the poorer tradesmen left open to the ground, and the wares laid on benches and tables in the open air, the light in all cases entering at the front only, and fading away in a few feet from the threshold into a gloom which the eye from without cannot penetrate, but which is generally broken by a ray or two from a feeble lamp at the back of the shop, suspended before a print of the Virgin. The less pious shopkeeper sometimes leaves his lamp unlighted, and is contented with a penny print ; the more religious one has his print coloured and set in a little shrine with a gilded or figured fringe, with perhaps a faded flower or two on each side, and his lamp burning bril- liantly. Here at the fruiterer's, where the dark-green water-melons are heaped upon the counter like cannon balls, the Madonna has a taber- 14 ITALIAN CITIES. nacle of fresh laurel leaves ; but the pewterer next door has let his lamp out, and there is nothing to be seen in his shop but the dull gleam of the studded patterns on the copper pans, hanging from his roof in the darkness. Next comes a ' Vendita Frittole e Liquori,' where the Virgin, enthroned in a very humble manner beside a tallow candle on a back shelf, presides over certain ambrosial morsels of a nature too ambiguous to be defined or enumerated. But a few steps further on, at the regular wine-shop of the calle, where we are offered ' Vino Nostrauo a Soldi 28 32,' the Madonna is in great glory, enthroned above ten or a dozen large red casks of three-year-old vintage, and flanked by goodly ranks of bottles of Maraschino, and two crimson lamps ; and for the evening, when the gondoliers will come to drink out, under her auspices, the money they have gained during the day, she will have a whole chande- lier. " A yard or two farther, we pass the hostelry of the Black Eagle, and, glancing as we pass, through the square door of marble, deeply moulded in the outer wall, we see the shadows of its pergola of vines resting on an ancient well, with a pointed shield carved on its side ; and so pre- sently emerge on the bridge and Campo San Moise, whence to the entrance into S. Mark's Place, called the Bocca di Piazza (mouth of the square), the Venetian character is nearly destroyed, first by the frightful fayade of San Moise, and then by the modernizing of the shops as they near the piazza, and the mingling with the lower Venetian populace of lounging groups of foreigners. We will push past through them into the shadow of the pillars at the end of the ' Bocca di Piazza,' and then we forget them all ; for between those pillars there opens a great light, and, in the midst of it, as we advance slowly, the vast tower of S. Mark seems to lift itself visibly forth from the level field of chequered stones ; and, on each side, the countless arches prolong themselves into ranged symmetry, as if the rugged and irregular houses that pressed together above us in the dark alley had been struck back into sudden obedience and lovely order, and all their rude casements and broken walls had been transformed into arches charged with goodly sculpture, and fluted shafts of delicate stone. " And well may they fall back, for beyond those troops of ordered arches there rises a vision out of the earth, and all the great square seems to have opened from it in a kind of awe, that we may see it far away ; a multitude of pillars and white domes, clustered into a long low pyramid of coloured light ; a treasure-heap, it seems, partly of gold, and partly of opal and mother-of-pearl, hollowed beneath into five great vaulted porches, ceiled with fair mosaic, and beset with sculpture of alabaster, clear as amber and delicate as ivory, sculpture fantastic and THE PIAZZA S. MARCO. 15 involved, of palm-leaves and lilies, and grapes and pomegranates, and birds clinging and fluttering among the branches, all twined together into an endless network of buds and plumes ; and, in the midst of it, the solemn forms of angels, sceptred, and robed to the feet, and leaning to each other across the gates, their figures indistinct among the gleam- ing of the golden ground through the leaves beside them, interrupted and dim, like the morning light as it faded back among the branches of Eden, when first its gates were angel-guarded long ago. And round the walls of the porches there are set pillars of variegated stones, jasper and porphyry, and deep green serpentine spotted with flakes of snow, and marbles, that half refuse and half yield to the sunshine, Cleopatra- like, ' their bluest veins to kiss ' the shadow, as it steals back from them, revealing line after line of azure undulation, as a receding tide leaves the waved sand ; their capitals rich with interwoven tracery, rooted knots of herbage, and drifting leaves of acanthus and vine, and mystical signs, all beginning and ending in the Cross ; and above them, in the broad archivolts, a continuous chain of language and of life angels, and the signs of heaven, and the labours of men, each in its appointed season upon the earth ; and above these, another range of glittering pinnacles, mixed with white arches edged with scarlet flowers, a confusion of delight, amidst which the breasts of the Greek horses are seen blazing in their breadth of golden strength, and the S. Mark's Lion, lifted on a blue field covered with stars, until at last, as if in ecstacy, the crests of the arches break into a marble foam, and toss themselves far into the blue sky in flashes and wreaths of sculptured spray, as if the breakers on the Lido shore had been frost-bound before they fell, and the sea-nymphs had inlaid them with coral and amethyst." Ruskin, Stones of Venice. Glorious indeed is this piazza and the succession of build- ings which surrounds it. On the north are the Procuratie Vecchie, built by Bartolomeo Buono da Bergamo, 1517. Then comes the tower called Torre del Orologio, built 1466 1495, conspicuous from its dial of blue and gold, and surmounted by bronze figures who strike the hours upon a bell. The arch beneath leads into the busy street of the Merceria. On Ascension and for many days after, the Magi come forth in procession and salute the Virgin and Child on this tower, when the clock strikes twelve. 1 6 ITALIAN CITIES. On the opposite side of the piazza are the Biblioteca and Proeuratie Nuove, built from designs of Scamozzi. The latter are converted into a palace : they occupy the site of the fine church of S. Geminiano, which was built by Sanso- vino and where he was buried. The Libreria Vecchia is continued down the west side of the Piazzetta, which opens from the piazza opposite the Torre del Orologio. The foundation of the library was the collection of Petrarch, who came to settle in Venice in 1529, and made " S. Mark the heir of his library." It was afterwards greatly enriched by Cardinal Bessarion and others. The great hall is very handsome and has some paintings by Paul Veronese and Tintoret. The adjoining building, facing the lagoon, is the Zecca, built as a mint by Sansovino in 1536, and which gave its name to the Zecchino or Sequin, the favourite coin of the republic. It contains some portraits by Tintoret. At the end of the Piazzetta towards the lagoon are two granite pillars, one surmounted by the Lion of S. Mark, the other by a statue of S. Theodore standing on a crocodile (by Pietro Guilombardo, 1329), the saint who was patron of the Republic before the body of S. Mark was brought from Egypt in 827. The columns themselves were brought from Palestine in 1927. Then Doge Sebastiano Ziani (1172 78), having promised any " onesta grazia " to the man who should safely lift them to their places, it was claimed by Nicolb il Barattiere, who demanded that gambling, prohibited else- where, should be permitted between these pillars. The promise could not be revoked, but to render it of no effect, all public executions were also ordained to be held on this spot, so as to render it one of ill-omen. At the inner entrance of the Piazzetta, between the Ducal THE PIAZZA S. MARCO. 17 Palace and the church, are the richly sculptured Pillars of S. Jean cTAcre, once part of a gateway of S. Saba in Ptolemais. They were brought back in a Venetian triumph in 1256. Near these, at the corner of the church, is a low pillar of red porphyry, which is also said to have come from Acre. It is called Pietra del Bando, and the laws of the Republic are said to have been promulgated from hence. At the opposite angle is the great Campanile begun by Doge Pietro Tribune in 888, but not finished till 1511. It is entered by a small door on the west (2 soldi), whence a winding and easy footpath (no steps) leads to the summit. The view is truly magnificent, and should be one of the first points visited in Venice. It is the only way of understand- ing the intricate plan of the wonderful water-city, which from hence is seen like a map, with all its towers and churches and distant attendant islands, while beyond it the chain of Alps girds in the horizon with a glistening band of snowy peaks. At the foot of the Campanile is the Loggia (" sotto il Cam- panile") built by Sansovino in 1569 as a meeting-place for the Venetian nobles. It is richly adorned with reliefs and has bronze statues of Minerva, Apollo, Mercury, and a God of Peace, by Sansovin,'. In front of the church, rise from richly decorated bronze sockets, by Alessandro Leonardo, the tall flagstaffs which bore the banners of the Republic. Here, in the piazza, we may always see flocks of pigeons, sacred birds in Venice, which are so tame that they never move out of your way, but run before you as you walk, and perch on the sill of your open window. VOL. IL 2 1 8 ITALIAN CITIES. " Ces pigeons remontant aux anciens temps de Venise. Alors il etait d'usage, le jour des Rameaux, de lacher d'au-dessus de la porte princi- pale de Saint-Marc un grand nombre d'oiseaux avec de petits rouleaux de papier attaches a la patte, qui les fore,aient a tomber ; le peuple, malgre leurs efforts pourse soutenir quelque temps en 1'air, se les dispu- tait aussitot avec violence. II arriva que quelques. uns de ces pigeons se delivrerent de leurs entraves, et trainant la ficdlc chercherent un asile sur les toits de Saint-Marc. Us s'y multipherent rapidement ; et tel fut 1'interet qu' inspirerent ces refugies que, d'apres le vceu general, un de- cret fut rendu portant qu'ils seraient non-seulement respectes, mais nourris aux frais de 1'Etat." Valery. The distinctive wonders of the Piazza S. Marco are thus popularly enumerated in the Venetian dialect : "In piazza San Marco ghe xe tre standard!, Ghe xe quatro cavai che par che i svola Ghe xe un relogio che '1 par una tore, Ghe xe do mori che bate le ore." " It is a great piazza, anchored, like all the rest, in the deep ocean. On its broad bosom, is a palace, more majestic and magnificent in its old age than all the buildings of the earth, in the high prime and fulness of their youth. Cloisters and galleries ; so light, they might be the work of fairy hands ; so strong that centuries have battered them in vain ; wind round and round this palace, and enfold it with a cathedral, gor- geous in the wild luxuriant fancies of the East. At no great distance from its porch, a lofty tower, standing by itself, and rearing its proud head above, into the sky, looks out upon the Adriatic Sea. Near to the margin of the stream, are two ill-omened pillars of red granite ; one having on its top, a figure with a sword and shield ; the other, a winged lion. Not far from these, again, a second tower, richest of the rich in all its decorations, even here, where all is rich, sustains aloft a great orb, gleaming with gold and deepest blue ; the twelve signs painted on it, and a mimic sun revolving in its course around them ; while above, two bronze giants hammer out the hours upon a sounding bell. An oblong square of lofty houses of the whitest stone, surrounded by a light and beautiful arcade, forms part of this enchanted scene ; and, here and there, gay masts for flags rise, tapering from the pavement of the unsubstantial ground." Dickens. As we are now standing under the shadow of S. Mark's, we may give a few moments to its origin and story. THE FOUNDATION OF S. MARCO. 19 " ' And so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus.' If as the shores of Asia lessened upon his sight, the spirit of prophecy had entered into the heart of the weak disciple who had turned back when his hand was on the plough, and who had been judged, by the chiefest of Christ's captains, unworthy henceforward to go forth with him to the work, how- wonderful would he have thought it, that by the lion symbol in future ages he was to be represented among men ! how woful, that the war-cry of his name should so often re-animate the rage of the soldier, on those very plains where he himself had failed in the courage of the Christian, and so often dye with fruitless blood that very Cypriot Sea, over whose waves, in repentance and shame, he was following the Son of Consola- tion ! "That the Venetians possessed themselves of his body in the ninth century there appears no sufficient reason to doubt, nor that it was principally in consequence of their having done so, that they chose him for their patron saint. There exists, however, a tradition that before he went into Egypt he had founded the church at Aquileia, and was thus, in some sort, the first bishop of the Venetian isles and people." ftuskiit, Stones of Venice. The translation of the body of S. Mark to Venice is said to have been caused by the rapacity of the king of Alexandria, who plundered the church where he was enshrined in that city to adorn his own palace. Two Venetian sea-captains who were then at Alexandria implored to be allowed to re- move the relics of the saint to a place of safety, and at last the priests, fearful of further desecration, consented. " They placed the corpse in a large basket covered with herbs and swine's flesh which the Mussulmans hold in horror, and the bearers were directed to cry Khawzir (pork), to all who should ask questions or approach to search. In this manner they reached the vessel. The body was enveloped in the sails and suspended to the mainmast till the moment of de- parture, for it was necessary to conceal this precious booty from those who might come to clear the vessel in the roads. At last the Venetians quitted the shore full of joy. They were hardly in the open sea when a great storm arose. We 20 ITALIAN CITIES. are assured that S. Mark then appeared to the captain and warned him to strike all his sails immediately, lest the ship, driven before the wind, should be wrecked upon hidden rocks. They owed their safety to this miracle." The first church erected at Venice in honour of S. Mark was destroyed by fire in 976. Its rebuilding was immedi- ately commenced, and the existing church was consecrated in 1085. Since that time every succeeding Doge has added to the richness of its decorations. The main body of the church is of the eleventh century, the Gothic additions of the fourteenth, and the restored mosaics of the seventeenth. "Venice, we must never forget, is for architectural purposes no part of Italy, no part of the dominions of the Western Emperor. 'Hjutlf coi/Xoi Qk\o\Liv tlvai TOV 'Pw^aiujv /3af are the words put into the mouth of the islanders by the imperial historian, and they ceased to be subjects of the Eastern Caesar only in becoming Lords of One Fourth and One Eighth of his empire. Both as subjects and as lords they were equally disciples. The ducal chapel of Venice repeats the patriarchal church of Constantinople, as it is itself so strangely repeated in the far distant abbey of Perigueux." Freeman. Over the doorways are five mosaics, beginning from the right, viz : The translation of the Relics of S. Mark from Alexandria, 1650. Pietro Vecchio. Landing of the Relics. Pietro Vecchio. The Last Judgment, 1836. L. Guerena. The magistrates of Venice venerating the Relics of S. Mark, 1728. Sebastiano Rizzi. The Enshrining of the Relics, and the fagade of the church, an ancient work of the early part of the 1 3th century. Over the portico are the four famous Bronze Horses, brought from Constantinople by the Venetians after the fourth Crusade. " A glorious team of horses, I should like to hear the opinion o a good judge of horse-flesh. What seemed strange to me was, that closely VESTIBULA OF S. MARCO. ci viewed, they appear heavy, while from the piazza below they look lijjlit as deer." Goethe. " In this temple-porch, Old as he was, so near his hundredth year, And blind his eyes put out did Dandolo Stand forth, displaying on his crown the cross. There did he stand, erect, invincible, Though wan his cheeks, and wet with many tears, For in his prayers he had been weeping much ; And now the pilgrim and the people wept With admiration, saying in their hearts, * Surely those aged limbs have need of rest ! ' There did he stand, with his old armour on, Ere, gonfalon in hand, that streamed aloft, As conscious of its glorious destiny, So soon Jo float o'er mosque and minaret, He sailed away, five hundred gallant ships, Their lofty sides hung with emblazoned shields, Following his track to fame. He went to die : But of his trophies four arrived ere long, Snatched from destruct : on the four steeds divine, That strike the ground, resounding with their feet, And from their nostrils snort ethereal flame Orer that very porch." Rogers. On entering the vestibule, we see, in front of the central doorway, a lozenge of red and white marble. This marks the spot where the celebrated reconciliation took place be- tween the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Pope Alex- ander III., July 23, 1177. " The Emperor, with the Doge and senators, and with his own Teu- tonic nobles, advanced to the portal of S. Mark, where stood the Pope in his pontifical attire. Frederick no sooner beheld the successor of S. Peter, than he threw ofThis imperial mantle, prostrated himself, and 1 the feet of the Pontiff. Alexander, not without tears, raised him up, and gave him the kiss of peace. Then swelled out the Te Deum ; and the Emperor, holding the hand of the Pope, was led into the choir, mvl received the Papal benediction." Mi/man's Hist, of Latin CAris- trinity. All around are columns of precious marbles, chiefly 22 ITALIAN CITIES. brought from the East, and above these equally precious mosaics. That over the principal door of S. Mark, is by the brothers Zuccati in 1 545, from designs of Titian. The representation of the Crucifixion opposite, is also by the Zuccati. The earlier mosaics are of the nth century, and many of these are of great interest We may especially notice, on the left, as a figure seldom represented in art, that of Phocas, the sainted gardener of Sinope in Pontus (A.D. 303), who being much given to hospitality, courteously received and lodged the executioners sent to put him to death ; who received his kindness, not knowing, but in the morning, when he revealed himself to them, were compelled to behead him, and they buried him in a grave he had dug for himself, amongst his flowers, " The custom of burying illustrious persons in Roman or early Christian sarcophagi prevailed until the 14th century. Vitale Faliero, tor instance, Kes in the atrium of S. Mark's, to the right of the great portal, in a sarcophagus with shapeless octagonal columns. Had Venice had any fitter resting-place for this doge, in whose reign occurred the miraculous recovery of the body of S. Mark and the visit of the Emperor Henry IV., she would not thus have buried him in a tomb made up of old fragments. In a similar sarcophagus on the other side of the great portal lies the wife of Vitale Michele, who ruled the Republic at the time of the first Crusade, in which Venice co-operated but coldly, fearing that it would interfere with her commerce with the East ; the fleet she sent to Syria was employed in fighting with the Pisans off Smyrna for possession of the bodies of SS. Teodoro and Niccolo, and in plundering the richly-laden Genoese ships in their homeward voyage. Another doge, Marino Morosini, whose short and uneventful reign is summed up by Maestro Martina da Canale in the words, ' fu si grazioso ch' egli uso sua vita in pace, ne nullo oso assalire di guerra,' also lies buried in the atrium of S. Mark's in an old Christian sarcophagus, sculptured with rude figures of Christ and the Apostles, angels bearing censers, and ornate crosses." Perkiris Italian Sculptors. On the right is the entrance of the Zeno Chapel, built 1505 1515, by Cardinal Giambattista Zeno, and contain- BAPTISTERY OF S. MARCO. 23 ing his grand bronze tomb by Antonio Lombardo and Aks- sandro Leopardo. The altar has a beautiful figure of the Madonna delta Scarpa between SS. Peter and John Baptist The mosaics, which tell the story of S. Mark, are of the iath century. A door to the right of the principal entrance leads to the Baptistery, or Chapel of S. Giovanni Battista San Zuane in the soft Venetian vernacular. "We are ia a low vaulted room; vaulted, not with arches, but with small cupolas starred with gold, and chequered with gloomy figures : in the centre is a bronze font charged with rich bas-reliefs, a small figure of the Baptist standing above it in a single ray of light that glances across the narrow room, dying as it falls from a window high in the wall, and the first thing that it strikes, and the only thing that it strikes rightly, is a tomb. We hardly know if it be a tomb indeed ; for it is like a narrow couch set beside the window, low-roofed and curtain- ed, so that it might seem, but that it is some height above the pavement, to have been drawn towards the window, that the sleeper might be wakened early ; only there are two angels who have drawn the curtains back, and are looking down upon him. Let IK look also, and thank that gentle light that rests upon his forehead for ever and dies away upon his breast. " The face is of a man in middle life, but there are two deep furrows right across the forehead, dividing it like the foundations of a tower; the height of it above is bound by the fillet of his ducal cap. The rest of the features are singularly small and delicate, the lips sharp, perhaps the sharpness of death being added to that of the natural lines ; but there is a sweet smile upon them, and a deep serenity upon the whole countenance. The roof of the canopy above has been blue, filled with stars ; beneath, in the centre of the tomb on which the figure rests, is a seated figure of the Virgin, and the border of it all around, is of flowers and soft leaves, growing rich and deep, as if in a field in summer. " It is the Doge Andrea Dandolo, a man early great among the great of Venice, and early lost. She chose him for her king in his 36th year; he died ten years later, leaving behind him that history to which we owe half of what we know of her former fortunes. " Look round the room in which he lies. The floor of it is in rich mosaic, encompassed by a low seat of red marble, and its walls are of alabaster, but worn and shattered, and darkly stained with age, almost ft ruin ia places the slabs of marble have fallen away altogether, and 2\ ITALIAN CITIES. the rugged brLkwork is seen through the rents, but all beautiful ; the ravaging fissures fretting their way among the islands and channelled zones of the alabaster, and the time-stains on its translucent masses darkened into fields of rich golden brown, like the colour of sea-weed when the sun strikes on it through deep sea. The light fades away into the recess of the chamber towards the altar, and the eye can hardly trace the lines of the bas-relief behind it of the Baptism of Christ : but on the vaulting of the roof the figures are distinct, and there are seen upon it two great circles, one snrronnded by the 'principalities and powers in heavenly places,' of which Milton has expressed the ancient division in the single massy line, 'Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,' and around the other, the Apostles ; Christ the centre of both : and upon the walls, again and again repeated, the gaunt figure of the Bap- tist, in every circumstance of his life and death ; and the streams of the Jordan running down between their cloven rocks ; the axe laid to the root of a fruitless tree that springs upon their shore." Jtuskin, Stones of Venice. From a door on the left of the Baptistery we enter the church itself. "The church is lost in a deep twilight, to which the eye must be accustomed for some moments before the form of the building can be traced ; and then there opens before us a vast cave, hewn out into the form of a cross, and divided into shadowy aisles by many pillars. Round the domes of its roof the light enters only through narrow apertures like large stars ; and here and there a ray or two from some far away case- ment wanders into the darkness, and casts a narrow phosphoric stream upon the waves of marble that heave and fall in a thousand colours along the floor. What else there is of light is from torches, or silver lamps, burning ceaselessly in the recesses of the chapels ; the roof sheeted with gold, and the polished walls covered with alabaster, give back at every curve and angle some feeble gleaming to the flames ; and the glories round the heads of the sculptured saints flash out upon us as \\ e pass them, and sink again into the gloom. Under foot and over head, a con- tinual succession of crowded imagery, one picture passing into another, as in a dream ; forms beautiful and terrible mixed together ; dragons and serpents, and ravening beasts of prey, and graceful birds that in the midst of them drink from running fountains and feed from vases of crystal ; the passions and the pleasures of human life symbolized toge- ther, and the mystery of its redemption ; for the mazes of interwoven lines and changeful pictures lead always at last to the Cross, lifted MARCO. 2$ and carved in every place and upon every stone; sometimes with the serpent of eternity wrapt round it, sometimes with doves beneath i;s arms and s%veet herbage growing forth from its feet ; but conspicuous most of all on the great rood that crosses the church before the altar, raised in bright blazonry against the shadow of the apse. And although in the recesses of the aisles and chapels, when the mist of the incense hangs heavily, we may see continually a figure traced in faint lines upon their marble, a woman standing with her eyes raised to heaven, and the inscription above her, 'Mother of God,' she is not here the presiding deity. It is the Cross that is first seen, and always, burning in the centre of the temple ; and every dome and hollow of its roof has the figure of Christ in the utmost height of it, raised in power, or returning in judg- ment." Rtiskin, Stones of Venice. It is the general impression, not the detail, of S. Mark's, which makes it so transcendent. The dim effects of shadow amid which golden gleams here and there illuminate some precious fragment of marble wall, or the peacock hues of a portion of the undulating and uneven pavement, makes those who have any artistic feeling care little for the technical details of architecture and sculpture. On the left is the beautiful little octagonal chapel or shrine of the Holy Cross. The screen of the choir is Greek, surmounted by statues by Jacobello and Pierpaolo dtlle Massegne, 1394, and between these the bronze crucifix of Jacopo di Marco Benato, 1394. The choir is richly adorned with intarsiatura work, above which are six bronze reliefs telling the story of S. Mark, by Jacopo Sansovino, 1546. Behind the High Altar is the famous Pala d'Oro, which is only shown on the highest church festivals. The High Altar itself covers the supposed relics of S. Mark. The original relics were destroyed in 976, by fire, but a legend has made them good. " After the repairs undertaken by the Doge Oreeolo, the place in which the body of the holy Evangelist rested had been altogether for- gotten ; so that the Doge Vital Falier was entirely ignorant of the place 26 ITALIAN CITIES. of the venerable deposit. This was no light affliction, not only to the pious Doge, bat to all the citizens and people ; so that at last, moved by confidence in the Divine mercy, they determined to implore, with prayer and fasting, the manifestation of so great a treasure, which did not now depend upon any human effort. A general fast being therefore proclaimed, and a solemn procession appointed for the 25th day of June, while the people assembled in the church interceded with God in fervent prayer for the desired boon, they beheld, with as much amazement as joy, a slight shaking in the marbles of a pillar (near the place where the altar of the Cross is now), which presently falling to the earth, exposed to the view of the rejoicing people the chest of bronze in which the body of the Evangelist was laid.'' Corner, Behind the High Altar on the left is a small bronze door by y. Sansovino, with delicate reliefs. This leads to the Sacristy, adorned with 1 6 th-century mosaics, and intarsiatura work by Antonio and Paolo da Maniova, and Fra Vincenzo da Verona, 1523. Beneath the Choir is an interesting Crypt (open from 1 2 to 2) supported by 50 pillars of Greek marble. From the south Transept is the entrance to the Treasury (shown on Mondays and Fridays from 12^ to 2), which con- tains a very interesting collection of Byzantine work. The Episcopal Throne is said to have been given by the Emperor Heraclius to the Patriarch of Grado. The reliquary of the True Cross was given in 1 1 20 to Santa Sophia of Constantinople by Irene, wife of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus. Having visited the church to form a general impression of its glories, the traveller should return with the single in- tention of studying the Mosaics and observing how com- pletely they are, as it were, an epitome and history of the Christian faith. " A large atrium or portico is attached to the sides of the church, a space which was especially reserved for unbaptized persons and new MOSAICS OF S. MARCO. 27 converts. It was thought right that, before their baptism, these persons should be led to contemplate the great facts of the Old Testament history ; the history of the Fall of Man, and of the lives of the Patriarchs up to the period of the CoYenant by Moses ; the order of the subjects in this series being very nearly the same as in many Northern churches, but significantly closing with the Fall of the Manna, in order to mark to the catechumen the insufficiency of the Mosaic covenant for salvation, 'Our fathers did eat Manna in the wilderness, and are dead,' and to turn his thoughts to the true bread of which that Manna was a type. " Then, when after his baptism he was permitted to enter the church, over its main entrance he saw, on looking back, a mosaic of Christ en- throned, with the Virgin on one side and S. Mark on the other, in attitudes of adoration. Christ is represented as holding a book open upon his knee, on which is written : ' I am the door ; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.' On the red marble moulding which sur- rounds the mosaic is written : ' I am the gate of life ; Let those who are mine enter by me.' Above, on the red marble fillet which forms the cornice of the west end of the church, is written, with reference to the figure of Christ below : ' Who He was, and fnxn whom He came, and at what price He redeemed thee, and why He made thee, and gave thee all things, do thou consider.' " Now observe, this was not to be seen and read only by the cate- chumen when he entered the church ; every one who at any time entered, was supposed to look back and to read this writing ; their daily entrance into the church was thus made a daily memorial of their first entrance into the spiritual Church ; and we shall rind that the rest of the book which was opened for them upon its walls, continually led them in the same manner to regard the visible temple as in every part a type of the invisible Church of God. "Therefore the mosaic of the first dome, which is over the head of the spectator as soon as he has entered by the great door (that door being the type of baptism), represents the effusion of the Holy Spirit, as the first consequence and seal of the entrance into the Church of God. In the centre of the cupola is the Dove, enthroned in the Greek manner, as the Lamb is enthroned, when the Divinity of the Second and Third person is to be insisted upon together with their peculiar offices. From the central symbol of the Holy Spirit twelve streams of fire descend upon the heads of the twelve apostles, who are represented standing around the dome ; and below them, between the windows which are pierced in its walls, are represented, by groups of two figures for each separate people, the various nations who heard the apostles speak, at Pentecost, every man in his own tongue. Finally, on the vaults, at the 23 ITALIAN CITIES. four angles which support the cupola, are pictured four angels, each bearing a tablet upon the end of a rod in his hand ; on each of the tablets of the three first angels is inscribed the word ' Holy ' ; on that of the fourth is written ' Lord *; and the beginning of the hymn being thus put into the mouths of the four angels, the words of it are continued round the border of the dome, uniting praise to God for the gift of the Spirit, with welcome to the redeemed soul received into his Church : Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth : Heaven and earth are full of thy glory : Hosanna in the highest : Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. And observe in this writing that the convert is required to regard the outpouring of the Holy Spirit especially as a work of sanctification. It is the holiness of God manifested in the giving of His Spirit to sanctify those who had become His children, which the four angels celebrate in their ceaseless praise ; and it is on account of this holiness that the heaven and earth are said to be full of His glory. " After, then, hearing praise rendered to God by the angels for the salvation of the newly-entered soul, it was thought fittest that the wor- shippers should be led to contemplate, in the most comprehensive forms possible, the past evidence and the future hopes of Christianity, as summed up in the three facts without assurance of which all faith is vain ; namely, that Christ died, that He rose again, and that He ascended into heaven, there to prepare a place for His elect. On the vault be- tween the first and second cupolas are represented the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, with the usual series of intermediate scenes the treason of Judas, the judgment of Pilate, the crowning with thorns, the descent into Hades, the visit of the women to the sepulchre, and the apparition to Mary Magdalane. The second cupola itself, which is the central and principal one of the church, is entirely occupied by the sub- ject of the Ascension. At the highest point of it Christ is represented as rising into the blue heaven, borne up by four angels, and throned upon a rainbow, the type of reconciliation. Beneath him, the twelve apostles are seen upon the Mount of Olives, with the Madonna, and, in the midst of them, the two men in white apparel who appeared at the moment of the Ascension, above whom, as uttered by them, are in- scribed the words, ' Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This Christ, the Son of God, as He is taken from you, shall so come, the arbiter of the earth, trusted to do judgment and justice.' " Beneath the circle of the apostles, between the windows of the cupola, are represented the Christian virtues, as sequent upon the crucifixion of MOSAICS OF S. MARCO. 29 the flesh, and the spiritual ascension together with Christ. Beneath them, on the vaults which support the angles of the cupola, are placed the four evangelists, because on their evidence our assurance of the fact of the Ascension rests ; and finally beneath our feet, as symbols of the sweetness and fulness of the Gospel which they declared, are represented the four rivers of Paradise, Pison, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. " The third cupola, that over the altar, represents the witness of the Old Testament to Christ ; showing Him enthroned in its centre, and surrounded by the patriarchs and prophets. But this dome was little seen by the people ; their contemplation was intended to be chiefly drawn to that of the centre of the church, and thus the mind of the wor- shippers was at once fixed on the main ground- work and hope of Christi- anity, 'Christ is risen,' and 'Christ shall come.' If he had time to explore the minor lateral chapels and cupolas, he could find in them the whole series of New Testament history, the events of the Life of Christ, and the apostolic miracles in their order, and finally the scenery of the Book of Revelation ; but if he only entered, as often the common people do at this hour, snatching a few moments before beginning the labour of the day to offer up an ejaculatory prayer, and advanced but from the main entrance as far as the altar screen, all the splendour of the glitter- ing nave and variegated dome, if they smote upon his heart, as they might often, in strange contrast with his reed cabin among the shallows of the lagoon, smote upon it only that they might proclaim the two great messages, 'Christ is risen," and 'Christ shall come.' Daily, as the white cupolas rose like wreaths of sea-foam in the dawn, while the shadowy campanile and frowning palace were still withdrawn into the night, they rose with the Easter Voice of Triumph, ' Christ is risen ; ' and daily, as they looked down upon the tumult of the people, deepening and eddying in the wide square that opened from their feet to the sea, they uttered above them the sentence of warning, 'Christ shall come.' " And this thought may dispose the reader to look with some change of temper upon the gorgeous building and wild blazonry of that shrine of S. Mark's. He now perceives that it was in the hearts of the old Venetian people far more than a place of worship. It was at once a type of the Redeemed Church of God, and a scroll for the written word of God. It was to be to them, both an image of the Bride, all glorious within, her clothing of wrought gold ; and the actual Table of the Law and the Testimony, written within and without. And whether honoured as the Church, or as the Bible, was it not fitting that neither the gold nor the crystal should be spared in the adornment of it ; that, as the symbol of the Bride, the building of the wall thereof should be of jasper, 30 ITALIAN CITIES. and the foundations of it garnished with all manner of precious stones ; and that, as the channel of the Word, the triumphant utterance of the Psalmist should be true of it, ' I have rejoiced in the way of thy testi- monies, as much as in all riches ' ?" Ruskin, Stones of Venice. Travellers will find it wearisome, almost impossible, to examine all the mosaics of S. Mark's. But among the col- lateral series is one of special interest upon the soffit of the arch which overhangs the western triforium. " This series of compositions, from the early history of the Virgin, is derived from the Protevangelion or apocryphal gospel of S. Thomas, little known in the Latin Church. In her Marriage, she is represented as a little girl of twelve years old. In the Annunciation, she is in the act of drawing water at a fountain in front of the house, and the angel addresses her, floating in the air. In the compartment which follows, she receives from the hand of the High Priest, at the doors of the temple, a vase containing the purple with which it had fallen to her lot to dye the new veil of the sanctuary six virgins, of the house of David, are in attendance on her. In the Salutation, she is represented as of full stature, being then, according to the Protevangelion, fourteen years old ; to the right, in the same composition, Joseph to whom she had been entrusted, not so much as a husband as a guardian of her virginity vin- dicates himself by the ' water of trial ' from the suspicion of having ' pri- vately married ' her. In the seventh of the series, the angel appears to Joseph, revealing the mystery of her conception ; and in the eighth is represented the journey to Bethlehem before Our Saviour was born. The series is continued on the adjacent wall, but by modern artists, the earlier compositions having perished. These eight mosaics have much merit, and are evidently a good deal later than those of the cupolas, the porch, Murano and Torcello." Lord Lindsay's Christian Art. From S. Mark's the traveller must turn to the Palace by its side, of which till a few years ago it was only the chapel (Capella Ducale). Its court-yard is always open. Its chambers may be visited on week-days from 9 to 4. A Palazzo Ducale was first built in 820 by Doge Angelo Participazio, the first ruler of the Venetian colonists. It was a Byzantine Palace, and we know from contemporary writers that it was of great magnificence. Probably it somewhat THE PALAZZO DUCALE. 31 resembled the " Fondaco dei Turchi." It received great additions during the i2th century, especially from the Doge Sebastiano Ziani, who " enlarged it in every direction." In the 1 4th century the great saloon was built, with many other important additions ; but the palace of Ziani still remained, though contrasting ill with the splendours of the later build- ing, and so strong was the feeling that it ought to be rebuilt, that, to save the vast expense, and fearing their own weak- ness, the Senate passed a decree forbidding any one to speak of rebuilding the old palace, under a penalty of a thousand ducats. But in 1419 a fire occurred which destroyed part of the old buildings ; a decree for rebuilding the palace was passed under Doge Mocenigo in 1422, and the work was carried out under his successor Doge Foscari. "The first hammer-stroke upon the old palace of Ziani was the first act of the period properly called the ' Renaissance.' It was the knell of the architecture of Venice and of Venice herself. " A year had not elapsed since the great Doge Mocenigo : his patriot- ism, always sincere, had been in this instance mistaken ; in his zeal for the honour of future Venice, he had forgotten what was due to the Venice of long ago. A thousand palaces might be built upon her burdened inlands, but none of them could take the place, or recall the memory, of that which was first built upon her unfrequented shore. It fell ; and, as if it had been the talisman of her fortunes, the city never flourished again. " Kuskin . In 1574 another great fire destroyed the upper rooms of the sea faade and almost the whole of the interior of the palace, and it was debated in the Great Council whether the ruin should not be destroyed and an entirely new pala-. e built ; but it was saved by the advice of an architect named . anni Kusconi, and the completion of the repairs necessi- 1 at this time brought the edifice into its present form ; the architects employed were three members of the family 32 ITALIAN CITIES. of Bon or Buono, and to them the two principal colonnades are due. The outer walls of the palace rest upon the pillars of open colonnades, which have a more stumpy appearance than was intended, owing to the raising of the pavement in the piazza. They had however no bases, but were supported by a con- tinuous stylobate. The chief decorations of the palace were employed upon the capitals of these pillars, and it was felt that the peculiar prominence and importance given to its angles, rendered it necessary that they should be enriched and softened by sculpture. One of the corners of the palace joined the irregular buildings, connected with S. Mark's, and is not generally seen. There remained there- fore only three angles to be decorated. The first main sculpture may be called " the Fig-tree angle," and its sub- ject is " the Fall of Man." The second is " the Vine angle," and represents the " Drunkenness of Noah." The third sculpture is the " Judgment angle," and portrays the " Judgment of Solomon." " In both the subjects of the Fall and the Drunkenness, the tree forms the chiefly decorative portion of the sculpture. Its trunk, in both cases, is the true outer angle of the palace boldly cut separate from the stone- work behind, and branching out above the figures so as to encompass each side of the angle, for several feet, with its deep foliage. Nothing can be more masterly or superb than the sweep of this foliage on the Fig-tree angle ; the broad leaves lapping round the budding fruit, and sheltering from sight, beneath their shadows, birds of the most graceful form and delicate plumage. The branches are, however, so strong, and the masses of stone hewn into leafage so large, that, notwithstanding the depths of the under cutting, the work remains nearly uninjured ; not so at the (opposite) Vine-angle, where the natural delicacy of the vine-leaf and tendril having tempted the sculptor to greater effort , he has passed the proper limits of his art, and cut the upper stems so deli- cately that half of them have been broken away by the casualties to which the situation of the sculpture necessarily exposes \\.."Ruskin. SCALA DEI G1GANTI. 33 The varied sculpture of the capitals of the thirty-six pillars of the colonnade is most interesting and often most beautiful. The Doge's Palace was not merely the residence of the chief of the state. It was, like our Palace of Westminster, the place where all the councils of state were held. " In the early times of Venice, the Doges possessed supreme power, unfettered by councils. But defects being perceived in this form of government, a Grand Council was established by consent of the people, consisting of four hundred and eighty men of high birth. " The grand council soon limited the Doge's prerogatives, and ap- pointed a Council of Forty to administer criminal justice. A Council of Sixty assisted the Doge in administering domestic and foreign affairs, and the famous Council of Ten held authority over the other councils, and privately investigated and punished all state crimes. " The Doge was bound to have no private correspondence with foreign states, to acquire no property beyond the Venetian dominions, to inter- fere in no judicial process, and to permit no citizen to use tokens of sub- jection in saluting him. " It was a serious matter to be Doge of Venice. Five of the first fifty Doges abdicated ; five were banished, with their eyes put out; nine were deposed ; five were massacred ; and two fell in battle." Story of Italy. The Palace is entered from the Piazzetta by the beau- tiful Porta della Carfa, which is inscribed with the name of its architect Bartolomeo Bon (1440 1443). The statues of Courage, Prudence, Hope, and Charity, with Justice throned above between the Lions, are also by the Bon or Buoni family. A beautiful sculpture which formerly existed here, representing Doge Francesco Foscari kneeling before the Lion of S. Mark, was destroyed by the mob in 1797. Opposite the gate is the famous Scala del Giganti, built by Antonio Rizzi in 1485. It derives its name from the colossal statues of Mars and Neptune wrought by Jacopo Sansovino in 1554. At the head of the stairs the Doges were crowned, with the words : " Accipe coronam ducalem VOL. ii. 3 34 ITALIAN CITIES. ducatus Venetorum." Here also a tradition, followed by Byron, places the execution of Doge Marino Faliero. Marino Faliero, formerly Podesta of Treviso, was chosen Doge in 1354, being then an old man. Of very choleric temper, resentment at the slight punishment inflicted by the Council of Forty upon Ser Michele Steno, who had written some scurrilous abuse of him upon his wooden chair, and the desire of punishing them, was his first incentive to seize the supreme power. A conspiracy was engaged in by which all the principal citizens, called together by the great bell on April 15, 1355, were to be cut to pieces, and Faliero proclaimed sovereign. It was exposed, through the warning given to his master by Beltram, a servant of one of those who were doomed. The Council of Ten was hastily summoned, the minor conspirators were first executed. Then the Doge, stripped of his insignia of office, was beheaded in the closed palace, and one of the council, taking the bloody sword to the space between the columns where public executions were usually held, brandished it saying " The terrible doom hath fallen on the traitor." In the court are two handsome bronze well-heads (Pu- teali), one by Nicolo de Conti, 1536, the other by Alfonso Alborgetti, 1559. On the left of the loggia, reached by the Giant's Staircase, is the Scala d'Oro, so called from the richness of its decora- tions, built by Jacopo Sansovino, 1556-77. Beyond this, are the Tre Stanze degli Avvogadori, the lawyers who kept the famous Libra d'Oro, which was the peerage of the Venetian aristocracy. In one of the chambers of these rooms is a Pietk by Giov. Bellini, 1472. Ascending the next staircase to the top, we should next enter from the left a suite of rooms which are a perfect gallery of 16th-century art at Venice : many of the pictures have however been grievously repainted. " As the oldest Venetian painting has immortalised itself in the Church of S. Mark, so the latest, that of the followers of Titian, has perpetuated itself in the Ducal Palace." Burckhardt. THE BOCCA DI LEONE. 35 Here we first become acquainted with Tintoret, whom we must know intimately before we leave Venice. There is probably no great master upon whose excellence so great a difference of opinion has existed. Before his vast pictures were illuminated and explained by the writings of Ruskin, there were few who saw more than their huge uncouthness, coarseness, and blackness. Now the deep meaning and careful intention with which they were painted has been re- vealed to us. Yet even now most of those who look upon them, and all those who look upon them hastily, will see only their dark side : " Along with much that was grand, there was in Tintoret a certain coarseness and barbarism of feeling ; even his artistic morality often wavered, so that he was capable of descending to the most unconscien- tious daubing. He fails in the higher sense of law, which the artist must impose on himself, especially in experiments and innovations. In his enormous works which in square feet of painted surface amount perhaps to ten times as much as the fruits of Titian's century of life, one begins to surmise that he undertook such things like a contractor, and executed them very much as an improvisor." Burckhardt. We first enter the Sala delta Bussola, which was the Ante- Chamber of the Council of Ten. In the time of the Re- public ' chiamar a la Bussola ' meant to drag a man before the state Inquisition. Here is the inner opening of the famous Bocca di Leone the Lion's Mouth through which secret denunciations were handed in. On the walls are pictures by Aliense, of the surrender of Bergamo and Brescia to the Venetians. Hence we enter the Sala dei Capi, that is of the three Presidents of the Council of Ten. The fine 15th-century chimney-piece is by Pietro da Salb; the ceiling by Paul Veronese. The Atrio Quadrate, which leads to the Scala d'Oro, has a ceiling by Tintoret. 36 ITALIAN CITIES. The Sala delle Quattro Porte, built by Palladio in 1575, has a ceiling designed by Palladio and Sansovino, and car- ried out by Vittoria. Its frescoes are by Tintoret. The principal pictures are : Wall of Entrance. Giov. Contarini. The capture of Verona by the Venetians in 1439. Titian. Antonio Grimani at the feet of Faith. Contarini. Marino Grimani kneeling before the Virgin. Wall of Exit. Carletto Cagliari. The ambassadors of Nuremberg. Andrea Vicentino. Henry III. of France arriving at the Lido, and his reception by the Doge Mocenigo. C. Caliari. The reception of the Persian ambassadors by Doge Cicogna, 1585. The door opposite that by which we entered leads to The Anticollegio, containing : Tintoretto. Ariadne and Bacchus. Jd. Minerva and Mars. P. Veronese. The Rape of Europa. " La merveille de ce sanctuaire de 1'art est VEnlfrvement a" Europe. La belle jeune fille est assise, comme sur un trone d'argent, sur le dos du taureau divin, dont le poitrail de neige va s'enfoncer dans la mer bleue qui tache d'atteindre de ses lames amoureuses la plante des pieds qu'Europe releve par une enfantine peur de se mouiller, detail inge'nieux des metamorphoses que le peintre n'a eu garde d'oublier. Les com- pagnes d'Europe, ne sachant pas qu'un dieu se cache sous la noble forme de ce bel animal si doux et si familier, s'empressent sur la rive et lui jettent des guirlandes de fleurs, sans se douter qu'Europe, ainsi enlevee, va nommer un continent et devenir la maitresse de Zeus aux noirs sourcils et a la chevelure ambroisienne. Quelles belles epaules blanches ! quelles nuques blondes aux nattes enroulees ! quels bras ronds et charmants ! quel sourire d'eternelle jeunesse dans cette toile merveil- leuse, ou Paul Veronese semble avoir dit son dernier mot ! Ciel, nuages, arbres, fleurs, terrains, mer, carnation, draperies, tout parait trempe dans la lumiere d'un Elyse'e inconnu." Gautier. Leandro Bassano. The Return of Jacob to Canaan. TINTORET AND PAUL VERONESE. 37 Tintoretto, The Workshop of Vulcan. Id. Mercury with the Graces. P. Veronese. Venice throned (on the ceiling). The chimney-piece and a beautiful door are by Scamozzi. Through this we reach : The Sola di Collegia, in which foreign ambassadors were received by the Doge. "Nous retrouvons ici Tintoret et Paul Veronese, Tun roux et violent, 1'autre azure et calme ; le premier fait pour les grands pans de muraille, le second pour les plafonds immenses." Gautier. The best pictures, beginning at the further side on the right, are : C. Cagliari. Doge Alvise Mocenigo adoring the Saviour. P. Veronese (over the throne). A votive allegorical picture representing the triumph of Venice after the victory of Lepanto, 1571. Por- traits are introduced of Doge Sebastiano Venier, the hero of the Battle of Lepanto, and of Agostino Barbarigo, who perished there. Tintoretto. Doge Andrea Gritti adoring the Virgin and Child. " It was no doubt the passage of the Psalmist Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam, which was so often repeated by the Venetians in the crusades, which suggested to the doges and naval commanders the idea of being represented in a kneeling attitude before the infant Christ or the holy Virgin, in the pictures destined to transmit their names, or the recollection of their exploits, to future generations. This mode of pious commemoration, which offers the touching contrast of a humble attitude with great dignity or glory, continued in use during the whole of the sixteenth century, in spite of the paganism so univer- sally triumphant elsewhere. After Giovanni Bellini and Catena, came the celebrated artists who adorned the second period of the Venetian school, and who also paid the tribute of their pencil to this interesting subject. It is on this account that pictures representing the Madonna seated, with a doge or a general kneeling before her, are so frequently to be met with in private collections, in the churches, and above all in the Ducal palace, in which these allegorical compositions, intended to express the close alliance between Religion and the State, seem to have been purposely multiplied. " Rio. The chimney-piece is by Girolamo Campagna t the ceiling 3S ITALIAN CITIES. designed by Antonio da Ponte and painted by Paul Veronese. The Sala del Senato or dei Pregadi contains (turning to the left from the main entrance) : Palma Giovane. (Over door) The two Doges Priuli in prayer. J. Tintoretto. Doge Pietro Loredan praying to the Virgin. Marco Vccelli. The election of S. Lorenzo Giustiniani to the Patri- archate of Venice. Palma Giovane. The League of Cambray Venice seated in de- fiance upon a lion. Id. Doge Pasquale Cicogna kneeling before the Saviour. Id. Doge Francesco Venier before Venice. J. Tintoretto. The Deposition of Christ, with saints and doges kneeling. Id. (In the centre of the ceiling) Venice as Queen of the Sea. The Ante-Chapel contains : Bonifazio. Christ expelling the Money-changers. Seb. Rizzi. Cartoons for the mosaics of the story of S. Mark on the Cathedral. y. Tintoretto. Saints. The Chapel, an oratory where the Doge heard mass, has an altar by Scamozzi, and a statue of the Madonna by Sansovino. At the foot of the staircase leading down from the Chapel to the Doges' private apartments is a fresco of S. Christopher, of great interest, as being the only known fresco of Titian. It is supposed to have been painted in honour of the arrival of the French (Sept. 13, 1523)* at the village of S. Cristo- foro near Milan. This was the political event of the year, and much to the satisfaction of Titian's patron, Doge Andrea Gritti, concerning whom Richard Pace wrote from Venice to Wolsey in May, 1523, " He is maydde to be a perfect Frenchman and for thys consideration the French ambas- * " 1523, Sept 13." Vennero (i Frances!) a San Cristoforo a un miglio pressa a Milano tra Porta Ticinese e Porta Romana." Guicciardini, vol. III. 404. THE PIOMBL 3$ sador resident here made grete festes and triumphs when he was chosen." The satisfaction of the Doge and the political allusion were better concealed than if S. Louis or S. Denis had been represented. This fresco is only shown by special permission of the Conservatorio. It is one of the grandest pictures in Venice the head of S. Christopher most care- fully executed, and of the noblest Venetian type. The Child is a mundane infant, afraid of falling, and very inferior. Returning by the Sala del Senato and the Sala delle Quattro Porte, we reach the Sala del Consiglio del Died, containing, with other pictures : Leattdro Bassano. Pope Alexander III. meeting Doge Sebastiano Ziani on his return from his victory over Frederick Barbarossa. Aliense. The Visit of the Magi. Marco Vecelli. The Treaty between Charles V. and Clement VII. Paul Veronese. (On the ceiling) " The old man with the young wife." From the Anti-Collegio a staircase leads to the famous Piombi, the " Prisons under the leads," of which G. Casanova, who was imprisoned there in 1755, has left such a dramatic description. " But let us to the roof, And, when thou hast surveyed the sea, the land, Visit the narrow cells that cluster there, As in a place of tombs. There burning suns Day after day, beat unrelentingly ; Turning all things to dust, and scorching up The brain, till Reason fled, and the wild yell And wilder laugh burst out on every side, Answering each other as in mockery ! Few Houses of the size were better filled ; Though many came and left it in an hour. 4 Most nights,' so said the good old Nicolo, (For three and thirty years his uncle kept 40 ITALIAN CITIES. The water-gate below, but seldom spoke, Though much was on his mind,) ' most nights arrived The prison-boat, that boat with many oars, And bore away as to the Lower World, Disburdening in the Canal Orfano, That drowning-place, where never net was thrown, Summer or Winter, death the penalty ; And where a secret, once deposited, Lay till the waters should give up their dead.' " Rogers. The Ponte del Sospiri across which prisoners were led to hear their condemnation (whence the name) leads from the palace to the prisons on the other side of the Rio Canal. " The Rio Fa9ade of the Ducal Palace (seen from the Bridge of Sighs) though very sparing in colour, is yet, as an example of finished masonry in a vast building, one of the finest things, not only in Venice, but in the world. It differs from every other work of the Byzantine Renaissance, in being on a very large scale ; and it still retains one pure Gothic character, which adds a little to its nobleness, that of perpetual variety. There is hardly one window of it, or one panel, that is like another ; and this continual change so increases its apparent size by con- fusing the eye, that though presenting no bold features, or striking masses of any kind, there are few things in Italy more impressive than the vision of it overhead, as the gondola glides from beneath the Bridge of Sighs.' 1 Stones of Venice, iii. 25. The most dreaded of the Prisons are the Pozzi. " I descended from the cheerful day into two ranges, one below an- other, of dismal, awful, horrible stone cells. They were quite dark. Each had a loop-hole in its massive wall, where, in the old time, every day, a torch was placed, to light the prisoners within, for half-an-hour. The captives, by the glimmering of these brief rays, had cut and scratched inscriptions in the blackened vaults. I saw them. For their labour with the rusty nail's point, had outlived their agony and them, through many generations. "One cell, I saw, in which no man remained for more than four and twenty hours ; being marked for dead before he entered it. Hard by, another, and a dismal one, whereto, at midnight, the confessor came a monk brown-robed, and hooded ghastly in the day, and free bright air, but in the midnight of that murky prison, Hope's extinguisher, and Murder's herald. I had my foot upon the spot, where, at the THE CR1MANI BREVIARY. 41 same dread hour, the shriven prisoner was strangled ; and struck my hand upon the guilty door low-browed and stealthy through which the lumpish sack was carried out into a boat and rowed away, and drowned where it was death to cast a net. "Around this dungeon stronghold, and above some parts of it, licking the rough walls without, and smearing them with damp and slime within : stuffing dank weeds and refuse into chinks and crevices, as if the very stones and bars had mouths to stop : furnishing a smooth road for the removal of the bodies of the secret victims of the state a road so ready that it went along with them, and ran before them, like a cruel officer flowed the water." Dickens. Entered by the same staircase we have ascended, on the second floor, is the Library (open from 9 to 4) founded in 1312 by Petrarch, who bequeathed all his collection to Venice, where he had found a refuge during the plague. A very small portion, however, of this donation reached the destination he intended, as is abundantly proved by the number of his MSS. at the Vatican, Laurentian, Ambrosian, and other libraries. The person who really was the greatest amongst many benefactors (Grimani, Contarini, &c.) was Bessarion. The greatest treasure of the Library is the famous Gri- mani Breviary, perhaps the most beautiful illuminated work in existence. Its miniatures are exquisite works of Mem- ling, Gerard van der Meire, Antonello da Messina, Ales- sandro Vittoria, Ugo d'Anversa, and Livien de Gand. It is only shown on Wednesday at 3 P.M. From the Ante-chamber of the Library we enter the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, an immense room (175^ feet long, 84^ broad, 51 \ high) originally decorated with frescoes by Guariento, which were destroyed by fire in 1577, and re- placed by pictures of the later Venetian school. "The greater allegorical pictures of the Ducal palace remain. Those of Paul Veronese are celebrated as compositions of the highest poctiy. 42 ITALIAN CITIES. Their subjects are surely poetical ; but the works themselves are full of such heads and such gestures as were common at Venice, of such satins and velvets as were peculiarly studied in that portrait and pageant- painting school. Tintoret's Paradise is a multitudinous confusion of hurried figures, which none but that furious ' fulmine di pennello ' could assemble. Falma's Last Judgment is another immense composition, but more intelligibly detailed. These artists seem fond of introducing their friends into such pictures. In one part of this work you see Palma's mistress in heaven, in another the fickle lover sends her to hell. The paintings of the great council-chamber form a continued epic on the triumph which the republic pretends to claim over Frederic Barbarossa. In one picture the suppliant Pope is discovered by the Doge ; in another, the Venetians defeat the imperial galleys ; in a third, young Otho, their prisoner, bears to his father the demands of the conqueror ; in a fourth, the emperor is prostrate at S. Mark's. Most of this, I believe, is a romance ; but a romance more pardonable in a Venetian painting, than in some grave histories which admit it without any warrant." Forsyth. The greatest of the Venetian masters were employed upon the decorations of the ceiling. "Of the three large ceiling pictures, those of Tintoretto and Palma Giovaiie are far surpassed by that of Paul Veronese : Venice crowned by Fame. First, the view from below, and the architectural perspective, are far more carefully treated ; also Paolo has confined the allegorical and historical part to the upper group, where his cloud-life is brought quite harmoniously into connection with the architecture in lines and colour ; on the lower balustrade one sees only beautiful women ; farther below, riders keeping watch, and a populace, spectators of the heavenly ceremony ; most wisely, two great pieces of sky are left free, a breathing space which Tintoretto never allows his beholder ; and, in fine, Paolo has given himself up to the full enjoyment of his own cheerful sense of beauty, the feeling of which inevitably affects the beholder." Burckhardt. The whole of the entrance wall is occupied by one vast subject : Tintoretto. Paradise. "At first this Paradise of Tintoret is so strange that no wonder the lovely world outside, the beautiful court-yard, the flying birds, and drifting Venetians, seem more like heaven to those who are basking in their sweetness. But it is well worth while, by degrees, with some THE PARADISE OF TINTORET. 43 pain and self-denial, to climb in spirit to that strange crowded place towards which old Tintoret's mighty soul was bent. Is it the heaven towards which his great heart yearned ? He has painted surprise and rapture in the face of a soul just born into this vast circling vortex : with its sudden pools and gleams of peace. Mary Mother above is turning to her Son, with outstretched arms, and pointing to the crowds with tender motherhood. In the great eventful turmoil a man sits absorbed in a book, reading unmoved. Angels, with noble wings, take stately flights, cross and re-cross the darkened canvas. A far away procession passes in radiance " Miss Thackeray. " In the Paradise of Tintoret, the Angel is seen in the distance driving Adam and Eve out of the Garden. Not, for Tintoret, the leading to the gate with consolation or counsel ; his strange ardour of conception is seen here as everywhere. Full speed they fly, the angel and the human creatures ; the angel wrapt in an orb of light floats on, stooped forward in his fierce flight, and does not touch the ground ; the chastised creatures rush before him in abandoned terror. All this might have been invented by another, though in other hands it would assuredly have been offensive ; but one circumstance which completes the story could have been thought of by none but Tintoret. The angel casts a shadow before him towards Adam and Eve." Ruskin's Modern Painters. The walls are surmounted by a noble series of pictures illustrating the history of Venice, and though greatly black- ened and often injured by the coarsest re-painting, they may be studied with profit. They are, beginning from the left : 1. Carlo and Gabriele Cagliari. Pope Alexander III. taking refuge from Frederic II. 1177, in the convent of La Carita, where he was found by Doge Ziani. 2. Id. The Embassy from the Pope and the Republic to Frederic II. at Pavia. 3. (Above the window) Leandro Bassano. The Doge receiving a lighted taper from the Pope. 4. Jacopo Tintoretto. The ambassadors implore Frederic at Pavia to restore peace to the Church. He replies that unless the Vene- tians deliver up the Pope he "will plant his eagles on the por- tals of S. Mark." 5. Francesco Bassano. The Pope presents the Doge with a con- secrated sword. 44 ITALIAN CITIES. 6. (Above the window) Fiammingo. The Doge receives the parting benediction of the Pope. 7. Dom. Tintoretto. The legendary battle of Salvore in which the imperialists are said to have been totally defeated by the Venetians, and Otho, son of Frederic II., to have been taken prisoner. 8. (Over a door) Andrea Vicentino. Otho is presented by Doge Ziani to the Pope. 9. Palma Giovane. Otho is released by the Pope. 10. F. Zucchtro. The Emperor makes his submission to the Pope. 1 1 . (Over a door) Girolamo Gamberato. The Doge lands at Ancona with the Pope and the Emperor, after the peace. 12. Giulw dal Moro. The Pope (Alexander III.) presents conse- crated banners to Doge Ziani in the church of S. J. Lateran. To continue the pictures chronologically we must now return to the Paradise, when we shall find on the right : 1.3. Le Clerc. The Alliance concluded in S. Mark's, 1201, between the Venetians and the Crusaders. 14. Andrea Vicentino. The Siege of Zara (1202), under Doge Andrea Dandolo and the Crusaders. 15. Domenico Tintoretto, (over the window). The surrender of Zara. 16. Andrea Vicentino. Alexius Comnenus implores the help of the Venetians in behalf of his father Isaac. 17. Palma Giovane. The Venetians and French, led by the blind Doge Dandolo, take Constantinople in 1203. 1 8. Domenico Tintoretto. The Crusaders and Venetians take Con- stantinople for the second time (when the bronze horses were carried off), in 1204. 19. And. Vicentino. Baldwin of Flanders elected Emperor of the East by the Crusaders in Santa Sophia. 20. Aliense. The Coronation of Baldwin of Flanders by Enrico Dandolo. 21. Paul Veronese. The return of Doge Contarini after his victory over the Genoese at Chioggia. Above these pictures are the portraits of 72 Doges, be- ginning from A.D. 809. The space which should have the portrait of Marino Faliero is covered with black, and has the SALA DE SCRUTINIO. 45 inscription : " Hie est locus Marini Falethri decapitati pro criminibus." From this Hall we enter the Sala de Scrutinio, occupying the rest of the faade towards the Piazzetta. Here the 41 nobles were elected, by whom the Doge was afterwards chosen. Opposite the entrance is a representation of the Triumphal Arch erected by the Senate in 1694 to Doge Francesco Morosini, surnamed Peloponnesiaco, after his con- quest of the Morea. The walls are covered with historical pictures. On the entrance wall is a Last Judgment, by Palma Giovane. Opposite the entrance of the Library is that of the Archao- logical Museum. A passage, lined with indifferent sculpture, leads to the Stanza degli Scarlatti, once the bedroom of the Doge, with a grand chimney-piece erected for Doge Agostino Barbarigo 1480 1501. The best piece of sculpture here is, 102. Cupid. The Sala dello Scudo is the room where the shield of arms of a Doge was placed on his election. The walls are hung with maps of the discoveries made by Venetian navigators. Here is the map of the world Mappamondo of Fra Mauro, M57 1459- The Stanza degli Scudieri, now called Sala de' Relicvi, is filled with poor sculpture. The Sala a* Udienza del Doge (which also opens from the Sala dello Scudo) is now occupied by a collection of ancient busts. CHAPTER XXIII. VENICE. THE GRAND CANAL. HAVING visited the group of buildings around S. Mark's the traveller cannot do better than engage a gondolier at the Piazzetta and bid him row leisurely up and down the Grand Canal, which will give him a general impression of the palaces, to be more minutely studied afterwards. The buildings also of the Grand Canal, unlike the rest of Venice, can in most cases only be seen from the water. Those who visit its palaces on foot must make constant use of the tra- ghetti, which, shaded by their little pergolas, " send out the perfume of vine flowers along the canal." Here the public gondolas cross as ferry boats, and here, in the shade, the most picturesque groups may . usually be seen, of facchini gossiping with the gondoliers, or market-women from Mestre waiting with their baskets overflowing with fruits and green- ery. Here we may see that the type of the lagunes, especially the masculine type, is now that which Gozzi de- scribes as " bianco, biondo, e grassotto," rather than the dark, bronzed, and grave figures of Giorgione. Gravity certainly is washed out of the Venetian character, and, in the places where dry land affords a meeting ground, nothing can exceed the energy, excitement, and vivacity displayed almost like S. MARIA DELLA SALUTE. 47 that of Naples, and even where a shrine is marked by its red lamp on some little landing place, you seldom see one silent figure kneeling, but two or three votaries pressing for- ward to the Madonna at once, as if they had a secret to confide in her. It is an ever-changing diorama. \ "You will see Venice glide as though in dreams Midmost a hollowed opal : for her sky, Mirrored upon the ocean pavement, seems At dawn and eve to build in vacancy A wondrous bubble-dome of wizardry, Suspended where the light, all ways alike Circumfluent, upon her sphere may strike. "There Titian, Tintoret and Giambellin, And that strong master of a myriad hues, The Veronese, like flowers with odours keen, Shall smite your brain with splendours : they confuse The soul that wandering in their world must lose Count of our littleness, and cry that then The gods we dream of walked the earth like men. " y. A. Symonds. As S. Maria Salute is the most prominent object, we will begin by noting the principal objects on the left, marking those on the right as we return. Passing the Dogana of 1676, we may land at the grand marble steps of the Church of Santa Maria della Salute. " Santa Maria della Salute was built by Baldassare Longhena in 1632, according to a decree of the Senate, as a votive offering to the Virgin for having stayed the plague which devastated the city in 1630. Con- sidering the age in which it was erected, it is singularly pure, and it is well adapted to its site, showing its principal facade to the Grand Canal, while its two domes and two bell-towers group most pleasingly in every point of view from which Venice can be entered on that side. Extern- ally it is open to the criticism of being rather too overloaded with decoration ; but there is very little of even this that is unmeaning, or put there merely for the sake of ornament. Internally the great dome 48 ITALIAN CITIES. is only 65 ft. in diameter, but it is surrounded by an aisle, or rather by- eight side-chapels opening into it through the eight great pier arches ; making the whole floor of this, which is practically the nave of the church, 107 ft. in diameter." Fergusson. The pillars of this church were brought from the amphi- theatre of Pola. Before the high-altar is a grand bronze candelabrum by Andrea Bresaano. The ceiling of the choir is by Titian; a picture of Venice imploring deliverance from pestilence, by Fiammingo. The Ante-Sacristy contains, amongst other pictures, * Titian. S. Mark, a most grand figure, with the shadow of a cloud thrown across him. On the left are SS. Cosmo and Damian ; on the right, S. Roch, and S. Sebastian with an arrow lying at his feet. *Marco Basaiti. S. Sebastian, a grand figure, in a beautiful land- scape of Umbrian scenery. Opposite these is a Pieta, a relief of the 1 5th century, by Antonio Dentone. The Sacristy contains : Entrance Wall. Girolamo da Treviso. S. Roch with SS. Sebastian and Jerome. Sassoftrrato. Two beautiful Madonnas. Salviati. The Last Supper, and Saul and David. Right. Tintorct. Marriage of Cana. " An immense picture, some twenty-five feet long by fifteen high, and said by Lazari to be one of the few which Tintoret signed with his name. I am not surprised at his having done so in this case. Evidently the work has been a favourite with him, and he has taken as much pains as it was even necessary for his colossal strength to take with anything. The subject is not one which admits of much singularity or energy in composition. It has always been a favourite one with Veronese, be- cause it gave dramatic interest to figures in gay costumes and of cheerful countenances ; but one is surprised to find Tintoret, whose tone of mind was always grave, and who did not like to make a picture out of bro- cades and diadems, throwing his whole strength into the conception of a marriage feast ; but so it is, and there are assuredly no female heads in any of his pictures in Venice elaborated so far as those which here S. MARIA DELL A SALUTE. 49 form the central light. Neither is it often that the works of this mighty master conform themselves to any of the rules acted upon by ordinary painters ; but in this instance the popular laws have been observed, and an academy student would be delighted to see with what severity the principal light is arranged in a central mass, which is divided and made more brilliant by a vigorous piece of shadow thrust into the midst of it, and which dies away in lesser fragments and sparkling towards the ex- tremities of the picture. This mass of light is as interesting by its com- position as by its intensity. The cicerone who escorts the stranger round the sacristy in the course of five minutes, which allows him some forty seconds for the contemplation of a picture which the study of six months would not entirely fathom, directs his attention very carefully to the 'bell' effetto di prospettivo,' the whole merit of the picture being, in the eyes of the intelligent public, that there is a long table in it, one end of which looks farther off than the other ; but there is more in the ' bell' effetto di prospettivo ' than the observance of the common law of optics. The table is set in a spacious chamber, of which the windows at the end let in the light from the horizon, and those in the side wall the intense blue of an eastern sky. The spectator looks all along the table, at the farther end of which are seated Christ and the Madonna, the marriage guests on each side of it, on one side men, on the other women ; the men are set with their backs to the light, which, passing over their heads and glancing slightly on the table-cloth, falls in full length along the line of young Venetian women, who thus fill the whole centre of the picture with one broad sunbeam, made up of fair faces and golden hair.* Close to the spectator a woman has risen in amazement, and stretches across the table to show the wine in her cup to those opposite ; her dark red dress intercepts and enhances the mass of gathered light. It is rather curious, considering the subject of the picture, that one cannot dis- tinguish either the bride or bridegroom ; but the fourth figure from the Madonna in the line of women, who wears a white head-dress of lace and rich chains of pearls in her hair, may well be accepted for the former, and I think that between her and the woman on the Madonna's left hand the unity of the line of women is intercepted by a male figure. The tone of the whole picture is sober and majestic in the highest degree ; the dresses are all broad masses of colour, and the only parts of the picture which lay claim to the expression of wealth or splendour are the head-dresses of the women. In this respect the conception of the scene differs widely from that of Veronese, and approaches more To give the golden tint handed down in Venetian pictures' to their hair, the city beauties used to steep their hair in a special preparation and then dry it in the -mi. K'ir this purpose they sat for hours in their balconies, with broad-brimmeil !..!.. without crowns, shading their complexion*, and their hair falling over them. VOL. II. f t 50 ITALIAN CITIES. nearly to the probable truth. Still the marriage is not an unimportant one ; an immense crowd, filling the background, forming superbly rich mosaic of colour against the distant sky. Taken as a whole, the picture is perhaps the most perfect example which human art has produced of the utmost possible force and sharpness of shadow united with richness of local colour. This picture unites colour as rich as Titian's with light and shade as forcible as Rembrandt's, and far more decisive." Ruskin, Stones of Venice, iii. Palma Giffvane. Samson and Jonas. The altar piece of the Virgin and Child is by Padovanino. The Little Sacristy contains the tomb of Antonio Correr, and above it a 14th-century relief of the Coronation of the Virgin. The Cloister should not be left unvisited. "It might have been thought that the ashes of the great Doge Fran- cesco Dandolo were honourable enough to have been permitted to rest undisturbed in the chapter-house of the Frari, where they were first laid. But, as if there was not room enough, nor waste houses enough in the whole desolate city, to receive a few convent papers, the monks, want- ing an 'archivio,' have separated the tomb into three pieces; the canopy, a simple arch sustained on brackets, still remains on the blank walls of the desecrated chamber ; the sarcophagus has been transported to a kind of museum of antiquities, established in what was once the cloister of Santa Maria della Salute ; and the painting which filled the lunette behind it is hung far out of sight, at one end of the sacristy of the same church. The sarcophagus is completely charged with bas- reliefs ; at its two extremities are the types of S. Mark and S. John ; in front, a noble sculpture of the death of the Virgin ; at the angles, angels holding vases. The whole space is occupied by the sculpture ; there are no spiral shafts or pannelled divisions ; only a basic plinth below, and crowning plinth above, the sculpture being raised from a deep concave field between the two, but, in order to give piquancy and picturesqueness to the mass of figures, two small trees are introduced at the head and foot of the Madonna's couch, an oak and a stone pine." Ruskin, Stones of Venice, iii. Close to S. Maria, on the right, is the rich Gothic Church of S. Gregorio, now a wine magazine. Beyond S. Maria, as the canal opens, we see a vista of palaces. PALAZZO DARIO, COXVENT OF LA CARITA. 51 " The charm which Venice still possesses, and which for the last fifty years has made it the favourite haunt of all the painters of picturesque subjects, is owing to the effect of the Gothic palaces, mingled with those of the Renaissance. "The effect is produced in two different ways. The Renaissance palaces are not more picturesque in themselves than the club-houses of Pall Mall ; but they become delightful by the contrast of their severity and refinement with the rich and rude confusion of the sea-life beneath them, and of their white and solid masonry with the green waves. Re- move from beneath them the orange sails of the fishing-boats, the black gliding of the gondolas, the cumbered decks and rough crews of the barges of traffic, and the fretfulness of the green water along their founda- tions, and the Renaissance palaces possess no more interest than those of London or Paris. But the Gothic palaces are picturesque in themselves, and wield over us an independent power. Sea and sky, and every other accessory might be taken away from them, and still they would be beautiful and strange." Ruskin, Stones of Venice, ii. ch. vij. ' While other Italian cities have each some ten or twelve prominent structures on which their claim to architectural fame is based, Venice numbers her specimens by hundreds ; and the residence of the simple citizen is often as artistic as the palace of the proudest noble. No other city possesses such a school of Architectural Art as applied to domestic purposes ; and if we must look for types from which to originate a style suitable to our modern wants, it is among the Venetian examples of the early part of the l6th century that we shall probably find what is best suited to our purposes." Fergusson. Passing the beautiful Lombard front of the Palazzo Dario, of 1450, inlaid with circular disks of precious coloured marbles, we reach the mosaic manufactory of Salviati, then the Lombard Palazzo Manzoni of c. 1465. Here, passing under the iron bridge, we arrive at the steps of the ancient convent of I^a Carita, where Alexander III. took refuge. The conventual buildings are now occupied by The Academy, (open daily, free; on week days from ii to 3 ; on Sundays, from n to 2).* The Academy may be reached on fool in 10 minutes from the Piaiza S. Marco, by S. Moise. S. Maria Zobenigo, and the Campo S. Slefano, on the left of which is the entrance to the bridge, --toll a centimes. The bridge iuelf is almost the only modern thing in Venice and utterly disgraceful to it. 52 ITALIAN CITIES. The gallery is reached by a corridor lined with marble. A passage leads to the ist Hall. Sala degli Antichi Dipinti. In this and in the other rooms only the most remarkable paintings are noticed ; those of the greatest importance are indicated by an asterisk. 1. BartolomeoVrvarini, 1464. Madonna and four saints. One of the earliest works of the artist, painted on a gold ground. 2. Michele Mattel (or Lambertini] , Bolognese. The Virgin and saints. Above, the Crucifixion. Below, the Story of S. Helena. 4. Marco Basaiti. S. James. *5- Lorenzo Veneziano and Bissolo Francesco. The Annunciation, with saints. 8. Giovanni and Antonio da Murano, 1440. The Coronation of the Virgin. 23. Giovanni d 'Alemagna and Antonio da Murano, 1496. The Ma- donna enthroned, with the Doctors of the Church. The 2nd Hall, Sala del? Assunta, has a ceiling by Cherubino Ottali, with a painting by P. Veronese in the centre : it contains : '24. Titian. The Assumption. The most important picture of the master, brought from the Church of the Frari. "The Madonna is a powerful figure, borne rapidly upwards as if divinely impelled. Head, figure, attitude, drapery, and colour are all beautiful. Fascinating groups of infant angels surround her, beneath stand the Apostles, looking up with solemn gestures." Kuglcr. 25. Jacopo Tintoretto. Adam and Eve. A splendid example of the master. 27. Bonifazio Veneziano. S. Mark. 31. Marco Basaiti, 1510. The calling of the sons of Zebedee. "In this picture the naive simplicity of the attitudes, the expression of humility in the countenances of the two brothers, and their stnctly apostolical character, cannot fail to excite our admiration." Rio. 32. Jacopo Tintoretto. The Virgin and Child, with three senators. 33. Titian. The Burial of Christ, completed by Palma Vecchio. "Les Beaux-Arts renferment le dernier tableau de Titien, tresor in- estimable! Les annees, si pesantes pour tous, glisserent sans appuyoi THE ACCADEMIA. 53 sur ce patriarche de la peinture, qui traversa tout un siecle et que la peste siirprit a quatre-vingt-dix-neuf ans travaillant encore. "Ce tableau, grave et melancholique d'aspect, dont le sujet funebre semble un pressentiment, represeme un Christ depose de la Croix ; le ciel est sombre, un jour livide eclaire le cadavre pieusement soutenu par Joseph d'Arimathie et sainte Marie-Madeleine. Tous deux sont tristes, sombres, et paraissent, a leur morne attitude, desesperer de la resur- rection de leur maitre. On voit qu'ils se demandent avec une anxiete secrete si ce corps, oint de baumes, qu'ils vont confier au sepulchre, en pourra jamais sortir ; en eflfet, jamais Titien n'a fait de cadavre si mort. Sous cette peau verte et dans ces veines bleuatres il n'y a plus une goutte de sang, la pourpre de la vie s'en est retiree pour toujours. Pour la premiere fois, le grand Venetien a etc abandonne par son antique et inalterable serenite. L' ombre de la mort prochaine semble lutter avec la lumiere du peintre qui cut toujours le soleil sur sa palette, et enve- loppe le tableau d'un froid crepuscule. La main de 1'artiste se ylaca avant d'avoir acheve sa tache, comme le temoigne 1'inscription en lettres noires tracee dans le coin de la toile : Quod 7'iziamts inchoatum rtliquit Palma rcverenter absolvit Deoque dicavit opus. ' L'ceuvre que Titien laissa inachevee, Palma 1'acheva respectueusement et l'offrit a Dieu.' Cette noble, touchante, et religieuse inscription fait de ce tableau un monument. Certes, Palma, grand peintre lui-meme, ne dut approcher qu'avec tremblement de 1'oeuvre du maitre, et son pinceau, quelque habile qu'il fut, hesita et vacilla sans doute plus d'une fois en se posant sur les touches du Titien." Thtophile Gautier. 35. Titian. The Visitation. 36. Jacopo Tintoretto. The Resurrection, and three Senators. 37. Giargione. The famous legend of S. Mark and the Fisherman. "On the 25th of February, 1340, there fell out a wonderful thing in this land ; for during three days the waters rose continually, and in the night there was fearful rain and tempest, such as had never been heard of. So great was the storm that the waters rose three cubits higher than had ever been known in Venice ; and an old fisherman being in his little boat in the canal of St. Mark, reached with difficulty the Rivt di San Marco, and there he fastened his boat, and waited the ceasing of the storm. And it is related that, at the time this storm was at the highest, there came an unknown man, and besought him that he would row him over to San Giorgio Maggiore, promising to pay him well ; and the fisherman replied, ' How is it possible to go to San Giorgio? we shall sink by the way ! ' but the man only besought him the more that he should set forth. So, seeing that it was the will of God, he 54 ITALIAN CITIES. arose and rowed over to San Giorgio Maggiore; and the man landed there, and desired the boatman to wait. In a short time he re- turned with a young man ; and they said, ' Now row towards San Niccolo di Lido.' And the fisherman said, 'How can one possibly go so far with one oar ? ' and they said, ' Row boldly, for it shall be possible with thee, and thou shall be well paid.' And he went ; and it appear- ed to him as if the waters were smooth. Being arrived at San Niccolo di Lido, the two men landed, and returned with a third, and having entered into the boat, they commanded the fisherman that he should row beyond the two castles. And the tempest raged continually. Being come to the open sea, they beheld approaching, with such terrific speed that it appeared to fly over the waters, an enormous galley full of demons (as it is written in the Chronicles, and Marco Sabellino also makes mention of this miracle) : the said bark approached the castles to overwhelm Venice, and to destroy it utterly ; anon the sea, which had hitherto been tumultuous, became calm ; and these three men, having made the sign of the cross, exorcised the demons, and com- manded them to depart, and immediately the galley or the ship vanish- ed. Then these three men commanded the fisherman to land them, the one at San Niccolo di Lido, the other at San Giorgio Maggiore, and the third at San Marco. And when he had landed the third, the fisherman, notwithstanding the miracle he had witnessed, desired that he would pay him, and he replied, ' Thou art right ; go now to the Doge and to the Procuratore of St. Mark, and tell them what thou hast seen, for Venice would have been overwhelmed had it not been for us three. I am St. Mark the evangelist, the protector of this city ; the other is the brave knight St. George, and he whom thou didst take up at the Lido is the holy bishop St. Nicholas. Say to the Doge and to the Procuratore that they are to pay you, and tell them likewise that this tempest arose because of a certain schoolmaster dwelling at San Felice, who did sell his soul to the devil, and afterwards hanged himself.' And the fisher- man replied, ' If I should tell them this, they would not believe me ! ' Then St. Mark took off a ring which was worth five ducats ; and he said, ' Show them this, and tell them when they look in the sanc- tuary they will not find it,' and thereupon he disappeared. The next morning, the said fisherman presented himself before the Doge, and related all he had seen the night before, and shewed him the ring for a sign. And the Procuratore having sent for the ring, and sought it in the usual place, found it not ; by reason of which miracle the fisherman was paid, and a solemn procession was ordained, giving thanks to God, and to the relics of the three holy saints who rest in our land, and who delivered us from this great danger. The ring was given to Signor THE A CC AD EMI A. 55 Marco Loredano and to Signer Andrea Dandolo the procuratore, who placed it in the sanctuary ; and, moreover, a perpetual provision was made for the aged fisherman above mentioned. " Jameson's Soared Art. 38. Giovanni Bellini. The Virgin and six saints. A most beautiful picture. *45- Jacopo Tintoretto. S. Mark delivering a slave condemned to death. " Ce tableau a pour sujet le saint patron de Venise venant a 1'aide d'un pauvre esclave qu'un maitre barbare faisait tourmenter et gehenner a cause de 1'obstinee devotion que ce pauvre diable avail a ce saint. L'es- clave est etendu a terre sur une croix entourtie de bourreaux affaires, qui font de vains efforts pour 1'attacher au bois infame. Les dous rebrous- sent, les maillets se rompent, les haches volent en eclats ; plus miseri- cordieux que les hommes, les instruments de supplice s'emoussent aux mains des tortionnaires : les curieux se regardent et chuchotent etonnes, le juge se penchedu haul du tribunal pour voir pourquoi 1'on n" execute j>.i^ ses ordres, tandis que S. Marc, dans un des raccourcis les plus viulemment strapasses que la peinture ait jamais risques, pique une tete du ciel et fait un plongeon sur la terre, sans nuages, sans ailes, sans cherubims, sans aucun des moyens aerostatiques employes ordinairement dans les tableaux de saintete, et vient delivrer celui qui a eu foi en lui. Cette figure vigoureuse, athletiquement musele'e, de proportion colossale, fendant 1'air comme le rocher lance par une catapulte, produit 1'effet le plus singulier. Le dessin a une telle puissance de jet, que le saint in.i^sif se soulient a 1'ceil et ne tombe pas ; c'est un vrai tour de force." T. Gautier. 47. AlessanJro Varoturi (II Padovanino). The Wedding at Cana. 50. ftonifazio. The Woman taken in Adultery. 51. y. Tintoretto. Portrait of Doge Alvise Mocenigo. 54. Paul Veronese. The Madonna in glory, with S. Dominic be- neath distributing garlands of roses. *55- Bonifazio. The Judgment of Solomon who is represented as very young and beautiful. 57. Ronifazio. The Adoration of the Magi. 63. y. Tintoretto. The Death of Abel. The yd Hall, with a ceiling painted by Tintoretto, con- tains : 65. J. Tintoretto. Portrait of Pictro Marcello. 56 ITALIAN CITIES. 66. Giuseppe Porta (Salviati) The Baptism of Christ. 71. Giovanni Bellini. Madonna and Child. "(Unnumbered). Cima. da Conegliano. The Angel and Tobias. *(Id.). Giovanni Bellini. The Supper at Emmaus. *74- Cima da Conegliano. S. John Baptist with SS. Peter, Mark, Jerome, and Paul. The tfh Hall (open Tuesdays and Saturdays from 1 2 to 3) contains original sketches by the great masters. The $th /fa// contains a collection presented in 1843 by Count Girolamo Coutarini. It includes : Left Wall. 84. Palma Vecchio. Christ and the widow of Nain. *94- Giovanni Bellini. Madonna and Child. A most exquisitely beautiful picture. 96. Marco Marziale. The Supper at Emmaus. no. Pordenone. Madonna and Child, with SS. Catherine and J. Baptist. 117. Francesco Bissolo. The Dead Christ, carried by angels. End Wall. 124. Vincenzo Catena. The Virgin and Child, with SS. John Baptist and Jerome. '125. Cima da Conegliano. Virgin and Child, with SS. John and Paul. 132. Bocaccino da Cremona. The Virgin and Child, with SS. Peter, John Baptist, Catherine, and Barbara. 133. Polidoro Veneziano. Virgin and Child, with S. J. Baptist and an angel. Right Wall 138. Mjrone. Female Portrait. 151. J. Callot. "The Market of Impruneta " (still held near Florence), a curious picture, with innumerable figures. 1 55- Schiavone. The Circumcision. Entrance Wall. 168. Tintoretto. A Portrait. 1 86. Francesco Bissolo. Madonna and Child. THE ACCADEMIA. 57 In the 6th Hall we may notice : 234 238. Giovanni Bellini. Miniature allegorical pictures. The ith Hall contains curious old furniture. In the 8t/t Hall we may observe : 254. Lorenzo di Credi. Holy Family and S. John. 263. Canaletto. A good specimen of a bad master. 268. Holbein. A portrait. 273. Andrea Mantegna. S. George. In the 9//i Hall are : 295. J. Tintoretto. Portrait of Antonio Capello. 310. M. A. Caravaggio. A Portrait. 313. Giovanni Bellini. Madonna and Child. 315. Engelbrechten. The Crucifixion. 318. G. Schiavone. Madonna and Child. 319. Titian. Jacopo Lorenzo. A magnificent portrait. "326. Bonifazio. Madonna and saints with glowing colour and beautiful background. 337. Francesco Bissolo. Madonna and Child, with saints. 348. Bernardo Darentino. The Nativity. 349. Antonello da Messina. The Madonna. 350. Titian. Portrait of Priamo da Lezze. 352. Tomaso da Modena. S. Catherine. The iof/1 Hall contains : 365. A. Schiavone. The Virgin and Child, with SS. John, Catherine, Jerome, and James. 368. Bonifazio. Adoration of the Magi. 372. Giovanni Bellini. The Virgin and sleeping Child. In the nth Hall are : 385. Vincemo Catena. The Virgin and Child, with SS. Francis and Jerome 386. Polidoro Veneziano. Virgin and Child, with two saints and the donor. 388. Giovanni da UJin^. Christ amongst the Doctors. " Christ is represented seated on a throne, and disputing with the Jewish doctors, who are eagerly arguing or searching their books. In 58 ITALIAN CITIES. front of the composition stand St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory, who, with looks fixed on the youthful Saviour, appear to be reverentially listening to, and recording, his words. This is a wholly poetical and ideal treatment of a familiar passage in the life of Christ." Jameson's Sacred Art. The \T ) th Hall contains a collection bequeathed by Countess Renier in 1850. It includes : 421. dm a da Conegliano. Virgin and Child. 423. Marco Bdlo. Virgin and Child with S. John. *424. Giovanni Bellini. The Virgin with SS. Paul and George. 429. Cima da Con'gliano. Pieta. 433. Morone. A Portrait. 435. Francesco Bissolo. The Presentation in the Temple. 436. Giov. Bellini. Virgin and Child with SS. Mary Magdalen and Catherine. The 1477* Hall contains : 441. J. Tintoretto. Portrait of Marco Grimani. 447. Sebasliano Lazzaro. A saint seated in a tree with a book, and two other saints beneath very curious- 456. Cima da Concgliano. The Saviour with SS. Thomas and Magnus. Ill the 15/7* Hall (which contains the original model for the Hercules and Lycas of Canova, and which has a ceiling by Tiepolo) are : 486. Pordenone. Our Lady of Carmel and Saints. '487. Titian. The Presentation of the Virgin. This beautiful picture is one of the earliest works of the master, and is said to have been executed in his I5th year. The old woman with the eggs is one of his most powerful representations. " Au sommet d'un enorme escalier grisatre se tiennent les pretres et le grand pontife. Cependant, au milieu des gradins, la petite fillette, bleue dans une aureole blonde, monte en relevant sa robe ; elle n'a Hen de sublime, elle est prise sur le vif, ses bonnes petites joues sont rondes ; elle leve sa main vers le grand pretre, comme pour prendre garde et lui demander ce qu'il veut d'elle ; c'est vraiment une enfant, elle n'a point encore de pense'e ; Titien en trouvait de pareilles au catechisme. Au THE ACCADEMIA. 59 premier plan, en face du spectateur, sur le has de 1'escalier, il a pose une vieille grognonna en robe bleue et capuchon blanc, vraie villageoise qui vient faire son marche a la ville, et garde aupres d'elle son panic r d'ceufs et de poulets ; un Flamand ne risquerait pas davantage. On se sent clans u ie ville reelle, peuplee de bourgeois et des pay sans, ou Ton exerce des metiers, ou Ton accomplit ses devotions, mais ornee d'an- tiquites, grandiose de structure, paree par les arts, illumme'e par le soleil, assise dans le plus noble et le plus riche des paysages. Plus nie'ditatifs, plus detaches des choses, les Florentins creent un monde ideal et abstrait par dela le n6tre ; plus spontane, plus heureu::, Titien aimc notre monde, le comprend, s'y enfenne, et le reproduit en l'embellissant sans le refondre iii le supprimer." Taine. 488. Vittjre Carp.ucio. The Presentation of Christ. 489. Paul Veronese. The Annunciation. 490. Pordenone. SS. Lorenzo Giustiniani, J. Baptist, Francis, and Augustine, with the Lamb. 492. Paris Bjrdom. Tha Fisherman presenting to the Doge the ring he received from S. .Mark. " This picture is like a graa.l piecj of scsnic decoration : we have before us a magnificent marble hall, with columns and buildings in per- spective ; to the right, on the summit of a flight of steps, sits the Doge in Council ; the poor fisher:ni:i, ascen.ling the steps, holds forth the rin.j. The numerous figures, the vivid colour, the luxuriant architecture, remind us of Paul Veronese, with, however, more delicacy, both in colour and execution." J.iimsorfs Sacred Art. "The splendid exe.-.uion gives this picture the most attractive air of truth, to which the view of the grand Venetian buildings much con- tributes. " Kugler. 4)j. Rixco Marconi. The Descent from the Cross full of grandeur and touching expression. This master recalls the Spanish artist Juan de Juanes. 500. Bjnlfatio. Lazarus and the Rich Man. 44 Bonifazio peignait le portrait. Ses physiognomies e'tudie'es et indivi luellement caracteristiques, rappellent avec fidelite les types patri- ciensde Venis;, qui ont si sotivent posedevant 1'artiste. L'anachrunisme du costume fait voir que Lazare n'est qu'un pretexte et que le veritable sujet du tableau est un repas de seigneurs avec des courtisan---, leurs miitro^'s au fmd d'un de ces beaux palais qui baignent leurs mirhrc dins 1'eau verte du grand canal." T. Gautier. 503. J. T.ntontto. The \'ir,jin and Child and four Senators. 60 ITALIAN CITIES. 505. Bonifazio. Oar Saviour enthroned, with Saints. 513. Paul Veronese. The Marriage of Cana. 519. Paul Veronese. The Virgin with SS. Joseph, J. Baptist, Jus- tina, Francis, and Jerome. " Certes, les amateurs de la verite vraie ne retrouveront pas ici 1'humble interieur du pauvre charpentier. Cette colonne en brocatelle rose de Vcrone, cet opulent rideau ramage, dont les plis a riche cassure forment le fond du tableau, annoncent une habitation princiere ; mais la sainte famille est plutot une apotheose que la representation exacte du pauvre menage de Joseph. La presence de ce S. Fran9ois portant une palme, de ce pretre en camail et de cette sainte sur la nuque de laquelle s'enroule, comme une come d' Ammon, une brillante torsade de cheveux d'or a la mode venitienne, 1'estrade quasi royale ou trone la Mere divine, presentant son bambin a 1'adoration, le prouvent surabondam- ment." T. Gautier. The 1 6tk Hall contains : 529. Gentile Bellini. Part of the True Cross having fallen into one of the canals during a procession to S. Lorenzo, is saved by Andrea Vendramin, Guardian of the Confraternity. Catarina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus and her suite, are amongst the spectators lining the sides of the canal. Foremost amongst a kneeling group on the right, is said to be the artist himself. " On voit dans ces toiles les anciennes maisons de Venise avec leurs murs rouges, leurs fenetres aux trefles lombards, leurs terrasses sur- montees de piquets, leurs cheminees evasees, les vieux ponts suspendus par des chames, et les gondoles d'autre fois, qui n'ont pas la forme qu'elles afTectent aujourd'hui : il n'y a pas de fdce, mais un drap tendu sur des cerceaux ; comme aux galiotes de Saint Cloud ; aucune ne porte cette espece de manche de violon en fer poli qui sert de contre-poids au rameur place a la poupe ; elles sont aussi beaucoup moins effilees. " 71 Gautier. *533- Vittore Carpaccio. The Dream of S. Ursula, the daughter of Theonotus, King of Brittany, that she must undertake a pil- grimage to the shrine of the martyrs. "Rien n'est plus elegant, plus juvenilement gracieux que la suite de peintures oft Vittore Carpaccio a represente la vie de sainte Ursule. Ce Carpaccio a le charme ideal, la sveltesse adolescente de Raphael dans le Mariage de la Vurge, un de ses premiers et peut-etre le plus charmant de ses tableaux ; on ne saurait imaginer rien des airs de tete THE ACCADEMIA. 61 plus naivement adorables, des tournures d'une plus angelique coquetterie. II y a surtout un jeune homme a longs cheveux vu de dos, laissant glisser a demi sur son epaule sa cape au collet de velours, qui est d'une beaute si fiere, si jeune et si seduisante, qu'on croirait voir le Cupidon de Praxitele vetu d'un costume moyen age, on plutot un ange qui aurait eu la fantaisie de se travestir en magnifique de Venise." T. Gautier. *534- Marco Basaiti. The Agony in the Garden a lovely example of the master. 537. Vittore Carpaccio. King Theonotus dismisses the ambassadors of the pagan Agrippinus, king of England, who had come to ask the hand of the Christian princess Ursula, for his son Conon. 539. Id. The ambassadors ask of Theonotus the hand of his daughter, and he confers with the princess Ursula, who demands that Conon should first be baptised, and that she should be allowed three years for her pilgrimage with a thousand virgins her companions. 542. Id. Prince Conon agreeing to the conditions of Ursula, takes leave of his father. In the same picture he is seen meeting his betrothed. He embarks with her upon her pilgrimage. 544. Id. S. Ursula and her virgins arrive at Cologne. 546. Id. Pope Cyriacus, with his cardinals, receives S. Ursula, with her bridegroom, and the Virgins, at Rome. (This should pre- cede 554.) 547. Paul Veronese, 1572. The Supper in the Rich Man's house. 548. Giovanni Mansueti. A Miracle of the True Cross, when the monks who carried it were stopped by an invisible power on the bridge of S. Leone. 549. Vittore Carpaccio. The Ambassadors of Agrippinus bringing back the answer of king Theonotus. 551. Sebastiano Plorigerio. SS. Francis, Anthony, and John the Evangelist. 552. Vittore Carpaccio. Meeting of SS. Joachim and Anna. SS. Louis and Ursula are introduced. 554. Vittore Carpaccio. The Martyrdom of S. Ursula and her Virgins. 555. Gentile Hdlini. A miracle of the Holy Cross. The scene is the Piazza S. Marco; The church is exhibited in minute de- tail. The procession lias issued from a gate between the church and the ducal palace. Near the shrine kneels Jncopo Sails, the merchant of Brescia, whose son is supposed to have been healed in consequence of a vow which he then made. 62 ITALIAN CITIES, The picture is wonderfully harmonious and delicate, and is full of interesting architecture and detail. " In each of these three magnificent compositions which were painted by Gentile for the confraternity of S. John the Evangelist, is represented a miracle worked by a fragment of the true Cross in the possession of the brotherhood. In the first, a young man of Brescia, dangerously wounded in the head, is miraculously cured in consequence of a vow made by his father when this relic was carried in a procession, and as a proof that the disposition of his heart was in perfect harmony with the occupation of his pencil, the artist has inscribed the following touching words beneath : Gentilis Bellinus amore incensus crucis, 1466. " The next miracle which he represented was the recovery of this very relic from the canal, into which it had fallen on the day that it was carried in procession to the church of S. Lorenzo, by the intervention of the pious Andrea Vendramini after its rescue had been vainly attempted by the profane. In representing this beautiful legend, the heart of the painter was even more powerfully affected than by the former work, and in order to express his increasing devotion for the holy sign of the Redemption, he inscribed underneath these still more forcible words : Gentilis Bellinus pio sanctissimae crucis affectu lubens fecit 1500. " The third picture was worthy to be the companion of the two others. The subject he had to represent was the miraculous cure of a member of the confraternity from a quaternian fever, who is contemplating the instrument of his recovery with ecstatic admiration. This gave the aged Bellini another opportunity of displaying his pious imagination ; and it was perhaps his last work, for he died a few years after its com- pletion, and we may be permitted to suppose that he often dwelt on the consoling thought that it embodies, and looked himself to the Cross for the cure of all his infirmities." Rio. 560. Vittore Carpaccio, 1491. S. Ursula with her virgins and Pope Ciriacus, receiving the reward of her martyrdom. This pic- ture is the last of the series, which is arranged in the gallery in the order of the dates at which it was painted. 561. Luigi Vivarini, 1480. The Virgin and Child throned between saints -of the greatest dignity and expression. 564. Vittore Carpaccio. A sick man healed by the True Cross which is presented from a balcony by the Patriarch of Grado. The old Rialto called " Del Bagatin " is introduced. PALAZZO REZZONICO, PALAZZO FOSCARI. 63 In the i ith Hall are : 566. Domenico Tintoretto, 1595. Benedetto Marcello, Procuratore of S. Marco. 568. Jacopo Tintoretto. The Descent from the Cross. 572. Bonifazio. Adoration of the Magi. 582. Cirna da Coneglia.no. The Virgin and Child throned, with SS. Sebastian, George, Jerome, Nicholas, Catherine and Lucy. 586. Bonifazio. SS. Benedict and Sebastian. 593. Palma Vecchio. S. Peter throned, with other saints. The remaining Halls are of no importance. Re-entering our gondola, we see on the left the Pa- lazzo Contarini degli Scrigni, of which one side is built in the Lombard style, 1504 1546, the others in the Gothic of the 1 5th century. On the latter are two Renaissance statues, probably by Ant. Rizzi. There were eight doges of the Contarini family, and their wealth was so great that the people called their residence II Palazzo degli Scrigni, or " of the money chests." Beyond this is the Palazzo Rezzonico, which belongs to the Infante of Spain, begun by Longhena in 1680, finished by Massari, 1745. The Rezzonico family was founded here by the merchant Aurelia : one of its members mounted the papal throne as Clement XIII. Passing the two Palazzi Giustiniani of the i5th century, we reach the noble Palazzo Foscari of 1437. This palace will always be connected with the touching story of Doge Foscari. His son Giacopo was accused to the Council of Ten of having received presents from foreign princes, by a nobleman named Loredano who believed that the death of two of his own relations had been clue to the Doge, and who wrote in his books " Francesco Foscari, debtor for the deaths of my father and uncle. " Giacopo was tortured on the rack and, being found guilty, his father was forced to pronounce his sentence of banishment. For five years he languished inexile at Treviso, at the end of which time he was accused of having compassed the murder of Donato, a Venetian senator, from 64 ITALIAN CITIES. the mere fact of a servant of his being found near at the time. He was brought back to Venice, again tried on the rack, and banished for life, on presumptive evidence, to Candia. Hence Giacopo unwisely wrote to entreat the intercession of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan. The letter was carried to the Council of Ten. He was brought again to Venice, flogged, and then tortured. Being asked what had induced him to write to a foreign prince, he replied that he had done it knowing the risk, but feeling that it would be worth while to undergo the torture a third time, to breathe once more the same air with his parents, his wife, and children. He was again condemned to be banished, but this time a sentence of close imprisonment was added. One farewell interview was allowed with the aged Doge and Dogar- essa, his wife Marina, and his children. "Ah, my lord, plead for me," he cried, stretching out his hands to his father, who replied firmly " O Giacopo, obey what thy country commands and seek nothing else." On reaching his prison Giacopo died of a broken heart. Immediately afterwards, but too late, his innocence was completely established : Erizzo, a Venetian nobleman, confessed, on his death-bed, that he was the murderer of Donato. Vet the vengeance of Loredano was not yet complete. The sobs of the Doge on taking leave of his unhappy son were made the foundation of an accusation of imbecility and incapacity for government. He was formally deposed and ordered to quit the Ducal palace within eight days. Loredano had the cruel pleasure of carrying the mandate to the Doge, who listened quietly and then answered " I little thought that my old age would be injurious to the State ; but I yield to the decree." Stripping himself of his robes, and accompanied by all his family, he left the palace where he had reigned for thirty-five years and returned to his own house on the canal. But the sound of the great bell which announced the election of his successor was his death-knell ; he burst a blood-vessel and died instantly. "When the bell rang At dawn, announcing a new Doge to Venice, It found him on his knees before the Cross, Clasping his aged hands in earnest prayer ; And there he died. Ere half its task was done, It rang his knell." Rogers. So great was the popular excitement on hearing of this event, that the senate forbade " the affair of Francesco Foscari to be mentioned on pain of death." PALAZZO FOSCARI, PALAZZO PISANT. 65 The Foscari and its two adjoining palaces form a most conspicuous group at the end of the first reach of the Grand Canal. " They certainly form a most magnificent group, and are in every way worthy of their conspicuous position. The palace at the junction of the two waters is that of the Foscari ; the others belonged, I believe, to the Giustiniani family. The date of the smaller palaces, and probably of the large one also, is very early in the fifteenth century ; and the latter had, in 1574, the honour of being the grandest palace that the Venetians could find in which to lodge Henry III. of France. They are all three very similar in their design. Their water-gates are pointed, and the windows in the water-stage small and unimportant. The second stage is more important, and has cusped ogee window-heads and balconies. The third stage is, however, the piano nobile, all the windows having deep traceried heads and large balconies. The fourth stage is very nearly like the first, save that instead of balconies there is a delicate balustrading between the shafts of the windows, which is very frequent in good Venetian work, and always very pretty in its effect." G. E. Street. We should enter the narrow canal called Rio di Ca' Foscari at the side of the Palace. " Here, almost immediately after passing the great gateway of the Foscari court-yard, we shall see on the left, in the ruinous and time- stricken walls which tower over the water, the white curve of a circu- lar (Byzantine) arch covered with sculpture, and fragments of the bases of small pillars, entangled among festoons of the Erba della Madonna." Ruskin, Stones of Venue, Appendix ii. Next comes the Palazzo Balbi rf 1582, followed by the Palazzo Grimani a S. Polo (1475 1485), with beautifully sculptured capitals. Close to this, near the Ponte S. Toma, is an ancient doorway of the izth century. There is a good early Gothic door on the bridge itself. Passing the Palazzo Pcrsico and the Palazzo Tiepolo (1501), we reach the noble Palazzo Pisani, a splendid build- ing of the isth century. There is a gallery here hung with fine old Venetian mirrors. It was from this palace that the VOL. II. 5 66 ITALIAN CITIES. Paul Veronese of " the Family of Darius " was purchased for the British National Gallery for .13,560. The neighbouring Palazzo Barbarigo della Terrazza, of the 1 5th century, is the work of Scamozzi, and was at one time the residence of Titian. Its fine collection of pictures is now at S. Petersburgh. The Palazzo Bernardo is a fine building of the i5th century. Passing the Traghetto della Madonnetta, is a small palace, with vestiges of arcades and Byzantine work, called by Ruskin The Madonnetta House. The Palazzo Dona is much restored. Of this family were the Doges Francesco Benzon, 1545, and Leonardo Nicolo, 1618. The Palazzo Tiepolo is Renaissance of the i6th cen- tury, but possesses five central windows with a plaited or braided border of Byzantine work : hence it is called by Ruskin, The Braided House. Close by is the Casa Busi- nello, on the side of which the Byzantine mouldings appear in the first and second stories of a house lately restored. Immediately opposite the Palazzo Grimani is the Byzan- tine building described by Ruskin as The Terraced House. " It has a small terrace in front of it, and a little court with a door to the water, beside the terrace. Half the house is visibly modern, and there is a great seam, like the edge of a scar, between it and the ancient remnant, in which the cir- cular bands of the Byzantine arches will be instantly recog- nised." Near the bend of the canal we now pass the Church of S. Silvestro, which is only of interest as containing, 1st Altar on the left. Girolamo de Santa Croce. S. Thomas a Becket with the Baptist and S. Fiancis. THE RIALTO. 67 1st Altar on the right. Tintoret. The Baptism of Christ (the upper part an addition). " There is simply the Christ in the water, and the S. John on the shore, without attendants, disciples, or witnesses of any kind ; but the power of light and shade, and the splendour of the landscape, which is on the whole well-preserved, render it a most interesting example. The Jordan is represented as a mountain-brook, receiving a tributary stream in a cascade from the rocks, in which S. John stands : there is a rounded stone in the centre of the current ; and the parting of the water at this, as well as its rippling among the roots of some dark trees on the left, are among the most accurate resemblances of nature to be found in any of the works of the great masters. I hardly know whether most to wonder at the power of the man who thus broke through the neglect of nature which was universal at his time ; or at the evidences, visible throughout the whole of the conception, that he was still content to paint from slight memories of what he had seen in hill-countries, in- stead of following out to its full depth the fountain which he had opened. There is not a stream among the hills of Friuli which in any quarter of a mile of its course would not have suggested to him finer forms of cascade than those which he has idly painted at Venice." Ruskin, Stones of Venice, iii. The famous Adoration of the Magi, by Paul Veronese, in our National Gallery, was painted for this church in 1573. We now approach the bridge till lately the only bridge over the Grand Canal which is called by English abbre- viation the Rialto. Venetians speak of it as Ponte di RiaUo, for this part of the town was the ancient city of Venice, and derives its name from Rivo-alto, as the land on the left of the canal was called here. After the limits of the town were extended, it continued, like the city of London, to be the centre of commerce and trade. In this quarter were the Fabriche, or warehouses and custom-houses, and many of the handsomest buildings, such as the Fondaco dei Turchi, and the Fondaco de' Tedeschi. The Rialto which Shake- speare alludes to, when Shylock is made to say 6S ITALIAN CITIES. " Signer Antonio, many a time and oft In the Rialto you have rated me About my monies " refers, of course, to this quarter of the town, and not to the bridge. The Ponte di Rialto (span of arch 91 ft., height 24^ ft., width 72 ft.), was begun in 1588, under Doge Pasquale Cicogna, by Antonio da Ponte. It is covered with shops. Close to the bridge is the Church of S. Giacomo di Rialto, said to date from the earliest foundation, but possessing no remains of its antiquity. Over the high-altar is a statue of the patron saint by Alessandro Vittoria. The statue of S. Antonio is by Girolamo Campagna. " The campanile of S. Giacomo is a perfectly fine example. It is almost entirely of brick, and the long lines of its arcades give great effect of height, while the details are all good and quite Gothic in their charac- ter." Street. Facing the church, is the curious statue of a hunch-back, // Gobbo di Rialto, the work of Pietro da Salo, supporting a pillar from whose back the Laws of the Republic used to be proclaimed. In the times of the Republic this was the centre of mer- cantile life in Venice. " These porticoes are daily frequented by Florentine, Genoese, and Milanese merchants, by those from Spain and Turkey, and all the other different nations of the world, who assemble here in such vast multi- tudes, that this piazza is celebrated amongst the first in the universe." Sansovino, 1580. The market-place is still full of colour and picturesque- ness : " All the pictures out of all the churches are buying and selling in this busy market ; Virgins go by, carrying their infants ; S. Feter is bargaining his silver fish ; Judas is making a low bow to a fat old monk, THE RIALTO. 69 who holds up his brown skirts and steps with bare legs into a mysterious black gondola that has been waiting by the bridge, and that silently glides away. . . Then a cripple goes by upon his crutches ; then comes a woman carrying a beautiful little boy, with a sort of turban round her head. One corner of the market is given up to great hobgoblin pump- kins ; tomatos are heaped in the stalls ; oranges and limes are not yet over ; but perhaps the fish-stalls are the prettiest of all. Silver fish tied up in stars with olive-green leaves, gold fish, as in miracles ; noble people serving. There are the jewellers' shops too, but their wares do not glitter so brightly as all this natural beautiful gold and silver." Miss Thackeray. We must now return to our gondola at the little wharf near the bridge, one of the most picturesque sites on the Grand Canal. " Venice is sad and silent now, to what she was in the time of Cana- letto ; the canals are choked gradually, one by one, and the foul water laps more and more sluggishly against the rent foundations ; but even yet could I but place the reader at the early morning on the quay below the Rialto, when the market boats, full laden, float into groups of golden colour ; and let him watch the dashing of the water about their glitter- ing steelly heads, and under the shadows of the vine leaves ; and shew him the purple of the grapes and the figs, and the glowing of the scarlet gourds carried away in long streams upon the waves ; and among them the crimson fish baskets, plashing and sparkling, and flaming as the morning sun falls on their wet tawny sides ; and above, the painted sails of the fishing boats, orange and white, scarlet and blue ; and better than all such florid colour, the naked, bronzed, burning limbs of the seamen, the last of the old Venetian race, who yet keep the right Giorgione colour on their brows and bosoms, in strange contrast with the sallow sensual degradation of the creatures that live in the cafes of the Piazza, he would not be merciful to Canaletto any more. " Jfuskin, Modern Painters. We should visit the little piazza which opens to the Rialto, on the S. Mark's side of the canal, for the sake of some very interesting examples of the third order of Vene- tian windows in one of its houses. " The house faces the bridge, and its second story has been built in the thirteenth century, above a still earlier Byzantine cornice remaining, 70 ITALIAN CITIES. or perhaps introduced from some other ruined edifice, in the walls of the first floor. The windows of the second story are of pure third order, and have capitals constantly varying in the form of the flower or leaf in- troduced between their oolites." Ruskin, Stones of Venice, ii. vii. Close to the Rialto on the left is the Palazzo del Camer- lenghi, built in 1525 by GuglielmoBergamesco, but of irregular form owing to the space afforded. Here the three Camer- lenghi dwelt as Treasurers of the State under the Republic. Passing the Traghetto of the Pescheria, we reach the Palazzo Corner della Regina^Q called from Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, who lived here. It was bequeathed by her to Pope Pius VII., who gave it to the Counts of Cavanis, founders of the Scuole Pie. The palace was built in 1724 by Domenico Rossi. It is now used as a Monte de Pieta. Passing the Traghetto of S. Felix, we reach the magnificent Palazzo Pesaro, built by Baldassare Longhena, 1679. The Pesaro family is one of the most illustrious in Venetian history. They first came to Venice in 1225, being descended from Jacopo Palmieri of Pesaro. Besides the famous gen- eral Bernardo Pesaro, and the Doge Giovanni, many illus- trious generals and procurators were of this house. "The Pesaro Palace, built by Longhena, though over ornamented, has no striking faults. Though not in the purest taste, it still perfectly expresses the fact that it is the residence of a wealthy and luxurious noble, and is, taken as a whole, a singularly picturesque piece of palatial architecture. From the water-line to the cornice, it is a rich, varied, and appropriate design, so beautiful as a whole that we can well afford to overlook any slight irregularities in detail." Fergusson. A little beyond this is the Church of S. Stae (S. Eustachio) built by Dom. Rossi, in 1709. To the right of the second altar is the bust of Giovanni Grassi, beheaded for political crimes in April, 1622, and pardoned in the following year FOND AGO DEI TURCHI, MUSEO CORKER. 71 by a decree of the Council of Ten, which declared him innocent! Passing first the Palazzo Duodo, built originally in Gothic of the 1 5th century, but altered, then the classic Palazzo Tron, and the Palazzo Capovilla, we reach the Fondaco dei Jurchi, a Byzantine palace of the gth century, and one of the earliest buildings, not ecclesiastical, in Venice. It belonged originally to the house of Este, but was purchased by the Republic in the :6th century for the Turkish mer- chants. A few years ago it was one of the most unique and curious buildings in Europe, but it was modernized and almost rebuilt by the present Government in 1869.* We now reach the Museo Correr, open from 10 to 4 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. It contains a vast amount of rubbish. The better part of its collection are Entrance Hall. Two curious wells of the 9th and I3th centuries. ist Floor, 2nd Room Right, The Cup of Doge Manin. The Door of the Bucentaur through which the Doge threw the ring into the sea. Pictures: 14. Gentile Bellini. Doge Francesco Foscari. 16. Giovanni Bellini. Doge Mocenigo. 49. V. Carpcucio. The Salutation. 52. Marco Palmeztano. The Cross-bearing. The last side canal on the left before the Iron Bridge leads almost immediately to the Church of S. Simeone Grande, dating from the roth century. It contains a picture of the Trinity by Vincenzo Catena. Behind the high .altar Rutkin .peaks of seven other Byzantine palace* in Venice, which he enumerate* *, the Casa Loredan, Ca I 57 I - Armour of Agostino Barbarigo, 1571. Armour of Henri IV. of France, given by him to the Republic in 1603. Armour of Doge Contarini. Armour of Doge Sebastiano Ziani, ob. 1 1 78. Armour of Gattemelata, 1438. S. GIOVANNI IN BRAGORA. 99 Armour of Cristofero Moro, given by Pope Pius II., 1468. Sword of Doge Pesaro. Armour of Doge Alvise Mocenigo. Armour used in Torture. The Doge's Chair, used when he visited the arsenal. Beautifully wrought Springal, by the son of Doge Pasquale Cicogna, l6th century. Horse Armour, found at Aquileja. The Arsenal of Venice furnished Dante with one of the most remarkable similes for his Inferno. " Quale nell' arzana de' Viniziani Bolle 1'inverno la tenace pece A rimpalmar li legni lor non sani Chi navicar non ponno ; e'n quella vece Chi fa suo legno nuovq, e chi ristoppa Le coste a quel che piu viaggi fece ; Che ribatte da proda, e chi da poppa ; Altri fa remi, e altri volge sarte ; Chi terzeruolo ed artimon rintoppa : Tal, non per fuoco, ma per divina arte, Bollia laggiuso una pegola spessa." Inf. xxi. ^ 18. Close to the Arsenal, is the Church of S. Martina, built by y. Sansoi'irw, 1540 1653. It contains : Right, 2nd Chapel. Tomb of Doge Francesco Erizzo, by Matteo Camera. Right of High Altar. Girolamo da Santa Croce. The Resurrection. A Bergamasque master one of his early pictures. On the Organ Gallery. Id. The Last Supper, 1459. The font has four angels by Tullio Lombardo, 1484. Returning to the Lagoon, behind the Riva degli Schiavoni, is the 15th-century Church of S. Giovanni in Bragora. It contains several very fine pictures : Right Aisle. Paris Bordone. Last Supper. Sacristy. Giovanni Bellini, Madonna. Latzaro Stbastiani. Deposition, too ITALIAN CITIES. * Right of High Altar. Cima da Conegliano. Helena and Constan- tine. *Apse. Cima da Conegfiano. The Baptism of Christ one of the grandest works of the master, which ought to be thoroughly studied. It can only be properly seen by standing on the altar. " In the dignity of the head of Christ, in the beauty of the angels, and the solemn gestures of the Baptist, this picture is incomparable." Burckhardt. Luigi Vivarini. The Resurrection. "Here the hardness of Bartolomeo is mellowed, partly through the influence of Bellini, into a really noble grace and fulness." Burck- hardt. Cima da Conegliano. The story of the True Cross. In the Campo di S. Giovanni in Bragora is the fine old Palazzo Badoer, of 1310, inlaid with coloured marbles. It has been infamously modernized. " The ogeed arches of the windows are more than usually good ; whilst the beauty of the central window, inclosed within a square line of moulding, within which the wall is incrusted with marble relieved by medallions, is very great. The balconies of the lower windows are clearly modern, but there is a trace of the original balustrade between the shafts of the windows in the second stage ; and in front of the side- lights to the upper window is a grille of iron-work taking the place of a balcony, and composed of a combination of quatrefoils. The arrange- ment of the windows in this part is not absolutely regular, but still the centre is very marked ; and though it is of early date, the true use of the arch nowhere appears. The usual dog-tooth cornice finishes the walls under the eaves." Street. XXV. NORTH-EASTERN VENICE. THE NORTH-EASTERN QUARTER OF VENICE. IN a gondola to S. Moise, S. Maria Zobenigo, S. Maurizio, S. Stefano, S. Luca, S. Salvatore, S. Lio, La Madonna dei Miracoli, S. Apostoli, Palazzo Falier, S. Maria Gesuiti, The Misericordia, La Madonna del Orto, S. Giobbe, La Maddalena. THOSE who wish to select need only leave their gondolas at S. Stefano and S. Maria del Orto, and perhaps for the staircase in the Corte del Maltese. But the excursion is one which gives an admirable idea of the quiet bits of beauty in the side canals, of the marvellous variety of the palaces rising steeply from the pale green water, of the brilliant acacias leaning over the old sculptured walls, of the banksia roses falling over the parapets of the little courts like snow- drifts, and of the tamarisks feathering down into the water, which is ever lapping with melancholy cadence against what Ruskin calls " the sea-stories." Travellers may often com- plain of the weariness of the Venetian sights and of their being so like one another. It is quite true that they are so, but let those who are bored sit still in their gondolas. For the sake of a few gems many churches must be visited, but the gondola-days afford many delightful memories for those who never do any definite sight-seeing. 102 ITALIAN CITIES. " Floating down narrow lanes, where carpenters, at work with plane and chisel in their shops, toss the light shaving straight upon the water, where it lies like weed, or ebbs away before us in a tangled heap. Past open doors, decayed and rotten from long steeping in the wet, through which some scanty patch of vine shines green and bright, making un- usual shadows on the pavement with its trembling leaves. Past quays and terraces, where women, gracefully veiled, are passing and repassing, and where idlers are reclining in the sunshine on flagstones and on flights of steps. Past bridges, where there are idlers too, loitering and looking over. Below stone balconies, erected at a giddy height, before the loftiest windows of the loftiest houses. Past plots of garden, theatres, shrines, prodigious piles of architecture, Gothic Saracenic fanciful with all the fancies of all times and countries. Past buildings that were high, and low, and black, and white, and straight, and crooked ; mean and grand, crazy and strong. Twining among a tangled lot of boats and barges, and shooting out at last into a Grand Canal ! " Dickens. The part of Venice we are about to visit is divided by a wider canal than most into the two principal islands of Castello and S. Nicolo. It is curious to see how traces of a fierce rivalry, at least 350 years old, still appears in their popular songs, e. g. " Nu semo Castelani e tanto basta, E marciaremo co la fassa rossa, E marciaremo co'l sigaro in boca : Faremo le cortelae, chi toca, toca ! " " E semo Nicoloti e tanto basta, E marciaremo co la fassa nera. La fassa negra e'l fiore su'l capelo Faremo le cortelae co quei de Castelo." " Nulle part il n'y a plus de paroles et moins de faits, plus de que- relles et moins de rixes. Les barcarolle. 1 : ont un merveilleux talent pour se dire des injures, mais il est bien rare qu'ils en viennent aux mains. Deux barques se rencontrent et se heurtent a Tangle d'un mur, par la mala- dresse de Tun et 1'inattention de 1'autre. Les deux barcarolles attendent en silence le choc qu'il n'est plus temps d'eviter ; leur premier regard est pour la barque ; quand ils se sont assures Tun et 1'autre de ne s'etre point endommages, ils commencent a se toiser pendant que les barques se separent. Alors commence la discussion. Pourquoi n'as-tu pas crie, S. MOISE, S. MARIA ZOBENIGO. 103 siastali t J'ai crie. Non. Si fait. Je gage que non, corpo di Bacto. Je jure que si, sangiu di Diana. Mais avec quelle diable de voix ? Mais quelle espece d'oreilles as-tu pour entendre ? Dis-moi dans quel cabaret tu t'eclaircis la voix de la sorte. Dis-moi dequel ane la mere a reve quand elle etait grosse de toi. La vache qui t'a con9u aurait dfl 1'apprendre a beugler. L'anesse qui t'a enfante aurait du te donner les oreilles de ta famille. Qu'est-ce que tu dis, race de chien ? ' Qu'est- cequetu dis, fils da guenon? Alors la discussion s'anime, et va toujours s'echauffant a mesure que les champions s'eloignent. Quand ils ont mis un ou deux ponts entre eux, les menaces commencent. Viens done un peu ici, que je te fasse savoir de quel bois sont faites mes rames. Attends, attends, figure de marsouin, que je fasse sombrer la coque de noix en crachant dessus. Si j'eternuais aupres de ta coquille d'oeuf, je la ferais voler en 1'air. Ta gondole aurait bon besoin d'enfoncer un peu pour laver les vers dont elle est rongee. La tienne doit avoir des araignees, car tu as vole le jupon de ta maitresse pour lui faire une doublure. Maudite soit la madone de ton traguet pour n'avoir pas envoye la peste a de pareils gondoliers ! Si la madone de ton traguet n'ctait pas la concubine du diable, il y a longtemps que tu serais noye. Et ainsi de metaphore en metaphore on en vient aux plus horribles imprecations; mais heureusement, au moment ou il est question de s'egorger, les voix se perdent dans 1'eloignement, et les injures continuent encore longtemps apres que les deux adversaires ne s'entendent plus." George Sand. The first canal on the right beyond the mole of the Piaz- zetta leads speedily to the gorgeous facade of the Church of S. Moise, built by A. Tremignano, 1688. It contains, near the entrance, the grave of Law, the originator of the South Sea Bubble, who died here, 1729. Montesquieu, who met him at Venice, wrote : " C'etait le meme homme, toujours 1'esprit occupe de projets, tou- jours la tcte remplie de calculs et de valours numeraires ou representa- ti\<-s. II jouait souvent, et assez gros jeu, quoique sa fortune fiit fort mince." Chapel left of Altar. Palma Giovane. The Last Supper. Ttntoretto. Christ washing the disciples' feet. The neighbouring Church of S. Maria Zobenigo (or del Giglio) was founded by the Zobenico family. It contains 104 ITALIAN CITIES. the tomb of Giulio Contarini by Aless. Vittoria, and a statue by Giulio del Moro ; also : *2nd Altar on right. Tintoret. Christ with SS. Justina and Au- gustin. "Christ appears to be descending out of the clouds between the two saints, who are both kneeling on the sea shore. It is a Venetian sea, breaking on a flat beach, like the Lido, with a scarlet galley, in the middle distance, of which the chief use is to unite the two figures by a point of colour. Both the saints are respectable Venetians of the lower class, in homely dresses and with homely faces. The whole picture is quietly painted, and somewhat slightly ; free from all extravagance, and displaying little power except in the general truth or harmony of colours so easily laid on. It is better preserved than usual, and worth dwelling upon as an instance of the style of the master when at rest." Kuskin. Stows of Venice, vol. iii. The Chtirch of S. Maurizio contains sculptures by Domcnico Fadiga. Near it is the Scuola degli Albaiiesi, founded by Albanian merchants in 1447. The buildings are of 1500 : some curious reliefs are let into the walls. The Church of S. Stefano was built by Augustinian monks, 1294 1320. Its handsome Gothic door is pro- bably by the Massegne. " The want of proper balance between decoration and the thing decorated, and of fit subordination of detail to general effect becomes more and more palpable as we approach the period of the Renaissance. About this Gothic arch the stone vegetation is absolutely rank, and quite out of proportion with the dimensions of the arch itself." Perkin's Italian Sculptors. " The interior of S. Stefano is very fine and unlike what is common in the North of Europe. The dimensions are very large. The nave is about 48 ft. wide, and the whole length about 1 70 ft. There are a cloister and a chapter-house north of the nave, and a campanile detached at some distance to the east. The arcades of six pointed arches dividing the nave from either aisle are very light, and supported on delicate marble column , whose capitals, with square abaci and foliage of classical character, hardly look like Gothic work. The masonry and mouldings of these arches are not arranged in a succession of orders, as is the case in almost all S. STEP A NO, S. LUC A. 10; good pointed work, but have a broad, plain soffit, with a small and shallow moulding at the edge, finished with a dentil or fillet ornament, which, originally used by the architect of S. Mark's in order to form the lines of constructional stonework within which his encrusted marbles were held, was afterwards, down to the very decline of pointed archi- tecture, used everywhere in Venice, not only in its original position, but, as at S. Stefano, in place of a label round the arch." Street. In the centre of the nave is the slab tomb of Doge Morosini, 1694, by Alessandro Leopardi. Left of great door. Tomb of the physician Jacopo Sunano (1511) of Rimini, who is represented, with his wife Eugenia, praying, in a bronze relief, near the door of the Sacristy. Choir. Statues and reliefs by Vtttore Camelio. Before the altar the grave of the Archduke Frederick of Austria, 1847. Chipel left of 'High Altar. Tomb ofG. B. Farretti, 1557, by Michele Sanmichele. Baptistery. Statue of the Baptist, by Giulio del Moro. Entrance of Cloister. The fine Tomb of Doge Andrea Contarini, 1382, corbelled out of the wall. " MCCCV1I. Dux creatus. MCCCLXXXII in coelum sublatus." The arched bridge under the choir (which is built over a canal) should be noticed. The Campo S. Stefano contains a number of beautiful old buildings. The Palazzo Lorcd.in, of Ionic and Corinthian architecture; the Palazzo Morosini Q{ the i6th century, in which G. Morosini, surnamsd Peloponnesiaco, was born ; the huge Palazzo Pisani, of the tyth century; and the Palazzo Baffb, of the i5th century. In the calle which leads to the Campo S. Samuele is a house with a most beautiful parapet, having delicately carved devices in stone let into each pin- nacle. Behind S. Stefano is the wide Campo S. Angelo, a little beyond which is the Church of S. Luca, built 1581, which contains a picture of S. Luke and the Virgin by Paul Ve- ronese. Here Pietro Aretino is buried. io6 ITALIAN CITIES. " Surle mur est son portrait, par Alvise dal Friso, neveu et clove de Paul Veronese ; mais il n'y a aucune trace de sa sepulture, qui prohable- ment aura disparu lorsque I'eglise fut refaite, a la fin du xvi">e siivle. Les cures de la paroisse se sont transmis de 1'un a 1'autre que 1'Aretin, pres de mourir, ayant recu 1'extreme-onction, dit en riant ce vers que la bouffonnerie italienne rend peut-etre moins impie qu'il ne le parait : Guardatemi da* topi, or che son unto." Valery. Opposite this church is the Teatro Rossini, and just beyond it, the Palazzo Contarini, a fine Renaissance building of the i5th century. Close by is the Calle delle Locande, in which, in the court-yard called Corte dtl Maltese, is a beautiful circular twisted staircase of the i5th century. " It has continuous open arcades following the rise of the steps, the usual shafted balustrade filling the lower part of the openings between the columns." In the neighbouring Campo S. Benedetto is a splendid half-ruined Gothic palace. The brackets of its balconies, the flower-work on its cornices, and the arabesques on the angles of the balconies themselves, deserve attention. Near this, in the Campo S. Paternian, is the red house of Daniele Manin (ob. 1857), honoured as having been instru- mental in re-establishing the independence of Venice in 1848. His statue was erected here in 1875. By a narrow calle, or a winding canal, we reach the Church of S* Safcatorc, built on the site of a church of the i zth century, in the porch of which Pope Alexander III. is said to have taken refuge for the night It contains : Jtigkf, 2nd Altar. Gir. Campagna. Statue of the Madonna. Jacopo Sansavino^ 1556. Tomb of Doge Francesco Venier. The figure of the dead Doge is magnificent. yd Altar. Titian. Coronation of the Virgin. Jfigkt Transept. The Monument of Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, 1510, by Bernardino Contino. CAaptt, Jtig** o/Oigk Altar. Bonifasio. Martyrdom of S. Theodore, LA AfADOXXA DEI MIRACOLI. 107 Altar. Titian. The Transfiguration. On the altar a bean- tifol Pala d" Argenta of 1290. Chapd Left of Altar. Giovanni Bellini. The Supper at Enunaas. The Organ Gallery is by Sansffvino. Left of the organ is an ahar by /. Bergimesco with a figure of S. Jerome by Tommaso Lombard*. The Church of Giuliano, a little behind S. Salvatore, was finished by A. Vittoria in 1153. Over the entrance is a bronze statue of Tommaso da Ravenna by Sansovino. It contains : Gir. da Santa Cnxe. The Coronation of the Virgin. Boccaccino da Cremona. The Virgin and four saints. Further east, is the Church of S. Lio (S. Leone). It contains : Left, 1st Altar. Titian. S. James. A few minutes in the gondola bring us to the Church of S. Giovanni Cristostomo, which contains : Right, lit Altar. Guv. Bdlini. SS. Jerome, Christopher, and Augustine. k Altar. Sebastian del Piombo. S. Christopher and other saints. Last Altar but one. Tullio Lombardo (a relief)* Coronation of the Virgin. In the Corte del Sabion behind the church, is the Palazzo Polo, with beautiful Gothic windows, a lovely cross let into the wall, and an Arabic framework. The details of this house are well worth study. It was the birth-place of the famous Marco Polo. In the Colic dtl Bazatin near this, is a house with a brick parapet with beautiful varied mould- ings, crested with Arabian ornament. The Church of the Madonna dei Miracoli has a character of its own, and is a relief after the conventionally ugly churches usual at Venice. It was built by PUtro Lombardo, io8 ITALIAN CITIES. 1484 1489, and is of rich white marble, inlaid with red and black. The decorations are very rich and delicately executed. The interior is unimportant ; the statues, right and left of the high altar, are by Gir. Campagna. " It seems almost incredible that eight years sufficed for the construc- tion and ornamentation of this church, which is one of the most ela- borate examples of Renaissance architecture. Without and within its walls, doorways, and pilasters are covered with leaves, flowers, birds, and strange creatures born of a fancy wayward but even logical in its deductions from nature, not carelessly carved, but conscientiously worked out in every detail with equal taste and skill. The rich balustrades of the staircase leading to the chapel of the Sanctuary are adorned with small half-figures of the Virgin, the Angel of the Annunciation, S. Francis, and S. Chiara, and the pilasters and panels about it are filled with ornaments inspired by but not copied from the antique." Perkin's Italian Sculptors. ThePa/azzo Sanudo near this is a noble Gothic 14th-century palace with Byzantine cornices and fragments, especially in its inner court. Its door is quite perfect, "retaining its wooden valve richly sculptured, its wicket for examination of the stranger demanding admittance, and its quaint knocker in the form of a fish." Near this, on the Rio dei S. Apostoli, is the Palazzo falter, which occupies the site of the house of Marino Faliero, beheaded 1355. It has a beautiful Byzantine window. " But for this range of windows, the little piazza SS. Apostoli would be one of the least picturesque in Venice ; to those, however, who seek it on foot, it becomes geographically interesting from the extraordinary involution of the alleys leading to it from the Rialto. It is only with much patience, and modest following of the guidance of the marble thread beneath hjs feet, that the pedestrian will at last emerge over a steep bridge into the open space of the Piazza, rendered cheerful in autumn by a perpetual market of pomegranates, and purple gourds, like enormous black figs ; while the canal, at its extremity, is half blocked .. APOSTOLI, LA MISERICORDIA. 109 up by barges laden with vast baskets of grapes as black as charcoal, thatched over with their own leaves. " Looking back, on the other side of the canal, he will see the windows and the arcade of pointed arches beneath them, which are the remains of the palace of Marino Faliero. The balcony is, of course, modern, and the series of windows has been of greater extent, once terminated by a pilaster on the left hand, as well as on the right, but the terminal arches have been walled up. What remains, however, is enough, with its sculptured birds and dragons, to give a very distinct idea of the second order window in its perfect form " Kuskin, Stones of Venice, ii. vii. The Church of the S. Apostoli contains : Right. The Cappdla Corner, a reproduction of the Lombard style in 1510 by Gugl. Bergamesco. It contains the 16th-century monuments of Marco and Giorgio Corner. Left of High Altar. Paul Veronese. The Descent of the Manna. At the end of this canal to the east is the Church of S. Maria dei Gesuiti (or S. Maria Assunta), 1715 1730. It contains : J. Tintoretto. The Assumption. Titian. Martyrdom of S. Lawrence. Near this, on the Fondamenta Zen, is the Palazzo Zen, of 1531. Further down the Fondamenta is the Collegia Marco Foscarini, occupying the old monastery of S. Catherine. In the chapel is : /'// Veronese. The Marriage of S. Catherine. Crossing a wide bit of canal, we reach the Abbazia del/a Misericordia, dating from the roth century, but modernized. Still, it is a picturesque corner of the canal. A gateway of 1505 remains, and some curious sculpture by Bartolomeo Bon. An interesting Gothic Palace of the i5th century on the neighbouring Fondamenta belonged to Turkish mer- I io ITALIAN CITIES. chants. It is adorned with some curious reliefs of Camels and Arabs. One of them is said to represent " Sior Antonio Rioba," the predecessor of Pantaloon, for " The Planter of the Lion of S. Mark, the standard of the republic, is the real origin of the word Pantaloon Piantaleone, Pantaleon, Pan- taloon. "Byron, Notes to Childe Harold. Tintoret lived on this Fondamenta dei Mori, where his apartment may still be seen. The neighbouring Church of S. Marziale contains : Titian. Tobias and the Angel. It is a short distance to the Church of the Madonna del Orto, erected by Tiberio da Parma in 1372. The admirable faade is by Bartolomco Eon, 1439 1470 ; at any rate the statues are his. " The doorway and rose windows are of red and white marble, and in the side windows the tracery and monials are of white marble, and the jambs alternately red and white. The rest of the wall is brick, but has been plastered and washed with pink. The windows at the end of the aisles are remarkable for transoms of tracery supported upon two heights of delicate marble shafts, and entirely independent of the glazing that is fixed in frames within them. This kind of arrangement, incongruous and unsatisfactory as it is here, is worth recollecting, as being suggestive of an obvious opening for the use of traceried windows in domestic work ; and it is a plan of most frequent occurrence in the best Italian eccle- siastical architecture." Street. To see this church well it should be visited after 2 P.M. Internally it is really handsome. It is almost entirely of brick. Tintoretto, Alessandro Leopardi, and Ranusio the geographer, are buried here. " J'ai regrette de ne point trouver de traces du tombeau du Tintoret et de celui de Marietta Robusti, sa fille et son eleve, qu'il cut la dou- leur de perdre dans un age peu avance ; Marietta, grand peintre de por- /./ MADONNA DEL OR TO. in tnits, etait encore celebre par les graces de sa personne et ses talens comme musicienne et cantatrice, talens qu'elle devait aux lecjons du Napolitain Jules Zacchino, le Cimarosa de son temps ; invitee a se rendre a la cour de Philippe II., de 1'empereur Maximilien, et de 1'archiduc F.rdinand, son pere ne put jamais se separer de la fille dont il etait si fier; il la maria a un joaillier Venitien, homme de bon sens, desinteresse, e: qui preferait que sa femme fit le portrait de ses confreres ou de ses amis au lieu de peindre les riches et les grands. La mort de Marietta fut a Venise une perte publique, et Tintoret voulut qu'elle reposat a Ste Marie dell' Orto, au milieu de ses propres chefs-d'oeuvre, qu'il semblait en quelque sorte lui consacrer." Valery. The church contains : Right Aisle. 1st Altar. Cima da Conegliano. The Baptist between SS. Mark and Peter, and SS. Jerome and Paul. Behind, a tree stands out against a clear sky beautiful drawing of the leaves and branches, also of the flowers in the foreground. " The type of S. John the Baptist was, perhaps, the best adapted to the genius of Cima, who has not only surpassed himself in it, but in the conception of the character has left the greatest painters of the age Titian and Raphael included far behind him. Cima's superiority in this respect must be admitted by all who see this his chef-d'oeuvre, in which the spare form of the Baptist is represented clothed in a garment of camel's hair, his visage pale and hollow, and his eyes ecstatically raised towards heaven ; he is mounted on a sort of pedestal, around which are ranged S. Mark, S. Jerome, S. Peter, with his inspired look, S. Paul, grasping with an air of authority the sword of the Word ; the whole forming a group which will bear comparison with the most perfect productions of Christian Art in Venice." Rio. This beautiful picture is framed in an altar by Leopardi. "$rd Altar. Sansovino. Statue of the Madonna Tomb of Girolamo Gavazza, ambassador from the Republic to Spain, 1681. 4/A Altar. Daniel Vandyke. Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo. On right wall near the end. Palma Veechio. A group of saints. "St. Vincent stands in the centre on a kind of platform : he is habited in the deacon's robe, here of a deep glowing red, richly embroidered ; he holds the palm, and has no other attribute ; the face is divinely beautiful mild, refined, and elevated to a degree uncommon in the Venetian school. Four saints stand around him ; St. Helen with her , a Dominican (I think St. Vincent Ferrer), a pope, and a martyr- H2 ITALIAN CITIES. saint whom I cannot name. This picture is almost, if not quite, equal to the famous S. Barbara of the same artist." Jamesorfs Sacred Art, 553- In Sacristy. Gaspare Morazzonf, The head of S. Christopher (be- cause his knee-cap is a relic over one of the altars). A curious set of pictures of the saints of Venice are preserved here. Over the door is a Madonna by Giov. de Sanctis, and in the centre of the pavement his tomb. Cfuipel rigJti of High Altar. Gir. Santa Crocz. SS. Augustine and Jerome. Apse. Flat tomb of Gir. Grimani, 1512. Tlntoret, Worship of the Golden Calf. *Id. The Last Judgment. " By Tintoret only has this unimaginable event been grappled with in its verity ; not typically nor symbolically, but as they may see it who shall not sleep, but be changed. Only one traditional circumstance he has received with Dante and Michael Angelo, the Boat of the Con- demned ; but the impetuosity of his mind bursts out even in the adop- tion of this image ; he has not stopped at the scowling ferry-man of the one, nor at the sweeping blow and demon-dragging of the other, but, seized Hylas-like by the limbs, and tearing up the earth in his agony, the victim is lashed into his destruction ; nor is it the sluggish Lethe, or the fiery lake that bears the cursed vessel, but the oceans of the earth, and the waters of the firmament gathered into one white, ghastly cataract ; the river of the wrath of God, roaring dowu into the gulph where the world has melted with its fervent heat, choked with the ruin of nations, arul the iirnb; of its corpses tossed out of its whirling, like water-wheels. Bat-like, out of the holes and caverns and shadows of the earth, the bones gather, and tiie clay heaps heave, rattling and adhering into half kneaded anatomies, that crawl, and startle, and struggle up among the putrid weeds, with the clay clinging to their clotted hair, and their heavy eyes sealed by the earth darkness yet, like his of old who went his way unseeing to the Siloam Pool ; shaking off one by one the dreams of the prison-house, hardly hearing the clangor of the trumpets of the armies of God, blinded yet more, as they awake, by the white light of the new Heaven, until the great vortex of the four winds bear up their bodies to the judgment-seat : the firmament is all full of them, a very dust of human souls, that drifts, and floats, and falls in the interminable, inevitable light ; the light clouds are darkened with them as with thick snow, currents of atom life in the arteries of heaven. now soaring up slowly, and higher and higher still, till the eye and the thought can follow no farther, borne up, wingless, by their inward faith LA MADONNA DEL OR TO. 113 an 1 by the angel powers invisible, now hurled in countless drifts of h >rror before the breath of their condemnation." Ruskin, Modern Painters, ii. 172. Palma Giovane. The Annunciation all the other pictures by Tin- toretto. Left Aisle, 2nd Chapel. Tintoret. The Miracle of S. Agnes. Before the Altar. Tomb of Vincenzo Contarini, Ambassador of the Re- 10 England. The two Contarini busts are by AUss. Vittoria. "yd Chapd. D. Tintoret. Presentation of the Virgin. The stair- case introduced in this picture is thoroughly Venetian, and the effect of the figures in shadow admirable. Palma Giovane. The Crucifixion. 4/-4 Chapd. Dom. Tintoretto. The Nativity. 5/-4 Chapel. Giov. Bellini. Madonna and Child, painted with a rich background of gilt stamped leather. The head of the Madonna is the only beautiful part of this picture, which is in the first manner of the artist. Lorenzo Lotto. Pieta. Opposite this church is a Palace with a curious relief of a camel and a man leading it Artists will not fail to admire the expanse of the shallow lagoon behind the Madonna del Orto. " Devant cette plaine de lumiere, toutes les contrarietes, tous les mecomptes s'oublient. On ne se lasse pas de la mer, de 1'horizon in- fini, des p^titei ban les lointaines de terre qui emergent sous une verdure douteuse. Un vent leger ride les fkques luisantes, et les petites ondulations lent rnourir a chaque instant sur le sable uni. Le soleil couchant pose lies des teintes pourprees que le renflement de 1'onde tantot assombrit, tantot fait chatoyer. Dans ce mouvement continu, tous les tons se trans- : :nt et se fondent. Les fonds noiratres ou couleur de brique sont bleuis on verdis par la mer qui les couvre ; selon les aspects du ciel, 1'eau change elle-meme, et tout cela se mele parmi des ruissellements de lumiere, sous des semis d'or qui paillettent les petits flols, sous des tor- tillons d'argent qui frangont les cretes de 1'eau tournoyante, sous de larges lueurs et des eclairs subits que la paroi d'un ondoiement renvoie. I* domaine et les habitudes de 1'ceil sont transformes et renouveles. Le ens de la vision rencontre un autre monde. Au lieu des teintes fortes, S scenes des terrains solides, c'est un miroitement, un amollissement, un eclat incessant de teintes fondues qui font un second cicl aussi lumi- ncux, mais plus divers, plus changeant, plus riche et plus intense que .11. 8 114 ITALIAN CITIES. 1'autre, forme de tons superposes dont 1'alliance est une harmonic. " Taint. Either by the lagoon, or by the Grand Canal, we may reach the Canareggio, at the east end of which is the Church of S. Giobbe, built 1462 1471, and very rich in ornament. " The portal is surmounted by a round arch, and has a broad archi- trave, which rests upon two Corinthian pilasters covered with the most delicately-sculptured convolvulus plants, upon whose winding stems sit all but living birds. The architrave is adorned with symmetrically- arranged leaf- work ; the capitals of the pilasters are composed of acan- thus leaves and ox-skulls, from whose horns hang festoons which are twined about the flower-filled volutes ; and the cornice and archivolt are enriched with architectural details borrowed from the antique. Statuettes of SS. Francis, Bernardino of Siena, and a bishop are placed on the arch and at the ends of the entablature, and the lunette is filled with a bas- relief representing SS. Francis and Giobbe kneeling in prayer on either side of a little mount, upon which rays of light descend from heaven. The more we regard these sculptures, the more we are convinced that they are the work of several hands ; if the arabesques and architecture of the door, and perhaps the statuettes, are by Pietro, the bas-relief, which is dry and precise in its style and forms, can scarcely be his." Perkin's Italian Sculptors. Entering the church we may observe the most beautiful angels by the Lombardi in the pendentives of the cupola ; then 4/4 Altar. Paris Bordone. S. Andrew on a pedestal, with SS. Ni- cholas and Peter. Ante-Sacristy. Gir. Savoldo, 1540. The Nativity. Sacristy. Altar. Vivarini. The Annunciation, with saints. G. Bellini. Virgin and Child with SS. J. Baptist and Catherine. Portrait of Doge Moro. Chancel. Beautiful arch and friezes of sculpture erected by Doge Moro in 1462. In the centre his tomb of 1470. Left Aisle, qth Chapel. Majolica roof. Close to this church is the entrance of the very pretty Orto Botanico. CHAPTER XXVI. WESTERN VENICE. IN a Gondola to S. Trovaso, S. Sebastiano, the Carmine, S. Pantaleone, S. Andrea, S. Nicol6 da Tolentino, S. Rocco, the Frari, S. Giacomo dell' Orio, S. Maria Mater Domini, S. Cassiano, Palazzo Cappello, S. Aponal, S. Polo. Those who select should see S. Sebastiano, the Carmine, S. Rocco, and the Frari. A WIDE canal on the left, beyond the Academy, leads to the Church of S. Trovaso (or SS. Gervasio e Pro- tasio), which, with its campanile and the old brown ware- houses and brilliant acacias surrounding it, forms a subject which has often been painted. It contains : Right Transept. Altar of the Lombardi, 1501, with reliefs of Angels. *Palma Vecchio. Madonna and Child. Chapel, Right of High. Altar. Dom. Tintoretto. The Crucifixion. Palma Vecchio. Christ bound. Left of High Altar. Tintoretto. The temptation of S. Anthony. " A carefully finished picture, but marvellously temperate and quiet in treatment, especially considering the subject, which one would have imagined likely to inspire the painter with one of his most fantastic visions. As if on purpose to disappoint us, both the effect, and the conception of the figures, are perfectly quiet, and appear the result much more of careful study than of vigorous imagination. The effect is one of plain daylight ; there are a few clouds drifting in the distance, but with no wildness in them, nor is there any energy or heat in the flames which mantle about the waist of one of the figures. But for the noble 1 16 ITALIAN CITIES. workmanship, we might almost fancy it the production of a modern academy ; yet as we begin to read the picture, the painter's mind be- comes felt. S. Anthony is surrounded by four figures, one of which only has the form of a demon, and he is in the background, engaged in no more terrific act of violence towards S. Anthony, than endeavouring to pull off his mantle ; he has, however, a scourge over his shoulder, but this is probably intended for S. Anthony's weapon of self-discipline, which the fiend, with a very Protestant turn of mind, is carrying off. A broken staff, with a bell hanging to it, at the saint's feet, also ex- presses his interrupted devotion. The three other figures beside him are bent on more cunning mischief ; the woman on the left is one of Tintoret's best portraits of a young ami bright-eyed Venetian beauty. It is curious that he should have given so attractive a countenance to a type apparently of the temptation to violate the vow of poverty, for this woman places one hand in a vase full of coins, and shakes golden chains with the other. On the opposite side of the saint, another woman, admirably painted, but of a far less attractive countenance, is a type of the lusts of the flesh, yet there is nothing gross or immodest in her dress or gesture. She appears to have been baffled, and for the present to have given up addressing the saint : she lays one hand upon her breast, and might be taken for a very respectable person, but that there are flames playing about her loins. A recumbent figure on the ground is of a less intelligible character, but may perhaps be meant for Indolence ; at all events, he has torn the saint's book to pieces." Ruskin> Stones of Venice, iii. Left Transept, Tintoretto. Last Supper. Turning to the left from this church, is the Campo detf Angela Raffadlo, with a beautiful well by Marco Arian, 1349. Opposite' the Church of S. RaffaeUo(fA 1618), is the Palazzo Cicogna, a beautiful work of the i4th century. "The whole design of this building is very irregular: a detached shaft at one angle supports a portion of the house which overhangs and forms a sort of open passage-way ; to the right of this opening is a four- light shafted window, and then a plain wall pierced with two windows, each of a single ogee trefoiled light. The upper story has two single windows over the others, whilst over the larger windows and the passage-way is a large window conspicuous from its she and the peculi- arity of its tracery. It is of six lights divided by very good shafts, and properly arched with pure and good trefoiled arches ; above these, and S. MARIA DEL CARMINE. 117 inclosed within the perpetual indented or billeted string-course, is a com- plicated system of intersecting circles pierced at regular intervals with quatrefoils. The whole elevation is finished with a shallow cornice sup- ported upon corbels." Street. In this district, near the Ponte Briati, is the Palazzo Zenobio, a handsome edifice of the last century, by Antonio Gasperi. Passing the Palazzo Foscarini, we reach the Church of S. Maria dd Carmitu, built 1208 1348, but modernised. It contains : Right, 2nd Altar. Citna da Conegliano. The Nativity. " The Virgin is kneeling in an attitude of the most graceful humility before the crib in which the Child is lying. On the right is Tobit, con- ducted by a beautiful angel ; on the left, Joseph and two devout shep- herds ; further in the picture are S. Helen and S. Catherine in conversa- tion. The background consists of a steep rock overhung \vith trees, with a rich evening landscape, with towns in the distance." Kugler. "The landscape is delicious. The subject is evidently borrowed from the Umbrian school ; and it is the more interesting to discover this sympathy, because the total absence of pagan or mythological subjects in the works of Cima affords the strongest confirmation of it" Rio. ^th Altar. Tomb of Andrea Civriani, 1572. High Altar. Tintoretto. Presentation in the Temple. Left (returning), yd Altar. Lorenso Lotto, 1520. S. Nicholas inglory. The picturesque side porch with a canopy is said to have been brought from Aquileja. At the corner, near the west front of the church, is the so-called house of Othello, with a statue, facing the canal, which is said to represent him. In the neighbouring Campo S. Marghcrita is a beautiful door with angels, one in benediction, the other holding a shield. Hence we coast the Fondamenta delle Zattere. The ^hbouring Church of S. Spirito contains a monument of the Paruta family, of the i;th century. llS ITALIAN CITIES. The Church of S. Sebastiano is a good specimen of 1506 1548, by F. da Castiglione and A. Scarpignano. It is the burial-place of Paul Veronese, and contains some of his best works. Right, 1st Altar. Titian. S. Nicholas (executed in the artist's 86th year.) 2nd Altar. Paul Veronese. Madonna. $rd Altar. Tommaso Lombardo. Statue of the Madonna. 4/A Altar. Paul Veronese. The Crucifixion and the three Maries. Jacopo Sansovino, 1556. Tomb of Livius Podakataros of Cyprus. High Altar. Paul Veronese, 1558. Madonna and Saints. (Right) The martyrdom of S. Sebastian. (Left)* Martyrdom of SS. Mark and Marcellinus. The Organ has a picture of the Purification by Paul Veronese on its outer shutters, and of the Healing of the Paralytic within. Beneath is the Adoration of the Shepherds. On the right is a bust of P. Veronese, by C. Bozzetti, and beneath it the grave of the painter, who died, April iQth, 1558. Left aisle, qth Chapel. Afessandro Viftoria. Bust of M. Ant. Gri- mani, 1546. 2nd Altar. Sckiavone. The Disciples of Emmaus. yd Altar. Paul Veronese. The Baptism in the Jordan. The Ceiling is entirely by Paul Veronese. The Sacristy has a ceiling of the Coronation of the Virgin, with the four Evangelists, by P. Veronese, and is almost entirely surrounded by pictures of Bonifazio- Jacob's Dream, the Passage of the Red Sea, the Nativity, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the Baptism in Jordan, the Agony in the Garden, the Resurrection, S. Sebastiano, the Crucifixion, S. Eustachio . From the Campo S. Margherita, it is only a few steps, across a canal-bridge, to the Church of S. Pantahone (the patron of physicians), built 1668 1675 by Francesco Comino. It contains : Right, 2nd Chapel. Paul Veronese. The Healing of a boy by S. Pantaleone. Left of High Altar. Giovanni and Antonio da Murano, 1444. Coro- nation of the Virgin an important Gothic triptych. Of the same period is a richly decorated altar. S. AXDREA, SCUOLA Dl S. ROCCO. 119 " This church is particularly interesting to those who love to study Venetian character. It is the parish church of a dense and populous neighbourhood, and I used to go there more for the sake of looking at the people the picturesque mothers with their infants, the little children reciting their catechism than to study art and pictures. The walls are covered with the beneficent actions of the patron saint, and with scrip- tural incidents which have reference to the healing art. None of these, however, are particularly good. "Jameson's Sacred Art, ii. 568. In the Camplello Angaran near this, is a curious stone medallion in a wall, with the portrait of an eastern emperor. From S. Pantaleone, a long canal leads to the lonely Chunk of S. Andrea, which is worth visiting for the sake of its grass-grown Campo, open to the lagoon and Alps, though the view is rather spoilt by the railway bridge. The church itself, built 1475, is unimportant Over the door is a curious Renaissance sculpture of S. Peter walking on the water ; worthy of observation are its distant landscape, and the oars of an existing gondola floating by S. Peter's boat. Within are : /';/ Veronese. S. Jerome. Paris Bordotie. S. Augustine. Returning, we may visit the Church of S. Nicolo da To- leniino, which contains pictures by Bonifazio and Palma Giovane, but nothing of much importance. Behind this are the I\ifadopo:i Gardens, rich in curious plants. They oc- cupy the site of a church of S. Croce, built in 774. \\'e should next land at the steps near the Sciiola di \\ which was one of five Scuole, which were not used for educational purposes, but were centres for the differ- ent charitable associations for fulfilling all the " Temporal Works of Mercy " which abounded in ancient Venice. S. Rocco has perhaps the richest and most interesting of ' Scuole, and its brotherhood were the chief patrons of 120 ITALIAN CITIES. Tintoret, who worked here for 18 years. The buildings were begun in 1517 by Bartolomeo Bon, and finished in 1550 by Antonio Scarpagnino. The facade, coated with marbles, is a very rich specimen of Renaissance decoration. " In the year 1485 the Venetians, who from their commerce with the Levant were continually exposed to the visitation of the plague, deter- mined to possess themselves of the relics of St. Roch. A kind of holy alliance was formed to commit this pious robbery. The conspirators sailed to Montpelier, under pretence of performing a pilgrimage, and carried off the body of the saint, with which they returned to Venice, and were received by the doge, the senate, and the clergy, and all the people, with inexpressible joy. The magnificent church of St. Roch. was built to receive the relics of the saint by a community already formed un- der his auspices for the purpose of tending the sick and poor, and. par- ticularly those who were stricken by infectious disorders, in which many of the chief nobility were proud to enrol themselves. Such was the origin of the famous Scuola di San Jfocco at Venice, in the decoration of which Tintoretto and his scholars lavished their utmost skill." Jame- son's Sacred Art, ii. 473. The interior is a perfect gallery of the works of Jacopo Tintoretto, whose real name was Robusti, and who received his nickname from the trade of his father a dyer, Tintore. He was born in 1512, and, showing an extraordinary aptitude for art, was placed in the studio of Titian, who, however, whether from his own jealousy, or from the inattention of his pupil, expelled him from his academy, saying that he " would never be anything but a dauber." Without losing heart, however, Tintoret opened a studio of his own, in- scribing on its wall, as the guiding principle of his work " II disegno di Michel Angelo ; il colorito di Tiziano." His wonderful conceptions and the immense amount of story in his pictures for he frequently drew without designs, com- posing as he went on with his picture atone for his frequent coarseness of expression and violence of treatment. SCUOLA DI S. ROC CO. 121 The Lower Hall Q{ the Scuola, by Girolamn Campagna, which is closed by a statue of S..Roch, has eight large pic- tures by Tintoret. 1. The Annunciation. " Not in meek reception of the adoring messenger, but startled by the rush of his horizontal and rattling wings, the Virgin sits, not in the quiet loggia, not by the green pasture of the restored soul, but houseless, un- der the shelter of a palace vestibule, ruined and abandoned, with the noise of the axe and hammer in her ears, and the tumult of a city round about her desolation. The spectator turns away at first, revolted, from the central object of the picture forced painfully and coarsely forward, a nn-.s of shattered brickwork, with the plaster mildewed away from it, and the mortar mouldering from its seams ; and if he looks again, either at this or at the carpenter's tools beneath it, will perhaps see in the one and the other, nothing more than such a study of scene as Tintoret could but too easily obtain among the ruins of his own Venice, chosen to give a coarse explanation of the calling and the condition of the husband of Mary. But there is more meant than this. When he looks at the com- position of the picture, he will find the whole symmetry of it depending on a narrow line of light, the edge of a carpenter's square, which con- nects these unused tools with an object at the top of the brickwork, a white stone, four square, the corner-stone of the old edifice, the base of the supporting column. This, I think, sufficiently explains the typical character of the whole. The ruined house is the Jewish dispensation ; that obscurely arising in the dawning of the sky is the Christian ; but ' the corner-stone of the old building remains, though the builders' tools lie idle beside it, and the stone which the builders refused is become the Headstone of the Corner." Ruskin, Modern Painters, ii. 165. 2. The Adoration of the Magi. " In Tintoret's adoration of the Magi, the Madonna is not an en- throned queen, but a fair girl, full of simplicity and almost childish sweetness. To her are opposed (as Magi) two of the noblest and most thoughtful of the Venetian senators in extreme old age, the utmost manly dignity in its decline, being set beside the utmost feminine sim- plicity in its dawn. The steep foreheads and refined features of the nobles are, again, opposed to the head of a negro servant, and of an Indian, both, however, noble of their kind. On the other side of the picture, the delicacy of the Madonna is further enhanced by a largely- made farm-servant, leaning on a basket. All these figures are in repose : outside, the troop of the attendants of the Magi is seen coming up at the gallop. 122 ITALIAN CITIES. " I bring forward this picture, not as an example of the ideal in concep- tion of religious subject, but of the general ideal treatment of the human form ; in which the peculiarity is, that the beauty of each figure is dis- played to the utmost, while yet, taken separately, the Madonna is an unaltered portrait of a Venetian girl, the Magi an unaltered Venetian senator, and the figure with the basket, an unaltered market-woman of Mestre." Ruskin, Modern Painters, iii. 85. 3. The Flight into Egypt. 4. The Massacre of the Innocents. " Knowing, or feeling, that the expression of the human face was, in such circumstances, not to be rendered, and that the effort could only end in an ugly falsehood, Tintoret denies himself all aid from the features, he feels that if he is to place himself or us in the midst of that maddened multitude, there can be no time allowed for watching expres- sion. Still less does he depend on details of murder or ghastliness of death ; there is no blood, no stabbing, or cutting, but there is an awful substitute for these in the chiaroscuro. The scene is the outer vestibule of a palace, the slippery marble floor is fearfully barred across by san- guine shadows, so that our eyes seem to become blood-shot and strained with strange horror and deadly vision ; a lake of life before them, like the burning sun of the doomed Moabite on the water that came by way of Edom : a huge flight of stairs, without parapet, descends on the left ; down this rush a crowd of women mixed with the murderers ; the child in the arms of one has been seized by the limbs, she hurls herself over v the edge, and falls Jiead downwards, dragging t/ie child out of the grasp by her weight ; she will be dashed dead in a second; close to us is the great struggle ; a heap of the mothers entangled in one mortal writhe with each other and the swords, one of the murderers dashed down and crushed beneath them, the sword of another caught by the blade, and dragged at by a woman's naked hand ; the youngest and fairest of the women, her child just torn away from a death grasp, and clasped to her breast with the grip of a steel vice, falls backwards, helplessly over the heap, right on the sword points ; all knit together and hurled down in one hopeless, frenzied, furious abandonment of body and soul in the effort to save. Far back, at the bottom of the stairs, there is something in the shadow like a heap of clothes. It is a woman, sitting quiet quite quiet still as any stone ; she looks down steadfastly on her dead child, laid along on the floor before her, and her hand is pressed softly upon her brow. " Ruskin, Modern Painters, ii. 1 70. 5. S. Mary Magdalen. 6. S. Mary of Egypt. SCUOLA DI S. ROCCO. 123 7. The Presentation in the Temple. 8. The Assumption of the Virgin. < A magnificent staircase (observe the admirable but simple ornament on the steps) has, on its landing : Titian. Annunciation. Jintvret. The Salutation. The Upper Sala where the brotherhood used to assemble has an altar with statues of the Baptist and S. Sebastian by G. Camfagna, and a picture of S. Koch in glory by Tintoret. The seven compartments of the ceiling are by Tintoret. On the oak pannelling are 20 subjects from the life of S. Roch, carved by Giovanni Marchiori and his pupils, in the last century. The pictures, beginning from the right, are : The Nativity. The Holy Family are represented as in a loft above a stable. The Baptism in Jordan. " The river flows fiercely under the shadow of a great rock. From its opposite shore, thickets of close, gloomy foliage rise against the roll- ing chasm of heaven through which breaks the brightness of the descend- ing Spirit. Across these, dividing them asunder, is stretched a hori- zontal floor of flaky cloud, on which stand the hosts of heaven. Christ kneels upon the water, and does not sink ; the figure of S. John is indistinct, but close behind his raised right arm there is a spectre in the black shade ; the Fiend, harpy shaped, hardly seen, glares clown upon Christ with eyes of fire, waiting his time. Beneath this figure there comes out of the mist a dark hand, the arm unseen, extended to a net in the river, the spars of which are in the shape of a cross. Behind this the roots and under stems of the trees are cut away by the cloud, and beneath it, and through them, is seen a vision of wild, melancholy, boundless light ; the sweep of the desert, and the figure of Christ is seen therein alone, with his arms lifted up as if in supplication or ecstasy, borne of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil. " There are many circumstances which combine to give to this noble work a more than usually imaginative character. The symbolical use of the net, which is the cross net still used constantly in the canals of Venice, and common throughout Italy, is of the same character as that 124 ITALIAN CITIES. of the carpenter's tools in the Annunciation ; but the introduction of the spectral figure is of bolder reach, and yet more, that vision of the after temptation which is expressly indicated as a subject of thought rather than of sight, because it is in a part of the scene, which mfact must have been occupied by the trunks of the trees whose tops are seen above ; and another circumstance completes the mystic character of the whole, that the flaky clouds which support the angelic hosts take on the right, where the light first falls upon them, the shape of the head of a fish, the well- known type both of the baptismal sacrament, and of Christ." Ruskin, Modern Painters, ii. 1 68. The Resurrection. The Agony in the Garden. 1 he Last Supper. On the left are : The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes. The Resurrection of Lazarus. The Ascension. The Pool of Bethesda. The Temptation. The Portrait of the Artist at the age of 66. In the adjoining Sala dell' Albergo, so called because here the guests of the brotherhood were received, is the most celebrated work of Tintoret. The Crucifixion. " Tintoret here, as in all other cases, penetrating into the root and deep places of his subject, despising all outward and bodily appearances of pain, and seeking for some means of expressing, not the rack of nerve or sinew, but the fainting of the deserted Son of God before his Eloi cry ; and yet feeling himself utterly unequal to the expression of this by the countenance, has, on the one hand, filled his picture with such various and impetuous muscular exertion that the body of the Crucified is, by comparison, in perfect repose, and, on the other, has cast the countenance altogether into shade. But the Agony is told by this, and by this only ; that, though there yet remains a chasm of light on the mountain horizon, where the earthquake darkness closes upon the day, the broad and sunlike glory about the head of the Redeemer has become wan, and oj the colour of ashes. " But the great painter felt he had something more to do yet. Not S. ROCCO. THE FRARI. 125 only that Agony of the Crucified, but the tumult of the people, that rage which invoked his blood upon them and their children. Not only the brutality of the soldier, the apathy of the Centurion, nor any other merely instrumental cause of the Divine suffering, but the fury of his own people, the noise against him of those for whom he died, were to be set before the eye of the understanding, if the power of the picture was to be complete. This rage, be it remembered, was one of disappointed pride ; and disappointment dated essentially from the time when, but five days before, the King of Zion came, and was received with hosannahs, riding upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. To this time, then, it was necessary to divert the thought, for therein are found both the cause and the character, the excitement of, and the witness against, this mad- ness of the people. In the shadow behind the cross, a man, riding on an colt, looks back to the multitude, while he points with a rod to the Christ crucified. The ass is feeding on the remnants of withered palm- fan't-s." Ruskin, Modern Painters, ii. 168. Other subjects in this room are : Christ before Pilate. The Cross-bearing. The Crowning with Thorns. (On the c filing}. The Apotheosis of S. Roch. The Church of S. Rocco, rebuilt 1725, has a fine fifteenth- century altar from designs of Bartolemeo Bon., 1495. I' contains also : Right, 1st Altar. Tintoret. The Pool of Bethesda. Chapel right of If igh Altar. Titian. The Betrayal. Choir. Tintoret. Four great pictures of the Charity of S. Roch. Entrance to Sacristy, The fine tomb of Pellegrino Boselli Grilli, 1517. Pordenone. Fresco of S. Sebastian. Left Wall. Pordenone. S. Martin and the Beggar. Immediately behind the Scuola di S. Rocco, rises the great Gothic brick Church of S. Maria Gloriosa del Frari, designed c. 1250, by Nicola Pisano, for the Frati Minor! di S. Francesco. The tower was begun in 1361 by Jacopo Collcga, and finished in 1396 by his son Pictro Paolo. The interior is a I^atin cross. The nave is divided from its -> by circular columns. The general effect is very 126 ITALIAN CITIES. striking : the lines of the church are broken half way down by a screen with pulpits at either end. " The internal effect of the church is much finer than its west front would lead one to expect. The plan is simple ; a nave and aisles of six bays, transepts with three eastern chapels to each, and a choir of one bay with an apse of four bays projecting beyond the others. The tower is in the angle between the north transept and the nave, and a large sacristy with an eastern apse is built against the south transept. The nave and aisles measure about 230 feet by 104, and the transept 1 60 feet by 48, magnificent dimensions undoubtedly. The columns are simple, cylindrical, and very lofty, their capitals carved with foliage, which looks late and poor in its execution, though grouped in the old way in regular tufts or balls of foliage. The arrangement of the wall above the main arcade is very similar to that of the Veronese, and in- deed, to that of most Italian Gothic churches ; a plain wall being carried up to the groining, relieved only by a small clerestory window at the highest point. One is apt to compare this arrangement with the artistic arrangement of clerestory and triforium in our own churches ; but herein we do not act quite fairly to Nicola Pisano, who is said to have designed the Frari, and his brethren. . They had to work in a country where light must be admitted very sparingly, and where therefore it is impossible for architects to revel in the rich traceries which fill the bays of the churches in the North ; they lived among a nation of painters, and deemed, perhaps, that these plain surfaces of wall would one day glow with colour and with Scripture story. The real beauty of these interiors is owing, more than anything else, I believe, to the simplicity and beauty of the quadripartite groining which covers them in, and which, even where other features would seem to tell of debasement and absence of pure feeling, invariably recalls us to a proper recollection of the infinite value of simplicity in this important feature a point lost sight of in England after the thirteenth century, to the incalculable detriment of the beauty of some of our greatest churches." Street. " It always causes a sensation to walk from the blazing sun and labour- ing life without into these solemn enclosures. Here are the tombs of the Doges resting from their rule. They seem pondering still as they lie carved in stately marble death, contemplating the past with their calm brows and their hooked noses. The great church is piled arch upon arch, tomb upon tomb ; some of these monuments hang in the nave high over the heads of the people as they kneel ; above the city and its cries, and its circling life, and the steps of the easy-going Venetians."-' Miss Thackeray. THE FRARL 127 Making the circuit of the Interior from the west door : Ki^/il (on the holy-water bason). G. Camfagna, 1593. Statuette of Chastity. After the 1st Altar. Luigi and Pietro Zandomenighi, 1838 1852. The monument of Titian erected by the Emperor of Austria. The painter is seated, surrounded by allegorical statues and reliefs from his best works. To the right of this is his grave, with a remnant of the inscription : " Qui giace il gran Tiziano de' Vecelli Emulator de' Zeusi e degli Apelli." 2nd Altar. Salviati. The Presentation of t'le Virgin. The Monument erected by the Senate to Alrnerico d'Este, General of the Republic, who died at Paris, 1660. yd Altar. Altss. Vittoria. Statue of S. Jerome. Beyond the qth Altar. Tombs of members of the families of Zen, Bottari, and Brignole. Over the door. The rude wooden tomb of a Delia Torre. Right Transept. Tomb of Jacopo Marcello, 1484. Bartolomeo Vivarini, 1482. Altar-piece. Christ on the cross above, and below the Virgin with SS. Peter and Paul, Andrew and Nicholas. Beautiful Gothic tomb of Fra. Pacifico, 1437, under whom the church of the Fran was completed. Over the door of the Sacristy. Tomb of Benedetto Pesaro, of the l6th century. Sacristy (opposite the entrance). Reliquary of the 1 7th century, with marble reliefs by Cabianga. (In the inner division) a little altar of the 1 5th century with a relief of the Entombment of Christ, with angels, and statuettes of S. Antonio and the Baptist. ^Giovanni Bellini, 1488. An altar-piece of the Madonna and saints, in three divisions. " The figure of the Virgin, and those of the saints, by whom she is surrounded, have all the imposing gravity of a religious composition, while the angels equal the most charming miniatures for freshness of colouring and naivete of expression : it is a work which may boldly take it-, place beside the finest mystical productions of the Umbrian school, ins as if a foretaste of celestial beatitude had beamed on the soul of the aged painter while occupied with this work ; he has thrown aside that veil of melancholy in which he loved to wrap the countenance of the Virgin ; it is no longer the Mother of the Seven Sorrows which he tins painted, but rather the source of his joy causa nostra Itttitia to whom he has addressed this short prayer : 1 23 ITALIAN CITIES. ' Janua certa poli, due mentem, dirige vitam, Quae peragem commissa tuae sint omnia curae.' " Rio. " Au fond d'une chapelle, au-dessus de 1'autel, dans une petite architecture d'or, la Vierge, en grand manteau bleu, siege sur un trone. E lie est bonne et simple comme une paisible et simple paysanne. A ses pieds, deux petits anges en courte veste semblent des enfants de choeur, et leurs cuisses potelees, enfantines, ont la plus belle couleur de la chair saine. Sur les deux cotes, dans les compartiments, sont deux couples de saints, personnages immobiles, en habits de moine et d'e'veque, debout pour toujours dans 1'attitude hieratique, figures reelles qui font penser aux pecheurs bronzes de I'Adriatique. Toutes ces figures ont vecu ; le fidele qui s'agenouillait devant elles y apercevait les traits qu'il rencontrait autour de lui dans sa barque et dans ses ruelles, le ton rouge et brun des visages hales par le vent de la mer, la large carnation claire des fraiches filles e'levees dans Pair humide, la chape damasquinee du pre'lat qui commandait les processions, les petites jambes nues des enfants qui le soir pechaient les crabes. On ne pouvait s'empecher de croire en eux ; une verite si locale et si complete conduisait a 1'illusion." Taine. Titian. ? Madonna and saints. Returning to the Church. The tomb, with an equestrian statue, of Paolo Savelli, General of the Republic, 1405. 1st Chapel, right of Choir. Two tombs of the Bernardo family, 1500. 2nd Chapel. Tomb of Duccio degli Alberti, Ambassador of the Re- public at Florence, 1336. Tomb of an unknown warrior, 1337. " An early fourteenth, or perhaps late thirteenth century tomb, an exquisite example of the perfect Gothic form. It is a knight's ; but there is no inscription upon it, and his name is unknown. It consists of a sarcophagus, raised against the chapel wall, bearing the re- cumbent figure, protected by a simple canopy in the form of a pointed arch, pinnacled by the knight's crest ; beneath which the shadowy space is painted dark blue ; and strewn with stars. The statue itself is rudely carved ; but its lines, as seen from the intended distance, are both tender and masterly. The knight is laid in his mail, only the hands and face being bare. The hauberk and helmet are of chain-mail, the armour for the limbs, of jointed steel ; a tunic, fitting close to the breast, and marking the swell of it by the narrow embroi- dered lines, is worn over the mail ; his dagger is at his right side ; his long cross-belted sword, not seen by the spectator from below, at his feet. His feet rest on a hound (the hound being his crest), which looks up towards its master. The face is turned away from the spectator, towards the depth of the arch ; for there, just above the warrior's breast, THE FRARI. 129 is carved a small image of S. Joseph bearing the infant Christ, who looks down upon the resting figure ; and to this image its countenance is turned. The appearance of the entire tomb is as if the warrior had seen the vision of Christ in his dying moments, and had fallen back peacefully upon his pillow, with his eyes still turned to it, and his hands clasped in prayer." Raskin, Stones of Venice, iii. Apse. The High- Altar, of 1516, has an Assumption by Salviati. Right. The Tomb of the unhappy Doge Francesco Foscari (see Foscari Palace), 1457, by Pietro and Ant. Rizw. Left. Tomb of Doge Nicol6 Tron, 1476, by Antonio Rizzo. 1st Chapel left of Choir. Bernardino da Pordenone. Madonna enthroned with saints. 2nd Chapel. Tomb of Melchior Trevisan, 1500, by Ant. Dentone. On the Altar. S. John Baptist, in wood, by Donatella, 1428. 3n/ Chapel. S. Ambrose in glory with saints ; an altar-piece, begun by Bart. Vivarini, finished by Marco Basaiti. Over the entrance of the next chapel an angel in marble by Jacopo da Padova. The beautiful portal is a work of the Massegne. Left Transept. Bart. Vivarini. Altar-piece of S. Mark and other saints. Monument of Zen Orsini, I5th century. Chapel of S. Pietro. A beautiful Gothic altar with statuettes. Tomb of Bishop Miani. Font, on which is a seated figure of the Baptist by Jacopo Sanscvino, 554- Choir (in the nave west of the transepts, as in Westminster Abbey and in the Spanish cathedrals), 124 stalls of tarsia work by Marco da Vicenza, 1458 1468. Nave. Left Aisle. Tomb of Bishop Jacopo Pesaro, 1 547. Titian. Altar-piece called La Pala dei Pesari. Madonna with saints and members of the Pesaro family. "A work of quite unfathomable beauty." Burckhardt. " A work of the finest truth and life." Kiigler. The enormous tomb of Doge Giovanni Pesaro, by Baldassare Lon- ghtna and Melchior Barthel, 1669. The Tomb of Canova, erected 1827 a pyramid, with allegorical figures by his scholars. " Consummate in science, intolerable in affectation, ridiculous in con- ception, null and void to the uttermost in invention and feeling." Raskin. " Jamais le talent ne recut un plus vaste homage : Anglcterre a fourni VOL. n. 9 130 ITALIAN CITIES. le quart de la depense qui s'est elevee a 8000 sequins (102,000 frs.) ; la France, 1'Allemagne, ont contribue pour un autre quart ; I'Amerique (celle du sud, et non I'Amerique industrielle et marchande du nord), a souscrit pour 40 sequins ; 1' Italic et principalement les villes veniti- ennes ont fait le reste ; malgre 1' exaggeration ordinaire des inscriptions de monuments, 1'inscription de celui-ci ex consolations Europa universe?, est un peu au-dessous de la ve'rite ; il est re'ellement e'rige aux frais de I'univers." Valery. On the Holy- Water Bason, Statuette of S. Antonio by Gir. Cam- pagna, 1593. Tomb of Pietro Bernardo, 1568, by Aless. Leopardi. The remains of the noble Condottiere, Count of Carmagnola, who was beguiled back to the Venice he had served, and tortured and executed " between the pillars " in 1432, by the jealousy of the Senate, were first buried in S. Francesco della Vigua, but afterwards removed to a wooden coffin at the Frari. " The little Campiello San Rocco is entered by a sotto-portico behind the church of the Frari. Looking back, the upper traceries of the magnificent apse are seen towering above the irregular roofs and chimneys of the little square ; and our lost Prout was enabled to bring the whole subject into an exquisitely picturesque composition, by the fortunate occurrence of four quaint trefoiled windows in one of the houses on the right. Those trefoils are amongst the most ancient efforts of Gothic art in Venice, and are most valuable, as showing the way in which the humblest houses, in the noble times, followed out the system of the larger palaces, as far as they could, in their rude materials. It is not often that dwellings of the lower orders are preserved to us from the thirteenth century." Ruskin, Stones of Venice, ii. 7. At the Ponte S. Tomd between the Frari and the Grand Canal, is a doorway quite worthy of a visit. " It has the usual square opening of reddish marble, and above this a pointed arch of moulded brick ; the tympanum is filled in with a square carved centre panel, and the ground beyond this with quatrefoils of brick or tile very prettily disposed. " Street. Close by is the Casa Goldoni, which has an admirable Gothic staircase. Returning to our gondola we may now visit the Church of S. Giacomo del Orio, founded 555, but modernized 1125, and again 1425. It contains : S. .If. MATER DOMINI, S. CASSANO. 131 Right. Fr. Bassano. Preaching of the Baptist. Left (in the chapel]. Lorenzo Lotto 1546. Madonna enthroned. In the Campiello della Strope, close to this church, is a beautiful example of the fifth order of Venetian windows. It is remarkable for its excessive purity of curve, and is of very early date, its mouldings being simpler than usual. The neighbouring Church of S. Maria Mater Domini, built 1500 1505 by Pietro Lombardo, with a fa9ade by J. Sansmino, contains : A'igAt, 1st Altar. Lorenzo Bregni and Ant. Minello de" Bardi, 1501 1500. Three statues, SS. Andrew, Peter, and Paul. in i Altar. Vincenzo Catena. The vision of our Lord to S. Cristina a very lovely picture. Right Transept. Tintoret. The Finding of the Cross. Chapel left of High Altar. A beautiful 15th-century altar. Left Transept. Bonifazio. The Last Supper very fine in colour. Last Altar. Fr. Bissolo. The Transfiguration. In the adjoining Campo is an example of a house in which a cross is introduced between every window. The Church of S. Cassano contains : Right, 1st Altar. Palma Vecchio. The Baptist and four other saints. yd Altar. Leandro Bassano. The Visitation. Chapel right of High Altar. L. Bassano. Birth of the Virgin, and Zacharias. Apse. Tintoret. The Descent into Hades. Id. The Resurrection. In the same Campo is a beautiful example of an early Gothic window, " where the reversed curve at the head of the pointed arch is just perceptible and no more." At the Ponte del Corner near S. Cassano is "a noble house, in which the spandrils of the windows are filled by the emblems of the Four Evangelists, sculptured in deep relief, and touching the edges of the arches with their ex- panded wings."* Riukin, SttT P.T iTi^ BVBCBB9EDBBBj ul 5BO* ports of the done actually contact it ; 2nd though tie dome is of tie j-circnlar TrTTrrmy cm each sdc, aTlfr gr>H moj-f n ntiiailfil thaB : that leads to it. If we add to ties* defects of deagBthat, both here aad at Saa Gkxgio, no xoarbik orccjlanT is used nadbla^ bat pbam cold stoae aad whaewash ii wJlbeBBikiiliMiilho^veiyBBBBilirfBciay these iateriors are, and how disappointing^ gftvr all lit : ~. . - -; been lavished CD them- 7 ' FcrgusstB, The Croafa. orer the high altar is by GEr. C*/h|fag, The pidtBKS IB the chuich are nmm^xjiiaat, bat IB Ac sacristy are three off AeaMBt John Baptist aad Catheriae. Mackana with SS. Jeroaae aad Foncas. L with the ikcpaa* ChU aad i West of die Church are the Fondamenta < SL Baagio. A Saiat-Bboe, i la Zaeoca A The Ghtr&i ^5. ft*?*, so jnstVOHS in most of the oistvfct VBCVS of v^dttcCa ^fymis OP & scouxtc BHDBd idt the eastern point of the Giodecca. It as the mt of /MbWb\ 15651660. Here, in iSoo, met the ooOege of Cardiaab whkh elected Pius VII. to the papal throne. 136 ITALIAN CITIES. Right, ist Altar. Jacopo Bassano. The Nativity. 2nd Altar. Alichelozzo Michdozzi. Wooden Crucifix. yd and $lh Altar. Tintoret. SS. Cosmo and Damian. In a Corridor near the High Altar is the Tomb of the great Doge Domenico Michele, 1687, by Baldassare Longhena. This was the Doge who assisted in the crusade of S. Bernard and Godfrey de Bouillon who was the conqueror of Jaffa, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Ascalon and who brought back the granite columns of the piazza. He has for an epitaph the words : " Terror Graecorum jacet hie. " Left, 1st Altar. Tintoret. The Resurrection. 2nd Altar. Tintoret Last Altar. Leandro Bassano. Martyrdom of S. Lucia. Now we must embark in our gondola for a rather longer voyage than those we have hitherto taken, when, freed from musty churches, and wearisome pictures, we may enjoy the full glory of this wonderful water-land. "As I floated down the lagunes in the full sunshine, and observed how the figures of the gondoliers in their motley costume, moving lightly, as they rowed, above the sides of the gondola, stood out against the bright green water and the blue sky, I caught the best and freshest possible type of the Venetian school. The sunshine brought out the local colours with dazzling brilliancy, and even the shadows were so luminous, that they, in their turn, might serve as lights. The same may be said of the reflection from the sea-green water. All was painted ' chiaro nel chiaro, ' so that foaming waves and lightning flashes were necessary to give it grandeur," (urn die Tiipfchen auf sie zu setzen). Goethe. In the direction of the Lido is the Island of S. Lazaro. Here is the Armenian Convent which has obtained a ficti- tious celebrity through Byron, who studied here for six months. On Dec. 5, 1816, Byron wrote to Moore : " By way of divertisement, I am studying daily, at an Armenian monastery, the Armenian language. I found that my mind wanted something craggy to break upon ; and this as the most difficult thing THE ARMENIAN CONVENT. 137 I could discover here for an amusement I have chosen, to torture me into attention. It is a rich language, however, and would amply repay any one the trouble of learning it. I try, and shall go on ; but I answer for nothing, least of all for my intentions or my success. There are some very curious MSS. in the monastery, as well as books ; translations also from Greek originals, now lost, and from Persian and Syriac, &c. ; besides works of their own people. Four years ago the French instituted an Armenian professorship. Twenty pupils presented themselves on Monday morning, full of noble ardour, ingenuous youth, and impregnable industry. They persevered, with a courage worthy of the nation and of universal conquest, till Thursday ; wheny/?st interesting on the globe ; and perhaps their language only requires to be more studied to become more attractive. If the Scriptures are rightly understood, it was in Armenia that Paradise was placed Armenia, which has paid as dearly as the descendants of Adam for that fleeting participation of its soil in the happiness of him who was created from its dust. It was in Armenia that the flood first abated, and the dove alighted. But with the disappearance of Paradise itself may be dated almost the unhappiness of the country; for though long a 138 ITALIAN CITIES. powerful kingdom, it was scarcely ever an independent one, and the satraps of Persia and the pachas of Turkey have alike desolated the region where God created man in his own image." Byron, Preface to the Armenian Grammar found amongst his papers. No traveller should leave Venice without visiting the lovely Island of S. Elena, which is only a short distance from the Public Gardens. It was occupied by a large con- vent now desecrated, but is still full of poetic beauty. There is a beautiful Gothic cloister where the roses and jessamine pour their masses of blossom over the parapets, and a large garden with exquisite views, especially at low water, towards S. Pietro and Murano. Artists should certainly give up a day to S. Elena, so lovely in its desolation, though it ever seems to say to the lapping waters " Break, break, break, On the cold grey stones, O sea ! For the tender grave of a day that is dead Will never come back to me." The Lido is a name sometimes applied to the whole strip of shore (formed by three islands), which, seven miles in length and half a mile in breadth, extends along the mouth of the lagoon and forms the outer bulwark of Venice against the sea ; but, in its common acceptation, the name refers to that portion of the barrier which is nearest to Venice, and whither its people resort to ride on the sands or to bathe in the sea. Steamers leave the Schiavoni constantly for the Lido, returning every hour, and it is a very pleasant resort on late summer evenings, and worth while even for the beauty of the return to Venice, when all its lights are reflected in the still water. The weird sands, however, where Byron rode and which travellers of a few years ago will remember, have now disappeared, and a pergola of vines leads from the THE LIDO. 139 lagoon to the sea (about 7 min. walk). Turning to the left along the lagoon towards S. Nicolo, we cross the desecrated Jewish cemetery. It was to the Porto di Lido that the Doge went forth annually for the ceremony of the espousals of Venice with the Adriatic, and cast the ring into the sea from the Bucentaur. " Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee, And was the safe-guard of the West ; the worth Of Venice did not fall below her birth, Venice, the eldest child of liberty. She was a maiden city, bright and free ; No guile seduced, no force could violate ; And when she took unto herself a mate, She must espouse the everlasting sea. And what if she had seen those glories fade, Those titles vanish, and that strength decay, Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid When her long life hath reached its final day : Men are we, and must grieve when even the shade Of that which once was great has passed away." W. Wordsworth. The Castello di S. Andrea was built by Michele San- micheU in 1554. The Church of S. Nicolo, founded 1044, was rebuilt in 1826. It contains, near the door, the tomb of Doge Domenico Contarini. 140 CHAPTER XXVIII. CHIOGGIA. THE delightful excursion to Chioggia will occupy a day. The steamer leaves at p| A.M., and arrives at Venice again at 6 P.M., allowing five hours at Chioggia. This ex- pedition is the best means of seeing the general features of the lagoon and the natural bulwarks of Venice. The most feeble sailors will only find it rough for a few minutes, in crossing the bars of Malamocco and Chioggia. Crossing the lagoon we pass on the right the Island of S. Servolo, which contains the great Lunatic Asylum, built 1725, by Giov. Scalfurotto. " Honour aright the philosophic thought, That they who, by the trouble of the brain Or heart, for usual life are over-wrought, Hither should come to discipline their pain. A single Convent on a shoaly plain Of waters never changing their dull face But by the sparkles of the thick-falling rain Or lines of puny waves, such is the place. Strong medicine enters by the ear and eye ; That low unaltering dash against the wall May lull the angriest dream to vacancy ; And Melancholy, finding nothing strange For her poor self to jar upon at all, Frees her sad-centred thoughts, and gives them pleisant range. " Monckton Milnes. Our route is now like a highway on the sea, an avenue of MALAMOCCO AND PELESTINA. 141 posts marking the deep water on either side. On the right, is the Island of Poeggia. The outer bulwark of the lagoon is formed by three islands. That which ends to the north in the castle of S. Andrea, and to the south in the fort ot Alberoni, is called Littorale di Malamocco. The original island of Malamocco, on which the fugitives from Padua took refuge from Atila in 452, was submerged in 1107. The next island, Littorale di Pelestina, is guarded by the Castello di S. Pietro, and the Forte de Caroman. The southernmost island, Littorale di Sotto Marina, forms the bulwark of Chioggia. Both the last-named islands are defended by the strong sea walls, called / Murazzi, erected 1774 1728, being 4603 yards long on the coast of Pelestina and 1522 yards on that of Sotto Marina. As we coast along the shores we have an opportunity of seeing how their many villages have all the same peculiar characteristics ; the tall campanile ; the white- washed houses with Venetian Gothic windows ; the miniature piazza, with the lions supported on tall staffs ; the bronzed Giorgione figures lounging over the little piers green with sea-weed ; the strip of shore with reed fences protecting the gardens from the salt winds, and the feathery tamarisks hanging over. The female population are almost entirely occupied in lace-making, especially at Pelestina, and it is characteristic of the Venetian character that till a few years ago all the lace- stitches had religious names, " Aves," " Paters," &c. The islands, and the views across the sparkling lagoon broken here and there into strips of the brightest emerald- green to the beautiful Euganean hills, will occupy us till we reach Chioggia (Hotel Luna), where a considerable town occupies the whole of one of the larger islands. Its chief I4 2 ITALIAN CITIES. features are one immensely broad street, and one wide canal which perfectly blazes with colour orange, yellow, crimson, and red from the sails of its fishing-boats, which have the most extraordinary vanes at the top of their masts, wrought into the quaintest possible designs. When all these boats set forth and skim over the lagoon, it is like the flight of a swarm of butterflies. The people of Chioggia, too, retain all the finest characteristics of the old Venetian type, and painters still find their best models here. Street of Chioggia. Cut off from the rest of the world by water, the life at Chioggia is still the life of centuries ago, and Ariosto is even now (1875) read publicly in the evenings in the principal street by a regular reader to a large and delighted audience. " In questo paese si divide tutta la populazione in due classe : ricchi, e poveri. Quelli che portano una parrucca ed un mantello, sono i ricchi ; quelli che non hanno che un berretto ed un cappotto, sono i poveri ; ben spesso questi ultimi hanno quattro volte pid danaro degli altri. " G)ldoni. RE TURN FROM CHIOGGIA . 143 Few visitors will care to go building-hunting at Chioggia. There is a Granary of 1322, resting on 64 pillars. The Cathedral was built 1633 1674, by Bald. Longhena, and has some good reliefs by Bonasso at the altar of S. Agnes and on the pulpit. The Oratory of S. Martina, of 1393, has an altar of 1 394. The Church of S. Andrea has an altar by Sansovino. Chioggia is joined to the island of Brondolo (a continuation of the Lido) by a bridge of 43 arches. Beautiful are the effects of sunset on the still lagoon, and still more perhaps the effects of moonlight, enjoyed by those who return in the evening from Chioggia. "On ne nous avail certainement pas assez vante la beaute du ciel et les delices des nuits de Venise. La lagune est si calme dans les beaux soirs que les etoiles n'y tremblent pas. Quand on est au milieu, elle est si blanc, si unie, que 1'ceil ne saisit plus la ligne de 1'horizon, et que 1'eau et le ciel ne font plus qu'un voile d'azur, ou la reverie se perd et s'en'lort." George Sand. "Now am I also one of the birds of the Adriatic Sea, as every Venetian feels himself to be, while reclining in his gondola. All that surrounds me is dignified a grand venerable work of combined human energies, a noble monument, not of a ruler, but of a people. And if their lagunes are gradually filling up, if unwholesome vapours are float- ing over the marsh, if their trade is declining, and their power has passed away, still the great place and its essential character, will not for a moment be less venerable." Goetke. The approach to Venice, seen in coming from Trieste on this side, affords one of the most beautiful and striking views of the water-city. " Underneath day's azure eyes, Ocean's nursling, Venice lies, A peopled labyrinth of walls, Amphitrite's destined halls, Which her hoary sire now paves With his blue and gleaming waves. Lo! the sun upsprings behind, Broad, red, radiant, half-reclined 144 ITALIAN CITIES. On the level quivering line Of the waters crystalline ; And before that chasm of light As within a furnace bright, Column, tower, and dome, and spire, Shine like obelisks of fire, Pointing with inconstant motion From the altar of dark ocean To the sapphire- tinted skies; As the flames of sacrifice From the marbled shrines did rise As to pierce the dome of gold Where Apollo spake of old." Shelley. 145 CHAPTER XXIX. MURANO AND TORCELLO. A WHOLE day must be given to this delightful excur- sion, and a calm sea should be chosen. It is some- times very rough in the neighbourhood of Murano. Emerging from the narrow canals of Venice at the Fon- damente Nuove, we find ourselves in the open lagoon. The nearest island, to which boat-funerals are gliding stealthily with black flags, is that of S. Michele, occupied by the Cemetery. The handsome church beside the burial ground dates from the 151)1 century. "The pure cumuli of cloud lie crowded and leaning against one another, rank beyond rank, far over the shining water, each cut away at its foundation by a level line, trenchant and clear, till they sink to the horizon like a flight of marble steps, except where the mountains meet them, and are lost in them, barred across by the grey terraces of those cloud foundations, and reduced into one crestless bank of blue, spotted here and there with strange flakes of wan, aerial, greenish light, strewed upon them like snow. And underneath is the long dark line of the mainland, fringed with low trees ; and then the wide waving surface of the burnished lagoon trembling slowly, and shaking out into forked bands of lengthening light the images of the towers of cloud above. To the north, there is first the great cemetery wall, then the long stray buildings of Murano, and the island villages beyond, glittering in intense crystalline vermillion, like so much jewelry scattered on a mirror, tliL-ir towers poised apparently in the air a little above the horizon, and their reflections, as sharp and vivid and substantial as themselves, thrown on the vacancy between them and the sea. And thus the villages seem VOL. II. 10 146 ITALIAN CITIES. standing on the air ; and, to the east, there is a cluster of ships that seem sailing on the land ; for the sandy line of the Lido stretches itself be- tween us and them, and we can see the tall white sails moving beyond it, but not the sea, only there is a sense of the great sea being indeed there, and a solemn strength of gleaming light in the sky above. "The most discordant feature in the whole scene is the cloud which hovers above the glass furnaces of Murano ; but this we may not regret, as it is one of the last signs left of human exertion among the ruinous villages which surround us. The silent gliding of the gondola brings it nearer to us every moment ; we pass the cemetery, and a deep sea- channel which separates it from Murano, and finally enter a narrow water-street, with a paved footpath on each side, raised three or four feet above the canal, and forming a kind of quay between the water and the doors of the houses. These latter are, for the most part, low, but built with massy doors and windows of marble or Istrian stone, square set, and barred with iron ; buildings evidently once of no mean order, though now only inhabited by the poor. Here and there an ogee window of the fourteenth century, or a doorway deeply enriched with cable mouldings, shows itself in the midst of more ordinary features ; and several houses, consisting of one story only carried on square pillars, forming a short arcade along the quay, have windows sustained on shafts of red Verona marble, of singular grace and delicacy. All now in vain ; little care is there for their delicacy or grace among the rough fishermen sauntering on the quay with their jackets hanging loose from their shoulders, jacket and cap and hair all of the same dark -greenish sea-grey. But there is some life in the scene, more than is usual in Venice : the women are sitting at their doors knitting busily, and various workmen of the glass-houses sifting glass dust upon the pavement, and strange cries coming from one side of the canal to the other, and ringing far along the crowded water, from vendors of figs and grapes, and gourds and shell-fish ; cries partly descriptive of the eatables in question, but interspersed with others of a character unintelligible in proportion to their violence, and fortunately so, if we may judge by a sentence which is stencilled in black, within a garland, on the white-washed walls of nearly every other house in the street, but which, how often soever written, no one seems to regard : ' Bestemme non piu. Lodate Gesii.' " We push our way between large barges laden with fresh water from Fusina, in round white tubs seven feet across, and complicated boats full of all manner of nets that look as if they could never be disentangled, hanging from their masts and over their sides ; and presently pass under a bridge with the lion of S. Mark on its archivolt, and another on a MURANO. 147 pillar at the end of the parapet, a small red lion with much of the puppy in his face, looking vacantly up into the air (in passing we may note that, instead of feathers, his wings are covered with hair, and in several other points the manner of his sculpture is not uninteresting). Presently the canal turns a little to the left, and thereupon becomes more quiet, the main bustle of the water-street being usually confined to the first straight reach of it, some quarter of a mile long, the Cheapside of Murano. We pass a considerable church on the left, S. Pietro, and a little square opposite to it with a few acacia trees, and then find our boat suddenly seized by a strong green eddy, and whirled into the tide- way of one of the main channels of the lagoon, which divides the town of Murano into two parts by a deep stream some fifty yards over, crossed only by one wooden bridge. We let ourselves drift some way down the current, looking at the low line of cottages on the other side of it, hardly knowing if there be more cheerfulness or melancholy in the way the sunshine glows on their ruinous but white- washed walls and sparkles on the rushing of the green water by the grass-grown quay. It needs a strong stroke of the oar to bring us into the mouth of another quiet canal on the other side of the tideway, and we are still somewhat giddy when we run the head of the gondola into the sand on the left-hand side of this more sluggish stream, and land under the east end of the Church of San Donate, the ' Matrice ' or ' Mother ' church of Murano. " It stands, it and the heavy campanile detached from it a few yards, in a small triangular field of somewhat fresher grass than is usual near Venice, traversed by a paved walk with green mosaic of short grass between the rude squares of its stones, bounded on one side by ruinous garden walls, on another by a line of low cottages, on the third, the base of the triangle, by the shallow canal from which we have just landed. Near the point of the triangular space is a simple well, bearing date 1502 ; in its widest part, between the canal and campanile, is a four-square hollow pillar, each side formed by a separate slab of stone, to which the iron hasps are still attached that once secured the Venetian standard. "The cathedral itself occupies the northern angle of the field, en- cumbered with modern buildings, small outhouse-like chapels, and wastes of white wall with blank square windows, and itself utterly defaced in the whole body of it, nothing but the apse having been spared ; the original place a only discoverable by careful examination, and even then but partially. The whole impression and effect of the building are irretrievably lost, but the fragments of it are still most precious." Kuskin, Stones of Venice. According to legend, the foundation of the Church of 148 ITALIAN CITIES. Murano is due to Otho the Great, to whom the Virgin ap- peared in a vision, showing him this very triangular meadow overgrown with scarlet lilies, and desiring him to build a church there in her honour. In 1125 S. Donato was joined with the Virgin as patron of the church, which was hence- forth called by his name, and to which his body, brought from Cephalonia, was presented by the Doge Domenico Michele. It is believed that on the acquisition of this treasure the whole church was rebuilt. Gaily Knight supposes that the best part of the existing remains is of the twelfth century. The semi-circular apse is the most remarkable feature. It has two stories of circular arches, intersected by a double band of triangular marbles of the most wondrous delicacy of sculpture. Many of these marbles are coloured, and Ruskin teaches us that in no case was their arrange- ment without the most careful intention. "The subtlety and perfection of artistical feeling in all this are so redund- ant, that in the building itself the eye can rest upon this coloured chain with the same kind of delight that it has in a piece of the embroidery of Paul Veronese." The balustrade round the upper gallery is also a remarkable feature. The lower stage is mainly arcaded in red brick. The interior of the church has been grievously modernized and is dismal and bare in the extreme. But it retains the old basilica form, the beautiful inlaid pavement of 1140, some of the delicately wrought ancient capitals, and, in the apse, a sad-looking Greek mosaic of the Madonna, in a blue robe. Beneath it, is, in Latin, the inscription : " Whom Eve destroyed, the pious Virgin Mary redeemed ; All praise her, who rejoice in the Grace of Christ." " At Murano the Mosaic in the tribune of the Duomo, executed about BURANO. 149 the middle of the 1 2th century, is one of the most remarkable of the Byzantine revival a single figure only, the Virgin, the Greek type standing on a cushion of cloth of gold, alone in the field, and completely enveloped in her long blue robe ; her hands are held forth appealingly towards the spectator, two large tear-drops hang on her cheek, settled sorrow dwells on every feature ; the very spirit of the ' Stabat Mater ' breathes through this affecting portraiture the silent searching look for sympathy is irresistible. The face not beautiful but impressive and dignified, there is a feeling of elegance in the attitude, finished with care, evidently by one of the best artists of the time." Lord Lindsay's Christian Art. The Church of the Angeli dates from 1187, but was re- built in 1520. On the gate of its courtyard is a graceful Annunciation by some of the pupils of Donatello. The Church of S. Pietro, of the 1 6th century, contains a Giovanni Bellini, of the Madonna and saints, with the donor, Doge A. Barberigo, 1488. Travellers should not leave Murano without visiting Salviatis Glass Manufactory, and seeing his wonderful imi- tations both of the ancient mosaics and of the old Venetian glass. The Path in the Sea to Torcello. A path in the sea, marked at intervals with posts, leads picturesquely across the shallow lagoon to the Island of Burano which has a large lace-making population, and beyond this to the Island of Mazzorbo, which is a vast kitchen-garden for the inhabitants of Venice. Here there is an interesting ISO ITALIAN CITIES. Gothic doorway, with a figure of our Lord and kneeling figures, under an ogee canopy, dated A.D. 1368. Beautiful Canal of Burano, Venice are the effects, in passing through the canal which divides these islands, of the low-lying reaches of wind-stricken shore, with a tall campanile and lonely cypress. Again a wide space of open lagoon, and, between banks of samphire and low lilac bushes, we enter the canal of Torcello. " Seven miles to the north of Venice, the banks of sand, which near the city rise little above low-water mark, attain by degrees a higher level, and hoist themselves at last into fields of salt morass, raised here and there into shapeless mounds, and interrupted by narrow creeks of sea. One of the feeblest of these inlets, after winding for some time among buried fragments of masonry, and knots of sunburnt weeds whitened with webs of fucus, stays itself in an utterly stagnant pool be- side a plot of greener grass covered with ground-ivy and violets. On this mound is built a rude brick campanile, of the commonest Lombardic type, wh ich if we ascend towards evening (and there are none to hinder us, the door of its ruinous staircase swinging idly on its hinges), we may command from it one of the most notable scenes in this wide world of ours. Far as the eye can reach, a waste of wild sea moor, of a lurid ashen-grey ; not like our northern moors with their jet-black pools and purple heath, but lifeless, the colour of sackcloth, with the corrupted sea-water soaking through the roots of its acrid weeds, and gleaming hither and thither through its snaky channels. No gathering of fan- tastic mists, nor coursing of clouds across it ; but melancholy clear- ness of space in the warm sunset, oppressive, reaching to the horizon THE APPROACH TO TORCELLO. 151 of its level gloom. To the very horizon, on the north-east ; but to the north and west, there is a blue line of higher land along the border of it, and above this, but farther back, a misty band of mountains, touched with snow. To the east, the paleness and roar of the Adriatic, louder at momentary intervals as the surf breaks on the bar of sand; to the south, the widening branches of the calm lagoon, alternately purple and pale green, as they reflect the evening clouds or twilight sky ; and almost beneath our feet, on the same field which sustains the tower we gaze from, a group of four buildings, two of them little larger than cottages (though built of stone, and one adorned by a quaint belfry), the third an octagonal chapel, of which we can see but little more than the flat red roof with its rayed tiling, the fourth, a considerable church with nave and aisles, but of which, in like manner, we can see little but the long central ridge and lateral slopes of roof, which the sunlight separates in one glowing mass from the green field beneath and grey moor beyond. There are no living creatures near the buildings, nor any vestige of vil- lage or city round about them. They lie like a little company of ships becalmed on a far-away sea. "Then look farther to the south. Beyond the widening branches of the lagoon, and rising out of the bright lake into which they gather, there are a multitude of towers, dark, and scattered among square-set shapes of clustered palaces, a long irregular line fretting the southern sky " Mother and daughter, you behold them both in their widowhood, Torcello and Venice. " Thirteen hundred years ago, the grey moorland looked as it does this day, and the purple mountains stood as radiantly in the deep dis- tances of evening ; but on the line of the horizon, there were strange fires mixed with the light of sunset, and the lament of many human voices mixed with the fretting of the waves on their ridges of sand. The flames rose from the ruins of Altinum ; the lament from the multitude of its people, seeking, like Israel of old, a refuge from the sword in the paths of the sea. " The cattle are feeding and resting upon the site of the city that they left ; the mower's scythe swept this day at dawn over the chief street of the city that they built, and the swathes of soft grass are now sending up their scent into the night air, the only incense that fills the temple of their ancient worship. Let us go down into that little space of meadow land. " The inlet which runs nearest to the base of the campanile is not that by which Torcello is commonly approached. Another, somewhat broader, and overhung by alder copse, winds out of the main channel of the lagoon up to the very edge of the little meadow which was once the 152 ITALIAN CITIES. Piazza of the city, and there, stayed by a few grey stones which present some semblance of a quay, forms its boundary at one extremity. Hardly larger than an English farm-yard, and roughly enclosed on each side by broken palings and hedges of honeysuckle and briar, the narrow field retires from the water's edge, traversed by a scarcely traceable footpath, for some forty or fifty paces, and then expanding into the form of a small square, with buildings on three sides of it, the fourth being that which opens to the water. Two of these, that on our left and that in front of us as we approach from the canal, are so small that they might well be taken for the out-houses of the farm, though the first is a conventual building, and the other aspires to the title of the ' Palazzo Pubblico,' both dating as far back as the beginning of the fourteenth century ; the third, the octagonal church of Santa Fosca, is far more ancient than either, yet hardly on a larger scale. Though the pillars of the portico which sur- rounds it are of pure Greek marble, and their capitals are enriched with delicate sculpture, they, and the arches they sustain, together only raise the roof to the height of a cattle-shed ; and the first strong impression which the spectator receives from the whole scene is, that whatever sin it may have been which has on this spot been visited with so utter a desolation, it could not at least have been ambition. Nor will this impression be diminished as we approach, or enter, the larger church to which the whole group of building is subordinate. It has evidently been built by men in flight and distress ; who sought in the hurried erection of their island church such a shelter for their earnest and sor- rowful worship, as, on the one hand, would not attract the eyes of their enemies by its splendour, and yet, on the other, might not awaken too bitter feelings by its contrast with the churches which they had seen de- stroyed. There is visible everywhere a simple and tender effort to recover some of the form of the temples which they had loved, and to do honour to God by that which they were erecting, while distress and humiliation prevented the desire, and prudence precluded the admission, either of luxury of ornament or magnificence of plan. The exterior is absolutely devoid of decoration, with the exception only of the western entrance and the lateral door, of which the former has carved side-posts and architrave, and the latter crosses of rich sculpture ; while the massy stone shutters of the windows, turning on huge rings of stone, which answer the double purpose of stanchions and brackets, cause the whole building rather to resemble a refuge from Alpine storm than the cathe- dral of a populous city ; and, internally, the two solemn mosaics of the eastern and western extremities, one representing the Last Judgment, the other the Madonna, her tears falling as her hands are raised to bless, and the noble range of pillars which enclose the space between, ter- THE MOTHER CH.URCH. 153 minated by the high throne for the pastor, and the semi-circular raised seats for the superior clergy, are expressive at once of the deep sorrow and the sacred courage of men who had no home left them upon earth, but who looked for one to come, of men, ' persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.' " Ruskin, Stones of Venice, ii. 2. "Two hundred years after the invasion of Attila had driven many of the inhabitants of Aquileja and Altina from their homes, the province was desolated by the Lombards. The Altinese, alarmed at their approach, anxiously deliberated whether they should remain to face this ' Australis plaga, ' or seek safety in flight, when they beheld vast flocks of birds, with their fledglings in their beaks, take flight from the city walls and towers, and direct their course seaward. Regarding this as a sign from heaven, some departed to Ravenna, some to Pentapolis, and others to Istria, leaving behind them a band of devout persons, who in order to obtain a more direct manifestation of the will of heaven determined to fast and pray for three days, according to the advice of their bishop, Paulus. At the end of that time they heard a voice like thunder, sayingi ' Ascend into the city tower and look at the stars.' They beheld a vision of boats, and ships, and islands, and taking this as an indication that their course should be directed seaward, they removed their most precious possessions to the island of Torcello. . . . Paulus, Bishop of Altina, migrated with his flock, their relics, and treasure, to Torcello and the neighbouring islands, A.D. 641." Perkin's Italian Sculptors. Amongst the external features of Torcello is the marble seat low-lying amongst the rye-grass called Attila's Throne. The Cathedral, which was rebuilt, evidently exactly in the form of an early church, in the beginning of the nth century, has many curious mosaics of the same date, and probably by the same artist as that at Murano. It has three parallel naves of ten bays, ending in apses. The columns dividing the nave from the aisles, are of veined marble, with exquisitely wrought capitals, half Corinthian, half Byzantine. The choir is fenced off by a marble screen, " the prototype of that at S. Mark's," and is adorned with sculptures of lions and peacocks, probably brought from Aquileja. '54 ITALIAN CITIES. " North-west of the rood-screen stands the marble ambon a pulpit of two divisions, one (circular) facing south, the other (square) facing west. This and the staircase leading to it are full of delicate and good carved work. The arrangement has an absurd likeness to many a modern English scheme of pulpit and reading pew, and there is certainly force in the observation, that such an arrangement would never have Torcello. been thought of, unless the Gospel was to be understood by the people. Now they do not understand it, it is no longer said from an ambon, and ambons seem to be much less useful to the Romans than rood-screens are to us ! " Street. The cathedral has been greatly injured, and its exterior completely modernized, during injudicious and hasty repairs under the Austrians, when the new roof was put on. The most perfect portion is its Baptistery or the Church of S. Fosca, connected with it by a cloister. It is a square church, with small projections on either side, and a deeper one on the east, where the high altar is raised above the relics of the virgin martyr Fosca, who suffered under Decius. " There are three eastern apses, and the western side is screened by TORCELLO. 155 an open cloister, which is octagonal in plan. The square centre is domed on very simple pendentives, and the capitals are similar in character to those in the cathedral. The best detail is to be seen out- side the east end, where there is some good arcading and an enriched band of chevron ornament, formed by recessing the brickwork, and a mixture of red and buff brickwork, which is very effective." Street. " At Torcello everything is on the tiniest scale ; you can touch with your hand the capitals of the columns that support the roof, and though the basilica be a respectably-sized parish church, its title of Duomo pre- pares one to expect a building of far greater magnitude. The contrast is striking too in other respects. The spot once so populous is now almost utterly abandoned. The two churches, the baptistery and steeple, an isolated marble column, an ancient well, sculptured with the Greek cross, the Archivio and Tribunal (such no longer) these, and one or two dilapidated buildings, all closely adjacent, are the sole remains of the ancient town, and form now the centre of a wilderness ; the piazza which they encircled, is completely overgrown with grass and encircled by hedgerows a narrow pathway is the only street ; the little birds sing amid the profound silence and on finishing your survey, you will probably find yourself leaning against the marble pillars which once sustained the flag-staff of the republic, long before those of her tributary principalities, Cyprus and Candia, waved in the breeze. I know nothing in its way like Torcello ; it is a scene sui generis for simplicity and soli- tude, and yet not melancholy, for they are not the niins of fallen great- ness ; the emotions excited are akin rather to those one experiences in visiting the source of some mighty river, or gazing at the portrait of a hero in his childhood." Lindsay's Christian Art. The chancel of the cathedral is most remarkable, the seats rising in tiers with the semi-circular form of a theatre. 11 There is one circumstance which we ought to remember as giving peculiar significance to the position which the episcopal throne occupies in the island church, namely, that in the minds of all early Christians the Church itself was most frequently symbolized under the image of a ship, of which the bishop was the pilot. Consider the force which this symbol would assume in the imaginations of men to whom the spiritual Church had become an ark of refuge in the midst of a destruction hardly less terrible than that from which the eight souls were saved of old, a destruction in which the wrath of man had become as broad as the earth and as merciless as the sea, and who saw the actual and literal edifice of the Church raised up, itself like an ark in the midst of the waters. No marvel if with the surf of the Adriatic rolling between them i5*> ITALIAN CITIES. and the shores of their birth, from which they were separated for ever, they should have looked upon each other as the disciples did when the storm came down on Tiberias Lake, and have yielded ready and loving obedience to those who ruled them in His name, who had there rebuked the winds and commanded stillness to the sea. And if the stranger would yet learn in what spirit it was that the dominion of Venice was begun, and in what strength she went forth conquering and to con- quer, let him not seek to estimate the wealth of her arsenals or numbers of her armies ; nor look upon the pageantry of her palaces, nor enter into the secrets of her councils ; but let him ascend the highest tier of the stern ledges that sweep round the altar of Torcello, and then, look- ing as the pilot did of old along the marble ribs of the goodly temple- ship, let him re-people its ruined deck with the shadows of its dead 'mariners, and strive to feel in himself the strength of heart that was kindled within them, when first, after the pillars of it had settled in the sand, and the roof of it had been closed against the angry sky that was still reddened by the fires of their homesteads, first, within the shelter of its knitted walls, amidst the murmur of the waste of waves and the beating of the wings of the sea-birds round the rock that was strange to them, rose that ancient hymn, in the power of their gathered voices : ' The sea is His, and He made it : and His hands prepared the dry land. 1 " Ruskin, Stones of Venice. The excursion to Torcello forms a fitting close to a stay at Venice, which no one who has stayed long enough to enjoy its melancholy beauty can leave without regret. " Prime model of a Christian commonwealth Thou wise simplicity, which present men Calumniate, not conceiving, joy is mine, That I have read and learnt thee as I ought, Not in the rude compiler's painted shell, But in thine own memorials of live stone, And in the pictures of thy kneeling princes, And in the lofty words on lofty tombs, And in the breath of ancient chroniclers, And in the music of the outer >&*." Monckton Milna. CHAPTER XXX. TREVISO, UDINE, AND AQUILEJA. THESE places will probably be visited by many travellers who go by rail from Venice to Vienna. Except by those who are sufficiently interested in history to make the (well-worth) pilgrimage to Aquileja, they will not be made the subject of a separate excursion. THE railway to Trieste branches off from the Milan line at Mestre, and reaches : 26 kiL Treviso (Inns. Quattro Corone, very good, though of humble exterior. Postal) This town, in its narrow winding arcaded streets has a reminiscence of Venice. In the centre is : The Cathedral of S. Pietro, chiefly brick, and modernised in the isth century by Tullio Lombardo, and with a classic portico, on the steps of which the ancient red lions remain. It has five cupolas. Right, 2nd Chapel. Paris Bordone. The Nativity. Chapel right of High Altar. Titian. The Annunciation. The fresco of the Adoration of the Magi, and the Salutation above, are by Pordenone. The High Altar is by Tullio Lombardo, as well as the fine tomb near it of Bishop Zannetti. *Left, yd Chapel. Fr. Bissolo (1504), a native of Treviso, a pupil of G. Bellini. S. Barbara with SS. Catherine and John Baptist and the donor. A beautiful picture. 2nd Chapel. Paris Bordone. Madonna and four Saints. A little to the left (from the west front of the cathedral) 158 ITALIAN CITIES. is the fine brick Dominican Church of S. Niccolo di Sari, one of the loftiest and largest Gothic parish churches in Italy. It was built by two Dominican architects, 1310- 1352. The immense nave ends in a tribune, and is sepa- rated from its aisles by enormous pillars, upon which there are frescoes. On the right wall is a gigantic S. Christopher. High Altar. Marco Pensaben and his pupil Maraveja, 1520. Madonna throned, with saints and angels. Left of Choir. The tomb of Conte d'Onigo, by Tullio Lombardo, 1794- Chapel right of High Altar. Giovanni Bellini (or Sebastian del Piombo ? ) Christ and the Twelve Apostles : the donor and his family beneath. Sacristy. Paolo Fiamingo. The Magdalen. Amongst the innumerable pictures in the other buildings we need only notice a Dead Christ in the Monte di Pietd, a fine and undoubted work of Giorgione. After crossing the immense generally dry bed of the Piave, we reach 55 kil. Coneglia.no (Inn, Posta.) In the Church of S. Lorenzo is an altar-piece by the native painter Giovanni Battista Cima, generally called " Cima da Conegliano," who was born here in 1460. This is the starting-point by diligence for Belluno (see ch. xx). 83 kil. Pordenone (Portus Naonis). (Inn, Posta.} The Cathedra! has a magnificent companile and contains : Right, \st Altar. S. Christopher with the Holy Family, by the native painter Giovanni Antonio Licinio, commonly called " II Pordenone," born here, 1484 : his great works are at Piacenza. 109 kil. Cadroipo. A little to the right is the village of Campo-Formio, where the treaty was made, Oct. 18, 1797, by which Illyria, Dalmatia and Venice were ceded to Austria. UDINE. 159 132 kil. Udine. (Inn. Italia, excellent and reasonable) the old capital of Friuli, united to Venice in 1420. It is a most pleasant and prosperous place, and it can only have been a hostile pen which wrote the old proverb, " Udine, giardini senza fiori, castel senza cannoni, fontane senza acqua, nobilta senza creanza." In the midst of the town is the Cathedral, built in 1517 by Giovanni Fontana, on an artificial hill which tradition declares to have been thrown up by Attila, in order that from thence he might the better behold the burning of Aquileja. At its foot is the Piazza di S. Giovanni, which has a Palazzo with a loggia now disused, standing on a broad stone platform, decorated with a fountain, pillars, and statues ; the statue at the end, representing Maria Louisa, was erected after the treaty of Campo-Formio. The beautiful Gothic Palazzo Pubblico, of 1457, rests upon an open colonnade, which has a gothic balustrade of marble and serpentine, and under which is a Madonna of 1516, by Pordenone. A little to the right is the Cathedral^ which has an octa- gonal tower, and a gothic front with some curious reliefs. It contains : Left, 1st Altar. Giovanni Martina da Udine, 1501. S. Mark throned, with two bishops below. Left, 2nd Altar. Martina da Udine, 1502. S. Joseph with the In- fant Jesus and S. John. A most lovely picture. S. John, a beauti- ful youth, leans against the parapet of a portico and gazes up at the child in the arms of the old man. Right Aisle. Tomb of Bishop Zaccharia Briceto, " Angelo di carita," erected by his people, 1851. The hotel at Udine is a good one (with German cleanli- ness), and all travellers should stay here two nights, in I6p ITALIAN CITIES. order to make the very important excursion to Aquileja, for which this is far the best starting-point. As a matter of fact Aquileja is still just within the Austrian frontier; but its history and associations so connect it with Italy, that a thorough Italian tour would still be as incomplete without visiting it, as it would have been without a visit to Venice, when that was no longer Italian. (It is about 18 miles 3 hours' drive from Udine to Aquileja. The landlord will make an arrangement for iSfrs., by which a little carriage may be taken to Palma (midway) and there exchanged for a fresh carriage and horse, the driver of the first carriage awaiting the return and under- taking all the payments. The help of a Sacristan is necessary at Aquileja to open doors, &c. The schoolmaster will send for him. He should be desired to bring his telescope, if the Campanile be ascended. If the traveller have any small Austrian money, he may take it to Aquileja with advantage, but Italian money will pass.) The road to Aquileja crosses a level, richly-cultivated plain. Midway we reach the strongly-fortified town of Palma Nuova, which has clear streams running down all the streets, and a large piazza with quaint statues at each street corner. There are quantities of shrines along the road. The driver touches his hat to them all, but when he passes a church he takes it off altogether, for this is almost Austria, and religion has not, as they say, " gone out " here, as it has in Italy generally, since it became " Unita." At Strassoldo, two little huts painted black and yellow, and a Doganiere, announce that we have entered Austria (no paper or pass- port necessary). Then, across the endless lines of white mulberries, a huge campanile rises in pale pink shadow against the aerial distance. It is Aquileja. Except that the country is very fertile, the approach APPROACH TO AQUILEJA. 161 would remind us of that to Ostia. Aquileja lies in the same way near a sea which has receded, one great building stranded in the desolation, and the fields all around are littered in the same way with fragments of brick and marble, while pillars and capitals may frequently be seen lying neg- lected amongst the rank grass. A Roman colony was settled here in B.C. 181, when the accidental omen of an eagle gave it the name of Aquileja, and it speedily rose to the greatest wealth and prosperity. It became the great centre for the traffic of Italy with the north and east of Europe, was enriched by the discovery of gold-mines in the neighbourhood, and was chosen by Caesar as the head- quarters of his legions in Cisalpine Gaul. As late as the fourth century it was reckoned by Ausonius as the ninth city of the Roman Empire, and amongst those of Italy only inferior to Capua and Milan. It safely survived many dangers. In A.D. 238 it was besieged by Maximin, who was murdered by his own soldiers while investing it; in A.D. 340 it beheld the younger Constantine defeated and slain, almost beneath its walls ; and in 388 it saw the defeat of the usurper Maximus by the Emperor Theodosius the Great, and his death. But in A.D. 452 it was besieged, taken, and totally destroyed by Attila, king of the Huns. On the site of the famous town of Augustus, which had more than 100,000 inhabitants, there are now only a few low cottages, and the one gigantic church which has risen upon the fragments of the early Christian cathedral the crypt, baptistery and campanile which alone were spared when every other building was so totally destroyed by Attila in 452, in revenge for the resistance he encountered here, that scarcely a stone remained perfect The inhabitants VOL. II. II 162 ITALIAN CITIES. had already fled with their treasures to Grado and to Torcello, and thus the destruction of Aquileja became the foundation of Venice. Aquileja. The church long the cathedral, now only zparrbcchia has little ornament outside. It belongs mostly to the early part of the eleventh century, Avhen the pillars which had been thrown down were again raised upon their foundations and newly enclosed. At the west end is a low portico, sup- ported by heavy pillars, leading to the small solid church which was spared in the destruction of the ancient city. It contains a fresco of SS. John Baptist and Nicholas. Here a number of early inscriptions and other fragments have been collected. Through this we enter the baptistery used for immersion in the time of Constantine, surrounded by six pillars, but now open to the air. This church and bap- tistery are believed to date from the time of S. Ermagora, the first apostle of Friuli and bishop of Aquileja, who is said to have been consecrated by S. Peter himself, and to have been succeeded by the holy deacon S. Fortunate. In the little forecourt are a number of ancient tombs, capitals of columns, &c. The ruined pillars on the south of the church CATHEDRAL OF AQUILEJA. 163 are said to have belonged to the portico which led to the palace of the patriarch. The Interior of the church is most stately and impressive. The immense nave is separated from the very wide aisles by magnificent ranges of columns, two on each side, with glorious Corinthian capitals, supporting pointed arches. The roof is of wood, like that of the Eremitani at Padua, cusped, boarded, and panelled in small square panels. At the end of the nave a great flight of steps ascends to the tribune. Right and left of entrance. Two splendid capitals, used as Holy Water basons. Right. The Chapel of SS. Ambrose and Margaret, of 1298, con- taining magnificent marble tombs of the Delia Torre family, (the arms a tower) one of whom was Patriarch and another Treasurer of this church. At the angle of the wall. A figure of the sainted Bishop Siro, who fore, told the destruction by Attila many years before. Sacristy. The mitre, sandals, and four-sided berretto of Bishop Popponi, under whom the present cathedral was built. In the library above is an ancient gilt figure of S. Ermagora. Throne of the Patriarch, Aquilcja. A chapel, with a most glorious marble screen with symbolical subjects. The tomb, with agate panels, raised on four pillars, which contained i64 ITALIAN CITIES. the relics of S. Quirinus, given, with those of S. Marco Vescovo, by John XIX. in 1031. These relics were removed and divided between the cathedrals of Udine and Gorizia, when the bishopric was taken away from Aquileja. The Choir has a cinque-cento screen. Behind the altar is a picture of saints, attributed to G. Bellini, and, beneath it, the throne of the Patriarch Popponi, of white marble and serpentine, approached by steps. The tomb of S. Marco Vescovo, adorned with statuettes. Left Aisle. A very odd circular building with a cone-like roof. Its object is unknown. Some say it was a baptistery, and some for contain- ing holy oil, &c. The Crypt is anterior to the destruction by Attila. It contains the relics of S. Ermagora. In spite of the immense iron bars with which they were protected, its treasures were robbed in 1821. The great Campanile stands in the cemetery quite de- tached from the church. It is well worth ascending for the sake of its wonderful view of the Alps, of Trieste and Miramar, and of the lagunes of Aquileja, which are some- thing like those of Venice. Not far from the mainland is the Island of Grado, crowded with fishermen's houses dis- tinctly visible through the telescope. The church of Grado " Venetae orae Istriaeque Ecclesiarum caput et mater "- somewhat resembles that of Aquileja, though much smaller. There was always great jealousy between the two churches, which came to a climax in 1156, when the patriarch of Aquileja at the head of his canons took Grado unawares, and, having plundered the church, was carrying off his booty to his vessels, when he was arrested by the arrival of a fleet from Venice. The patriarch obtained his liberty, but was forced to pay a ransom which was to bear witness to the contempt in which the spiritual dignity of Aquileja was held at Venice. Every year thenceforth on Giovedi Grasso (Zioba grasso, in the Venetian dialect) the CRADO. 165 patriarch of Aquileja was forced to send to Venice a bull and twelve boar pigs, a deputation representing himself and his chapter. They were paraded through the streets, and afterwards slaughtered with mock solemnities in the pre- sence of the Doge, who distributed their flesh to the people. Grado is well worthy of a visit, but very seldom seen, for it takes three hours to reach in a boat by the canal, and the traveller who would go there must return to sleep at Palma and start early next day, or sleep at the little inn at Aquileja ; but if he has travelled south in the Volscian and Hernican mountains, he will have slept in many worse places. All that the guide-books have copied from one another as to the malaria at Aquileja is either ignorance or invention : it is a very healthy place, with a flourishing little population. Every day more antiquities are discovered at Aquileja, and a Museum of the minor objects found has been formed at the house of the Podesta. Some of the Scavi recently opened, and the different ranges of building found one beneath another, have given rise to the belief that the town must have been destroyed and risen again three separate times. (Another interesting excursion may be made from Udine about 12 miles to Cividalc (Forum Julii), where a quantity of Roman remains have been discovered and are arranged in a Museum. The curious tomb of Duke Gisulf ofFriuli has lately been found here. In the Church of S. Maria df Battuti is a Madonna with saints by Pellegrino di San Danielle ', 1529.) CHAPTER XXXL FERRARA. By the quick train it is 2J hrs. from Venice to Ferrara. 14 fr. ; 10 fr. 25 c. Inns : Stella d'Oro, best, facing the castle ; Europa, in the Corso ; Tre Corone. 1 "'ERRARA is one of the most Italian of Italian towns, -L and one of the most melancholy. Its interest is entirely of the past. It seems to have gone to sleep in the end of the sixteenth century, when it was annexed to the States of the Church, and never to have awakened. All its prosperity was mediaeval, when the House of Este ruled here, and when its court was the most brilliant in Europe, especially in the time of the Duchess Renee, who gave sanc- tuary here to so many distinguished refugees, including the Protestant divines Calvin and Marot, Aonio Paleario, and the famous Olympia Morata. The Dukes of Ferrara of the House of Este were descended from Giulio, the second son of Welf, Duke of Bavaria, In the I4th century Obizzo d'Este III. increased the power of his house by adding Modena and Reggio to his dominions. In 1452, Borso d'Este, celebrated for the magnificence of his life, received the title of Duke of Modena and Reggio from the Emperor Frederick III., and that of Duke of Ferrara from Pope Paul II. He died in 1471, and was succeeded by his brother, the great Duke Hercules I. (1471 155)> under whom the size of the capital was doubled. Alfonso I. (1505 34), the son of Hercules, was the third husband of Lucrezia Borgia, still only in her HISTORY OF FERRARA. 167 twenty-fifth year, who amended her life while at Ferrara, and died here in 1519, greatly beloved and respected.* The brother of Alfonso was Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, the friend of Ariosto, of whom Brantome says : " No prince or prelate ever showed himself more noble, splendid, or liberal." Hercules II., the son of Alphonso (15341558), and his wife Kenee were the patrons of the Protestant divines. Their son Alfonso II., who died childless, was the patron of Tasso and Guarini, and in his days the literary eminence of the court of Ferrara reached its climax Of his three sisters, Anna (1531 1617) married the Due de Guise, and afterwards the Due de Nemours, Lucrezia (1534 1598) married the Duke of Urbino ; and Leonora (153781), who died unmarried, was the idol of Tasso. Alfonso II. was succeeded by Cesare d'Este, the natural son of Alfonso I., but only as Duke of Modena and Reggio, for Ferrara and Comacchio were claimed by Pope Clement VIII. as vacant fiefs, and united to the States of the Church. The papal rule, however, was excessively unpopular here, and was only maintained by a strong Austrian garrison ; this was withdrawn in 1859, and in March, 1860, they were united to the kingdom of Sardinia. " Melancholy as the city looks now, every lover of Italian poetry must view with affection the retreat of an Ariosto, a Tasso, a Guarini. Such is the ascent 01 wealth over genius, that one or two princes could create an Athens in the midst of this Bceotia. The little courts of Ferrara and Urbino seemed to emulate those of Alexandria and Pergamos, contending for pre-eminence only in literature and elegance." Forsyth. " Ferrara ! in thy wide and grass-grown streets, Whose symmetry was not for solitude, There seems as 'twere a curse upon the seats Of former sovereigns, and the antique brood Of Este, which for many an age made good Its strength within thy walls, and was of yore Patron or tyrant, as the changing mood Of petty power impell'd, of those who wore The wreath which Dante's brow alone had worn before." Byron, Childe Harold. * " Her husband and hi* subjects all loved her for her gracious manners and her true piety, to which, having long before abandoned all worldly vanities, she wholly gave herself up. She used to spend the morning in prayer, and in the evening would invite the ladies of Ferrara to embroidery parties, in which accomplishment she was a great proficient Her liberality to the poor and to literary men was especially noticeable." Fru*i, Mem. ptr I* Storia di Ftrrara, iv. a8i. 168 ITALIAN CITIES. Ferrara, La Gran Donna del Po, as Tassoni calls it, is situated low in the plain, about 3! miles S. of the river. The town is neglected and damp and decaying, and grass grows long in the side streets, and the palaces look deserted. Hurried travellers will care little for it, but those who are really interested in the study of history and art, will find inexhaustible interest in its desolate courts and bye-streets, where the terra-cotta ornament is often gloriously rich and delicate, and in which the artist will dis- cover many charming subjects of twisted columns, ancient wells, and sculptured cornices, with fresh vines hanging over them. The castle, all the churches except the front of the cathedral, and all the palaces and houses except the Palazzo dei Diamanti, are built of brick, and are often wonderfully beautiful examples of the power of decoration which lies in that material. The country round Ferrara is flat and marshy, and the climate damp and unhealthy. The sights most worth seeing by the passing traveller, are the exterior of the Castle and Cathedral, the Relics of Ariosto at the University, and the Pinacoteca. The following walk embraces all else of importance in the place : The Castle, which is the centre of everything in Ferrara, is the finest complete middle-age fortress in Italy. It is built entirely of brick, and surrounded by a deep moat, crossed on each side by bridges which support wings of the building. The four towers and the side walls have a wide projecting basement, separated by a corded band from the rest of the edifice. The broad projecting parapets above rest upon huge machicolations, trefoiled at the top. English travellers will wonder where they have been so familiar with this castle before at the bottom of all willow- CASTLE OF FERRARA. , 169 patterned washing-basins ! It stands, moated and flanked with towers, in the heart of a subjugated town, like a tyrant entrenched amongst slaves, and recalls to a stranger that gloomy period described by Dante : " Che le terre d'ltalia tutte piene , Son di tiranni : ed un Marcel diventa Ogni villan che parteggiando viene."* The buildings enclose a great courtyard with two ancient walls. Little that is ancient remains in the interior except two ceilings by Dosso Dossi. The rooms are the same in which Rene'e of France, daughter of Louis XII., married to the Duke Hercules II., suffered for the evangelical faith, which she had been led to embrace by the teaching of Calvin. For a long time she was consoled for her hus- band's neglect and for the disrespect of the Court by the companionship of her governess, Madame de Soubise, and her daughter, Anne de Parthenai, and by the friendship of Olympia Morata. It was her separation from her friends, and their banishment in obedience to a mandate from the Pope, which drew from Clement Marot, then residing in the castle, the lines addressed to the Queen of Navarre : " Ha ! Marguerite ! ecoute la souffrance Du noble co?ur de Renee de France Puis comme sceur plus fort que d'esperance Console la I Tu sais comment hors de son pays alia, Et que parens et amis laissa la ; Mais tu ne sais quel traitement elle a En terre etrange. Elle ne voit ceux a qui se veut plaindre Son ceil rayant si loin ne peut atteindre Et puis les monts, pour ce bien lui eteindre Sont entre deux." Purg. vii. 124 i;o ITALIAN CITIES. Renee was afterwards for a time deprived even of her children, but continued, in the words of Brantome, " of a lofty and noble heart," and, according to Maimbourg, " of inexhaustible sweetness and goodness." On the death of her husband in 1559, she was permitted to return to Franno, where she died in 1575. It was in one of the dungeons of this castle Faventino Fanino of Facuza was imprisoned for two years, during which time he was frequently visited by Olympia Morata and the Princess Lavinia della Rorere, and afterwards in 1550 (under Julius III.) was one of the first who suffered death for the evangelical faith. Itwas in one of the castle dungeons also, that, May 21, 1425, Niccolo III., Marchese d'Este, caused his wife Parisina, and her lover, who was his own natural son Hugo, to be beheaded a story narrated by Gibbon, which Byron has made the subject of one of his poems. A. few steps to the left brings us to the Piazza del Duomo, surrounded by old buildings. Opposite, is the gothic Palazzo della Ragtone, which dates from 1326 ; on the right is the Municipio, with a great courtyard containing a beautiful open staircase with arches, and in front some columns which once sustained bronze statues, taken away by the French, and never restored. On the left is the beautiful grey front of the Duomo, which will a little remind Englishmen of Peterborough. The Cathedral, externally, is chiefly of the beginning of the twelfth century. Its west front has three gables adorned with ranges of arches, which increase in depth and richness of moulding and shadow to the top, where there are very fine open-arched galleries. The projecting central porch is CATHEDRAL OF FERRARA. 171 gabled on the front and sides, is supported by banded columns resting on huge lions of red marble, and is adorned with rude reliefs. In the niche above the entrance is a statue of the Madonna by Niccolb da Pisa ; the sculptured lunette over the great door represents S. George, who is, jointly with S. Maurelius, patron saint of the city. Red marble lions, without columns, stand in front of the side doors. Over that on the right is a medallion bust in high relief, popularly called " Donna Ferrara." Near it is a quaint statue of Alberto d'Este in the pilgrim's dress in which he went to Rome for the benefit of the indulgences of the jubilee year of 1391, attended by four hundred per- sons, all in penitential habits like his own. On the south of the church is a fragment of a gothic loggia, which has been continued with heavy columns enclosing an arcade for shops all along the wall, and as (Deo gratias !) it has never been " restored," the effect is most picturesque, with the beautiful Lombard campanile soaring behind. The Interior has been modernised in the last century, and consists of a long nave with several small bays, a chancel, and tribune. At the end of the right aisle is a bronze S. George with other figures by Bindelli and Martscotti. The choir contains a modern monument to Pope Urban III., who died of grief for the failure of the second crusade. The tribune is adorned with the Last Judgment of Bastianino. The choir-books, presented by Bishop Bartolommeo della Rovere, have exquisite illuminations by Cosimo Tura. Returning by the left aisle we find 1st Chapel, F. Francia. The Coronation of the Virgin, with saints below. S. Catherine with her wheel in the foreground. 3rd Chapel, Carofalo. Virgin and Child throned, with saints. Behind the tribune of the Cathedral, under its beautiful terra-cotta cornices, are some old pillars, lions, and a well. 172 ITALIAN CITIES. Turning to the left from the west door of the Cathedral, the Corso Porta Reno leads us, under an arch, to the terribly damp Church of S. Paolo, where the painters Giobattista Dossi and Bastaruolo are buried. Here also at the end of the nave (right) is a fine bust by Alessandro Vicentini to Antonio Montecatino. The Assumption of Elijah and the scenes from the Life of S. Paul in the choir are by Scarsdlino and Bonone. Returning almost to the castle, and turning (left) under the arches adjoining it, we reach the great Church of S. Domenico. Its pictures are removed, and the neighbouring convent is almost entirely stripped of the library bequeathed to it by the astronomist Celio Calcagnini, the friend and correspondent of Olympia Morata, who was celebrated by Ariosto : " II dotto Celio Calcagnin lontana Fara la gloria, e '1 bel nome di quella Nel regno di Monese, in quel di Juba, In India e Spagna udir con chiara tuba," Or. Fur. xlii. 90. His bust was placed over the library door, and his tomb with the touching inscription : " Ex diuturno studio in primis hoc didicit : mortalia omnia contempere et igno- rantiam suam non ignorare." Hence if we descend (left) the lime-avenues of the Corso dei Giardini, which leads from the castle to the walls, and turn to the right, we shall come to (marked by its tall, terribly-leaning campanile) the Church of S. Benedetto, where Ariosto was buried, but whence his tomb and ashes were removed by the French to the University. The best pictures in the church have been taken away, but on the vestibule of the refectory is the Paradise of Dosso Dossi, in HOUSE OF ARIOSTO. CAMPO SANTO. 173 which Ariosto is represented at his own request, " not being certain of entering the real one." The first street on the left is the Via dei Ariostei. Here (left) is the old brick house of Ariosto, on which he inscribed between the stories : " Parva sed apta mihi, sed nulli obnoxia, sed non Sordida, parta meo sed tamen acre domus." A tablet above was added by his son Virginio: "Sic domus haec Ariosto propitios habeat deos, olim ut Pindarica." The chamber of the poet on the upper floor, "percte alia venerazione ddla gente durasse" has been carefully restored. The furniture, however, is only copied from his, and the only thing here which belonged to him is "his other inkstand" the celebrated one being at the University. Hence (right) a desolate, grass-grown street (Via Arianuova) leads to the Campo Santo which has been formed in the cloisters of the suppressed Certosa. Several tombs from ruined churches have been removed here, and there is a fine bust of Cicognara by Canova, but there is not much to see. Some of the epitaphs are interesting " I found such a pretty epitaph in the Certosa cemetery at Ferrara or rather two ; one was ' Martini Luigi Implora pace ; ' the other, ' Lucrezia Picini Implora eterna quiete.' That was all ; but it appears to me that these two and three words comprise and compress all that can be said on the subject, and then, in Italian, they are absolute music. They contain doubt, hope, and humility ; nothing can be more pathetic than the ' implora ' and the modesty of the request ; they have had enough of life ; they want 174 ITALIAN CITIES. rest ; they implore it, and ' etema quiete.' It is like a great inscrip- tion in some good old heathen ' City of the Dead.' " Syr on, Letter to Mr. Ifoppner, June 6, 1819. The neighbouring Church has lost its fine pictures. On the green lawn in front is a large solitary tomb to " Alfred Lowell Putnam." The Via Borsa leads (left) to the Piazza Ariostea, a grassy square adorned with a statue of " II nostro Poeta," as the people of Ferrara call him. At the corner of the square are the Palazzo Beirilacqua and the Palazzo Zatti. Descending the Corso Porta Mare, on the left is the exceedingly beautiful Palazzo dd Diamanti, so called from the manner in which the stones are cut. It was originally built by Sigismondo d'Este in 1492, but altered by Cardinal Luigi d'Este in 1567. The friezes at the angles and near the entrance are of wonderful richness. This palace is now called the Ateneo Civico, and contains, in its upper story, the Pinacoteca, open (free) from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. It contains a very interesting collection, almost exclusively illustrative of the peculiar school of Ferrara, of which Garofalo was the most eminent example. There are few specimens in the town of Ferrarese painters before the time of Cosimo Tura, who was a pupil of Galeasso Galassi in the fifteenth century. Of the same period was Lorenzo Costa. His pupils embraced Ercole Grande, Mazzolino, and Domenico Lanetti, who was the master (though he afterwards studied from RafTaelle and Michael Angelo) of Benvenuto Tisio, called Garofalo from the pink which he introduced into his pictures. Contemporary with this great master were Dosso and Giobattista Dossi, and Ortolano. Following Garofalo were Girolamo da Carpi, P1NACOTECA. 175 Scarsellino, Giuseppe Mazzuoli or Bastaruolo, and Bastiano Filippi, generally called Bastianino. Giulio Cromer, Carlo Bononi a pupil of Bastaruolo, and Alfonso Rivarola or Chenda, were the last artists of any eminence in Ferrara. The pictures in the gallery (very few seats) are not now (1874) arranged according to their numbers, but it will not be difficult to refer to them. They are all shining under a wholesale " restoration." The best specimens are : 2. Bastaruolo. The Crucifixion, with the Virgin and S. John. From II Gesu. 4. Carlo Bononi. The Marriage of Cana ; a huge picture. From the Certosa. Id. S. Antony of Padua raising a dead man. From S. Francesco. 10. Bastianino. The Virgin, with S. Matthew and S. Lucia. From the convent of S. Lucia. 11. Id. The Annunciation. From S. Agostino. 12. Id. The Nativity. From S. Antonio. 19. Boccaccino de Cremona. The Death of the Virgin. 23. Lorenzo Costa. The Madonna throned, with S.- Petronius and S. Jerome. 24. Id. Picture in five compartments : The Virgin ; S. Jerome ; The Magdalen ; The Annunciation ; S. Antony and S. Paul the Hermit 25. Muhele Corttllini. The Madonna throned, with saints. From S. Andrea. 27. Id. The Virgin throned, with S. Agata, S. Apollonia and S. Lucia. From S Maria in Vado. 28. Girolamo Carpi. A Miracle of S. Antonio. Id. S. Catherine : a fresco. From the Hospital of S. Anna. 22. Caltolaretto (Gabriele Cappellini) SS. Francis of Assisi, Antony of Padua, James the Great, Peter the Apostle, and Ixmis. From S. Francesco. 31. n Cremonete Giuseppe Caletti, (16001660). S. Mark the Evangelist. From S. Benedetto. " This artist is distinguished by fleshes of a sun-burnt hue, by certain 176 ITALIAN' CITIES. bold lights, strengthened by contrast with somewhat loaded shadows. But his S. Mark is a grand and correct figure, full of expression, and very picturesquely surrounded by abundance of volumes, in whose drawing he is so true and natural, as to have been called the painter of books. Having completed this work, II Cremonese disappeared out of the city, and was no more heard of." Lanzi. 33. Vittore Carpaccio. The death of the Madonna, with the Apostles around and the Almighty above. 37. Dosso Dossi. An altar-piece in six compartments, the Virgin and Saints ; a very magnificent work. From S. Andrea. *3S. Id. S. John the Evangelist in Patmos. From S. Maria in Vado. "The head is a master-piece of expression, and acknowledged by Cochin himself to be highly Raffaellesque." Lanzi. *39- Dosso Dossi. The Annunciation. From S. Spirito. 40. Id. Portrait of Monsignor Gillino Malatesta. From S. Andrea. 42. Ercole Grandi. Nativity. 43. Id. The Dead Christ, with the Virgin, the Mag- dalen, and S. John. From the Church of Baura. 43 B. Id. S. Sebastian, with S. Joseph and S. Giobbe, and with portraits of the donors. From S. Paolo. 44. Stefano Falzagalloni. The Madonna and Child throned, with S. Roch and S. Antonio Abbate. From S. Maria in Vado. 45. Id. Christ and the twelve Apostles. Half lengths. 49. Galeasso Galassi. The Crucified One sustained by God the Father. 50. Garofalo (Benvenuto Tisio). The Old and New Testaments. An immense fresco. From the Re- fectory of S. Andrea. 51. Id. The Holy Family, with S Bartho- lomew and the Coming of the Magi. From S. Bartolommeo Suburbano. P1NACOTECA. 177 52. Garofalo (Benvenuto Tisio). The Death of S. Peter Martyr. From S. Domenico. *53. Id. The Holy Family, called " II Riposo." From S. Francesco. *54- Id. The Madonna, called " Del Pilastro," with SS. Jerome and John Baptist. From S. Francesco. 55- Id, The Adoration of the Magi. From S. Giorgio Suburbano. 56. Id. Jesus praying in the Garden of Geth- semane. From S. Silvestro. 57- Id. The Flight into Egypt. From S. Francesco. *5& Id. The Massacre of the Innocents. From S. Francesco. A wonderful pic- ture. The agonised entreaty of the mother in the foreground is most touching, and the inwardly relenting soldier, who says, " I must obey orders." " The figures of the soldiers and others in this picture are so full of life, that It is a perfect marvel. The various expressions of the many faces, also, are admirably rendered ; grief and fear in the countenances of the mothers and nurses, pain and death in those of the infants, and cruelty in the faces of the murderers." Vasari. 58. Garofalo (Benvenuto Tisio). The Return of the Holy Family from Egypt. From S. Francesco. 64. Gutrcino. The Martyrdom of S. Maurelio, painted for the Abbot of S. Giorgio. S. Maurelio was the first bishop and patron of the town, and appears upon the ancient coinage. *79. Ortolano (G. B. Benvenuti). The Nativity. From S. Francesco. 81. Palma Vecchio. The Tribute Money. From S. Maria in Vado. 82. Donunifo Panetti. The Salutation. From S. Maria in Vado. 83. Id. The Annunciation. From S. Maria in Vado. 84. Id. S. Andrew. From S. Andrea. 85. 86. Id. The Annunciation. From S. Andrea. 88. Id. S. Augustine. From S. Andrea. 90. Id. S. Paul. A fresco. From S. Niccolo. 92. Nitcott Roselli. The Ascension. From S. Francesco. VOL. II. 12 1 78 ITALIAN CITIES. 95. Sigitmondo Scarselli. The Burial of Christ. From S. Barto- lommeo Suburbano. 96. Ippolito Scarsellino. The Marriage of Cana. 97. Id. SS. Lorenzo and Francesco, with the donor. 98. Id. The Conception, with the Mysteries of the Rosary around it. From S. Andrea. 99. Id. The Annunciation. From S. Andrea. 104. Dom. Tintoretto. The Madonna del Rosario, with SS. George and Maurelio, and others in adoration. From the Chiesa Nuova. 105. Cosimo Tura. S. Jerome. On wood. 106. Id. S. Jerome. From S. Girolamo. *IO7. Timoteo deffa Vite. The Assumption of S. Mary of Egypt. A lovely white rabbit and a dove are in the foreground. From S. Andrea. Hence, descending the Via dei Pioppini, in which there is a second House of Ariosto (where he lived when young, and in which he acted the fable of Thisbe with his brothers and sisters), we pass on the left the Church of II Gesu, which contains, in the choir, the monument of Barbara of Austria, wife of Alfonso II. Turning left down the Strada della Giovecca, on the left is the Hospital of S. Anna, containing the wretched cellar shown as the earlier Prison of Tasso, in which he was confined from March, 1579, to December, 1580. Tasso, who had long resided at Ferrara in the utmost favour with the Duke Alfonso and his illustrious sisters, to whom he addressed many of his poems, eventually offended the duke by a freedom of speech, which was mistaken for, or represented as insanity. In a letter written at this time, the poet calls " the bowels of Jesus Christ to witness that he was less mad than the duke was mistaken." Fearing detention, however, he escaped through the Abruzzi to his PRISON" OF TASSO. 179 sister Cornelia at Sorrento. He was warned by the duke that if he returned he would be placed under surveillance, nevertheless, he did return twice, the second time during the festivities on Alfonso's marriage with the sister of the Duke of Mantua. It was a violent outbreak of passion, if not insanity, on this occasion, and not his love for the beautiful Leonora, which led to his imprisonment in S. Anna, which was at once hospital, madhouse, and prison. Hence, at first, he wrote to the Duke of Mantua "Chiaro Vincenzo, io pur languisco a morte In career tetro e sotto aspro goverao." But his imprisonment was afterwards modified, and he wrote to the Marchese Buoncompagni that the duke did not keep him in prison, but in a hospital, where monks and priests could visit him and show him all possible kindness. Nevertheless, he vainly solicited the duke and the princesses for his release. The Emperor Rudolph and the Prince of Mantua (the brother of the new duchess) also interceded for him in vain. The duke's reply was that his only object was to " benefit and cure " him, and that when convalescent he should be set at liberty. While he was imprisoned, his once-beloved Princess Leo- nora died, Feb. 1 1, 1581. There is a letter of Tasso extant of this time, imploring a celebrated preacher at Ferrara to kiss in his name the hand of the dying Leonora, and say that he was praying for her recovery. A few months before her death he was removed to a more comfortable apartment, where he could, according to his own expression, " philoso- phise and walk about" But he was still persecuted in a hundred petty ways, and was forced to beg, during the vintage, in verse, for a small supply of wine. l8o ITALIAN CITIES. After the publication of the Gerusalemme, public opinion mitigated the captivity of the poet, and many eminent persons were permitted to visit him; and, in 1563, the soli- citations of the Duchess of Mantua so far induced the duke to relax his confinement, that he was sometimes permitted to go out under surveillance. On July 5, 1586, Tasso was finally released, after a captivity of seven years and two months, and was permitted to go away with the Prince of Mantua, his liberator. At Mantua he had a comfortable apartment, and was soothed by every kindness, but was driven away by the effect of the damp climate upon his health. He died at Rome, April 25, 1595. Speaking of the Dukes of Ferrara, Byron says : " And Tasso is their glory and their shame. Hark to his strain ! and then survey Vis cell ! And see how dearly earn 'd Torquato's fame, And where Alfonso bade his poet dwell ; The miserable despot could not quell The insulted mind he sought to quench, and blend With the surrounding maniacs, in the hell Where he had plung'd it. Glory without end Scatter'd the clouds away : and on that name attend " The tears and praises of all time ; while thine Would rot in its oblivion in the state Of worthless dust, which from thy boasted line Is shaken into nothing ; but. the link Thou formest in his fortunes bids us think Of thy poor malice, naming thee with scorn Alfonso ! how thy ducal pageants shrink From thee ! if in another station born, Scarce fit to be the slave of him thou mad'st to mourn. " Peace to Torquato's injured shade ! 'twas his In life and death to be the mark where Wrong Aim'd with her poison'd arrows ; but to miss. Oh, victor unsurpass'd in modern song ! PALAZZO ROVERELLA. S. FRANCESCO. 181 Each year brings forth its millions ; but how long The tide of generations shall roll on, And not the whole combin'd and countless throng Compose a mind like thine ? though all in one Condens'd their scatter'd rays, they would not form a sun." Childe Harold. The " Prison " had originally a second window ; it is entirely scratched over with the names of devotees, chiefly English, who have also carried away the bedstead and the original door in fragments. There are inscriptions on the walls by Byron, Casimir Delavigne, and by Lamartine the verses : " La le Tasse, brule d'une flamme fatale, Expiaiit dans les fers sa gloire et son amour, Quand il va recueillir la palme triomphale, Descend au noir sejour." Close to the Prison is the beautiful Palazzo Rovcrdla, with a six-sided bay window. This is one of the best speci- mens in Italy of a palace with terra cotta ornamentation. The friezes are excessively rich, and are divided by pillars, which widen at the basement. Opposite, is the Church of S. Gattano, which contains : Left Transept. Guerdno. The Presentation in the Temple. 2nd Chapel, Left. Chenda. S. Gaetano. The third street, on the right beyond this, leads to the large Church of S. Francesco, the roof of which is curiously divided into a series of small cupolas, which, from a par- ticular point in the centre of the nave, produce the most extraordinary and oft-repeated echo imaginable. The pic- tures now here are for the most part copies. The first chapel on the left, which has a relief of the Agony in the Garden, has frescoes of the Donor and of the Betrayal by 1 82 ITALIAN CITIES. Garofalo. In the right transept is the tomb, adorned with bas-reliefs of his conquests and battle-feats, of the Mar- chese di Villa, who defended Candia against the Turks. Hence the Via Terra Nuova leads to the University (Studio Pubblico). In the courtyard are some fine sarco- phagi, Pagan and Christian. The Library contains some splendid illuminated church-books. Here are preserved the relics of Tasso. At the end of a long room is his tomb, brought hither by the French in 1801. Lord Byron says that the bust formerly wore a wreath, and " The lightning rent from Ariosto's bust The iron crown of laurel's mimic'd leaves ; Nor was the ominous element unjust, For the true laurel-wreath which Glory weaves Is of the tree no bolt of thunder cleaves, And the false semblance but disgraced his brow ; Yet still, if fondly Superstition grieves, Know, that the lightning sanctifies below Whate'er it strikes ; yon head is doubly sacred now." but the librarians say there never was a wreath, and that the lightning was a poet's imagination. In the next room are Ariosto's chair, his inkstand with the figure of Silence, made for him by Duke Alfonso, the first edition of his poems, with his own marginal notes, and many letters of his and of Tasso. Here is also the MS. of the Pastor Fido of Guarini, an illustrious native of Ferrara, whose house the municipality are wishing to decorate with an inscription, but still vainly endeavouring to identify. Returning to S. Francesco and the Via Savonarola, the Via Praisolo on right, and the Via Campofranco on left, lead to the small Church of Corpus Domini, which contains some tombs of the House of Este. Hence the Via S. MARIA IN VADO. S. GIORGIO. 183 Pergoleto and the Via Borgo di Sotto lead to the great Church of S. Maria in Vado, famous for a miracle of the bleeding Host, like that of Bolsena, which is said to have occurred on Easter Sunday, 1171, to establish the faith of a doubting prior. The pictures in this church, and even the bones of the painters who were buried here, have been removed. On the right of the church is the fine old gothic Palazzo Schiffanoia, built by Duke Borso, and decorated with frescoes by Cosimo Tura, representing the Months, with the different amusements they afforded to the Court. Some of the figures are very curious and beautiful. The frescoes were only discovered in 1840, since which the palace has been purchased by the municipality and turned into a Museum of Natural History. To the right is the ruined Church of S. Andrea, now turned into a granary, and behind it, on a bastion of the wall, the public walk of the Montagnone. Hence, turning left, we may regain the Strada della Giovecca. In the Church of S. Giorgio, outside the walls, is the tomb, by Ambrogio da Milano, of Lorenzo Roverella, physician to Pope Julius II., and afterwards Bishop of Ferrara. " Its style is pure Quattrocento, and its general arrangement that adopted by the Tuscan masters. The recumbent effigy lies upon a sarcophagus within an arched recess adorned with cherub heads. Out- side the arch are two ' putti ' ; upon the top is a group of S. George and the Dragon ; and within the lunette a roundel containing a group of the Madonna and Child, with adoring angels. On either side of the recess are five excellent statuettes of saints. The technical handling is excellent throughout, and with the exception of the masterpieces of the Florentine sculpture at Florence and Lucca, we do not know of any monument so beautiful in design or so free from mannerism as this." Perkins 1 Italian Sculptors. 1 84 ITALIAN CITIES. An excursion should be made from Ferrara to the interesting town of Cento (which may be visited on the way to Bologna, being five miles from the station of S. Giorgio), the native place of one of the greatest painters of the seventeenth century, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, generally known as Guercino, 1590 1666. The town is situated near the Reno, which abounds in fish, and it is said to take its name from the hundred huts (cento capannucce) which formed an ancient settlement of fishermen. Guercino was quite devoted to his native place, where he founded his " Scuola," and which he refused to abandon for the titles of Court Painter offered him by the kings of France and England. The Casa di Guercino still exists, where he received ad uno squisito bancheito two cardinals who had come to the Fair of Cento, and where his pupils waited upon them and performed una bella commedia in the evening. Here also he was visited by Queen Christina of Sweden. Its walls are adorned with several of his frescoes, and in its little chapel is a beautiful picture by him of the Madonna receiving two pilgrims. " L'eglise du Rosaire est appelee a Cento la Galerie, titre profane qu'elle justifie assez par son apparence et la maniere dont les tableaux y sont ranges. Le Guerchin n'y eclata pas moins que chez lui. Cette eglise est remplie de ses peintures : il a donne, dit on, la dessin de la fa9ade, du clocher, et travaille a la statue de bois de la Vierge ; il s'y montre ainsi peintre, sculpteur et architecte ; mais surtout il y est chretien. Une chapelle fondee par lui porte son nom : il avait fait un legs pour qu'on y celebrat un service, et laisse a 1'image de la Vierge du Rosaire une chaine d'or d'un grand prix, offrande pieuse qui fut voice vers le milieu du dernier siecle par un custode de 1'eglise." Valery. At Pieve, near Cento, is a fine Assumption of Guido. CHAPTER XXXII. PIACENZA. IT is four hours by quick train (20 frs., 75 c. : 14 frs., 55 c.) from Turin to Piacenza. Trains are generally changed at Alessandria (Albergo deW Universe), built in 1164 by the Lombard League against Frederick Barbarossa, and called after its chief, Pope Alexander III. It was colonised with the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, and so well fortified, that though Barbarossa contemptuously called it "Alessandria della Paglia," in allusion to the straw which the builders mixed with their materials, it successfully withstood a siege from his army in 1174. Alessandria has a Cathedral, but is not worth halting at. From Alessandria to Piacenza the railway passes across flat plains, only enlivened by the distant views of the mountains, and the picturesque and varied campaniles of the villages. Soon after leaving Piacenza we cross the battle-field of Afarengo, where Napoleon gained his great victory over the Austrians, on June 13, 1800. Among the stations are : Tortona, where the Duomo contains a curious sarcophagus, with Greek and Latin inscriptions, to P. (Elius Sabinus, the sculptured emblems being partly Pagan and partly Christian. Voghtra, where, in the Church of S. Lorenzo, are tvo 1 86 ITALIAN CITIES. ancient reliquaries, and the uncorrupt body of the blessed Taddeo of Vesme, from which it is said that blood flowed on its discovery, in 1646, 200 years after his death. Here also is the tomb of Archbishop Pietro di Georgi, who presented to the church a thorn of the True Cross preserved in one of the reliquaries. Casteggio, marking the ancient Clastidium, where Marcus Marcellus defeated and slew Virdomarus, the King of the Gaesatae. The place was given up to Hannibal by its governor, who was bribed with 200 -pieces of gold. A spring near the town still bears the name of " La Fontana d'Annibale." Close to this town Napoleon gained the victory called Montebello (from a neighbouring village), June 9, 1800. Here also the Austrians were defeated by the French and Italian forces in May, 1859. Broni, where a silver shrine in the principal church con- tains the relics of San Contardo, son of Azzo, Marquis of Este, its founder. Near San Niccofo we cross the Trebbia, remarkable for the victory of Hannibal in B.C. 218 ; for that of the Piedmontese over the allied armies of France and Spain in 1746; and for that of the Russians under Suwarrow over the French under Macdonald, June 20, 1799. The Trebbia, a little above Piacenza, falls into the Po, which is here often most violent in its aggressive floods. " Sic piano Padus ore lumens super aggere tutas Excursit ripas, et lotos concutit agros. Succubuit si qua tellus, cumulumque furentem Undarum non passa, ruit ; turn flumine lolo Transit, el ignotos aperit sibi gurgite campos. Illos terra fugit dominos ; his rura colonis Accedunl, donante Pado." Lucan, vL 272. HISTORY OF PIACENZA. 187 Piacenza was called by the Romans Placentia from its situation, yet visitors may wonder what is the beauty of being situated in a sandy, wind- stricken, dust- laden plain, which in winter is liable to floods from the Trebbia, and which, in summer, is a dry bed of gravel, affording no moisture to the miserable burnt turf of the adjoining country. Yet the artist will find Piacenza delightful, and will be filled with admiration of the lovely effects of colour formed by its great houses, palaces, and churches standing out against the clear sky and ever-delicate distances ; and the architect will be enchanted with the grandly-colossal forms of its buildings, enriched here and there by the most deli- cate tracery of terra-cotta, and shaded by vast projecting roofs supported on such huge stone corbels as a northern architect has never dreamt of. On the whole, this is one of the most picturesque and full of colour of all the Lombard towns. Piacenza was founded as a Roman colony B.C. 219, at the same time with Cremona, on the right bank of the Po, at the point where it was crossed by the Via /Kmilia, running from Milan to Parma. It was burnt by the Gauls in B.C. 200, but soon began to flourish again. In 546 it fell into the hands of the Goths, but continued to be an important city. It was one of the first Italian towns which organised itself into a Re- public, took part with Milan in the war against Frederick Barbarossa, and was one of the principal members of the Lombardic league. In 1250 Uberto Pallavicino was its lord. He was succeeded by Charles of Anjou, who was followed in 1290 by Alberto Scoto. In 1313 it fell into the hands of the Visconti, who were rivals with the papacy in its sovereignty. In 1447 it was stormed by Francesco Sforza ; in 1499 it fell into the hands of the French, returned to the Pope after the battle Ravenna (1582), then again to Francis I. Having been recovered by Leo X., it remained papal, till Paul III. raised it into a duchy under his grandson, Pierluigi Farnese. Antonio was the last lord of the House of Farnese. After a short interregnum under Philip V. of Spain, the emperor Charles V., and Charles Emanuel of Sardinia, the Duchy, to- i88 ITALIAN CITIES. gether with Parma and Guastalla, came to Philip of Bourbon at the treaty of Aquisgrana (1748). Napoleon I. included it in the " 49buone citta dell' Impero," and gave it new arms. After the fall of the Emperor, his wife, Maria Louisa, was regent of Piacenza, and after her death in 1847, the Duchy returned to the Bourbons. In 1848 Piacenza was the first town which, freeing itself from Austria, joined Piedmont, but the Austrians re-occupied it, and Charles III. again became its Duke, but was stabbed in 1854. Piacenza was annexed to the kingdom of Victor Emanuel in 1859. Piacenza may be seen between two trains, and this will be facilitated by excellent carriages at two francs an hour : but much more time may advantageously be given. Inns. La Croce Bianca, good and reasonable ; Italia ; S. Marco. Vetturino, for carriages to Bobbio, Velleja, &c., Fratelli Tenelli, Piazza del Cavalli, Via del Sopramuro. Entering the town from the station we should turn to the right by the fine brick Church of S. Savino of the fifteenth century. It has a tenth century crypt and a tesselated pavement We should then take a street on the left to The Duomo, which is chiefly of the fourteenth century. Its campanile, 300 feet high, was built in 1333. Halfway up it is an iron cage, erected in 1495 by Ludovico il Moro, for the exposure of criminals guilty of sacrilege. In the west front are three grand projecting porches, adorned with quaint bas-reliefs, and with pillars resting upon lions, or the backs of men who are riding upon monsters. The solemn effect of the interior of this ancient Gothic church is greatly marred by the frescoes with which it is decorated, though they are beautiful in themselves. The choir has rich stall- work of 1471 by Gian-Giacomo of Genoa. Between the nave and transepts is an octagonal cupola adorned with frescoes of prophets and sibyls, &c., by Guercino and S. ANTONINO. S. V1NCENZO. 189 Morazzone. Lower down are figures of Charity, Truth, Chastity, and Humility, by Franchini. Over the high altar is the Ascension of the Virgin, with sibyls at the sides, by C. Procaccini ; on the vault above the apse is the Assumption of the Virgin by Ann. Caracci ; on the vault of the choir are the Consecration of the Virgin, by C. Procaccini, and the Fathers of the Church in Hades, by Lod. Caracci ; on one side of the choir are the Nativity of the Virgin and the Salutation, by Lod. Caracci, on the other are the Visitation and the Day of Pentecost, by C Procaccini. Over the west door is a beautiful piece of tabernacle-work of 1479, when B. Gropallo executed the painting and Antonio Burlonghi the sculpture. The laby- rinth of pillars in the large crypt is very picturesque. From the west porch the " Contrada Dritta " the jewel- lers' street, where the pretty angular gold pins made at Piacenza are sold leads to the principal square, but if we turn to the left and then to the right, we pass the Church of S. Antonino, once the cathedral, founded in 324, on a spot where S. Barnabas is said to have preached. It has been frequently restored, but some portions of 1350 are very striking, especially the octagonal bell-tower, and the grand porch, called " II Paradiso," consisting of a vast single arch beneath a rose window, and enriched with delicate terra- cotta cornices and pinnacles. Outside the west porch are two ancient stone sarcophagi. Near S. Antonino is the Church of S. Vinccnzo, con- taining pictures of David and Isaiah, painted by Camilla Bocaccino in 1530 ; also near this a small chapel with a most beautifully decorated round-headed door. From S. Antonino a street to the right takes us to the IQO ITALIAN CITIES. great square, the centre of life in Piacenza, which is called the Piazza del Cavalli, from its statues. This square is one of the most picturesque in Lombardy. The whole of the south side is occupied by the splendid Palazzo Communale, most lovely and harmonious in colour ; on the east a smaller piazza opens upon the fine Church of S. Francesco, which has a lofty brick front ornamented with terra-cotta (1278), and which contains a cupola and an altar-piece (4th chapel on right) by Malosso. In front of the great palace stand two grand equestrian statues by Francesco Mocchi, a pupil of Giovanni da Bologna. That on the right (erected 1624) is Alessandro Farnese, Governor of the Netherlands, and " the Prince of Parma," of the reign of our Elizabeth. That on the left (erected 1620) is his son Ranuccio, celebrated for his oppression and cruelties. Those who have visited the glorious palace of Caprarola will have become familiar with the story of these nephews of Paul III., which is told there in the endless frescoes of the Zuccheri. There are few buildings which deserve more careful study than the Palazzo Communale. " This building was erected by the merchants of Piacenza, and was begun in 1281. The lower part of it is of red and white limestone, and in the pointed style ; the upper half is in the round style, and of brick, with terra-cotta mouldings and ornaments. This building is one of the many instances which prove that the Saracenic style, finding its way through Venice, had in the middle ages a partial influence upon the architecture of Italy. The windows and the forked battlements of this building are in a Saracenic manner, and the Saracenic passion for variety appears in the dissimilarity of its parts, for the windows of the front are varied, and the two ends of the building are purposely made unlike each other. It is a noble building, in spite of its anomalies and mixture of different styles and materials." Gaily Knight. A street to the left of the Palazzo Communale leads past S. MARIA DELLA CAMPAGNA. 191 the Church of S. Sepolcro, a very grand work of Bramante (1531), now used as a barrack, to the Church of S. Maria della Campagna, near the gate towards Alessandria. This (also due to Bramante) is a perfect gallery of the grand works of Giovanni Antonio Licinio Regillo, commonly called // Pordenone. A competition was proposed for the honour of painting the chapels and cupola, and different artists were desired to produce something as a sample of their powers. Two of these remain at the entrance of the church a S. George by Gatti, on the right, and S. Augustine by Pordenone on the left. Upon looking at this picture, with its awkward principal figure and sprawling angels, one won- ders that its painter should have been successful, yet in the next chapel (of the Magi) we are quite carried away by his wondrous power. First, we have an immense picture of the Birth of the Virgin, with the Flight into Egypt in the lunette above ; then the Adoration of the Magi, with the Nativity above. At the next altar are S. Francis receiving the Stigmata, with smaller subjects from his life, and S. Sebastian and S. Roch by C. Procaccini. Then comes the Chapel of Catherine, entirely by Pordenone, with two grand pictures representing the saint disputing with the Doctors, and her allegorical marriage with the Infant Saviour. In the former (a fresco) the artist has introduced his own portrait in the figure of the Doctor who is lying upon the ground with an open book, in the latter in the figure of S. Paul. These pictures were executed in 1546 for the Countess Scotta Fontana, who built the chapel. The frescoes in the cupola are most difficult to see, but they are also by Pordenone. Scriptural and mythological subjects are here incongruously mingled. Above the arches 192 ITALIAN CITIES. of the nave and choir is a frieze of pictures by Guerdno, Gavassetti, Tiarini, and Crespi. In the choir, behind the altar, are a S. Catherine of Pordenone, and an Annunciation of Bocaccino. The proportions of the church (a Greek cross) have been injured by additions to this choir. Returning to the town, and turning left, we reach the de- serted monastery and the Church of S. Sisto. Over its altar hung the famous Madonna di S. Sisto, which was sold by the monks to the Elector of Saxony in 1754. A copy, by Aranzini, hangs in its place (looking wonderfully small) and is said to occupy the original frame. In the 3rd and 4th chapels on the right are two pictures of the Virgin and Child, with saints, by C. Procaccini. On the right of the choir are the Slaughter of the Innocents, by C. Procaccini ; the Martyrdom of S. Benedetto and S. Flavian o by Paolo and Orazio Farinato degli Uberti, and the Martyrdom of S. Barbara, by Palma Giovane. On the left of the choir is the Martyrdom of S. Martina, by Bassano. Under the high altar is an urn with the body of S. Sistus, the Pope, and in the crypt beneath are many altars rich in saintly bodies, the same, however, which are claimed by many other churches in Italy. The stalls of the choir have beautiful intarsiatnra-\vor\i. In the north transept is the black and white marble monument of Margaret of Austria, wife of Ottavio Farnese (1586) by Giacinto Fiorentino, Between S. Sisto and the station we pass the stately old Palazzo Farnese, now used as a barrack. It was built from designs of Vignola, (the architect of Caprarola) by Margaret of Austria, in 1558. From one of its windows the body of Pier Luigi Farnese was shown to the people by his murderers, and then thrown into the ditch beneath. 5. LAZZARO. 193 Many other buildings may be visited by those who linger in Piacenza. Among them, the Church of S. Agostino, by Vignola, now half-ruined, and S. Giovanni in Cana/e, a church of the Templars, which contains a tomb by Algardi to Orazio Scotti. Only a mile from Piacenza, in the direction of Parma, is the great leper-hospital of S. Lazzaro, now turned into an ecclesiastical seminary. In the room called " the Cardinal's Chamber " (from Cardinal Alberoni, who left his property to the college) are : Taddeo Zu'chero, Our Saviour appearing to S. Francesca Koinana. Borgognone. Knights on horseback. P. Perugino. Virgin and Child. Af. Polidoro di Caravaggio. Portrait of himself. The church contains the tomb of Alberoni, and a picture of the Crucifixion by C. Procaccini. In the neighbourhood of Piacenza, S. Roch is especially reverenced, for " He travelled from city to city ; and wherever he heard that there was pestilence and misery prevailing, there was he found, and a blessing waited on his presence. At length he came to the city of Piacenza, where an epidemic of a frightful and unknown kind had broken out amongst the people ; he presented himself, as usual, to assist in the hospital ; but here it pleased God to put him even to that trial for which he had so often prayed to subject him to the same suffering and afflic- tion which he had so often alleviated and made him in his turn de- pendant on the charity of others for aid and for sympathy. "i >ne night, being in the hospital, he sank down on the ground, overpowered by fatigue and want of sleep; on awaking he found him- elf plague-stricken ; a fever burned in every limb, and a horrible ulcer had broken out in his left thigh. The pain was so insupportable that it obliged him to shriek aloud : fearing to disturb the inmates of the hospital, he crawled into the street ; but here the officers of the city would not allow him to remain, lest he should spread infection around, vou II. 13 194 ITALIAN CITIES. He yielded meekly ; and supported only by his pilgrim's staff, dragged himself to a wood or wilderness outside the gates of Piacenza, and there laid himself down, as he thought, to die. " But God did not forsake him ; far from all human help, all human sympathy, he was watched over and cared for. He had a little dog, which in all his pilgrimage had faithfully attended him ; this dog every day went to the city, and came back at evening with a loaf of bread in his mouth, though where he obtained it none could tell. Moreover, as the legend relates, an angel from heaven came and dressed his wound, and comforted him, and ministered to him in his solitude until he was healed. Jameson's Sacred Art, II., 427. Piacenza is the best point from which to make the excur- sion to the famous Abbey of Bobbio (32 Italian miles from Piacenza) founded by S. Columba in 612 and contain- ing his tomb, whence all the palimpsests known in the world have at some time or other emerged. It is a most fatiguing expedition. A carriage for three people costs 15 frs. to I Periti; when the road is finished it will probably cost 20 frs. to Bobbio. The road crosses a rich plain to the fine old castle of Niviano, now a silk factory. A little beyond this it enters the valley of the Trebbia and passes under the still-inhabited castle of Monte Chiaro. By 1877 the road from Piacenza to Genoa will probably be finished and will pass through Bobbio. In 1875 there was no road beyond / Periti, 22 miles from Piacenza, where it was necessary to engage (5 fr.) the white mule of the contadino Napoleone, and to follow, as one best could, sometimes the stony bed of the Trebbia, sometimes the steep rocky path in the hills overhanging it, for 7 miles, till, about 2 miles from Bobbio, one could join the road from Pavia. The large town of Bobbio stands in the upper valley of the Trebbia, encircled by luxuriantly HISTORY OF BOB BIO. 195 wooded hills, and has a long bridge of many arches of different forms and sizes. Deserted and neglected as Bobbio is now it must always have a special interest as the place where " S. Columba lighted the flame of science and learning, which for a long time made it the torch of Northern Italy," * and whose school and library were perhaps the most celebrated of the middle ages. S. Columba, the great rival of S. Benedict, was born in Leinster in 543, the year of S. Benedict's death. The temptations to which his great personal beauty exposed him and the admonitions of a female hermit, who bade him take warning by Adam, Samson, David, and Solomon, made him enter the monastery of Bangor at a very early age. Hence the thirst for a more severe rule of life drove him across the sea, and he was welcomed by Gontran, king of Burgundy, who assigned him a hermitage at Annegray near the Vosges. Here he lived, in perpetual mortification, on charity, on the shoots of wild myrtle and other herbs. Like S. Francis, he was beloved by all beasts ; the birds descended to caress him ; squirrels took refuge in the sleeves of his habit ; a bear resigned its cave to him. At length, numbers of disciples collecting around him, he founded the monasteries of Annegray, Luxeuil, and Fontaines. Here he introduced the extreme severities of what was called " the Irish rule," the smallest offences being visited with severe fasts and relent- less corporal punishments. Yet he was not content with outward observances. " To mortify the flesh of the soul that bears no fruit," he preached at Luxeuil, " is to till the ground and to disregard the harvest What is the use of making war abroad if there is civil war within. A religion of out- Monulembert 196 ITALIAN CITIES. ward acts is vain, true piety consists in humility of the heart and not in genuflexions." Yet the monkish nobles continued to flock around him, imploring him to cut off their long hair, at once the sign of nobility and liberty, and with all his severity of rule, he combined the personal tenderness of a father, while the interest which he took in each of his monks individually is shown by his letters, which begin " To his most sweet sons, to his very dear pupils, to his brothers in the frugal life ; Columba the sinner." Shocked at the immoralities of the young king Thierry II. and the cruelties of his grandmother Brunehaut, he threat- ened them with excommunication, and was expelled from the kingdom. His exile was like a triumphal progress ; what were regarded as miracles attended him at every step, and as, when he was embarked at the mouth of the Loire, the ship stranded on a sandbank, it was received as an omen, and he was permitted to go where he would. After visiting the court of Neustria, he joined S. Gall, also an Irish missionary, and in his company evangelised the Pagan tribes on the banks of the Rhine, and broke in pieces the idols on the shores of the lakes of Zurich and Constance. Having prophesied with exact fidelity the misfortunes which would arise from the war between the brothers Theodobert of Austrasia and Thierry of Burgundy, he left S. Gall to com- plete his work in Switzerland, and passed into Italy. Here he was welcomed by Agilulf, king of the Lombards, and the great Theodolinda his wife, who allowed him to establish himself where he pleased. He at once began to attack the Arianism which was prevalent in the north of Italy, and, choosing Bobbio on the Trebbia as a residence, made it " the citadel of orthodoxy against the Arians." It was in HISTORY OF BOB BIO. 197 A.D. 612 that Columba came to Bobbio. A ruined church dedicated to S. Peter already existed there. This he re- stored, personally labouring at the work in spite of his great age. He refused all invitations from the Prankish kings to recross the Alps, but continued by letters to direct the affairs of all the institutions he had founded, especially those of Luxeuil, and wrote a number of poems which still exist. As a specimen we may give the farewell of his last letters from Bobbio to his friend Fedolius "Hzec tibi dictabam,morbis oppressus amaris, Corpore quos fragili patior tristique senectse. Nam dum pnecipiti labuntur tempera cursu, Nunc ad olympiad!* ter sense venimus annos. Omnia przetereunt, fugit irreparabile tempus. Vive, vale laetus, tristisque memento senectae." Having established his foundation, Columba retired into a cave on the other side of the Trebbia, where he had dedi- cated a chapel to the Virgin. Here he passed his last days in fasting and prayer, only returning to the monastery on Sundays and feastdays, and here he died Nov. 21, 615, in his chapel, which long remained an object of pilgrimage. S. Columba left Bobbio one of the most active intellectual centres in the peninsula. " The light which he shed by his learning and his doctrine in all the places where he appeared has been compared by a contemporary writer to the course of the sun from east to west, and he continued, after his death, to shine through the disciples whom he had educated to learning and piety." * The immediate successor of Columba at Bobbio was his friend Attala, whom he had left Abbot of Luxeuil, but whose affection had led to his following him across the Alps. Hut. Litter. d U France, iii 198 ITALIAN CITIES. He enforced to the full the rule which Columba had established, that " The monk must live under the rule of one and in the company of many, in order to learn humility from the one and patience from the other. He must not do that which is pleasing to himself. He must eat that which is given him, must possess nothing but that which is doled out to him, must obey those who are dis- tasteful to him. He must go to bed so weary that he falls asleep on the way, yet he must arise before his sleep is satisfied. He must fear his superior as God, and he must love him as a father. He must never pass a judgment upon the decision of his elders. His duty is to obey orders, according to the words of Moses " Hear, O Israel, and be silent ! " The number of Frankish, Italian, and Lombard monks who had now collected at Bobbio, included many who found themselves unable to submit to its rule, and, under Attala, a rebellion took place. But he allowed the malcontents to leave, following the written advice of Columba " it is of no use to be of one body, if one is not of one heart " and his society continued to flourish. Through the favour of Theodolinda, all the privileges of the monastery were con- firmed to reward his zeal against Arianism, and having en- larged the abbey, he died in the odour of sanctity in 627, at the foot of the crucifix which he had placed at the entrance of his cell, that he might always salute it on entering or going out. The third abbot was S. Bertulphus, under whom the privileges of the abbey were confirmed by the Arian Ario- wald. This chieftain had been won over, because, when the monk Blidulf, being at Pavia, refused to salute him HISTORY OF BOB BIO. 199 (being an Arian), one of his soldiers attacked him and left him for dead, but the monk recovered and his assailant fell mortally ill, which, in the spirit of those times, established the invincibility of Columba. Bertulphus, dying in 640, was succeeded by the Greek Bobbolena, and he by the Irish Glongell, and from this time for several centuries, many of the most celebrated European teachers and bishops belonged at some time or other to Bobbio.* " La prodigieuse activite intellectuale dont les moines de Bobbio firent preuve durant cette periode, n'indique-t-elle pas que, sans compter d'autres mobiles, ils furent alurs soumis a la double impulsion egalement puissante, egalement fertile en resultats avantageux pour la science et les lettres ? Le genie de Saint Benoit et celui de Saint Columban s'unirent done en ce monastere pour y repandre leur lumineuse influence, comme deux astres jumeaux qui se rapprochent et, confondant leurs rayons, eclairent d'aulant mieux un meme point de ciel." Datitifr. In 964, Gerbert of Auvergne, tutor of Otho II. (and afterwards Archbishop of Ravenna, and Pope as Sylvester II.) was made Abbot of Bobbio, and it was to his studies here that the accusation of magic afterwards brought against him was applied. After the nth century the abbey began to decline. The magnificent library collected by Columba and his successors attracted the attention of the Florentine book hunters of the time of Loreu/o de' Medici ; Tommaso Inghirami, librarian of Julius II. carried off many of its most precious treasures to the Vatican, and the greater part of those remaining were sold by the Abbot Paolo Silvarezza in the time of Paul V. Mabillon, visiting Bobbio in the iyth century, found it "only the shadow of its former self." Amongst the most remarkable of the monks was Jonas of Susa, who travelled to Ireland and Luxcuil for hi* materials and then wrote the life of b. Columba. 2OO ITALIAN CITIES. It is at the upper end of the little town that the great Church of S. Columbano stands, joining the now desecrated monastery with its immense buildings. The west front of the church is of brick with terra cotta ornaments, and has an arched atrium. It is a Latin cross, the nave being ex- Bobbio. ceedingly lofty, with low harrow aisles, but it is so spoilt by paint and whitewash as to show little of its original character. Over the chancel arch is a curious picture of Columba founding the monastery, throned amongst its other benefac- tors. The choir has fine old stall-work. But the crypt is the shrine of all that is most precious in Bobbio. On the walls, supported on brackets, are the sarcophagi of the canonized abbots, and amongst those on the left, that of the Scotch S. Cummian, who coming hither into retreat, died here in 722. His tomb was erected by King Luitprand who, in the epitaph, recommends himself to the prayers of the holy bishop, " who for 20 years gave the companions of his austerities an example of monastic virtue." On either side of the high altar are S. Attala and S. Bertulphus. The altar, which supports the gilt shrine of Columba, is decorated with several curious reliefs, viz., TOMB OF S. COLUMBA. 201 i. His vision, bidding him to found the monastery. 2. His receiving the permission of the Pope. 3. His converting the natives, out of whom many devils are flying. Behind, is the venerable figure of Columba, partly coloured, with his mitre, pastoral staff, &c., and his feet resting on an open book, inscribed on the one page " Nequaquam ex his comedetis nisi quos dimisistis venerint," and, on the other " Tanta piscium copia est rete impletum ut vix pro multi- tudine trahi potuisset." Close to S. Columba is buried the abbot Wala, who came hither from Corbey, and greatly en- riched the monastery and its library. He was sent to con- clude an alliance between Lothaire and Louis le Debonnaire and the Empress Judith, and died at the court of Pavia on his return. In the cloisters is a bust in honour of Agilulph, by whom the lands were given to Columba. Next to its saints, its manuscripts have rendered Bobbio famous. ". . . Puisque c'est k Bobbio qu'ont etc" de"couvertes les oeuvres manuscrites de Cassianus Bassus, d'Adamantius Martyrius, de Probus, de Sergius le grammairien, et de Cornelius Fronton, le pre'cepteur de Marc Aurele. 1'lus tard le correspondence de ce mSine Fronton avec 1'empereur, son e"leve, sera extraite par 1'erudition moderne des palimp- sestes de Bobhio qui fourniront encore, outre la Repuhlique de Ciceron, les plaidoyers de cet orateur pour Scaurus, Tullius, et Flaccus. Devan- 9ant ces decouvertes de notre epoque, 1'auteur de Vlter italitum cut la consolation, mal^re 1'etat de denument oil il trouva la bibliotheque de 1'antique monastere de Saint Columban, d'y recueillir encore quelques glanes e'chappees 4 ceux qui y avaient moisonne avant lui. II en rapporta notamment le tres-ancien et tres-curieux manuscrit sur la liturgie galli- cane, qu'il publia sous le litre de Sacramtntarium Gallifanum, et qui, d'apres toute vraisemblance, autrefois en usage dans les cglises de la Burgondie oft i tail situe Luxeuil, passa de ce monastere 4 celui de Bobbio. " Dantier. " Apres douze siccles ixoulcs et du fond des ccnclres amoncelces du 202 ITALIAN CITIES. passe, un dernier rayon de cette gloire intellectuelle a resplendi de nos jours sur la derniere fondation de Saint Columban. Le palimpseste de la Vaticane, d'ou le genie de la patience, personifie dans le cardinal Mai, a tire le De Republ:c& de Ciceron, provenait de cette bibliotheque, et cet illustre parchemin porte encore 1'inscription : Liber sancti Columbani de Bobbio." Montalembert. In the piazza of the town is the Duomo, into which you descend by steps. It has a huge Lombard nave, separated by very heavy piers from very low aisles. The choir is reached from the nave by a flight of steps which gives space for the lofty crypt. It is in the late return (for it can scarcely be otherwise) from Bobbio, that the traveller will probably have his first experience of night travelling in the Apennines. "The Apennine in the light of day Is a mighty mountain dim and grey Which between the earth and sky doth lay : But when night comes, a chaos dread On the dim starlight then is spread, And the Apennine walks abroad with the storm." Shelley. From Piacenza an excursion of 20 miles may be made to the remains of the Roman city Velleia, long buried by a landslip, and chiefly disinterred in 1760. The ruins are in- significant, and the principal objects found have been re- moved to the Museum at Parma. The road to Velleia passes the castle and villa (by Vignola) of the Scotti family, at San Giorgio. A branch line of railway leads from Piacenza to Milan through country so rich as to verify the proverb, " La Lom- bardia fe il giardino del mondo." The principal station is LODI. 203 Lodi (Inns : Sole, Europa), which, however, is scarcely worth a special visit. The Roman settlement, founded by Cn. Pompeius Strabo, father of Pompey the Great, was called Laus Pomptia in his honour ; it was afterwards simply called Z.aus, whence Lodi. The modern city, 5 miles distant from the old site, was founded by Frederick Barbarossa in 1158. The Duomo has a fine Lombard porch with lions. A curious relief of the Last Supper was brought from the old LodL Near the high altar are some frescoes by Guglielmo and Alberto di Lodi, till lately covered with whitewash. The fine Church of the Incoronata, built by Bramante, 1476, contains pictures and frescoes by the native artist, Calisto Piazza, 1517-1556. Twice a year a famous fair is held at Lodi for the sale of Parmesan cheese, which is all made near this. The capture of the Bridge of Lodi (over the Adda) was one of the great exploits of Napoleon and Berthier, May 10, 1796, when it was defended by 7000 Austrians under Sebotendorf. CHAPTER XXXIII. PARMA. IT is i hours by rail from Picenza to Parma, 6 frs. 40 c. ; 5 frs. 150. The railway crosses a level plain. Among the stations are Fioretizuola. Where the collegiate church of S. Fiorenzo contains beautiful carved stallwork, and, in the sacristy, some fine middle-age works of art From hence there is a nearer road than that from Piacenza, (by Castel Arquato, which has a stately Gothic town hall, and near which is Monte Zago, rich in fossil remains) to the Roman Velleia. Now on the left is Busseto, the capital of the little state (Stato Pallavicino) which was ruled by the princely family of the Pallavicini. It contains a fine old castle (La Rocca) where a meeting took place between Paul III. and Charles V. Borgo S. Donino (Inn : Croce Bianco) has a Gothic townhall, and a thirteenth-century cathedral, one of the richest and most beautiful of Lombard buildings. On the exterior are curious bas-reliefs. The porches are magnificent, and have different names. That called Taurus is decorated with bulls, that called Aries with rams, &c. " San Donino, in whose honour this church was erected, was a soldier in the army of the Emperor Maximian, and served under his orders in DON/NO. 205 Germany. Donino, with many others, became a Christian ; and when Maximian issued an edict, ordering all persons to renounce the Christian faith on pain of death, Donino fled, but was overtaken near the river Strione by the emissaries of the tyrant and immediately put to death. Near that spot there was at that time a village called Julia. At Borgo S. Donino. In 362 the Bishop of Parma, admonished by a dream, sallied forth and discovered the body of Donino known to be that of the martyr by an inscription found upon the spot, and by the sweet odour which issued from the grave. A chapel was immediately erected to receive the holy remains, and we learn from a letter from S. Ambrose to Faustinus that the village of Julia had changed its name into that of San Donino as early as 387. From that time the shrine of San Donino became one of the most frequented in Italy, and received oblations which led to the construction of a temple on a larger scale. The existing church is a large building, and has undergone various alterations. The oldest part of it is in the zo6 ITALIAN CITIES. Lombard style ; but the very curious and rich fa9ade belongs to times subsequent to those of the Lombard to times when the imitation of the Roman bas-relief succeeded to the monstrous imagery of the 7th and 8th centuries. No record remains of the period at which this fa9ade was erected ; but there are various circumstances which give us reason to believe that it cannot be older than the I2th century. The barbarous character of the sculpture, the neglect of all proportions, the heads as large as the bodies, might seem to indicate a remoter antiquity ; but there is a bas-relief over one of the gates of Milan, known to have been executed at the close of the I2th century, which is no less rude, and which proves that the arts of Italy, down to that period, continued to be in a state of the lowest depression. The projecting portals, the pediment over the doors, the pillars resting on animals, are all features of the latter part of the I ith and of the I2th century. ' Gaily Knight. We now pass Parola, where Ariosto describes the castle built by the Podesta of Parma to keep the Borghigiani in check. " Giacca non lungi da Parigi un loco, Che volgea un miglio, o poco meno intorno, Lo cingea tutto un argine non poco Sublime, a guisa d'un teatro adorno. Un castel gia vi fu, ma a ferro, e a fuoco Le mura e i tetti, ed a rovina andorno. Un simil puo vederne in su la strada, Qual volta a Borgo il Parmigiano vada." Orlando Furioso, xxvii. 47. At La Rocca di Fontenellato, on the left of the road, three miles beyond this, is the villa of the San Vitale family, where there is a room painted in fresco by Parmigianino. One of the lunettes contains a portrait of a Countess of San Vitale. Near Castel Guelfo station is the castle formerly called Torre d'Orlando, from its lord Orlando Pallavicini, a Ghibelline chieftain, but which changed its name when it was taken by Ottone Terzi, of Parma (1407), a leader of the Guelfs. HISTORY OF PARMA. 207 We now cross the stony bed of the Taro, which is entirely dry except in rainy season, but where a fine bridge erected by Maria Louisa in 1 8 1 6, occupies the site of a bridge built in 1170 through the begging efforts of Nonantola, a poor hermit Here the towers of Parma come in sight, and, skirting the garden of the summer palace, we enter the station. Parma, (Inns : Croce Bianca, tolerable and clean, but a thoroughly Italian inn the best rooms contain curious old pictures and majolica ; La Postd). Founded by the Boian Gauls, on the river of the same name, Parma was made a Roman colony with Modena in 183 B. c. It was embel- lished by Augustus, and then received the name of Colonia Julia. We learn from Martial that it was celebrated for its wool. " Velleribus primis Apulia, Parma secundis Nobilis." xiv., Ef, 53. " Magnaque Niliacae servit tibi gleba Syenae, Tondet et innumeros Gallica Parma greges." v. Ep. 13. The town was destroyed by Attila in 452. Theodoric fortified it again and built an aqueduct. Under the Byzantine rule it was so flourishing as to be called Chrysopolis (the Golden Town). It was de- stroyed by the Lombards ; and restored again in 773 under Charlemagne. In 834 Cunigunda, widow of Bernard, King of Italy, built at Parma the convent where she died. In the I Ith century it gave to the Church the Anti-Pope, Cadalous, 1063, and Giberto de' Giberti, 1075. By the exertions of the first of these, the cathedral and bishopric were founded. In 1247 the Guelphic town successfully withstood a sige from Frederick II. In 1303 the Republic fell under the power of Giberto da Correggio ; then of Rolando Rossi ; then of Gianquirici Sanvitali ; of Pope John XXII. 1326 ; of Louis of Bavaria, 1328 ; and of John of Bohemia, 1331. From 1335 to 1341 Parma was in the possession of the Scalas, who sold it to Lucchino VUconti. Bernabo Visconti, fearing the hatred of the citizens, built the Castello de S. Maria Nuova, where 208 ITALIAN CITIES. the garden now is, and the fortifications on the Ponte Verde. In 1365 a plague, which lasted nine months, carried off 40,000 inhabitants ! After the death of Ludovico il Moro, in 1512, with short intervals of subjection to the Visconti and Sfozza, Parma came into possession of Pope Julius II., and of his successor Leo X., in whose reign it was subject to Francis I. of France from 1515 to 1521. Under Leo X. the celebrated historian Francesco Guicciardini was Govematore of Parma. In the papal period of -the Cinquecento, the beautiful church of \A Madonna della Steccata was built, the interior of S.Giovanni was rebuilt, and one of the most remarkable painters of the best Italian period, Antonio Allegri of Correggio, executed his masterpieces. In 1503 Francesco Mazzola was born at Parma, and became celebrated as a painter under the name of Parmigianino. He was chiefly remarkable for his portraits. Clement VII. was succeeded by Alessandro Farnese as Paul III. (1534), who in 1509 had been Bishop of Parma. In his care for his family, he procured for Pier Luigi Farnese, in 1545, the investiture of Parma and Piacenza, which had been formed into duchies. Eight Dukes of the Farnese family succeeded one another. Pier Luigi died the death of a tyrant at Piacenza, September u, 1547. His grandson Alessandro (the " Eroe di Casa Farnese "), won for himself as Governor of Flan- ders the title of " II Grande : " he died from a bullet- wound in 1502. An equestrian statue was raised to his honour in the principal piazza. His son Ranuccio I. was superstitious but magnificent : he built (1597) the Pilotta palace, and (1613) the Teatro Farnese. Under the youthful Odoardo Famese, Parma engaged in a contest with the Roman Bar- berini (1622) for the possession of Castro and Ronciglione. This war was continued and the disputed towns lost under the next Prince Ranuccio II. He had no male heirs, and died of obesity, which had become hereditary in the Farnese family. He was succeeded by his brothers, Francesco (1694), and Antonio (1727) the last Farnese " non men buono, enormamente pingue, gran parassita " who died childless in 1731. The Austrians besieged Parma in behalf of the nephew of the Farnese, Don Carlos, the Infant of Spain, son of the Queen Elisabetta Farnese. When Don Carlos was proclaimed King of Naples, he carried away the most valuable art treasures from Parma and presented them to his new capital (no pictures I Michael Angelo, I Correggio, 8 Raffaelles, 9 Titians, &c. ; 27 antique statues, including the Hercules and Flora ; 39 ancient bronzes ; the Tazza Sardonica ; 10,000 coins, and the curious archives of Parma). In the War of the Succession, the bloody battle of CHARACTERISTICS OF PARMA. 209 S. Pietro was fought under the walls of Parma, in which the then united Franco-Sardinians, " combattendo da leoni," defeated the Austrians. By the peace of 1 728, Philip de Bourbon, second son of Elisabetta, was made Lord of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla ; his minister was the celebrated Frenchman du Tillot, who raised Parma to be the " Atene d' Italia : " he founded the Accademia delle Belle Arti, the Library and the Museum, he remodelled the University, and intro- duced a manufactory of majolica, silk cultivation, and agricultural in- stitutions. Don Ferdinando (1765), brought up by the celebrated Condillac (who wrote philosophical books for him), was a good- natured and popular prince. Du Tillot ruled under him till 1791, when, having become an object of suspicion to the Austrian court, because he tried to win the hand of Beatrice d'Este for his master (she was afterwards given to an archduke, while Ferdinando married an archduchess), he was deposed, banished, and died in poverty in France. On October 8, 1802, the duke was poisoned at the Badia di Fonterivo, and the duchies were declared by Tuscany to be incorporated with the French Republic. At the Vienna congress, the Empress Maria Louisa obtained Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla "in piena proprieta e sovranita," She died in 1847, and is still remembered with affection. She was followed by the last of the Bourbons, Charles II., and (after the revolution of 1843 and the intermediate reign of Charles Albert, 1848 1849) by Charles III. till 1854, when he was murdered in the Strada S. Lucia. His widow, a wise and popular princess, was driven out to make way for the government of Victor Emmanuel in 1856, since which Parma has sunk to the condition of a third-rate provincial city. Parma well deserves a halt from the traveller. It is an old University city, has sixty churches and a fine cathedral, and many palaces richly adorned with the beautiful terra- cotta ornamentation. " Parma is perhaps the brightest Residenzstadt of the second class in Italy. Built on a sunny and fertile tract of the Lombard plain, within view of the Alps, and close beneath the shelter of the Apennines, it shines like a well-set gem, with stately towers and cheerful squares in the midst of verdure. The cities of Lombardy are all like large country-houses ; walking out of their gates, you seem to be stepping from a door or window that opens on a trim and beautiful garden, where mulberry-tree is married to mulberry by festoons of vines, and where VOL. H. 14 210 ITALIAN CITIES. the maize and sunflowers stand together in rows between patches of flax and hemp." J. A. Symonds. Besides its architectural attractions, Parma is filled with the masterpieces of Antonio Allegri (14941534) called Correggio from his birthplace, and of those of his scholars ; his son Pomponio Allegri, Bernardino Gatti, Francesco Rondani, Michael-Angelo Anselmi, and the Mazzolas Girolamo, and Francesco, who was called Parmigianino. Vasari speaks of Correggio as the " Pittore singularissimo," and he is generally included in the circle of the five greatest masters, with Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, and Titian. " Inwardly as little under the influence of any ecclesiastical traditions as Michelangelo, Correggio never sees in his art anything but the means of making his representation of life as sensuously charming and as sensuously real as possible. His gifts in this direction were great ; in all that assists realisation he is an originator and discoverer, even when compared with Leonardo and Titian. ... In the works of Correggio, there is an entire absence of any moral elevation, but he is the first to represent entirely and completely the reality of genuine nature. He fascinates the beholder, not by this or that beautiful and sensual form, but by convincing him entirely of the actual existence of these forms, by means of perfectly realistic representations (enhanced by concealed means of attraction) of space and light. Among his means of representation, his chiaroscuro is proverbially famous. In Correggio first chiaroscuro becomes essential to the general expression of a pic- torially combined whole : the stream of light and reflection gives exactly the right expression to the special moment in nature. Besides this, Correggio was the first to reveal the charm of the surface of the human body in half-light and reflected light. His colour is perfect in the flesh tints, and laid on in a way that indicates infinite study of the appearance in air and light. In the defi- nition of other materials he does not go into detail ; the harmony of the whole, the euphony of the transitions, is his chief object. But the most striking point of his style is the complete expression of motion in his figures, without which there is for him no life and no complete repre- sentation of space, which can properly only be measured by the eye. PIAZZA GRANDE. 211 The real measure of his performance is in the human form in motion, with indeed an entire appearance of reality, and in some circumstances violently foreshortened. He first gives to the glories of the other world a cubically measurable space, which he fills with powerful floating forms. This motion is nothing merely external ; it interpenetrates the figures from within outwards. Correggio divines, knows, and paints the finest movements of nervous life. Of grandeur of lines, of severe architectonic composition, there is no question with him, nor of grand free beauty. What is sensuously charming he gives in abundance. Here and there he shows real depth of feeling, which, beginning with the real, reveals great spiritual secrets : there are pictures of suffering by him, which are not indeed grand, but perfectly noble, touching, and executed with infinite intelligence." J. Burckhardt. All the principal sights of Parma may be taken in one circuit, starting from the Piazza Grande, close to which is the principal hotel. The Piazza Grande is picturesque, and generally crowded with countrymen in their brown cloaks, and countrywomen in red shawls and hoods. It has a Clock tower on one side ; on the other is a fine old brick palace with arcades, in front of which stands a modern statue of Correggio, who seems strange under his real name of Antonio Allegri. On the other side of the palace is a fine bronze group of wrestlers, crowning a fountain. The Via Emilia runs through the square, and divides the city almost equally. Following it, by the Strada Maestro di S. Michele, architects will linger at the corner of a neighbouring alley on the right, to admire an exquisite terra-cotta shrine, and further on at the Collegia Lalatta, which has a grand entrance, supported by giants. Artists will proceed to S. Sepolcro, the last church on the right, to see a Parmigianino (in the first chapel on the right,) if they can get in, which is not very likely. The street close to S. Antonio, on the left of the Strada S. Michele, leads to the Cathedral, and the view on 212 ITALIAN CITIES. approaching it thus, from behind, is far the most effective. The outline is greatly varied. The apses and cupola are decorated by delicate Romanesque arcades all glowing with rosy colour, and beyond rises the soaring campanile, with its slender arches and its low spire crowned by a golden angel. Behind, in the shadow, lies the Baptistery. This quiet square, with its ancient surroundings, has a look of repose almost like that of an English close ; but the buildings are embossed on a pellucid sky, such as one sees in the pictures of Perugino. Behind the cathedral stands the grand Renaissance Church of S. Giovanni Evangelista, built in 1510 by Ber- nardino Zaccagni da Torrechiara. The front, of 1604, is by Simone Moschino da Orvieto. It is adorned with great statues of S. John and various Benedictine saints, and sur- mounted by the bronze eagle of the Evangelist. Inside, this church is really sublime in its proportions, and is rendered more effective by the rich dark colouring of the arabesques by Anselmi, on the vaulting of the ceiling. Here, the frescoes are in complete harmony with, and seem part of the building. In the cupola are famous frescoes of Correggio (painted 1520 24), but it is very difficult to see them, and it is scarcely possible to understand these and many other of Correggio's frescoes, unless prepared by a careful study of the beautiful copies by Toschi and his pupils in the Accademia. "This is the first dome devoted to a great general composition; Christ in glory, surrounded by the Apostles sitting upon clouds, all introduced as the Vision of John, seated on the edge below. The Apostles are genuine Lombards of the noble type, of a grandiose physical form ; the old ecstatic John (purposely ?) less noble. The view from S. GIOVANNI EVANCELISTA. 213 below, completely carried out, of which this is the earliest preserved instance, and certainly the earliest so thoroughly carried through, appeared to contemporaries and followers a triumph of all painting. They forgot what parts of the human body were most prominent in a view from below, while the subject of this and most later dome paint- ings, the glory of heaven, would only bear what had most spiritual life. They did not perceive that for such a subject the realisation of the locality is unworthy, and that only ideal architectonic composition can awaken a feeling at all in harmony with this. Now here the impression is certainly overpowering : the confused group of numberless angels, who here, rushing towards each other with the greatest passion, and embracing, is without example in art : whether this is the noblest conse- cration of the events represented is another question. If so, then the confusion of arms and legs was not to be avoided ; if the scene were real, it must have been something like this. Farther below, between the windows, stand the Apostles gazing after the Virgin ; behind them, on a parapet, are Genii busy with candelabra and censers. In the Apostles, Correggio is not logical ; no one so excited as they are could stand still in his corner ; even their supposed grandeur has something unreal about it But some of the Genii are quite wonderfully beautiful ; also many of the angels in the paintings of the cupola itself, and especially those which hover round the four patron saints of Parma, on the pendentives. It is difficult to analyse exactly the sort of intoxication with which these figures fill the senses. I think that the divine and the very earthly are here closely combined." Burckhardt. " It must be evident that gradations in magnitude will be more full and varied when they comprehend, if only in a limited degree, the per- spective diminution of forms. In the cupola of Parma (to say nothing of the objects being represented as if above the eye) the perspective diminution is extreme ; so that even the principal figures are altogether subservient to the expression of space." Eastlake. " As a consequence of his predilection for sensuous and voluptuous forms, Correggio had no power of imagining grandly or severely. His Apostles, gazing after the Virgin who has left the earth, are thrown into attitudes so violent and so dramatically foreshortened, that seen from below upon the pavement of the Cathedral, very little of their form is distinguishable, except legs and arms in violent commotion. . . . Correggio appears to have been satisfied with realising the tumult of heaven rushing to meet earth, and earth straining upwards to ascend to heaven in violent commotion a very orgasm of frenetic rapture. The essence of the event is forgotten ; its external manifestation alone is presented to the eye ; and only the accessories of beardless angels and 214 ITALIAN CITIES. cloud-encumbered cherubs are really beautiful amid a surge of limbs in restless movement." J. A. Symonds. The paintings on the ceiling of the choir are by Girol. Mazzola; those on the sides of the nave are by Latanzio Gambara (1568 73); the woodwork of the choir is by Christofero da Lendinara ; the Ciborium, of 1484, is by Leon Battista Alberti. The pictures are : Choir. Parmigianino. The Transfiguration. Left Transept. *Correggio. (Over the door. ) A beautiful fresco of S. John the Evangelist writing his Gospel. He is seated, pausing with his hand on his book, and looking up for inspiration. Left Aisle, 6th Chapel Anselmi. Christ bearing his cross. $th Chapel. Girol. Mazzola. The Virgin gives a palm branch to S. Catherine ; S. Nicholas stands by. 1st and 2nd Chapels. Parmigianino. The saints and cherubs on the arches, very grand, but ill seen. The Campanile si the church, built in 1614, is exceed- ingly handsome. The adjoining Monastery (now a barrack) has stately cloisters and corridors. It is well that S. Giovanni should be seen before the Duomo, after which it pales. The latter is a Latin cross, 7019 met long by 2565 met. broad. The west front is magnificent. It had three porches, but of the two side porches only the monsters which supported the pillars remain. The central porch rests on two huge lions of red Verona marble, one with a ram, the other with a serpent ; it is the work of Bono da Bisone (i2&i). In the upper story is the pulpit whence the bishop gives the papal bless- ing to the people. A chapel on the north side should be observed for its exquisite terra-cotta ornaments, especially the vine-leaves and grapes round the windows. CATHEDRAL OF PARMA. 215 The Interior is one mass of beautiful decaying colour. The walls are almost entirely covered with precious frescoes of Correggio and his scholars. In general effectiveness this church can scarcely be surpassed. The nave is compara* lively dark, only lighted by such rays as steal in through the side chapels and by a tiny line of windows in the triforum ; but beyond, where a mighty staircase leads up into the choir, a whole mass of sunlight glory pours in from the cupola and transepts, and strikes upon the altar, and the golden baldacchino and organ galleries. The frescoes, especially of the cupola, are almost impossible to decipher without a previous acquaintance through the drawings of Toschi. Little can be seen of the Assumption of the Virgin, and the spectator is inclined to agree with the criti- cism of one of the canons to the painter, that it is un guazzeto di rani, " a hash of frogs." " In 152630, in the dome of the cathedral, Correggio gave himself up altogether, without any limit, to his special conception of the super- natural. He makes everything external and desecrates it. In the centre, now much injured, Christ precipitates himself towards the Virgin, who is surrounded with a rushing crowd of angels and a mass of clouds. The chief figure, Christ, is foreshortened in a truly froglike manner, and with some of the apostles the knees reach quite up to their necks. Clouds, which Correggio treats as sohd round bodies of definite volume, are employed to define the locality, also as means of support and as seats, and pictorially as means of gradation and variety. Even on the pendentives of the cupola are seated figures, very beautiful in themselves, hut exaggeratedly foreshortened ; an evangelist and a Father of the Church on clouds, where Michael Angelo in a similar place would have given his prophets and sibyls solid thrones. " Burckhardt. In each of the angles of the cupola is an Evangelist with a Father of the Church ; Luke with Ambrose ; Matthew with Jerome; John with Augustine; Mark with Gregory. 2i6 ITALIAN CITIES. In the frieze are the symbols of the Evangelists with garlands and ornaments like those on ancient reliefs. Making the circuit of the church : Right Aish, 2nd Chapel. F. Francia. The Virgin Mother adores her Child a shepherd stretches out his hands in ecstacy. $rd Chapel (Cappella Baiardi). An interesting example of early sculpture in the masterpiece of Antelami da Parma, of the I2th century, originally intended for the pulpit. " In this alto-relief, the body of our Lord, which Nicodemus mounts upon a ladder to detach from the cross, is sustained by Joseph of Arima- thea, while an angel above the Virgin (who forms one of a procession of mourners) aids her in holding up his left arm. In a similar position, upon the other side of the composition, appears the archangel Raphael, above a soldier, who threatens with his hand a reluctant priest, whom the Divine messenger is pushing forward to the foot of the cross, and who, we imagine, from the word ' synagoga,' inscribed above his head, typifies the stiff-necked Jews. It would be easy to criticize this compo- sition (if such it may be called), but if we bear in mind the period when it was sculptured, we shall recognize the artist's superior capacity for expression above his contemporaries, and shall feel inclined to pardon these defects." Perkitfs Tuscan Sculptors. 6th Chapel. A monument to Petrarch, once, as he quite accurately de- scribed himself, the " inutile Arcidiacono" of this cathedral, put up by Canon Cicognari in 1713. Here also is a Christ bearing his cross, by Bernardino Gatti. Left Aisle, $th Chapel. Frescoes of the fifteenth century, by Loschi and Grossi. The west window has some remains of fine stained glass of 1574, by Gondrate. The stately Crypt is supported by thirty pillars, with varied capitals. The services held here, especially funeral services, are very effective. The tomb of Bartolommeo Prato (1542), with two weeping figures and beautiful arabesques, is by Prospero dementi. The Baptistery (the keys are kept in the house opposite the south door,) is built of red and grey marble, and sur- BAPTISTERY, MADONNA DELLA STECCATA. 217 rounded by four tiers of small columns, with flat entabla- tures, which give it a harsh look. Encircling the lower story is a frieze of animals and human-headed monsters in square frames. There are pinnacles at the angles resting on small pointed arches. The three portals are richly sculptured. On the north door is inscribed : " Bis binis demptis annis de mille ducentis incepit dictus opus hoc sculptor Benedictus." This was Benedetto Antelami, who began the work in 1196, but it was not finished till 1281. " A lunette over the south door shows the mystical tendencies of Antelami. It represents a youth seated in the branches of a tree, so absorbed in eating a honeycomb, that, like a man who forgets the future in present enjoyment, he does not see a furious dragon watching him from below." Perkiris Italian Sculptors. The interior has sixteen sides, from which rise the ribs which support the cupola. In the centre is an octagonal font inscribed with the name of its sculptor, Johannes Pattassonus, 1298. There is another font covered with quaint carving, which is now used for the baptism of all the children born in Parma. The whole is lighted by twenty- four windows in the roof, which is covered with paintings of c. 1220. Those below are by Nucolb da ftcggio and Barto- lino da Piacenza of the i4th century. The street in front of the cathedral leads to the Piazza di Corte, where are Palazzo Ducale, with a modern front, the Teatro Nuovo, and a little beyond, to the left, the Church of La Madonna del/a Steccata, begun 1521, from plans of Giov. Francesco Zaccagni, and finished in 1539. It derived its name from a palisade (steccato) erected round a popular painting of the Virgin upon a house-wall, which was supposed to be miraculous, and which the church was 218 ITALIAN CITIES. afterwards built to enclose. The interior is very similar to the Madonna della Campagna of Piacenza, a Greek cross, with apsides at the four arms, at the angles of which are little polygonal chapels, with cupolas, and in the centre a lofty and wide round cupola. The effect is very striking, and the colour and design most harmonious. Over the high altar is a fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin by M. A. Anselmi. The paintings in chiaroscuro on the arches are by Parmigianino {Francesco Mazzold): of these the Moses is the most remarkable, and Sir Joshua Reynolds mentions in confirmation of the impression it leaves upon the mind, that Gray " had warmed his imagination with the remembrance of this noble figure of Parmigianino when he conceived his sublime idea of the indignant Welsh bard." The frescoes of the cupola are by Gatti. Right Transept. A Pieta by Bondoni, erected by the town in memory of Maria Louisa. Over the altar is S. George by Francheschini. Right, 2nd Chapel. A fine tomb of Count Guido da Correggio, by Barbieri, 1568. Left, 1st Chapel. F. Francia. Madonna and Child, with S. Luke and S. J. Baptist much injured. Left, 2nd Chapel. A beautiful tomb of Sforzino Sforza (1523), son of Francesco Sforza II., by Agnate, and the tomb of Ottavio Farnese (1567), a bust, with his sword and helmet, by Briante. Opposite this is the Church of S. Alessandro, with a wholly uninviting exterior, but inside of remarkably good classical architecture. It was built, 1625, by Margaret of Austria, from designs of Magnani. The Ionic pillars are of red Verona marble. Right, 2nd Chapel. Tiarini. S. Bertoldo. High Altar. Parmigianino. The Virgin and S. Justina. TEATRO FARNESE. 219 The colossal Palazzo Farnese, commonly called La Pilotta, stands behind the modern Ducal Palace. It was begun by Ranuccio Farnese I., in 1597. Its courtyard is handsome. The immense brick buildings include Palace, Academy, Archaeological Museum, Picture Gallery, Library, and the Farnese Theatre. Crossing the court, on the left of the second gate which leads to the bridge, is a staircase, on the first landing of which we reach the Archaeological Museum, founded by Duke Philip, c. 1760. It is chiefly interesting from the relics of the neighbouring Roman town of Velleja. The 2nd Room, contains the Tabula Alimentaria of Trajan his decree for the maintenance of poor children, engraved upon bronze. The giving of this charity is represented on reliefs lately discovered in the Roman forum. Here is a statue of German icus, and a small bronze statuette of the Drunken Hercules full of character, from Velleja. 4/A Room. Statues of Livia and Agrippina the elder from Velleja, and a statuette of Leda and the Swan from the Roman Theatre of Parma, deserve notice. The heavy, richly ornamented door opposite the top of the staircase leads to the Teairo Farnest, built 1618, and opened in 1628, on the marriage of Duke Odoardo with Princess Margaret of Tuscany. It is well worth visiting. " It is a large wooden structure, of the horse-shoe shape ; the lower eats arranged upon the Roman plan, but above them great heavy chambers, rather than boxes, where the nobles sate, remote, in their proud state. Such desolation as has fallen on this theatre, enhanced in the spectator's fancy by its gay intention and design, none but worms can be familiar with. A hundred and ten years have passed since any play was acted here. The sky shines in through the gashes in the roof; the boxes are dropping down, wasting away, and only tenanted by rats ; damp and mildew smear the faded colours, and make spectral maps upon the panels ; lean rags are dangling down where there were gay festoons on the proscenium ; the stage has rotted so, that a narrow 220 ITALIAN CITIES. wooden gallery is thrown across it, or it would sink beneath the tread, and bury the visitors in the gloomy depths beneath. The desolation and decay impress themselves on all the senses. The air has a moulder- irg smell, and an earthy taste ; any stray outer sounds that straggle in with some lost sunbeam, are muffled and heavy ; and the worm, the maggot, and the rot have changed the surface of the wood beneath the touch, as time will seam and roughen a smooth hand. If ghosts ever act plays, they act them on this ghostly stage." Dickens. Left of the theatre is the entrance to the Picture Gallery, open from 9 to 4 (on festas from 10 to 2). There is no catalogue and no special arrangement of the pictures. The greater part of the collection occupies one great gallery, divided at intervals, which count as so many cham- bers (II. to VI). The yth room is entered from the oval in the middle of the gallery and leads to a number of small chambers which surround a courtyard. The pictures are not hung as they are numbered.* We should notice Room II. 38. Jacopo Loschi (1471). Virgin throned, with angels, 50. Cristofero Caselli, detto II Temporello (1499). Virgin and Child with S. J. Baptist and S. Paul the Hermit. 47. Pierilario Mazzola (1538). Virgin and Child with saints. 45. Alexandra Araldi (1465). Annunciation. 44. Parmigianino. Marriage of the Virgin. 35. Mich. Ang. Anselmi (1491 1554). Virgin and Child in glory with saints. 31.* Correggio. La Madonna della Scala. A fresco originally on the wall of a chapel near the Porta Romana. It takes its name from the ladder introduced in the background. 30. Girolamo Mazzola (1503 68). Virgin and Child, with angels, in a grove of flowers, S. John asleep in the foreground. A very lovely and original picture. 27, 28, 79, 80, 81. Gir. Mazzola. Five life-size figures of saints. 76. Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola, 1503 40). Virgin and Child with S. Jerome and S. Benedict. A most beautiful picture. * The order of the hanging is followed here. PINACOTECA OF PARMA. 221 68. Girolamo Mazzola. S. Gregory and S. Augustine. 61. Fortunate Gatti (1648). Virgin and Child with S. Bruno and S. James. Room III. (the Oval Hall) contains : Two gigantic statues of basalt : on the right, Hercules ; on the left, Bacchus with Ampelos ; found in 1 724 on the Palatine at Rome. Room IV. VI. (beginning on left). 120. Bart. Schidone (\sf>o 1615). Entombment. 122. Ludovico da Parma (14691540). Virgin with S. Catherine and S. Sebastian. 123. F. Francia. The Deposition. 130.* F. Francia. "La Madonna di San Vitale." The Virgin and Child with saints. The infant S. John points to the throned group. Two female saints adore ; Scholastica holds a book, on which her white dove rests ; the Child turns to S. Catherine. Two male saints, Bene- dict and Placidus, seem to guard the picture with their croziers. 133. Schidone. The Holy Women finding the Angel at the Se- pulchre. 134.* Lodavuo Caracci (1555 1619). The Funeral of the Virgin. Her figure, in grand repose, is carried by the weeping Apostles with lighted torches ; the sweeping-onwards look of the figures is quite mag- nificent. 158. Fra Paolo da Pistoia. Adoration of the Magi. 203. Josaphat Aldis. S. Sebastian. The arrow in the forehead is unusual. 188. Agostino Caracci (1558 1601) Virgin and saints. 209 2 1 2. Agostino Caracci. Copies of the frescoes of Correggio at S. Giovanni. 231. Tintoret. The Entombment. " In the gallery at Parma there is a canvas of Tintoret 's whose sub- limity of conception and grandeur of colour are seen in the highest perfection, by their opposition to the morbid and vulgar sentimentalism of Correggio. It is an entombment of Christ, with a landscape dis- tance. Dwelling on the peculiar force of the event before him, as the fulfilment of the final prophecy respecting the passion, ' He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, ' Tintoret desires to direct the mind of the spectator to the receiving of the body of Christ, in its contrast with the houseless birth and the deseit life. And, there- fore, behind the ghastly tomb grass that shakes its black and withered 222 ITALIAN CITIES. blades above the rocks of the sepulchre, there is seen, not the actual material distance of the spot itself (though the crosses are shown faintly*, but that to which the thoughtful spirit would return in vision, a desert place, where the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, and against the barred twilight of the melancholy sky are seen the mouldering beams and shattered roofing of a ruined cattle-shed, the canopy of the Nativity." Ruskin, " Modern Painters," ii. 164. 165. Gnercino. Virgin and Child with S. Francis and S. Chiara. 1 66. Lod. Caracci. The Apostles at the empty tomb of the Virgin. 1 60. Annibale Caracci. The Dead Christ with saints. At the end of the gallery is a seated statue of Maria Louisa as Con- cord, by Canova. Room VIII. (entered on right from the Oval hall). 2 97> 33- Gir. Mazzola. Portraits of Alessandro Farnese and his wife. 300. Antonio Moro. A portrait. 312, 314, 315. Portraits attributed to Velasquez. Room IX. (hung with green silk, stamped with A A in honour of " Antonio Allegri "). 350.* Correggio. "La Madonna della Scodella." So called from the dish in the hand of the Virgin, being the arms of the Scodellari, for whom the picture was painted. "The dreamy lights in the mysterious wood, the charming heads, and the indescribable beauty of the whole treatment cause us to forget that this picture is essentially composed for the colour, and is exceedingly indistinct in its motives." Burckhardt. Room X. Drawings of Toschi and his pupils from the frescoes of Correggio. Here study the invisible cupolas. Room XI. 351.* Correggio. " La Madonna di San Girolamo," so called from the prominent figure of S. Jerome. PINACOTECA OF PARMA. 223 " The astonishing execution cannot outweigh the great material de- ficiencies. The attitude of Jerome is affected and insecure. Correggio is never happy in grand things : the child who beckons to the angel turning over the book, and plays with the hair of the Magdalen, is inconceivably ugly, as also the Putto, who smells at the vase of oint- ment of the Magdalen. Only this latter figure is inexpressibly beautiful, and shows, in the way she bends down, the highest sensibility for a particular kind of female grace." Burckhardt. Louis XVIII. vainly tempted Maria Louisa, in her sorest poverty, by the offer of a million of francs, to allow this picture to remain in the Louvre. Room XII. (by a door in the silk hanging). Exquisite drawings of Toschi, &c., after Correggio. Room XIII. 360. * Cima da Conegliano. Virgin and Child throned with saints. 361.* Id. Virgin and Child with S. Michael and S. Andrew. 362.* Leonardo da Vinci. A most lovely head. 352 * Correggio. The Maries with the Dead Christ. 253. * Id. The Martyrdom of S. Placidus and S. Flavia. Holbein. Portrait of Erasmus. * Francia. Virgin and Child with S. John. Schidone. Virgin and Child with S. John. Room XIV. 371.* Giulio Romano. (From a drawing by Raphael, which is at the Louvre) Jesus glorified between the Virgin and S. J. Baptist : beneath the Virgin stands S. Paul, beneath the Baptist S. Catherine kneels with her wheel. 367. Titian. Head of Christ 364. Murillo. Job. 378. Van der Heist. Portrait Room XV. Early fourteenth-century paintings not remarkable specimens. 224 ITALIAN CITIES. The Library (open from 9 to 3, entrance opposite the Picture Gallery), contains the valuable Hebrew and Syriac MSS. of De Rossi, bought by Maria Louisa in 1816. Amongst the curiosities is the " Livre d'Heures " of Henri II. of France, and Luther's Hebrew Psalter, with his autograph notes. In the 2nd room is the remnant of Correggitfs fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin, brought hither from S. Gio- vanni. At the Picture Gallery we can obtain the keys of the famous Camera di S. Paolo (on the other side of the Piazza Grande, in the Monastery of S. Ludovico). Here, in 1518, Correggio, by order of the abbess, Donna Giovanna da Piacenza, painted a wonderful chamber, which remains in the most perfect preservation. Over the chimney-piece is a fresco of the abbess herself as Diana, being, as it were, the goddess of an enchanted bower, for from all the coves of the ceiling lovely groups of cupids are looking out from a mass of leaves and flowers. Beneath are chiaroscuro repre- sentations of mythological subjects. "That which sharply distinguished Correggio from all previous artists, was the faculty of painting a purely voluptuous dream of beau- tiful beings in perpetual movement, beneath the laughter of moving light, in a world of never-failing April hues. When he attempts to depart from the fairyland of which he was the Prospero, and to match himself with the masters of sublime thought or earnest passion, he proves his weakness. But within his own magic circle he reigns supreme, no other artist having blended the witcheries of colouring, chiaroscuro, and faun-like loveliness of form into a harmony so perfect in its sensuous charm." J. A. Symonds. An inner chamber has frescoes by Alessandro Araldi- Over its chimney are three crescent moons, the arms of the abbess. PALAZZO DEL GIARDINO. 225 Through the Palazzo Pilotta, by the bridge called Ponte Verde, with its old gate-towers, we may reach the Palazzo del Giardiiw, built originally by Ottavio Farnese, but altered in 1767. In one of its rooms are unfinished frescoes by Agostino Caracci. This was the favourite residence of the late excellent Duchess Regent of Parma, with whose departure the prosperity of the town departed. The gardens, always open, but little used, are laid out with clipped hedges and formal tanks of water. In summer, birds sing undisturbed all the day long amid the tall trees in the park, which are allowed to grow as they will. We may return to the town by the neighbouring Strada Maestra di S. Croce, which contains a hospital founded by Maria Louisa, and the Church of the Annunziala, in which are the remains of a fresco of the Annunciation by Correggio. We cross the Parma torrent by the bridge called Ponte del Mezzo, which has a chapel built by Pier Luigi Farnese to S. John Nepomuk in 1517. Higher up the river we see the Ponte di Caprazucca, built 1280, and restored in the isth century. The other churches of Parma are of little interest Several of them contain pictures by Girolamo and Ales- sandro Mazzola, Parma is the best point from whence to make the very important excursion to the fortress of the Countess Matilda at Cawssa, where the Emperor Henry IV. performed his famous penance. Canossa is distant 18 Italian miles from Parma, and 15 from Reggio. The station of S. Ilario is a few miles nearer, but there are no carriages there. A carriage from Parma to Seano, the nearest practicable point, VOL. H. 15 226 ITALIAN CITIES. costs 20 frs. Very little, however, is remembered about Canossa in any of the neighbouring towns. The writer found it necessary to send to the University to find out where it was, and then the answer was that the professors knew nothing about it, unless it was the same as " II Castello di Donna Matilda." The road lies through a dull plain, and, after crossing the wide, stony bed of the Enza by a long bridge, ascends by the side of the torrent from S. Ilario to Monteahio, where Attendolo Sforza was born. Hence, it passes through S. Polo to the foot of the Apennines, on which several castles may be distinguished, the most conspicuous being that of Rusina, a castle whose aspect would delight Robert Browning, who says : " What I love best in all the world Is a castle, precipice encurl'd, In a gash of wind-grieved Apennine." At Seano it is best to take a guide for the day (4 frs.), otherwise it will be impossible to find the way. The savage ascent begins immediately behind the village, grassless, tree- less, even weedless. There is no path whatever, and only sometimes something which passes for it in the furrows riven by the melted snow. At the end of April there were great patches of snow itself, apparently level, but into which one sank knee-deep in crossing the hollows. At the top of the first ascent, rising from blackened excoriated rocks, is the fortress of Rusina, with a solitary tower, known as Castel d'Asso, on a second eminence, and a little village nestling between the two, in the dreariest position that can be imagined an eternal winter, with scarcely a CANOSSA. 227 blade of vegetation to look upon. Further on, the country becomes wilder still. Beyond the range on which we stand, rise a forest of snowy Apennine peaks, but they look cheerful by comparison with the nearer hills, which are riven and fur- rowed by volcanic action like those near Radicofani, every inch of the ground being twisted and tossed and contorted into the most hideous chaos of crevasses, a Mer de Glace repeated in all the frightfulness of hardened brown mud. We wind along a ridge, looking down upon an avenue of ghastly abysses, in which foxes are the sole inhabitants. Where the valley opens, we see the stony bed of the Enza, and across the hills on the other side of it, the white line of the Po. On the further side of the mud valley of desola- tion is a distorted hill apparently of stronger material than the rest, supporting some solid buttresses of rock, and from these, looking like rocks themselves, from the equality with which Time has bestowed her colouring upon both, rise -- -.. --T ^^"^''" View from Canowa. some shapeless fragments of broken castle walls. That is Canossa. It is a most impregnable-looking place. No road can 228 ITALIAN CITIES. ever have approached it. It must always have had its present hideous aspect, as if utterly abandoned by Nature. At first the rock walls seem utterly to cut it off from all human access, no path is apparently possible, and its plat- form appears to be without an entrance. But, on coming close, a thread-like way discovers itself where a single per- son can but just pass, the only way which ever existed here, and which struggles up through the great grey stones and the withered brambles, till, close to the top, it widens a little where the castle well, the least ruined thing in this chaotic overthrow, still pierces the ground under a stone mouth, Gate of the Penance, Canossa. and where an arched gate remains in the mouldering and broken wall. It is the gate where the great Emperor sate shivering, fasting, and wailing for three days and nights. CANOSSA. 229 " It was towards the end of January. The earth was covered with snow, and the mountain streams were arrested by the keen frost of the Apennines, when, clad in the thin penitential garment of white linen, and bare of foot, Henry, the descendant of so many kings, and the ruler of so many nations, ascended slowly and alone the rocky path which led to the outer gate of the fortress of Canossa. With strange emotions of pity, of wonder, and of scorn, the assembled crowd gazed on his majestic form and noble features, as, passing through the first and second gateway, he stood in the posture of humiliation before the third, which remained inexorably closed against his further progress. The rising sun found him there fasting ; and there the setting sun left him stiff with cold, faint with hunger, and devoured by shame and ill- suppressed resentment. A second day dawned, and wore tardily away, and closed, in a continuance of the same indignities, poured out on Europe at large in the person of her chief, by the Vicar of the meek, the lowly, and compassionate Redeemer. A third day came, and still irreverently trampling on the hereditary lord of the fairer half of the civilised world, Hildebrand once more compelled him to prolong till nightfall this profane and hollow parody on the real workings of the broken and contrite heart. " Nor was he unwarned of the activity and the strength of the indigna- tion aroused by this protracted outrage on every natural sentiment, and every honest principle, of mankind. Lamentations and reproaches rang through the castle of Canossa. Murmurs from Henry's inveterate enemies and his own zealous adherents, upbraided Gregory as exhibiting rather the cruelty of a tyrant, than the rigour of an apostle. But the endurance of the sufferer was the only measure of the inflexibility of the tormentor ; nor was it till the unhappy monarch had burst away from the scene of his mental and bodily anguish, and sought shelter in a neighbouring convent, that the Pope, yielding at length to the instances of Matilda, would admit the degraded suppliant into his presence. It was the fourth day on which he had borne the humiliating garb of a penitent, and, in that sordid raiment he drew near on his bare feet to the more than imperial Majesty of the Church, and prostrated himself, in more than servile deference, before the diminutive and emaciated old man, 'from the terrible glance of whose countenance,' we are told, 'the eye of every beholder recoiled as from the lightning.' Hunger, cold, nakedness, and shame, had, for the moment, crushed the gallant spirit of the sufferer. He wept and cried for mercy, again and again renewing his entreaties, until he had reached the lowest level of abase- ment to which his over enfeebled heart, or the haughtiness of his great antagonist, could depress him. Then, and not till then, did the Pope condescend to revoke the anathema of the Vatican." Sir J. Stephens. 230 ITALIAN CITIES. There is no beauty in Canossa, but it is an extraordinary place and well worth the great trouble of getting there, for in summer the heat on the arid rocks must be quite as trying as the struggle through the snow in winter. CHAPTER XXXIV. REGGIO AND MODENA. IT is if hr. by quick train (6 frs. 85 c. ; 5 frs. 50 c.) from Parma to Modena. The country is exceedingly rich and luxuriant. " Here, they twine the vines around trees, and let them trail along the hedges ; and the vineyards are full of trees, regularly planted for this purpose, each with its own vine twining and clustering around it. Their leaves in autumn are of the brightest gold and deepest red, and never was there anything so enchantingly graceful and full of beauty. Through miles of these delightful forms and colours, the road winds its way. The wild festoons ; the elegant wreaths, and crowns, and gar- lands of all shapes ; the fairy nets flung over the great trees, and making them prisoners in sport ; the tumbled heaps and mounds of exquisite shapes upon the ground ; how rich and beautiful they are ! And every now and then, a long, long line of trees, will be all bound and garlanded together : as if they had taken hold of one another, and were coming dancing down the field ! " Dickens. Half an hour takes us from Parma to Reggio (Inn. La Posta), occupying the site of the ancient Regium Lepidum. In the i zth century it was a Republic under the Visconti and Gonzagas, but in 1409, under Niccol6 d'Este, was united to Modena. The town is dull and uniform, and, like Parma, is divided into two parts by the Via Emilia. In the centre is the Cat/i fdral, of the isth century. At the entrance are recum- 232 ITALIAN CITIES. bent statues of Adam and Eve by the native artist Prospero dementi, 1561. In the interior: Left, 1st Chapel. Tomb of P. Clementi with his bust, by his pupil Pacchione. Chapel left of Choir. Tomb of a Bishop, by Bartol. Spanus, 1508. Choir. SS. Prospero, Maximus, and Catherine, by P. Clementi; also a bronze group of Christ Triumphant at the high altar. Chapel right of Choir. Tomb of Bishop Ugo Rangoni, 1562, by P. Clenienti. Westward from the Cathedral is the Church of La Ma- donna della Ghiaja, a Greek cross, with five cupolas, designed by Balbi in 1597. The interior is covered with frescoes (1620 1640) by the inferior artists of the Bolognese school, who had studied under the Caracci, Lionello Spada, Tiarini, Luca Ferrari of Reggio, &c. West from this, is the Church of S. Prospero, in front of which stand six marble lions which once supported its Lom- bard portico. In the interior are frescoes by Campi, Tiarini, Procaccini, &c. The famous " Notte " of Correggio, now at Dresden, was painted for one of the chapels of this church. Ariosto was bom at Reggio in 1474. On the whole, Reggio is not the least worth stopping to see. (About 20 m. from Reggio on the road to Mantua is Guastalla, a small unimportant cathedral town. It was a Countship of the Torelli from 1406 to 1509, and afterwards belonged to the Gonzagas. With Parma and Piacenza it formed the sovereignty of Maria Louisa. In the piazza is a bronze statue of Ferrante Gonzaga I. by Leone Leoni.) Half an hour more brings us to Modena. HISTORY OF MODENA. 233 (Inns. Albergo Reale, Corso Canale Grande ; S. Marco, Corso di Via Emilia; Mondatora, Contrada della Mondatora. Carriages, the course, 70 c. , night, I fr. ; with 2 horses, 90 c., night, I fr. 2Oc. ; I hour, I fr. 10 c., night, I fr. 40 c. ; with 2 horses, I fr. 70 c., night, 2 fr. ; each succeeding hour, with I horse, 50 c. x with 2 horses, 80 c. Omnibus, 20 c., each box 20 c., each bag 10 c. Post-office, between the University and the Porta Bologna.) Modena, the ancient Mutina, called by Cicero " firmis- sima et splendidissima colonia," was the earliest Roman colony in these parts. Like Parma it was celebrated for its wool " Sutor cerdo dedit tibi, culta Bononia, munus ; Fullo dedit Mutinae." Martial, iii. Ep. 59. In the time of S. Ambrose it was so reduced, as to be described by him as only the corpse of a city. In the Middle Ages, it again flourished, though constantly the scene of conflicts between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Obizzo d'Este obtained the chief power in 1288, and bequeathed it to his descendants. In 1452 Bono d'Este was created Duke of Modena by the Emperor Frederick III., and to this, the Dukedom of Ferrara was added by Pope Paul II. Duke Hercules I. (1471 1505) and his son Alfonso I. (husband of Lucrezia Borgia) were the patrons of Ariosto. Alfonso II. (1558 1597) was the patron celebrated by Tasso " Tu magnanimo Alfonso, il qual ritogli Al furor di fortuna, e guidi in porto Me peregrino errante, e fra gli scogli E fra 1' onde agitato, e quasi assorto ; Queste mie carte in lieta fronte accogli Che quasi in voto a te sacrate i' porto." Gents, Lib. i. 4. On the death of this Duke, without children, his dominions of Reggio and Modena passed to his connection Cesare 234 ITALIAN CITIES. d'Este (natural grandson of Alfonso I.), but he was expelled from Ferrara by Pope Clement VIII. The wife of Cesare was Virginia dei Medici, daughter of the Grand-duke Cosimo I., by his second marriage with Camilla de' Martelli. He was succeeded in 1628 by his son Alfonso III., who, after the death of his wife Isabella of Savoy, was so heart-broken that he retired into a Capuchin convent in the Tyrol, leav- ing his dominions to his son Francesco III. In the reign of this prince the historian Muratori (ob. 1794) lived at Modena as ducal Librarian. Hercules III., who died at Treviso in 1803, was the last sovereign of the house of Este, and lost his dominions at the Peace of Luneville. His pretensions were transferred to the Archduke Ferdinand (third son of the Emperor of Austria), who had married his only daughter Beatrix, and who died in 1806. His son was Francesco IV., who, when driven out of his country, fled to Vienna and was restored by the aid of Austrian troops. The government came to an end under his successor Francesco V., when the country proclaimed Victor Em- anuel its ruler in 1859. For a description of the situation of Modena, we may read the lines of Tassoni " Modana siede in una gran pianura, Che da la parte d' austro e d' occidente Cerchia di baize e di scoscese mura Del selvoso apennin la schiena algente ; Apennin ch' ivi tanto a 1' aria pura S' alza a veder nel mare il sol cadente, Che sulla fronte sua cinta di gelo Par che s' incurvi e che riposi il cielo. Da 1' oriente ha le fiorite sponde Del bel Panaro e le sue limpid' acque ; Bologna incontro ; e a la sinistra, 1' onde Dove il figlio del sol gia morto giacque : CATHEDRAL OF MODENA. 235 Secchia ha da 1' aquilon, che si confonde Ne giri che mutar sempre le piacque ; Divora i liti, e d' infeconde arene Semina i prati e le campagne amene. " La Secchia Rapita, st. 8, 9. The town, which is well built, is divided by the Via Emilia. Almost in the centre (close to the Hotels) is the Cathedral, which is one of the most interesting and picturesque build- ing of its time. It was begun in 1099 by the desire of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany, from the designs of one Lan- francus, who is described by an inscription in the choir, as " ingenio clarus, doctus et aptus, operis princeps et rector." In 1 1 08 the church was sufficiently advanced for the body Lions of Mo-.'.ena. of S. Geminianus, the patron saint of Modena, to be deposited there. In 1184 it was consecrated in the presence of Pope Lucius III. 236 ITALIAN CITIES. The west front has a grand porch of two stories high (the upper story containing a tomb), with pillars resting on the backs of the colossal lions which were frequently used, being intended to typify the strength and watchfulness of the Church, but which here are perfectly stupendous in their calm magnitude. The reliefs upon the walls are exceedingly curious, and are perhaps the oldest pieces of sculpture in Northern Italy. "The reliefs on the facade are divided into four groups ; the style is genuinely Romanesque, similar to German works of the same period, and without any touch of Byzantine influence. The three first divisions depict the history of the Creation up to Cain's murder of his brother. We see throughout how the effort after lively expression struggles with the unskilfulness of the chisel. Wonderful, for instance, are the kneel- ing angels, who are supporting the Creator. Equally curious is the action of Adam, who, in his creation, is in the act of prostrating himself before the Lord. In the Fall of Man, they are standing one behind the other ; Eve is looking round towards Adam, who, unconcerned, is biting the apple. In the next scene, where God is reproving the two sinners, the expression of embarrassment in Eve's countenance becomes a broad grin. In the Expulsion from Paradise they are advancing sadly behind one another, covering themselves with fig-leaves, while the left hand supports the head with an expression of intense grief. The influence of northern legends is evidenced in the fourth relief group, which represents the history and death of King Artus. In the principal portal the inner part of the side-posts contains, likewise, in strict Romanesque style, the figures in relief of the Prophets. The ornament, which is full of spirit and beauty, contrasts strikingly with the simple and awkward style of the human figures. Splendid branch-.work covers the pilasters, interspersed with s*mall figures of animals and fantastic crea- tures, sirens, lions, and dragons, all full of sparkling life, and excellently finished. Still more excellent are the arabesques on the main portal of the south side, while the figures of the apostles on the side-posts and the six small scenes on the architrave, though full of life, are just as primitive as the work of the faqade. " Liibke. The west front is 'hemmed in by houses on each side. From under an archway on the right, we enter the pictur- esque Piazza Grande, crowded with stalls of fruit, which the CATHEDRAL OF MOD EN A. 237 market-women hold under matted roofs like sheds. Upon this busy scene looks down the south front of the cathedral, with a porch of red marble, resting on grand lions. Beyond this is an open-air pulpit, decorated with the emblems of the Evangelists. The sculptured frieze round the smaller door on this side, is wonderfully beautiful and delicate. The noble tower, 315 ft. high, is only connected with the church by a cloistered walk. It is called La Ghirlandina, from the sculpture which encircles it like a garland, and it is always regarded as one of the four great towers of Northern Italy. It was partially finished in 1224 and com- pleted in 1319. In the tower is preserved the famous bucket " La Secchia Rapita " which was carried off by the Modenese (the " Geminiani," from their saint) from a fountain at Bologna to the great discomfiture of the " Pe- troniani " or protected of S. Petronio. "Quivi Manfred! in su 1'altar maggiore Pose la Secchia con divozione ; E poi ch' egli, ed il clero, e Monsignore Fecero al santo lunga orazione, Fu levata la notte a le tre ore, dentro una cassetta di' cotone Ne la torre maggior fu riserrata, Dove si trova ancor vecchia e tarlata, Ma la Secchia fu subito portata Nella torre maggior, dove ancor stassi In alto per trofea posta, e legata Con una gran catena a curvi sassi. ' S'entra per cinque porte ov' e guardata, E non e cavalier, che di la passi, Ne pellegrin di conto, il qua! non voglia Veder si degna e gloriosa spoglia. " Tassoni, i. 63. In the Piazzetta at the foot of the tower is a statue of the poet Tassoni (1565 1635) erected in 1860. 238 ITALIAN CITIES. "The Duomo of Modena is Italian, and not French, English, or German. Still it is a form of Italian far less widely removed from French, English, or German work than the style of Pisa or S. Vitale of Ravenna. As at Pisa, the architect seems to have halted between two opinions. The church is cruciform, but the transepts have no projection on the ground-plan ; there are real lantern-arches, not obscured as they are at Pisa, but they do not bear up any central dome or tower. The lantern-arches are pointed; but here, as at Pisa, the pointed form is more likely to be Saracenic than Gothic. Without, three eastern apses, rising from between pinnacles of quite Northern character, group boldly with one of the noblest campaniles in Italy, which is certainly not im- proved by the later addition of a spire. The great doorways rest on lions ; the west front has a noble wheel-window ; the greater part of the outside is lavishly arcaded, but the favourite form of arcading is that of several small arches grouped under a containing arch. ... At Modena we find as genuine a triforium as in any minster in England or Nor- mandy. To be sure its form seems somewhat rude and awkward, as if the containing arch had been crushed by the lofty clerestory above, and eyes familiar with Norman detail may possibly be amazed at the sight of mid- wall shafts, and those of a somewhat rough type, showing themselves in such a position. But the mid- wall shaft is constructively as much in its place in a triforium as it is in a belfry window, and in the whole ele- vation there is nothing lacking ; there are pier-arch, triforium, and clerestory, and the deep splay of the highest range hinders the presence of any continuous blank spaces such as we have seen in the Basilican churches. The capitals are a strange mixture of classical and barbaric forms, and in the alternate piers, supporting the arches which span the nave, we find huge half columns, which form a marked contrast to the tall slender shafts commonly used in like positions in Northern churches. Altogether the cathedral of Modena is strictly an Italian church, yet the approaches to Northern forms are very marked, and they are of a kind which suggests the direct imitation of Northern forms or the employ- ment of Northern architects. " Freeman. The Interior of the cathedral is very stately in effect. " A grand crypt with arches on slender shafts occupies the whole space under the eastern part of the church. The access to the choir from the nave is by stairs against the side walls in the same position as at San Zenone, Verona. Here the stairs and their hand-rails are not later than the thirteenth century, and the choir is divided from the aisles by screens of the same age ; solid below, and with a continuous cornice carried on coupled shafts above. The cathedral is said to have been founded in 1099, but an inscription on the south wall gives the date of CATHEDRAL OF MODENA. 239 the consecration of the building by Pope Lucius III., in July 1184. I believe that the former date represents the age of the plan, and of most of the interior columns and arches still remaining, but that before the later date the whole exterior of the cathedral had been modified, and the groining added inside. The work of both periods is extremely good and characteristic. The columns of the nave are alternately great piers and smaller circular columns of red marble, the great piers carry cross arches between the groining bays, and each of these in the nave is equal to two in the aisles. The capitals here are very close imitations of classical work, with the abaci frequently concave on plan. The main arches and the triforium openings of three lights above them are seen both in the nave and aisles, the vaulting of the latter being unusually raised. There is also a plain clerestory, and the vaults are now every- where quadripartite. The outside elevation of the side walls is very in- teresting. Here we seem to have the old aisle wall with its eaves-arcade added to and raised in the twelfth century, and adorned with a fine deep arcade in each bay, enclosed under round arches, which are carried on half columns in front of the buttresses or pilasters." G. . Street. The pictures are not generally of great importance : Left, 2nd Chapel. A curious terra-cotta Altar of the 1 5th century. yd Chapel. A Gothic Altar-piece, with one of the earliest specimens of Modenese art, a Coronation of the Virgin, &c., by Seraphinus deSeraphi- nis t 1385. I4//4 Chapel. Dosso Dossi, 1536, one of the best works of the master. A Madonna in the clouds with SS. Antony and Pellegrino, and SS. J. Baptist, Sebastian, and Jerome below. Opposite is a beautiful Gothic pulpit by Tommaso Ferri, or Tommaso da Modena, 1 322. In a Niche. Ant. Begarelli, 1521. The Nativity. At the end of the aisle, on right, a richly sculptured Holy-water Bason. Left of the Choir. Tomb of Claudio Rangoni, Count of Castelvetro, ob. 1537. He married Lucretia, daughter of the famous Pico della Mirandola. The tomb was designed by Giulio Romano, as was that of Lucia Rusca Rangoni, mother of Claudio. Here also is the tomb of Francesco Molza the Poet, and (in a chapel) that (by Pisari) of Ercole Rinaldo, last Duke of the House of Este, who was deprived of his dominions by the French, ob. 1803. His only child Mary Beatrix mar- ried the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, and was the grandmother of Francesco V., Duke of Modena. The immense Crypt extends under the whole of the transepts and the three tribunes. S. Geminlano reposes here. Near the altar is a very 240 ITALIAN CITIES. curious coloured terra-cotta group of the Adoration of the Infant Saviour by Mazzoni. At the entrances are four grotesque lions. If we take the cathedral as a centre for exploring the town, we may follow the Contrada della Torre to the Piazza Reale, where stands the vast and handsome Palazzo Ducale, built by Bart. Avanzini for Duke Francesco I. in 1634. Since the revolution by which Modena, from the rank of a capital, degraded itself to that of a third-rate provincial town, this abode of its former princes has in part been used as a mili- tary school. On the further side, however, it retains its Picture Gallery (entrance No. 4, Corso Cavour. Open from 9 to 3. The catalogue is useless and the names are under the pictures). There are very few important pictures the great names given being frequently false. We may notice : 2nd Hall. ENTRANCE WALL : 30. Baldovinettil (1138-1466). Madonna. Bernabo da Modena, 1370. Madonna and Crucifixion. LEFT WALL : 36. Francesco Francia. Annunciation. 37. Luigi Angussola da Cremona, 1512. Baptism of Christ. WALL OF EXIT : 39. F. Francia. Assumption. 42. Lorenzo Bicci, 1400 1460. Madonna and Child. 43. Filippo Lippi. Madonna and Child with S. John. 44. Antonio Veneziano (1309 1383). Annunciation. 46. Bart. Bonasia da Modena, 1485. Christ in the tomb between the Virgin and S. John the Evangelist. " Interesting from its powerful colouring." It is signed " Hoc opus pinxit Bar tolomeus de Bonasciis. " 50. Francesco Caroto, 1501. Madonna sewing a little shirt. There is a background of lemon-trees. The Infant Saviour pulls at the veil of the Madonna. PINACOTECA OF BOLOGNA. 241 RIGHT WALL : 5 2. Spinello Aretino ( 1 308 1 389) . Marriage of a Knight yd Hall. On the ceiling is a medallion of the Rape of Ganymede, on linen, by Correggio, transported by the Duke of Modena from the Gonzaga castle of Novellara, 66. 67, 71, 78, 83, 88, 89, 94, 95 to 100. Niccolb Abbate da Modena. A series of scenes from the yEneid, brought from the Bojardi castle of Scandiano, together with several landscapes by the same master. 66. Correggio. Cherub from a ceiling at Novellara. 107. Niccolb Abbate. Eight medallions from Scandiano, representing Count Matteo Maria Boiardo with figures singing and playing. 4//fc Hall (Venetian School). On the ceiling five scenes from Ovid by Tintoret. ENTRANCE WALL: 117. Titian. " La Moretta," a portrait of a woman with a Moor- ish boy. 1 13. Paul Veronese. A Warrior. LEFT WALL : 125. Paris Bordone. The Coming of the Magi. 127. Gio. Bellini. (?) Madonna and S. Sebastian. 129. Palma Vecchio. Holy Family. RIGHT WALL : 141. Bonifazio. The Adoration of the Magi a grand and beau- tiful picture. 143. Cima da Conegiiano. The Deposition from the Cross, "executed , for Alberto Pio of Carpi, a well-known admirer of the works of Cima." Crowe. The deep woe in the face of the Ma- donna, who has fainted, is very striking. S//i Hall. ENTRANCE WALL : 149. Guido Keni. The Crucifixion a poor specimen of the master. \V.\i.i. OF EXIT: 164. Lod. Caracci. Assumption. VOL. II. 1 6 242 ITALIAN CITIES. 6th Hall (School of Ferrara). ENTRANCE WALL : 1 72. Garofalo. The Crucifixion. 176. Dosso Dossi (1480 1560). The Nativity. 178. Id. Hercules II., Duke of Ferrara.., WINDOW WALL: 189. Garofalo. Madonna with S. Contardo d'Este, the Baptist, and S. Lucia. 190. Id. Madonna and Saints. *I9I. Dosso Dossi. Alfonso L, Duke of Ferrara a magnificent portrait. WALL OF EXIT : 192. Girolamo Carpi. Alfonso II., Duke of Ferrara. 193. Dosso Dossi. A laughing figure grand in colour. >]th Hall (Bolognese School). ENTRANCE WALL : 205. Mich. Ang. Cara-uaggio. Drinking Soldier. LEFT WALL : 207. Guercino. Amnon and Tamar. 206. Id. Venus and Mars. 2IO. Francesco Albani. Aurora. 239. Lod. Lana da Modena (1597 1646). Clorinda and Tancred. WINDOW WALL : 218. Guercino. Portrait of Cardinal Mazzarin. Zth Hall. LEFT WALL : 251. Paul Potter. A Peasant's Cottage. 9 M Hall. WALL OF ENTRANCE : 298. Bern. Luini. (?) The Saviour. 297. Falsely attributed to Andrea del Sarto. Hall. ENTRANCE WALL : : 335. Ippolito Scarsellini, 1551 1621. The Nativity. PINACOTECA OF MOD EN A. 243 337. G. C. Procacdni, 1616. The Circumcision. 341. Guerdno. The Preparation for the Crucifixion of S. Peter. 348. Lionello Spada. Masquerade. LEFT WALL : 355. Gttercino, 1 650." Marriage of S. Catherine. A beautiful picture. OPPOSITE WALL : 363. Lionello Spada. Vision of S. Francis. 370. Niccott dalle Pomerance (1519 1591). Crucifixion. 375. Guido Rent. S. Roch in prison. n f A Hall (School of Modena). LEFT WALL : 404. Gaspare Pagani da Modena. Marriage of S. Catherine the only known picture of the artist WALL OF EXIT : 418. Abbate Pietro Paolo da Modena (1592 1630). The Presentation in the Temple. 419. Ercole Sette da Modena (1575) Coronation of the Virgin. 420. Munari da Modena (1480 1523), a pupil of Raffaelle. The Nativity. itfh Hall. ENTRANCE WALL : 123. Giorgione.^) (More likely Palma Vecchio). A portrait 458. Gerard David von Brugge. S. Christopher a copy from the Memling at Munich. RIGHT WALL : 471. Giro/. Moceto. 1480. His own Portrait WALL OF EXIT : 488. Attributed to Raphael, but by an indifferent pupil of Perugino. Madonna and Child with two angels. The Passage leading to the library is filled with a very interesting collection of Drawings by the Old Masters. The Biblioteca Estense was brought from Ferrara by Cesare d'Este. West of the Palace are the dull Giardini Pubblici. 244 ITALIAN CITIES. From these we may descend the Corso Canale Grande to (right) the Church of S. Vincenzo, which contains sepulchral memorials of the ducal family, especially (in the right tran- sept) the tomb, by Mainoni, of Maria Beatrix, wife of Fran- cesco IV. Passing (right) the University, founded 1683, we reach (left at the south-east angle of the town) the Church of S. Pietro, the earliest building in Modena. The fa9ade is richly adorned with terra-cotta. The interior (spoilt by hideous modern painting) has five aisles, the centre with round arches, the side aisles pointed. It contains : * Right, yd Altar. Dosso Dossi. Assumption. The Virgin with the Dead Christ a grand and solemn picture. Right Transept. Antonio Begarelli. 1532. A curious terra-cotta group (in perspective) ,of the Madonna in glory, with a group of saints beneath. Chapel Right of Choir. Antonio Begarelli. Four terra-cotta figures bewailing the dead Christ. " The Madonna is sustained by S. John as she kneels by the dead body of our Lord, whose head rests upon the lap of Nicodemus. The mourners are absorbed by one feeling, their draperies are well managed, and the head of S. John especially is full of sentiment. " Perkins 1 Italian Sculptors. Against the pillars of the central aisle are terra-cotta statues. From here we may cross the town to at its south-west angle the Gothic, Church of S. Francesco, which contains : Chapel left of Choir. Ant. Begarelli. A very remarkable deposition in terra-cotta. "Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea with two other persons are re- presented in the act of detaching the body of our Lord from the cross, at whose base the Virgin swoons in the arms of the three Marys. SS. Anthony of Padua and Jerome stand at the foot of the two side crosses, and SS. Francis and John the Baptist kneel near them in ecstatic con- templation. By far the most striking feature in the composition is the central group of women, one of whom supports the head, while the other two hold up the drooping hands of the Virgin, whose attitude is one of complete abandonment, and whose face wears that expression of suffering S. GIOVANNI DECOLLATO. 245 which the features sometimes retain while consciousness is suspended. Had this group been painted by Correggio, it would have ranked as a masterpiece, but owing to its fluttering and complicated draperies, and the hasty action of the women who seem to have turned from the Cruci- fied just in time to receive the fainting form of His mother, it is bad in sculpture. " Perkins. Mounting the wall at the adjacent Porta S. Francesco, we may follow the Passeggio Pubblico to the Porta S. Agostino, near the vast Piazza d'Armi, where, in the Piazzale di S. Agostino, is the Church of S. Maria Pomposa. It contains a Pieta of Begarelli. Left of the High Altar is the tomb of Carlo Sigonius, 1524 1584, and close by, in the pavement, the grave of Lud. Ant. Muratori, the historian. There is a monument to him in the side-porch, and his statue adorns a neighbouring piazza. Close to the church is the Museo Lapidario with a collection of ancient sarcophagi and in- scriptions. The Church of S. Giovanni Decollate may be visited for the sake of 11 The Mortorio, by Guide Mazztmi, called II Modanino after his birth- place, and II Paganino after his grandfather. The dead body of our Lord lies upon the ground ; the Madonna, a weeping old woman, who kneels on one knee at the foot of the cross behind the body of her son, is supported by the beloved disciple, and by the Magdalen, who leans for- ward with dishevelled hair and distorted features, as if screaming in an agony of grief. S. Joseph sits at the head of the body stretching out his hands towards it, and several of the disciples are grouped around. The startling effect of these coloured life-sized figures, robed in heavy but carefully arranged draperies, modelled with no small skill, may easily be imagined. " Perkins. CHAPTER XXXV. BOLOGNA. '"T^HREE quarters of an hour in quick train (4 frs. 90 c. ; -L 3 frs. 90 c.) brings us from Modena to Bologna. (Inns. S. Marco, excellent and reasonable. Albergo Brun, good. Del Pellegrino. Italia. Banker. Neri, Pal. Fava, Strada Galliera. Post-office. Selciata di S. Francesco to the left of the hotels. Carriages, from the station to the hotels, with one horse, I fr. ; 2 horses, 2^ frs. In the town, 75 centimes the course, I J fr. the hour. With 2 horses I fr. the course, 2 frs. the hour ; for each half-hour beyond, I fr. To S. Michele in Bosco i^, or, with 2 horses, 3 frs.) Bologna had its origin in Felsina, which is mentioned by Pliny as the chief of the Etruscan cities (" princeps Etru- rise ") north of the Apennines. It became a Roman colony in B.C. 189, under the name of Bononia. St. Ambrose (Ep. 39) speaks of it as much decayed in the 4th century. But after the fall of the Roman empire it seems to have regained its importance. In mediaeval times it was one of the fore- most cities in the Guelphic cause, and became especially distinguished in the war of 1249, which followed upon the event of " La Secchia Rapita." King Enzius, the Ghibelline chieftain, was taken prisoner by the Bolognese in the battle of Fossalto, and incarcerated for the remaining 23 years of his life. in the palace of the Podesta. In the i3th century the city was distracted by the feuds of the Gieremei family with HISTORY OF BOLOGNA. 247 that of the Lambertazzi, the former being Guelphs, the latter Ghibellines. Pope Nicholas III. was called in as mediator and the chief power rested with the Popes, till a revolution in 1334, under Taddeo Pepoli, who seized the government of Bologna, which he afterwards sold to the Visconti. The feuds between the Visconti and the Popes gave a handle to the powerful clan of Bentivoglio of which so many memorials remain in the city who seized and administered the government in the Pope's name. But their almost in- dependent rule excited the jealousy of Julius II., who de- stroyed their palaces and exiled their family. Bologna was long considered as the second city in the Papal States, but under the rule of the Popes retained the management of its finances, the election of its magistrates, and the adminis- tration of its laws, that is to say, the essential forms of a republic. It resisted every encroachment upon its privi- leges, and not unfrequently expelled the papal legates when inclined to overstrain the prerogatives of office. This guard- ed and conditional dependence produced at Bologna all the advantages that accompany liberty ; industry, commerce, plenty, population, knowledge, and refinement.* Burke, in speaking of the state of Bologna under the papal rule before the French invasion, calls it "the free, fertile, and happy city and state of Bologna, the cradle of re- generated law, the seat of sciences and of arts, the chosen spot of plenty and delight." Very different has been the state of the city since its annexation, in 1860, to the new kingdom of Victor Emanuel. It still however retains its reputation as the most intellectual of Italian towns, and has an agreeable society of well-informed resident nobility See Eustace'* Classical Tour. 248 ITALIAN CITIES. The palaces formerly contained very fine collections of pictures, but, since the owners have become impoverished by the taxations of the present government, these have, for the most part, been dispersed. " The two grand features of the Bolognese character, are formed by the two most honourable passions that can animate the human soul the love of knowledge, and the love of liberty ; passions which predom- inate through the whole series of their history, and are justly expressed on their standard, where ' Libertas ' (Liberty) blazes in golden letters in the centre, while 'Bononia docet' (Bologna distributes knowledge) waves in embroidery down the borders." Eustace. No one will visit Bologna without wishing to know some- thing of its famous School of Painting. Its founder is said by Malvasia to have been Franco, a miniaturist celebrated by Dante, but all his works have perished. His more re- markable pupils were Lorenzo, and Vitale (1320), surnamed Delle Madonne, from his success in painting the Virgin ; Jacopo Avanzi ; and Lippo Dalmasio, also Delle Madonne, To these succeeded, as if inspired by the pictures of Peru- gino, which first appeared about that time, the glorious Francesco Francia, 1490 1538. Of the pupils who followed in his steps, the chief were his son Giaconio Francia, Amico and Guido Aspertini, and Lorenzo Costa. Innocenza da Imola and Bagnacavallo were also his pupils, but afterwards exchanged his style for that of Mariotto Albertinelli, under whom they studied at Florence. The style of Michael Angelo was afterwards to a certain extent engrafted upon the Bolognese school by Francesco Primaticcio, Niccolb Abate, and Pellegrino Tibaldi. These painters were followed by Lorenzo Sabbatini, Orazio Fumacchini, Lainnia Fontana, and Passerotto. In the latter part of the i6th century, when the works of Correggio were in highest repute, the importance of the THE SCHOOL OF BOLOGNA. 249 Bolognese school, which had long been waning, was revived under the Caracci. Of these, the greatest was undoubtedly Lodovico (1555 1619), who, after a long course of study under Titian and Tintoret at Venice, and from the works of Correggio and Parmigianino at Parma, began to compete with the old school, introducing a new style of his own, and for that purpose formed a party among the rising pupils at Bologna. Of these the most important were his own two cousins, Agostino (1558 i6oi)and Annibale (1560 1609) sons of a tailor at Bologna. The extraordinary genius of the Caracci, and their temper and judgment, speedily filled their school, and amongst their pupils were Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri), Francesco Albani (1578 1660), and Guido Rent (1575 1642), in whose time Bologna attained its greatest celebrity. Guido had many pupils and suc- cessors, of whom Stmenzi, Domenico Canuti, Guido Cagnacci, Simone Cantarini, Gio. Andrea Sirani and his daughter Elizabetta, are the best known. Among other celebrated followers of the Caracci were, Guercino (Gio. Francesco Barbieri), 1590 1666; Giovanni Lanfranco, 1581 1647; Giacomo Cavedone; Lionello Spada; Alessandro Tiarini ; and Lucio Mazzari. Dionysius Calvaert (II Fiammingo) was a contemporary of the Caracci, but their most zealous opponent The works of Lodovico Caracci especially ought not to be judged anywhere except at Bologna or Parma. Here no one can fail to acknowledge their grandeur. "The three Caracci may be almost said to define the boundaries of the golden age of painting in Italy. They are her last sovereign mas- ters, unless we are^willing to admit a few of their select pupils, who extended that period during the space of some years. Excellent mas- ters, doubtless, flourished subsequently ; but after their decease, the 250 ITALIAN CITIES. powers of such artists appearing less elevated and less solid, we begin to hear complaints respecting the decline of art." Lanzi. The pictures are the chief attraction of Bologna, but there is much to be admired in its picturesque old buildings, and curious piazzas, with their relics of mediaeval architec- ture and sculpture; and delightful excursions may be made into the lower ranges of the Apennines, which are most beautiful when the woods with which they are covered are glowing with the scarlet tints of autumn. " Bologna is emphatically the city of columns. Every street has its long shady arcades, with capitals often richly wrought ; and to the west of the town a colonnade of three miles in length, built at different times by the liberality of various individuals and societies among the citizens, leads up to the church of La Madonna della Guardia. This fancy for colonnades has made Bologna a very picturesque city, and renders its exploration much more pleasant to the traveller, who is enabled to pass from church to church in the shade. " Dean Alford. " To enter Bologna at midnight is to plunge into the depths of the middle ages. "Those desolate sombre streets, those immense dark arches, those endless arcades where scarce a foot-fall breaks the silence, that labyrinth of marble, of stone, of antiquity : the past alone broods over them alL "As you go it seems to you that you see the gleam of a snowy plume, and the shine of a rapier striking home through cuirass and doublet, whilst on the stones the dead body falls, and high above over the lamp- iron, where the torch is flaring, a casement uncloses, and a woman's hand drops a rose to the slayer, and a woman's voice murmurs, with a cruel little laugh, ' Cosa fatta capo ha ! ' " There is nothing to break the spell of the old world enchantment. Nothing to recall to you that the ages of Bentivoglio and the Visconti have fled for ever. " Pascarel. Two or three days may be most advantageously given to the town, where the traveller will find every comfort in the hotels. Modena and Ferrara may also be pleasantly visited in the day from Bologna, but Ravenna has too much of interest, and richly deserves a separate visit. Most of the churches in Bologna itself contain some object worth seeing, PIAZZA NETTUNO. 251 but the sights which should on no account be left unvisited are, the Piazza Maggiore and S. Petronio, the Leaning Towers, the pictures in S. Giacomo and S. Cecilia, the University, the Pinacoteca, the Portico of the Servi, the extraordinary Church of S. Stefano, and the tomb of S. Domenic in S. Domenico, with its adjoining piazza. Besides these build- ings in the town, no one should fail to see La Madonna di Mezzaratta, and to ascend the hill to the Church of S. Michele in Bosco, and the magnificent view from the garden of what was the Papal Palace. Most travellers will also consider the Campo Santo well worth visiting. S. Luca may be omitted if S. Michele is seen. It should be re- membered that the smaller churches are seldom open after 12 o'clock. The principal hotels are all close together and in the best situation. We shall therefore take them as a centre. Turning to the right from the hotels (S. Marco or Brun), and skirting the walls of the Zecca or Mint, with its huge machicolations, built in 1578 by Dom. Tibaldi, we are almost immediately amid the group of buildings which form both the historic and the actual centre of the city. The open spaces, used as markets, and crowded with picturesque figures, with their brilliant stalls shaded by great red and blue umbrellas, are surrounded by a succession of mag- nificent buildings, rugged indeed and unfinished as most Italian buildings are, but stupendous in their forms, grand in their proportions, and, from the rich and varied colouring of their dark brown roofs, grey walls, and brilliant orange window-blinds, well worthy of an artist's sketch-book. The first portion of the square on the right is called Piazza Nettuno. On its right is the Palazzo Pubblico, on 252 ITALIAN CITIES. its left the Palazzo del Podesta, and, in the centre, the famous fountain, surmounted by the celebrated Statue of Neptune, executed in 1564 by Giovanni da Bologna* which is, as Vasari calls it, " a most beautiful work, studied and executed to perfection." The marble sculpture below is by Antonio Lupi. All the surroundings are grandiose to the last degree, and make one smile to remember to what buildings one is accustomed to apply such epithets as " magnificent " in England. The Palazzo Pubblico, formerly Apostolico, begun in 1300, is adorned on the outside with a Madonna in terra-cotta by Nicolo deir Area, and a bronze statue of Gregory XIII., who was a native of Bologna, by Alessandro Menganti (1580). In 1796, in order to preserve it from the revolutionists, the tiara was removed and it was turned into a statue of S. Petronius, the patron of the city. To the right of this is a beautiful range of terra-cotta arches, now filled in with brick- work. If we enter the palace, we shall find a magnificent stair- case a cordoni, a work of Bramante, which leads to the great ante-chamber called the Hall of Hercules, from a colossal model of a seated statue by Alfonso Lombardi of Ferrara. Several of the other rooms are interesting. The Sala Farnese (so called from a bronze statue of Paul III.) has frescoes relating to the history of Bologna by Carlo Cignani, Scara- muccia, Pasinelli, and others. The ante-chamber of the 2nd floor has a beautiful door decorated with the arms of Julius III. In the third court is a fountain by Francesco Terribilia. The Palazzo del Podesta was begun in 1201, and was worked at with such diligence that its beautiful tower Tor- * He was a native of Douai in Flanders. PALAZZO DEL PODESTA. 253 razzo dell' Aringo was finished in 1264. The fa$ade was added in 1485 under Bartolomeo Fioravanti. The sculpture of its pillars and the richly-wrought iron-work are of great beauty. Pope John XXIII. was elected (1410) in the great hall called Sala del Re Enzio. On the upper staircase leading to the Archivio is a curious picture of the Annunciation by the rare master, Jacopo di Pooh Avanzi. The archives are of great interest and importance, and con- tain among their treasures the Bull Spiritus Sanctus of Eugenius IV. (July 6, 1439) for the union of the Greek and Latin Churches. Amongst those who have inhabited this vast old palace, the chief interest hangs around the unfortunate King Enzius (son of the emperor Frederick II.), who was imprisoned here from 1249 to 1272. " In a skirmish before the city Eniio was wounded and taken prisoner. Implacable Bologna condemned him to perpetual imprisonment. All the entreaties to which his father humbled himself ; all his own splendid promises that for his ransom he would gird the city with a ring of gold, neither melted nor dazzled the stubborn animosity of the Guelfs ; a captive at the age of twenty-four, this youth, of beauty equal to his bravery the poet, the musician, as well as the most valiant soldier and consummate captain pined out twenty-three years of life, if not in a squalid dungeon, in miserable inactivity. Romance, by no means improbable, has darkened his fate. The passion of Lucia Biadagoli, the most beautiful and high-born maiden in Bologna, for the captive, and her efforts to release him, were equally vain : once he had almost escaped, concealed in a cask ; a lock of his bright hair betrayed the secret." Milman, Hist, of Latin Christianity. Beneath this vast old pile are four arched corridors, paved ruggedly like streets, and occupied by vendors of small wares. At the centre, where they meet, are terra-cotta statues of the four saintly protectors of Bologna by Alfonso 254 ITALIAN CITIES. Lombardo* Artists will not fail to admire the exquisite effect of the beautiful fountain of Giovanni with its jets of silvery spray shooting up against the rich colour of the opposite palace, as seen through the deep shadow of one of these dark arcades. The wider part of the square towards which the Palazzo Podesta faces, is the Piazza Maggiore (now sometimes foolishly called Vittorio Emanuele). On the right, is the Portico del Banchi, arranged (1562) by the great architect Vignola, and containing some of the best shops in the town a cloistered walk with the most charming effects of perspective imaginable. In the Residenza del Notari, which opens from the portico, a building of the i3th century, Rolandino Passeggieri acted as pro-consul. The chapel contains a Madonna by Bart. Passerotti, and a diploma of Frederick III., 1462 (confirmed by a bull of Julius II.), conferring the singular power of legitimatizing natural children ! The noble church which reigns over the piazza is the Basilica of S. Petronio, the most important ecclesiastical building in Bologna. It was begun on the most colossal scale by Antonio Vineenzi in 1388, 'what we now see being only the nave and aisles of the original design, according to which its length would have been 750 feet, 136 more than that of S. Peter's at Rome. Unfinished as it is, the facade with its marble platform and huge basement is excessively grand, and its details deserve the most careful examination. Many of the most There are a vast number of the works of Alfonso Lombardo in Bologna, who was much patronized while here by Charles V. He made himself exceedingly unpopular by his vanity, and was eventually driven out of Bologna by the ridicule excited, when he was overheard saying at a ball, with an amorous sigh to a great Bolognese lady " S'amor non e, che dunque 6 quel ch'io sento :> " If it is not love that I feel, what is it ? " to which she answered " E'sera qualche pidocchio " " Perhaps it is a louse ! " S. PETRONIO. 255 famous architects of the i4th and i$th century have laboured at it ; Paolo di Bonasuto in 1394, who executed several of the half-length figures of saints ; Giacomo della Quercia in 1429, by whom are [the reliefs round the central doorway, which are of marvellous beauty ; and in their footsteps followed Alfonso Lombardo(\$2o), Niccotb Tribolo, and many others. Over the principal entrance the famous bronze statue, by Michael Angelo, of Julius II. was erected in 1508. The Pope was represented seated, with the keys and a sword in his left hand and his right hand raised " to bless or to curse ?" asked the warrior-pope, " to teach the Bolognese to be reasonable," replied the sculptor. The statue only existed for three years, then it was destroyed by the people and sold as old metal to the Duke of Ferrara, who made out of it the cannon called " Julian." Though injured in effect by paint and whitewash, the In- terior of S. Petronio is sublimely beautiful in its proportions, and reminds the traveller of the pure Gothic north of the Alps. From the great nave, a vast number of chapels open on either side, immense in themselves. S. Petronio has been compared to the universal Church of Christ, in which many separate churches exist, and hold their own services quite distinct, none having any share with its neighbour, though all with the same end in view, and all diverging from one great common centre. Charles V. was crowned here by Clement VII., Sep. 24, 1530. On the right and left of the great door are the tombs of Bishop Beccadelli, and Cardinal Lazzaro Pallavicini. Making the round of the church from the right, we find : 1st Chapd. /fans Ferrabeck. Madonna della Pace. 2nd Chaptl (of the Pepoli family). Two frescoes on the side-walls 256 ITALIAN CITIES. of Madonnas with Saints by Lttca di Peruxa, a Bolognese master, signed 1431 and 1457. yd Chapel. Amico Aspertini (1519). A Pieta in tempera. The monument of Cardinal Carlo Oppizzoni, Archbishop of Bologna for 53 years, who left all his fortune to the charities of the city. 4//4 Chapel. Stained glass by the Beato Jacopo (of Ulm), 1407 1491. The beautiful marble rails are by Vignola. 6th Chapel. Lorenzo Costa. S. Jerome injured. 7th Chapel of the Relics quite a Museum. 8//fc Chapel (of the Malvezzi Campeggi), by Vignola, the stall work is by Raffaelle da Brescia. 9//4 Chapel. Jacopo Sansovino. Statue of S. Antonio. On the walls the miracles of the saint are painted in chiaro-scuro by Girolamo Pen- nacchi da Trevigi. \\thChapel. Nicoclb Tribolo. A relief of the Assumption. The two angels on the right and left are by Properzia de 1 Rossi. We now reach the Sacristy, which contains 22 pictures of the life of S. Petronio by different artists. The Baldacchino is from a design by Terribilia. The fresco of the Madonna and S. Petronio, with the town of Bologna, is by Franceschini. Opposite to the entrance of the Sacristy is that of the halls of the Reverenda Fabbrica (the workshop of the church), which contain many interesting designs for the unfinished facade by the great architects of the time Palladio, Peruzzi, Giulio Romano, Vignola, &c. The most interesting of the sculptures preserved here are those of the unhappy Properzia dei Rossi (so greatly extolled by Vasari), who died of unre- quited love during the coronation of Charles VII., just when Pope Clement VII., struck by her genius, had decided to give her an honour- able appointment at Rome. They include the bust of Count Guido Pepoli, executed as a proof of her skill when competing to be allowed to work in the bas-reliefs of the great doorway ; and a relief of Poti- phar's wife, which is considered to be her master-piece. Returning by the left aisle of the church : I4//5 Chapel. Dion Calvaert (Fiammingo). The Archangel Michael. A beautiful iron railing of the I5th century. i$th Chapel. Parmegianino. S. Roch. *l6th Chapel. Lorenzo Costa (1492). S. Anne and the Virgin en- throned, with saints. The stained glass is from designs of Costa. Here are the tombs of Eliza Bacciochi, sister of Napoleon I., and her husband. l%th Chapel. Francesco Cossa. Martyrdom of S. Sebastian. The frescoes of the Annunciation and the 12 Apostles are by Lorenzo Costa. ANTICO ARCIHGINNASIO. 257 The stall work is by Aqostino da Crema. The enamelled tiles are ol 1487. On the pillar beyond this chapel is a very curious ancient wooden statue of S. Petronio. He was Bishop and Patron Saint of the town, and is represented in the latter character in the great Pieta of Guido. He died a natural death Oct. 4, 430, having been chiefly distinguished for banishing the Arians from Bologna. igtA Chapel (Bolognini), of 1392, which has a screen of red and white marble, is the oldest part of the church. The frescoes, which are very curious, are attributed by Vasari to Buffalmacco. 2ist Chapel, was gaily modernized to receive the head of S. Petronio, removed by Benedict XIV. from S. Stefano. The four ancient Crosses in this church have been brought here from different quarters of the town. That near the clock bears the name " Petrus Alberici," and the date 1159. " Tradition says that these crosses were erected near the old gates by S. Petronius, in the 5th century. One of them is particularly interesting on account of its sculptures, and because the names of Petrus Albericus and his father who made it are recorded in one of its inscriptions. At the back of t this cross Christ is represented in a mandorla, supported by the three Archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, holding the book of the new law open upon his knee, and giving the benediction with his right hand. Upon the front, Christ crucified holds this dialogue with his mother : ' My son,' she says to him ; and he, ' What, mother?' Q. 'Are you God?' A. 'I am.' Q. ' Why do you hang (upon the cross)?' A. 'That mankind may not perish.'" Perkins' Italian Sculptors. On the Pavement is the meridian line of Giov. Dom. Cassini, 1653. Behind S. Petronio, on the left of the arcade, is the Public Library, formerly the Antico Archiginnasio (open on week days from 10 to 4). It was built by Terribilia in 1562. The court is most brilliant in colour, its colonnades being completely covered with armorial bearings of former professors of the University. From hence opens the Chapel, covered with frescoes of the Life of the Virgin by Bart. Cesi. The altar-piece of the Annunciation is by Dion. Calvaert. In the upper floor are a long series of halls filled with books, and decorated with armorial bearings of dis- tinguished students, producing altogether a beautiful and VOL. ii. 17 258 ITALIAN CITIES. harmonious effect of colour. Beyond these is the Museum, containing an admirable collection of Egyptian and Etruscan antiquities, bequeathed by Cav. Pelagio Pelagi. But most interesting is the collection of Etruscan antiquities of great importance, discovered in 1870 at Bologna itself, when digging the foundations of a house near the Campo Santo. They have all been removed and brought hither with great care, and comprise a number of monumental stones of very curious forms, and sculptured in low relief (one of them, of a dead man received by a good Genius, of wonderful beauty), a number of perfect skeletons of people who lived 2500 years ago the ladies in several cases still wearing their bracelets, and with their bottles of perfume by their sides, the children having whole services of little cups and saucers, in some of which egg-shells &c. remain, a noble bronze cista, and a great variety of candelabra, vases, and jewels. To the student of Etruscan antiquities this collection will prove quite invaluable. On the other side of the Piazza Nettuno is the Cathedral of S. Pietro, a dull edifice of the iyth century, with an ancient campanile. The interior, which is of Corinthian architecture, contains : Right, 2nd Chapel. The skull of S. Anna, given by Henry VI. of England to the Blessed Niccolo Albergato. On the arch above the high-altar. Lodovico Caracci. The Annunci- ation. Lanzi mentions that the artist died of grief on discovering that he had made a fault in the foot of this Madonna, which he was not allowed to rectify. The Holy- Water Basons are supported by marble lions which pro- bably upheld the portico of the earlier church. They are ascribed to Ventura da Bologna. In the Crypt is a curious group of the Maries mourning over the dead Christ, by Alfonso Lombardo. Behind the cathedral, with a tall mediaeval tower on either MADONNA DI GALLIERA, P. FA VA. 259 side, is the handsome Palazzo Arcivescovile, built by Pel- legrino Tibaldi, 1577, and adorned by modern artists. A little to the left, beyond the Duomo, is the Church of La Madonna di Galliera, which has a beautiful unfinished facade of terra-cotta of 1470, though the church itself was built by Giov. Batt. Torn in 1689. It contains : Left, 1st Chapel. Guerdno. The Ecstasy of S. Filippo Neri. 2nd Chapel. Albani. A very lovely picture. "The presentiment of the Passion is expressed by the child Christ looking up with emotion at the cherubs floating above with the instruments of martyrdom (like playthings) ; at the foot of the steps are Mary and Joseph ; above, God the Father, sad and calm." Burckhardt. The oil lunettes of Adam and Eve and the decorations of the roof are also by Albani. $th Chapel. Teresa Muratori. The Incredulity of S. Thomas. Opposite this church is the Palazzo Fava (No. 591), which has a handsome court-yard, and is richly adorned with the works of the Caracci. The great hall is decorated with the story of Jason, the first work in fresco by Agostino and Annibale. In the adjoining chamber the voyage of ^tneas is described by Lodovico. The next room is painted by Albani, with a continuation of the JEneid. In the following room the same artist was the assistant of Lucio Mazzari. The story of the Rape of Europa, in a small chamber, is by Annibale Caracci. The history of ^Eneas, painted in opposition to a frieze by Ctsi, in the same chamber, was the turning-point in the history of the Caracci. Then, as Lanzi says, " Bologna at length prepared to do justice to the worth of that divine artist Lodovico." Behind the church is the Palazzo Piella (formerly Bocchi), built by Vignola for Achille Bocchi, the founder of the Academy. It has a ceiling by Prosptro Fontana. Returning to and following the Mercato di Mezzo, be- 260 ITALIAN CITIES. . tween the Palazzo Podesta and the Cathedral, we soon reach the twin Leaning Towers, Of these The Torre degli Asinelli derives its name from Gherardo degli Asinelli, by whom it was begun in 1109. It is 292! feet high, and its inclination is as much as 3 ft. 4 in. from the centre of gravity. It can easily be ascended, and pos- sesses a fine view. Its neighbour La Garisenda, built about the same time, by the brothers Filippo and Oddo Garisendi, is only 130 feet high, but leans 8 feet from the perpendicular to the south, and 3 feet to the east. Dante compares the giant Antaeus bending to lift him down into the depths of Inferno to this "Qual pare a riguardar la Garisenda Sotto il chinato, quando un nuvol vada Sovr' essa si, ch'ella in contrario penda ; Tal parve Anteo a mea che stava bada Di vederlo chinare, e fu talora Ch'io avrei voluto ir per altra strada." Inf. xxxi. " Pour rendre sensible le mouvement formidable du colosse s'abais- sant ainsi vers les profondeurs de 1'enfer, le poete a fait, comme en tant d'autres endroits de son poe'me, un emprunt a la realite physique : il a pris pour objet de comparison un objet determine, un monument celebre en Italic, la tour de la Garisenda ; il compare done 1' impression produite sur lui par le geant qui se penche, a 1'effet qu'un nuage, passant au- dessus de cette tour et venant du cote vers lequel il s'incline, produit sur le spectateur place au-dessous d'elle. C'est alors la tour qui semble s'abaisser de toute la vitesse du nuage." Amptre. There can be little doubt that the inclination of the towers is the result of an earthquake, owing to which Gari- senda was never completed. Nevertheless, the theory of Goethe is very ingenious : " The leaning tower has a frightful look, and yet it is most probable that it was built thus designedly. This seems to me an explanation of the absurdity. In the troublous times of the city every large house was S. BARTOLOMMEO DI P. RAVEGNANA. 6i a fortress, and every powerful family had a tower. Bye and bye the very possession of such a building became a mark of importance and distinction, and as at last a perpendicular tower became a perfectly com- mon and every day object, a leaning tower was built. Architect and owner attained their object : the mass of upright towers are just glanced at, and all hurry on to examine the leaning one." Goethe. Garisenda especially, having been begun in rivalry a little later than Asinelli, may be looked upon as a memorial of architectural family pride. Behind the Towers, is the Church of S. Bartolommeo di Porta Ravegnana, of 1653, with a portico (of an earlier church) by Andrea Marchesi (1516 1531)- It contains: Right, 2nd Chapel. Lod. Caracci. S. Carlo at the tomb at Varallo, with an angeL 4/A Chapel. Albani, 1632. Annunciation. By the same artist are the pictures of the Nativity and Joseph's Dream at the sides of the chapel. The beautiful figure of Gabriel in the Annunciation is certainly a glorious contrast to Lod. Caracci's conception of the same subject in the apse of the cathedral. Behind High-altar. Franceschini . Martyrdom of S. Bartholomew. The roof of the nave is decorated by Colonna with pictures relating to the Theatins, to whom the church formerly belonged. Opposite the towers is a beautiful Palazzo, with rich terra- cotta ornaments. Close by, to the right of the Towers, is the Loggia dei Mtnanti, a beautiful brick building of 1294, restored in 1439 by the Bentivoglio family. It is richly ornamented with terra-cotta. The medallions between the arches contain the images of the patron saints, and below the windows are the arms of the city and of the Bentivoglio family, who ruled Bologna during the greater part of the 15th century. From the canopied balcony in the centre sentences were passed, and bankruptcies proclaimed. Within the building is the Exchange. The staircase is decorated with paintings of the arms of the ten city corporations. 262 ITALIAN CITIES. Turning to the left, by the Torre Garisenda, down the arcades of the Strada Luigi Zambari, formerly 6 1 . Donate " Strada S. Donato." which are occasionally wonderfully picturesque with their heavy sculptured capitals, and fragments of colour and terra-cotta work we reach, on the right, the handsome brick Gothic Church of S. Giacomo Maggiore, which was begun in 1267, but afterwards much enlarged. The beau- tiful clock-tower is of 1472. The cloistered walk with its 34 arches towards the street is by Fra Giovanni Pad, 1477. The pillars of the doorway rest upon lions ; on either side are arched recesses for tombs. S. GIACOMO M AGO 10 RE. 263 r Right Aisle, 1st Chapel. "La Madonna della Cintura," an ancient fresco. 4/A Chapel. Ercole Procaccini. The Conversion of S. Paul. 5/A Chapel. Giacomo Cavedone. Christ appearing to Giov. de S. Facondo. 6tA Chapel. Bart. Passarotti. Madonna enthroned, surrounded by saints and donors. Tth Chapel. Prospero Fontana. S. Alexis giving alms. *%th Chapel. Innocenza da Imola. Marriage of S. Catherine her wheel is broken in the foreground ; noble figures of saints stand at the sides. The Nativity is represented in the gradino. " One of the greatest and most characteristic, perhaps the most beau- tiful picture of the master, of most praise-worthy solidity of execution for the year of its production, 1536. Miindler. loth Chapel. Lod. Caracci. S. Roch comforted by an angel while sick of the plague. nth Chapel. Lor. Sabbatini and Dionys. Calvaert. S. Michael tramples on Satan, and weighs souls in the presence of the Holy Family. 12th Chapel (of the Poggi Family), built and painted by Pellegrino Tibaldi. (The altar-piece of the Baptism of our Lord and the com- partments of the roof are by Prospero Fontana. ) " Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527 1591) was recognized by the Caracci as the true representative of the transition from the great masters to their own epoch. His large fresco in S. Giacomo is almost grand in its real- ization of an important symbolical idea 'Many are called, but few are chosen. ' " The Caracci bestowed the highest praises on these works of Tibaldi, and it was on these that they and their pupils bestowed most study. In the one fresco is represented the preaching of S. John in the desert ; in the other the separation of the elect from the wicked, where, in the features of the celestial messenger announcing the tidings, Pellegrino has displayed those of his favourite, Michael Angelo. What a school for design and expression is here ! What art in the distribution of such a throng of figures, in varying and in grouping them. " Lanzi. \yh Chapel. Dion. Calvaert. Madonna in glory, with SS. Lucy and Catherine and the Beato Kanieri beneath. I5/A Chapel. Jacopo Avanzi. The Coronation of the Virgin, the central compartment of a large altar-piece. On the left wall is a Crucifix by Simone da Bologna, 1370. l8M Chapel (of the Bentivogli). Francesco Francia. The Ma- donna and Child with angels and saints one of the loveliest works of the master. 264 ITALIAN CITIES. "Francia produced his first picture in the year 1490, when he had already attained his fortieth year. This first essay was considered a master- piece, and the artist was immediately employed to paint a Ma- donna, with all the accessory details, in the chapel of Giovanni Benti- voglio. Here he so far surpassed the hopes his countrymen had entertained of him, that they began to look upon him as something superhuman, and proudly opposed him to the leaders of the rival schools." Rio. "This picture was so admirably painted by Francia, that he not only received many praises from Messer Giovanni, but also a very handsome and most honourable gift." Vasari. "In 1490 Francesco Francia was employed by Gio. Bentiroglio to paint the altar-piece of his chapel, where he signed himself ' Franciscus Francia Aurifex,' as if to imply that he belonged to the goldsmith's art, not to that of painting. Nevertheless, that work is a beautiful specimen, displaying the most finished delicacy of art in every figure and orna- ment, especially in the arabesque pilasters, in the Mantegna manner." Lanzi. The lunette above, an " Ecce Homo," is also by Francia. Another lunette, a vision from the Revelations, is by Lorenzo Costa, as well as the picture (of 1488) on the right wall of Gio. Bentivoglio and his Family in adoration before the Virgin, and the two curious alle- gorical processions on the left wall. The relief of Annibale Benti- voglio (ob. 1458) on horseback is by Niccolo delf Area. The bas-relief of Giov. Bentivoglio is attributed to Francia. Outside the chapel on the choir is the tomb, attributed to yacopo della Quercia, of Antonio Benti- voglio, who was beheaded in 1435. Near it is the very interesting tomb of Niccolo Fava, a famous professor of medicine in the 1 5th cen- tury ; he is represented above in death, and below lecturing to his atten- tive pupils. Near the 24th chapel, by a side door, is a Madonna in fresco re- moved from the ancient palace of the Bentivogli. The custode of S. Giacomo has the keys of the adjoining Church of S. Cecilia, built 1481 by Gaspare Nadi for the famous Giovanni II. Bentivoglio. It was famous for its frescoes of the school of the Francias, which were sadly mutilated during the French occupation. They are still, however, worthy of examination, as follows : S. CECILIA. 265 1. Francesco Francia. The marriage of Cecilia and Valerian. 2. Lorenzo Costa. Pope Urban instructs Valerian in the Christian faith. 3. Giacomo Francia. The Baptism of Valerian. 4. Chiodarolo. An angel crowns Valerian and Cecilia with roses. 5. Amico Aspertini. The Martyrdom of Valerian and his brother Tiburtius. 6. Id. Their Burial. 7. Id. S. Cecilia before the Prefect. 8. Giacomo Francia. S. Cecilia condemned to the boiling bath. 9. Lor. Costa. Having survived the bath, Cecilia distributes her wealth to the poor. 10. Francesco Francia. The Burial of Cecilia. "The composition in these works is extremely simple, without any superfluous accessory figures : the particular moments of action are con- ceived and developed in an excellent dramatic style. We have here the most noble figures, the most beautiful and graceful heads, an intelligible arrangement and pure taste in the drapery, and masterly landscape backgrounds." Kiigler. " The most celebrated of Francia's pupils were collected round him when he worked at the chapel of S. Cecilia, but only three among them appear to have assisted in the execution of these frescoes, still so beau- tiful, in spite of the injuries they have sustained, and which are, for the school of Francia, what the Loggia of the Vatican is for that of Raffaelle." Rio, Poetry of Christian Art. Close to S. Giacomo is the Liceo Rossini, which has a magnificent musical library worthy of the musical reputation of Bologna. Near this, is the Casa Lambertini, in which Pope Benedict XIV. was born, with the inscription : " Parva dornus Benedictum excepit matris ab alvo Magnum parva cui maxima Roma fuit." Opposite S. Giacomo, is the Palazzo Malrezzi-Campeggfo, remarkable as containing some tapestries given by Henry VIII. to Cardinal Campeggio, when papal legate in England. A little behind this, marked by the pillar in its piazza, is the Gothic Chunk of S. Martino, built by the Carmelites 266 ITALIAN CITIES. in the i4th century, but much modernized externally. It contains : Right, 1st Chapel. Girolamo dJ Carpi. The Adoration of the Shepherds. $th Chapel. Amico Aspertini. The Virgin and Child with saints girls receiving their dowries. ^th Chapel. Gir. Sicciolante. Virgin and Child with saints. StA Chapel. Perugino ? Assumption, with the Apostles at the empty tomb. 9//6 Chapel. Lod. Caracci. S. Jerome. loth Chapel. Cesi. The Crucifixion. The Cloister is rich in interesting monuments. That (on the right wall) of a professor of the Saliceti family (1403) lecturing, is attributed to Andrea de Fiesole. Near it is a similar tomb to Professor Fabio Renucci, of 1610, most powerful and expressive. On the same wall is an interesting monument of a young knight, with the names of the bat- tles in which he fought. A monument on the next wall encloses a fine fragment of fresco the head of Christ. Returning to the Strada S. Donate, the quaint tower on the right is that of The University, which was founded in 1119, by a Professor of Law named Irnerius. In the 1 3th century it assembled as many as 10,000 stu- dents. The University was moved here (to the ancient Palazzo Poggi) in 1711, from the "Antico Archigin- nasio " near S. Petronio. One of its remarkable features has been the number of its distinguished female pro- fessors, of whom was Novella d' Andrea in the i4th century, whose beauty was so great that she was made to lecture from behind a curtain, in order that the attention of the students might not be distracted by her charms. In later times Laura Bassi was Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, Madonna Manzolina was Professor of Anatomy, and (early in the present century) the beautiful and saintly Clotilda Tambroni was Professor of Greek. UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA. 267 " The honours, titles, and privileges conferred upon this University by kings and emperors, by synods and pontiffs, the deference paid to its opinions, and the reverence that waited upon its graduates, prove the high estimation in which it was once held ; and the names of Gratian and Aldro- vandus, of Malpighi and Guglielmini, of Ferres and Cassini, are alone sufficient to show that this high estimation was not unmerited." Eustace. The University possesses (on the ground-floor) a small collection of antiquities Egyptian and Etruscan, the gem of the latter being a very beautiful Patera from Arezzo repre- senting the birth of Minerva. At the end of the last hall, between fine bronze busts of Gregory XIV. and XV.', is a most extraordinary statue of Boniface VIII. "The colossal statue of Boniface VIII. is made of beaten plates of metal fastened together with nails. It is the work of a native goldsmith and painter named Manno, and was erected to the pope during his life- time by the Bolognese, out of gratitude for a decision he had given against the Modenese in a dispute between them concerning the castles of Bazzano and Savignano. The eyes are staring and inexpressive ; the head is covered with a plain mitre ; and the stiff figure is robed in a long vestment, with a short cape falling over the shoulders ; one hand rests upon the heart, and the fingers of the other are bent in sign of benedic- tion." Perkins* Italian Sculptors. In the fine Library, the famous Giuseppe Mezzofanti (born 1776), whose father was a small shopkeeper in Bologna, began his career as librarian. In his 35th year he spoke 18 languages fluently, and at the time of his death as many as 42. He was made Cardinal in 1837 by Gregory XVI., and died at Naples in 1849. The Library of Mezzo- fanti, sold after his death, was purchased by Pope Pius IX., and presented to the University. It occupies the last room of the suite. In the Reading Room are a number of por- traits, including that of Clotilda Tambroni. In the corridor are monuments to Morgagnio the Anatomist, and Galvano the inventor of Galvanism. The University now possesses 48 professors and about 400 students. 268 ITALIAN CITIES. On the left, a few steps down the Borgo della Paglia (No. i), is the entrance of the Accademia delle Belle Arti, containing the Picture Gallery, which is open daily free (Sundays included) from 9 to 3. The pictures are not num- bered as they are hung, but occur in the order described here. Visitors ring. The catalogue (ij fr.) is useless. From the entrance corridor, it is necessary to turn first to the left, to take the Schools in their order. We then find 2nd Hall (or Corridor). 64. Francesco Cossa da Ferrara (1474). Madonna with SS. Peter and John. "An excellent work, though the heads are wanting in charm. "- Burckhardt. 145. Joe. Tintoretto. The Visitation. 33. Lod. Caracci. S. Roch. 30. Ann. Caracci. The Assumption. 141. Guido Reni. Coronation of the Virgin. 292. (over door} Innocenzo da Imola. Madonna with SS. Francis and Clara. "Freely executed in the Raphaelesque spirit. "^Burckhardt. yd Hall (containing a curious collection of early pictures, chiefly by Bolognese masters). IO2. Giotto. An Ancona, originally in four divisions, with the figures of SS. Peter and Paul, Michael and Gabriel. (The central compartment is at Milan.) 205. Ant. e Bart. Vivarini da Murano, 1450. Madonna and saints. The ornaments by Cristofero da Ferrara. 202. S. Caterina Vigri (an Ursuline nun, the only female artist canonized, 1413 1463). S. Ursula. "Her pictures are of weak but pleasing expression, and may be classed with the better Sienese works of the day." Kugler. 109. Giov. Martorelli. Altar-piece with Madonna and saints. 36. Niccolb Alumno da Foligno. An altar-piece painted on both sides (1482). 1 60. Jacopo degli Avanzi. The Bearing of the Cross. ACCADEMIA DELLE BELLE ARTI. 269 4/// Hall. (No number). Lorenzo Costa, 1491. Throned Madonna with saints. *i. Francesco Albani (1599). Madonna with SS. Catherine and Mary Magdalene, painted by the artist in his 2 1st year. 275. An. Raphael Mengs. Pope Clement XIII. (Carlo Rezzonico). " Grander, truer, and less pretentious than any Italian portrait of the 1 8th centu ry. ' ' Burckhardt. 61. Citna da Conegliano. Madonna with God the Father above. Giuliano Bugiardini (1481 1556). Madonna. 83. Francesco Francia. The dead Christ supported by two angels. 1 16. Parmigianino. Madonna and Child with saints. $th Hall (the masterpieces of the Bolognese School). *I35- Guido Reni. The Massacre of the Innocents. "A very celebrated picture. The female figures are beautiful, and the composition is very animated, but the feeling for mere abstract beauty is here very apparent." Kiigler. "Guido personified hardness in the executioners, but not bestial ferocity ; he softened the grimace of lamentation, and even by beautiful truly architectonic arrangement, and by nobly-formed figures, elevated the horrible into the tragic ; he produced this effect without the access- ories of a heavenly glory, without the doubtful contrast of ecstatic faint- ing at the horrors : his work is certainly the most perfect composition of the century as to pathos. " Burckhardt. 182. Aless. Tiarini. Lamentation over the Dead Christ 138. Guido Reni, 1630. "La Madonna del Rosario," seen above the town of Bologna, with the patron saints interceding for it. This picture, which commemorated the deliverance of the town from a pestilence, was formerly in the Palazzo Pubblico, and used to be carried in processions. 13. Guercino. S. Bruno in the Wilderness, and his Vision of the Virgin. 137. Guido Reni. The Triumph of Samson after having vanquished the Philistines. Painted to go over a chimney-piece (whence the form) for Cardinal Ludovisi-Buoncompagni, Archbishop of Bologna, who bequeathed it to the town. 12. Gutrtino (1620). S. William, Duke of Aquitaine, receiving the habit of a monk from S. Felix. From the church of S. Gregorio. 136. Guido Reni. The Crucifixion. 270 ITALIAN CITIES. "The Madonna and S. John are beside the Cross ; the Virgin is a figure of solemn beauty ; one of Guido's finest and most dignified crea- tions." Kiigler. 208. Domenichino. Death of S. Peter Martyr. Painted for two nuns of the Spada family, for the convent of " Le Monache Do- minicane." " It is only a new edition of the work of Titian." 134. Guido Rent (1616). "La Madonna della Pieta," with two angels bewailing the dead Christ. Below are SS. Petronio, Domenico, Carlo Borromeo, Francis, and Proculus, with the town of Bologna. *I4O. Id. S. Sebastian bound to a cypress-tree. " Le S. Sebastien n'est qu'ebauche, et cependant il a toute son ex- pression de douleur et de sacrifice. " Valery. *I39- Id. S. Andrea Corsini, Bishop of Fiesole (ob. 1373). In the right hand, which is gloved, he holds his pastoral staff, in the left a copy of the Scriptures. 6th Hall. 84. Giacomo Francia (son of Francesco), 1526. Madonna with SS. Francis, Bernard, Sebastian, and George. 122. Niccolb da Cremona (1518). The Deposition from the Cross. 78. Francesco Francia (1494). Madonna with the Baptist, SS. Augustine and Monica, SS. Francis, Proculus, and Sebastian, and the donor Bartolomeo Felicini ; most exquisite in colour and expression. 197. Pietro Perugino. Madonna in glory, with SS. Michael, Cath- erine, Apollonia, and John (in old age) beneath ; formerly in the Cappella Vizzani in S. Giovanni in Monte. Signed " Pe- trus Peruginus pinxit." 79. F. Francia. Annunciation. The Virgin receives the message standing between the Baptist and S. Jerome. *2O4- Timoteo della Vite, 1508. (The favourite and son-like pupil of Francia.) The Magdalen in the Wilderness, from the cathe- dral of Urbino. "The Magdalen stands in a cave clothed in a red mantle ; her hair flows to her feet, as she leans her head gracefully towards her left shoulder. This picture, though in the old manner, is extremely well executed ; the drapery falls in large and beautiful folds : the painting is soft and warm, and the expression of the countenance full of feeling." Kugler, ACCADEMIA DELLE BELLE ARTL 271 ' " A mysteriously attractive figure." Burckhardt. " The Magdalen is standing before the entrance of her cavern, array- ed in a crimson mantle ; her long hair is seen beneath descending to her feet ; the hands joined in prayer, the head declined on one side, and the whole expression that of girlish innocence and simplicity, with a touch of the pathetic. A mendicant, not a Magdalen, is the idea sug- gested ; and, for myself, I confess that at the first glance I was reminded of the little Red-Riding-Hood, and could think of no sin that could have been attributed to such a face and figure, beyond the breaking of a pot of butter ; yet the picture is very beautiful." Jameson's Sacred Art. 89. Innocenzo da fntola, 1517. Madonna in glory with angels. S. Michael subdues Satan beneath. 198. Giorgio I/asari, 1540. The Supper of S. Gregory, in which our Saviour appeared as the thirteenth guest. 80. Francesco Francia. Madonna and saints. 26. Gugl. Bugiardini. Marriage of S. Catherine. '152. Raffaelle. S. Cecilia in ecstasy, surrounded by SS. Paul, John the Evangelist, Augustine, and Mary Magdalen. In listening to the heavenly choir, the saint has dropped her earthly instruments of music, which lie broken at her feet. Painted for the Bentivoglio chapel at S. Giovanni in Monte. " All are listening to the choir of angels only indicated in the air above. Raphael gave song to this wonderfully improvised upper group, whose victory over instruments is here substituted for the conquest, itself impossible to represent, of heavenly tone over the earthly, with a symbolism worthy of all admiration. Cecilia is wisely represented as a rich and physically-powerful being ; only thus (not, e. g. as a nervous in- teresting being^ could she give the impression of full happiness without excitement. Her regal dress also is essential for the desired object, and increases the impression of complete absorption in calm delight. Paul, inwardly moved, leans on his sword : the folded paper in his hand in- dicates that in the presence of the heavenly harmonies the written re- velation also must l>e silent, as something that has been fulfilled. John, in whispered conversation with S. Augustine, both listening, variously affected. The Magdalen is, to speak openly, made unsympathetic, in order to make the beholder rightly conscious of the delicate scale of expression in the four others ; for the rest, one of the grandest, most beautiful figures of Raphael. The true limits within which the inspira- tion of several different personages has to be represented, are in this 272 ITALIAN CITIES. picture preserved with a tact which is entirely strange to the latest painters of the Feast of Pentecost. " Burckhardt. "There appears in the expression throughout this simply-arranged group a progressive sympathy, of which the revelation made to S. Cecilia forms the central point." Kiigler. "S. Cecilia is listening in ecstasy to the songs of the celestial choir, as their voices reach her ear from heaven itself. Wholly given up to the celestial harmony, the countenance of the saint affords full evidence of her abstraction from the things of earth, and wears that rapt expres- sion which is wont to be seen upon the faces of those who are in ecstasy. Musical instruments lie scattered around her, and these do not seem to be merely painted, but might be taken for the objects they represent. ... It may indeed with truth be declared that the paintings of other masters are properly to be called paintings, but those of Raphael may well be described as the life itself, for the flesh trembles, the breathing is made obvious to sight, the pulses of his figures beat, and life is in its utmost animation through all his works. " Vasari. * 133. Bart. Ramenghi {Bagnacavallo) (1484 1542). A pupil of Francia and Raphael. Holy Family with saints a very lovely picture. 65. Lorenzo Costa. S. Petronio, S. Francis, and S. Thomas Aquinas magnificent colour on a gold ground. 8l. Francesco Francia (1499). The child Jesus with the Madonna, SS. Augustin, Joseph, and Francis, also the portraits of the Protonotary, Mgr. Antonio Galeazzo Bentivoglio, and of the poet Girolamo dei Pandolfi di Casio. Painted for the church of the Misericordia and known as " the Bentivoglio Madonna." IO&. Girolamo da Cotignola. Marriage of the Virgin. "His master-piece, inspired indeed not by his father, but by the Venetians, and therefore free from sentimentality." Burckhardt, "jth Hall (works of the Caracci and their scholars). 45. Lod. Caracci (1597). The Birth of the Baptist. The portrait of Monsignor Ratta is introduced, who gave the picture to the Monastery of S. John Baptist. * The story told by Vasari that Francia died of envy on seeing this picture is utterly false. Francia survived Raphael 10 years, and regarded him with unmixed respect and affection. They were correspondents, and presented each other with their portraits. When Francia suffered severely by the expulsion of the Bentivoglio family, Raphael wrote imploring him to take courage, and assuring him that he felt his affliction as his own. A CC AD EMI A DELLE ARTI. 273 " A resolute, grand picture." Burckhardt. 183. A/ess. Tiarini (1577 1668) Marriage of S. Catherine. " SS. Margaret and Barbara also assist at the ceremony. The good Joseph in the mean time converses in the foreground with the three little messengers who have in charge the wheel of S. Catherine, the dragon of S. Margaret, and the little tower of S. Barbara." Burckhardt. 34. Agost. Caracd. The Communion of S. Jerome. The most im- portant picture by Agostino (whose works are rare) in the Gallery. 46. Lod. Caracd (1602). Preaching of the Baptist. 207. Domenichino. Madonna dell Rosario. From this the famous Domenichino at the Vatican is evidently in great measure taken. Pope Honorius III. kneels amongst the figures in the foreground. From the Ratta chapel at S. Giovanni in Monte. "The Madonna del Rosario is seated in glory, and in her lap the Divine Infant ; both scatter roses on the earth from a vase sustained by three lovely cherubs. At the feet of the Virgin kneels S. Domenic, holding in one hand the rosary ; with the other he points to the Virgin, indicating by what means she is to be propitiated. Angels holding the symbols of the ' Mysteries of the Rosary ' (the joys and sorrows of the Virgin), surround the celestial personages. On the earth, below, are various groups, expressing the ages, conditions, calamities, and neces- sities of human life : lovely children playing with a crown ; virgins attacked by a fierce warrior, representing oppressed maidenhood ; a man and his consort, representing the pains and cares of marriage, &c And all these with rosaries in their hands are supposed to obtain aid, ' per 1'intercessione del' santissimo Rosario.' " Jameson's Monastic Orders. 55. GUuomo Cavedoni (15801668). Madonna in glory, with kneeling saints. 47. Lod. Caracd. The Calling of S. Matthew. Painted for the chapel of the Corporation of Meat-Salters. 37. Ann. Caracd, 1593. Madonna and saints. 2. Francesco Aloani. The Baptism of Christ, with God the Father in glory. From the church of S. Giorgio. "On looking at the angels in this picture, one remembers involun- tarily, how, in medixval pictures, the angels who hold up drapery have still time and feeling to spare for adoration." Bttrckhardt. 42. Lod. Caracd, 1558. Madonna with saints and angels. VuL. II. IS 274 ITALIAN CITIES. 206. Domenichino . Martyrdom of S. Agnes. Lanzi mentions that Guido, the rival of Domenichino, valued this picture above the works of Raphael. It was painted for the Convent of S. Agnes, where it remained till 1796. The famous group of the mother and terrified child is introduced here on the right as at S. Gregorio at Rome. " The stabbing on the pile of wood, makes the harshest possible con- trast with all the violin-playing, flute-blowing, and harping of the angelic group above." Burckhardt. 36. Ann. Caracci. Madonna and Child in glory, with saints below. From the high altar of SS. Ludovico ed Alessio. The S. Roch is a magnificent figure. 35. Agostino (Caracci. Assumption. 47. Lod. Caracci, 1607. Conversion of S. Paul. 43. Id. 1593. The Transfiguration. &th Hall. 172. Giov. Andrea Sirani. The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple. 75. Lavinia Fontana, 1590. S. Francesco di Paula blesses the infant son of the Duchess of Savoy. 175. Eliz. Sirani, 1662. S. Antony of Padua kneeling at the feet of the Infant Saviour. 88. F. Francia. Small pictures from the Life of Christ. " The Virgin is represented in a vast and sublime landscape, which for the pastoral poetry it contains equals, if it does not surpass, the most celebrated works of the same kind produced by other painters. "- Rio. * 142. Guido Rent. Head of Christ. Study on paper for the picture in the Louvre. Guercino. God the Father. A study for the Presentation in the Temple, in the Museum at Lyons. 14. Guercino. The Death of S. Peter Martyr. 3. Fr. Albani. Madonna, with saints and angels. " Of Albani it has been said that the Loves seem to have mixed his colours, and the Graces to have fashioned his forms ; such is the soft glow of his tints, such the ease and beauty of his groups of figures. "- Eustace. 19. Guercino. Magdalen, half-length. SS. V1TALE ED AGRICOLA. 275 48. Lod. Caratci. Madonna in a glory of angels, standing on the moon, with Jerome and Francis beside her. 1 8. Guercino. S. John, half-length. 279. Dion. Calvaert. The Flagellation. 74. Prospero Fontana. The Deposition. 274. Francesco Francia. Madonna with SS. Bernard, Anthony, John Baptist, and Roch. Signed "Francia Aurifex. B. pinxit MCCCCC." The annual exhibition of modern pictures at Bologna is generally one of the best in Italy. Behind the Academy is the Orto Botanico e Agrario, which is worth visiting, as it occupies the site of the villa of Gio- vanni II. Bentivoglio. The only part of the ancient buildings remaining (now used as a lecture-room) is decorated with frescoes of classical subjects by Innocenzo da Imola, In the Borgo della Paglia is the Palazzo Bentivoglio, com- memorating by its name the ancient palace destroyed at the instigation of Julius II. Returning to the Leaning Towers, let us now follow the Strada S. Vitale. On the left is the Church of SS. Vitale ed Agricola, on the site of a building said to have been con- secrated by S. Petronius and S. Ambrose in 428. In the porch is a sarcophagus by Maestro Rosa da Parma, the tomb of the Anatomist Mondino de' Liucci : it is adorned with a relief of the professor expounding to his pupils. The church contains : Right, 2nd Chapel. Aless. Tiarini. Scene from the Flight into Egypt. 6th Chafel. Wrongly attributed to Perugino. The Nativity. "jth Chapel. Giacomo Francia (fresco). The Nativity. Bagnacavallo (fresco). The Visitation (with portraits of the donors). 8M Chapel. Francesco Francia. Covering an old picture of the Madonna. 276 ITALIAN CITIES. The column with an ancient Cross in this church once marked the spot in the street outside, where SS. Vitaleand Agricola were martyred. Opposite'the church is the Palazzo Fantuzzi or Pedrazzi, built 1605, after plans left by A. Marchesi. At each angle is the crest of its original owner, an elephant with a castle on its back. Returning to the Towers, and following the Strada Mag- giore, on the left is the Palazzo Zampieri, which formerly contained a very fine collection of pictures. These have now been dispersed ; but the ceilings of the five principal apart- ments are decorated with noble frescoes, viz. : 1. Lod. Caracci. Jupiter in combat with Hercules. 2. Ann. Caracci. Hercules conducted by Virtue. 3. Agost Caracci. Hercules and Atlas. 4. Guercino. Hercules and Antaeus. 5. Id. Hercules, the Genius of Power. Just beyond this Palazzo is the Casa Rossini (No. 243), built by Rossini in 1828, and adorned with Latin and Italian inscriptions. In front is from Cicero " Non domo dominus, sed domino domus." On the right is the Church of S. Maria del Servt, with its beautiful Portico resting upon marble columns, built by Fra Andrea Manfredi da Faenza in 1393. In the lunettes under the church wall are 20 subjects, illustrative of the life of the Beato Filippo Benizzi, by the later painters of the Bologna school. The Church is also from designs of Manfredi, and was begun in 1383. It contains : Right, 2nd Chapel. Franceschini (painted in his 85th year). Ma- donna giving the habit to the seven founders of the Servites. $th Chapel. Dion. Calvaert, 1601. Paradise. lot/i Chapel. A marble pitcher said to have been used at the Feast of Cana, presented by Fra. Vitale Baccilini, general of the Servites, who had been ambassador to the Sultan of Egypt in 1350. S. GIOVANNI IN MONTE. 277 The High Altar is by Giulio Bevi, 1560, the figures of Adam and Moses near it by Fra. Gio Angiolo da Montorsolo. At the back of the choir is the slab tomb of the architect Manfredi, ob. 1396. 2 1st Chapel (of S. Carlo) is said by tradition to have been painted by Guido by lamplight in one night 2yd Chapel. Innocenzo da Imola. Annunciation. The roof and walls are by Bagttaeavallo. 2$tk Chapel. Albani. S- Andrew adores the cross on which he is about to suffer. The tomb of Cardinal Ulisse GozzadinL. 2JtA Chapel. Albaui. " Noli me tangere. " Opposite the Servi is the huge Palazzo BargellinL Just beyond S. Maria is the Palazzo Hercolani, built at the end of the last century by Ang. Venturoli, with a fine staircase by Carlo Bianconi. All its art-collections have been dispersed. The next street on the right, beyond this, leads, by the closed Church of S. Cristina, to the Strada S. Stefano, near the Porta of that name, and almost opposite the Palazzo de? Bianchi, which has a frescoed ceiling by Guido Reni repre- senting yneas and the Harpies. Adjoining this palace is the Church of the SS. Trinita, which contains : Right, 2nd Altar. Lavinia Fontana. Birth of the Virgin. High Altar. Gutrcino. The Virgin appearing to S. Koch. Turning towards the town, down the Strada S. Stefano, we come (left), close to the Teatro del Corso, to the Church of S. Giovanni in Monte, so called from being situated on a slight rise, the highest ground in the city. It was founded by S. Petronio, in 433, was rebuilt in 1221, and though restored since, retains internally somewhat of its Gothic character. The eagle of S. John in painted terra-cotta, over the great door, is by Niccolb del? Ana. The interior con- tains : . Right, 1st Chaptl. Giac. Francia. Christ appearing to the Magdalen. 2nd Chapel. Bart. Cesi. The Crucifixion. 2 7 8 ITALIAN CITIES. yd Chapel. Guercino. Oval pictures of S. Joseph and S. Jerome. That of S. Joseph is excellent. The Child holds out to its foster- father a rose to smell. 6th Chapd. Lippo Dalmasio, 1340. Small picture of the Madonna. Some authorities attribute this picture to Vitale. "Jth Chapel. Lorenzo Costa. Madonna throned with saints. Apse of Choir. Id. The Virgin throned with the Almighty and the Saviour ; beneath, SS. John, Augustin, Victor, and others. The Intarsia work of the choir stalls is by Paolo Sacca, 1525. The terra-cotta busts of the apostles over the stalls are by Alfonso Lombardo. \2th Chapel. The original position of the S. Cecilia of Raphael a bad copy now here. Under the altar is buried the Beata Elena Dugli- oli dall'Olio, at whose expense the picture was painted. l"]th Chapel (last but one). Guercino. S. Francis adoring the crucifix. The Stained Glass is good, especially the round window representing S. John in Patmos. S. Stefano, Bologna. A little further down the street, on the right, is the Church of S. Stefano, one of the most curious in Bologna, being rather a collection of churches than a single building. The chief portal (near which is an outside pulpit) leads into the Church of the Crocifisso of 1637. Hence some steps lead down into the Chapel of the Beata Giuliana de' Banzi, who is buried there in a marble sarcophagus. The third church S. STEFANO. 279 is 5. Sepolero, evidently an ancient Baptistery, surrounded by marble columns, said to be taken from a temple of Isis, and rather like S. Vitale at Ravenna. Beneath the altar is the tomb which was intended to receive the body of S. Petronio, who is said to have rendered the water of the central well miraculous. The fourth church, .$. Pietro e Paolo, is said to have been the original cathedral of Bologna, founded by S. Faustinianus in 330. It contains a Madonna and Child with SS. Nicolas and John, by Lor Sabbatini, and a Crucifix by Simon of Bologna.* " Like Giotto's, the crucifixes of ' Simone de' Crocifissi ' have only one nail in the feet, but the emaciation is in the worst Byzantine taste, and grief in the attendant figures of the Virgin and S. John is uniformly caricatured. This is perhaps one of his best works." Lord Lindsay. The fifth church, which is in fact a small open cloister, called L'Atrio di Pilato, contains a mediaeval font removed from the Baptistery, and a Crucifixion with SS. Jerome, Francis, and Mary Magdalen by Giac. Francia, 1520. The sixth church, La Confessione, is a kind of crypt, in which the native martyrs Vitale and Agricola are buried. The seventh church, S. Trinitd, contains a reliquary by Jacopo Rossctti, 1380, and a figure of S. Ursula_by Simone da Bologna, and some quaint pictures. "This nest of queer little churches has little of architectural as dis- tinguished from antiquarian interest. The brick-work in the cloister and in some of the external walls is extremely good. Some of the latter are diapered or reticulated on the face with square yellow tiles with dividing lines of red brick, and the cornices are of the same two colours also. In the cloister the columns and inner order of the arches are of stone, the rest of the walls and cornices being of red and yellow bricks, and in one part there is a course of red, green, and yellow tiles alternated. The effect of this work is extremely pretty." Strut. It U inscribed: "Affixus lingnnpte Miffero pciia*. Symon fecit hoc opus. Me- mento y. Pulvu cs, et pulvc reutcru. Age penitfcia et vive* in Eiernum." 280 ITALIAN CITIES. On the left side of the piazza is the Palazzo Bolognini of 1525, adorned with terra-cotta heads in medallions by Alfonso Lombardi. The adjoining Palazzo Pepoli (facing into the street behind the Strada S. Stefano) is an immense brick building of 1344, more like a castle than a palace. It has a beautiful terra-cotta entrance. Opposite it, is a later palace of the same name, occupying the site of the palace of the great captain Taddeo Pepoli. (On the left of the Via Castiglione (some way down) is the Church of S. Lucia, which contains a letter in Portuguese written by S. Francis Xavier, and a fine picture by Cignani (yd altar, left) in which the Holy Child rewards SS. John Piazza S. Domenico, Bologna. and Teresa with crowns. The Church of La Madonna della Misericordia, just outside the gate, has some good carving by Marco Tedesco da Cremona.) PIAZZA S. DOMENICO. 281 The first turn to the right of the Strada Castiglione (Via Ponte di Ferro), will bring us to the Piazza Cavour, above which is the interesting Piazza di S. Domcnico, highly picturesque, from its two columns supporting statues of the Virgin and S. Domenic (1623), and two curious canopied mediaeval tombs, that, in the centre of the piazza, of Rolandino Passaggieri, who wrote the proud answer of the republic to the Emperor Frederick II., when he demanded the release of his son Enzius ; and that of one of the Fos- cherari family of 1289. " The Foscherari monument has a square basement of brick, sup- porting detached shafts, above which are round arches, the whole being finished with a brick pyramid. Under the canopy thus formed is placed the sarcophagus, marked with a cross at the end, and finished at the top with a steep gabled covering. The detail of this is all of late Romanesque style. The Passeggieri monument is of later date and much finer design, though keeping to, the same general outline. In place of the brick basement of the first, this has three rows of three shafts, which support a large slab. On this are arcades of pointed arches, three at the sides and two at the ends, carried on coupled shafts, and within this upper arcade is seen the stone coffin carved at the top, and with a stiff effigy of the deceased carved as if lying on one of the perpendicular sides. This monument is also finished with a brick pyramid. The whole de- sign is certainly striking ; it has none of the exquisite skill that marks the best Veronese monuments, but it is a very good example of the con- siderable success which may be achieved by an architectural design without any help from the sculptor, without the use of any costly materials, and with only moderate dimensions. The upper tier of arches is kept in position by an iron tie, and, in spite of its slender look, still stands, after five hundred years' exposure, in perfect condition." Street. The Church itself has been quite modernized, but is very interesting from its monuments, especially from the tomb of S. Dominic, who died at Bologna in 1221. Right, 1st Altar. Lipfo Dalmasio (13761410). La Madonna "di Vclluto." 282 ITALIAN CITIES. yd Chapel. F. Francia. (?) Madonna. 6tA Chapel (of S. Domenico). On the ceiling is represented the re- ception of the saint in Paradise by Guido Reni. The picture on the right, of his raising a boy from the dead, is by Tiarini, that on the left, of his burning heretical books, is the masterpiece of Lionello Spada, another pupil of the Caracci. In the centre stands the famous shrine called the Area di S. Domenico, one of the great works of Niccolb Pisano. The lowest series of reliefs are added by Alfonso Lombardo, 1528, the statu- ette of S. Petronius in front and the angel on the left by Michael Angelo. "This angel is so utterly unlike the style of Michael Angelo, that its authenticity might well be questioned were it not for the evidence of Vasari and Condivi, both of whom had from his own lips the story of his residence in Bologna. We can only account for this by supposing, that he endeavoured as far as possible to assimilate his work to the other statuettes about the shrine, and then for a moment lost his individuality." Perkins 1 Italian Sculptors. "This is perhaps the most pleasing work Michael Angelo ever pro- duced, the effusion of an imaginative youthful mind, scarcely yet come into contact with the rude reality of life." Liibke. "The prominent features of the Area are the six large bas-reliefs, de- lineating the principal events in the legend of S. Domenic, disposed, two behind, one at each extremity, and two in front, between which last is fixed a small statue of the Virgin, crowned, and holding the infant Saviour in an attitude which almost every one of the successors of Niccola has imitated during the following century, none, however, equalling the original. A small statue of our Saviour occupies the cor- respondent place at the back of the Area, and the four Doctors of the Church are sculptured at the angles. The operculum, or lid, was added about two hundred years afterwards. " The series of bas-reliefs begins and ends at the back, running round from left to right. The subjects are briefly as follows : " I. The Papal confirmation of the rule of the Dominican order. S. Dominic, a Spaniard, of the illustrious Gothic house of Guzman, having formed the scheme of a new religious fraternity, expressly devoted to the defence of the faith against heresy, applied to the Pope for his sanction, but unsuccessfully ; the following night his Holiness beheld, in a dream, the church of the Lateran giving way, and the Saint propping it with his shoulders. The warning was obvious, and the confirmation was accordingly granted. Each step in the march of this important event is represented in a distinct group in this compartment. " II. The appearance of the Apostles Peter and Paul to S. Dominic, while praying in S. Peter's. S. Peter presented him with a staff, S. Paul TOMB OF S. DOMINIC. 283 with a book, bidding him go forth and preach to Christendom. To the right, S. Dominic is seen sending forth the ' friar's preachers ' on their mission to mankind. "III. S. Dominic praying for the restoration to life of the young Napoleone Orsini, nephew of the Cardinal Stefano, who had been thrown from his horse and killed, as seen in the foreground ; his mother kneels behind, joining in the prayer. "IV. S. Dominic's doctrine tested by fire. After preaching against the Albigenses, he had written out his argument and delivered it to one of his antagonists, who showing it to his companions as they stood round the fire, they determined to submit it to that ordeal ; the scroll was thrice thrown in, and thrice leapt out unburnt. " V. The miracle of the loaves. The brethren, forty in number, assem- bled one day for dinner, but nothing was producible from the buttery except a single loaf of bread. S. Dominic was dividing it among them, when two beautiful youths entered the refectory with baskets full of loaves which they distributed to the fraternity, and then immediately disappeared. "VI. The profession of the youthful deacon, Reginald. He fell sud- denly ill when on the eve of entering the order ; his life was despaired of. S. Dominic interceded for him with the Virgin, who appeared to him the following night, when on the point of death, accompanied by two lovely maidens, anointed him with a salve of marvellous virtue, accompanying the unction with words of mystery and power, and pro- mised him complete recovery within three days, showing him at the same moment a pattern of the Dominican robe as she willed it to be worn thenceforward, varied from the fashion previously in use ; three days afterwards he received it from the saint's hands in perfect health, as the Virgin had foretold. " With the exception of the Adoration of the Kings on the pulpit at Pisa, I know nothing by Niccola Pisano equal to these bas-reliefe. Felicity of composition, truth of expression, ease, dignity, and grace of attitudes, noble draperies, together with the negative but emphatic merit of perfect propriety, are their prevailing characteristics ; but the whole are finished with unsurpassed minuteness and delicacy. And you will recollect too that these compositions are wholly Niccola's own, he had no traditional types to guide and assist him, the whole is a new coinage, clear and sharp, from the mint of his own genius. Altogether, the ' Area di S. Domenico ' is a marvel of beauty, a shrine of pure and Christian feeling, which you will pilgrimize to with deeper reverence every time you revisit Bologna." Lord Lindsay's Christian Art. The Sacristy contains a terra-cotta Pieta by Rondellont, and railings with intarsia work by Fra Damiano da Bergamo. 284 ITALIAN CITIES. The Cappella holani (right of the apse), Filippino Lippi, 1501 1551, Marriage of S. Catherine (in the presence of SS. Paul, Sebastian, Peter, and J. Baptist), painted in the decline of the master. ' Choir. The stalls, with intarsia-vtork, are by Fra Damiano da Ber- gamo, 1530, of the history of the Old and New Testament. The picture of the Adoration of the Magi is by flart. Cesi. Left. Tomb of King Enzius, taken prisoner 1249, died 1272. The monument only dates from 1731. In the adjoining chapel is the fine tomb of Taddeo Pepoli, 1337, by Jacopo Lanfrani. The altar-piece of SS. Michael, Domenic, and Francis, with our Saviour and angels above, is by Giac. Francia. Transept. Opposite the tomb of King Enzius is a very interesting picture of S. Thomas Aquinas, by Simone da Bologna, proved to be an authentic portrait by the annals of the Order. i$th Chapel (of the Relics]. Here is preserved the head of S. Do- minic, in a silver case ; the body of the Beato Giacomo da Ulma, who painted on glass ; and the mummy of the Venerable Serafino Capponi. The Chapel of the Rosary (opposite S. Domenico) is adorned with frescoes by Dion. Calvaert, Guido Reni, Lod. Caracci, &c. In the centre is the grave of Guido Reni and his pupil Elizabetta Sirani, 1665. The early and sudden death of the latter excited at the time some suspi- cion of poison, but it was afterwards proved that she died from internal inflammation. In the porch leading from the aisle into the "piazza is the tomb of the learned Alessandro Tartagni of Imola, 1477, by Francesco di Simone. It is ornamented with beautiful and delicate foliage and arabesques quite deserving of study. Opposite this is a tomb of the Volta family, 1557, with a statue by Prospero dementi. Last Chapel but one. Lod. Caracci. S. Raimond crossing the sea upon his mantle. Last Chapel. A bust of S. Filippo Neri, from a cast taken after his death. (A little behind the Piazza S. Domenico is the handsome Palazzo Grabinski, formerly Bacciochi, designed by Palla- dio.) The street opposite the west front of S. Domenico, leads into the Strada di S. Mammolo. Turning left, we imme- diately reach the Church of S. Procolo. Over the entrance is a lunette of the Madonna between SS. Sixtus and Bene- dict, by the early Bolognese master, Lippo Dalmasio. S. PROCOLO, S. CATERINA VI CRT. 285 " Lippo Dalmasio would only paint images of the Holy Virgin, and professed a peculiar devotion for her ; and such was the importance he attached to this work, that he never commenced painting without the previous preparation of a severe fast on the evening before, and the re- ception of the communion on the day itself, in order that his imagination might be purified and his pencil sanctified. The best proof that the in- fluence of a preparation of this nature was not chimerical, is the fact of the extraordinary popularity that the Madonnas of this artist enjoyed, so that it was considered almost a disgrace to be without one ; and also the remarkable testimony of Guido, who, discovering in the Virgins of Lippo Dalmasio something of a superhuman character which could only be attributed to a secret influence directing his pencil, did not hesitate to declare that it was impossible for any modem artist, however he might be assisted by the resources of talent and study, to succeed in uniting so much holiness, modesty, and purity, in one figure. It was also no unusual thing to find Guido standing entranced before one of these re- vered images, when they were uncovered for public devotion on the days set apart for the worship of the Madonna." Rio " On the return of Clement VIII. from his conquest of Ferrara, he is said to have halted before the Madonna of S. Procolo, and reverently saluting it, to have declared that he had never seen images more devout or that touched his heart nearer (' e che piil lo intenerissero ') than those painted by Lippo Dalmasio." Lord Lindsay. ; Left, 1st Chapel. Ercole Graziani. S. Maurus. 2nd Chapel. Grave of the early martyr S. Proculus, and of a bishop of the same name. 4/A Chapel. Ere. Graziani. The Virgin appearing to S. Benedict. Near the door, on the outside wall, is an inscription in memory of a man named Procolo, who was killed, 1393, by one of the bells falling on him, as he was passing under the tower : " Si procul a Proculo Proculi campana fuisset, Nunc procul a Proculo Proculus ipse foret." Just outside the Porta S. Mammolo is (left) the Chunk of the S. Annunziata, of the isth century; its pictures are re- moved to the Academy. Returning down the Strada S. Mammolo, on the left is a wall with a rich fringe of terra-cotta. It is that of the Con- rent of S. Caterina Visri, the artist-nun, 1456. The ad- 286 ITALIAN CITIES. joining Church of Corpus Domini, generally called La Santa, has a fine terra-cotta doorway and contains : Right, \st Chapel. Calvaert. S. Francis. 2nd Chapel. Tomb erected by Bologna to Luigi Galvani. qth Chapel. Lod. Caracci. The Assumption and Burial of the Virgin. Choir. Marc Antonio Franceschini, 1648 1729. Last Supper. Left, 1st Chapel. Id. Death of Joseph. 2nd Chapel. Id. Annunciation. On the organ-loft is a curious relief by Cesi, from a design by Baldas - sare Peruzzi. Further down the street is the Palazzo Bevilacqua (formerly Campeggi) designed by Bramantino, with a magnificent court. An inscription in one of the rooms tells us that the Council of Trent assembled there in 1547, having removed thither from causes of health. Turning left, below this palace is the Church of S. Paolo, of 1611, containing : Right, 2nd Chapel. Lod. Caracci. Paradise. The Madonna be- neath is by Lippo Dalmasio, "The Paradise is remarkable as a complete specimen of those con- certs of angels, by which the school are involuntarily distinguished from their author Correggio. "Burckhardt. yd Chapel. Giac. Cavedone. Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, and decorations of the ceiling. 4/7* Chapel. Guercino. S. Gregory and the souls in Purgatory. \ High Altar. Aless. Algardi. The Beheading of S. Paul. Behind this church is the Palazzo Zambeccari, with. a facade by Carlo Bianconi, 1771. It had a fine gallery, for the most dispersed. A few pictures by Bolognese masters still remain. Close to S. Paolo (left) is the Collegia di Spagna, founded by Cardinal Albornoz, in 1364- The picturesque entrance is adorned with the arms of Spain. The court -yard with its COLLEGIO DI SPAGNA, S. FRANCESCO. 287 double cloister is full of colour. In the upper gallery is a beautiful but injured fresco by Bagnacavallo, in which Car- dinal Albornoz is represented kneeling in the presence of the Holy Family. In the side chapel is an interesting altar- piece by the rare master Marco Zoppo. The important fresco of the Coronation of Charles V., once in the portico, to which Murray continues to direct the attention of travel- lers, was totally destroyed 40 years ago. Dom Emanuele Aponte was amongst the most cele- brated of the Jesuit Fathers who taught in this college. Further down the Via Saragozza (left) is the handsome Palazzo Albergati, built 1540, from designs of Baldassare Peruzzi. The street opposite this contains the house (No. 1347) in which the Physician Galvani, of electric celebrity, was born. It bears the inscription : "Galvanum excepi natum luxique peremptum Cujus ab invento junctus uterque polus." On the left is the great brick Church of S. Francesco, of the 1 3th century, but greatly desecrated. The High Altar has a beautiful screen of 1388, by Giacobello and Pier Paolo delle Massegne, sculptors well-known in Venetian art. Pope Alexander V. (Peter Phylargyrius), 1410, was buried in this church. The lunettes in the portico, representing the story of S. Antony of Padua, are by Tiarini, Gessi, &c. The street opposite S. Francesco (Porta Nuova) leads to the Church of S. Salvatore, built in the i7th century by Ambrogio Magenta. It contains the unmarked grave of Guercino. /\'\'ht, ist Chapel. Ere. Graziani. Beato A. Canetoli refusing the Archbishopric of Florence. 4M Chapd. Jtuopo Coppi, '579- The Miracle of the Crucifix. 288 ITALIAN CITIES. High Altar. Francesco Gessi. Christ bearing his cross. 6tA Chapel. Aless. Tiarini. The Nativity. " How entirely Tiarini misunderstood the calm, idyllic feeling of the scene in this picture, which is otherwise excellent ! He paints it on a colossal scale, and makes Joseph point rhetorically to Mary, as if to call the attention of the spectators." Burckhardt. 1th Chapel. Innocenzo da Imola. Crucifixion, with four saints. 8tk Chapel. Carlo Bonone. Ascension. t)th Chapel. Garofalo. S. John and Zacharias. Sacristy. Frescoes by Cavedone. Opposite this church is the Palazzo Marescalchi by Dom. Tibaldi. It has chimney-pieces painted by Guido and the Caracci. Immediately below S. Francesco (right) are the Hotels, &c. Several other churches may be visited from hence. The Via del Pratello leads left to the Church of S. Rocco, an oratory adorned with paintings of the life of S. Roch, almost all voluntary offerings from the young artists of the i7th cen- tury, Camullo, Cavedoni, Gessi, &c. From the same point (near S. Francesco), the Strada Felice leads to (right) the Chunk of S. Niccolb, which con- tains gt/i Chapel. Ann. Caracci. The Crucifixion. Behind this church (No. 449) is the Casa Guercino, which was the abode of the painter. The street behind S. Niccolo leads to the Church of S. Bartolommeo di Reno c Madonna di Pioggta (generally closed) ; it contains : Left, 1st Chapel. Agostino Caracci (painted in his 2jth year). The Nativity. Also two prophets on the ceiling. S. BENEDETTO, S. GREGORIO. ^89 Lod. Caracci. The Circumcision and the Adoration of the Magi. Oratory. Alfonso Lombardi. S. Bartholomew. Hence, following the Riviera di Reno and the Strada di Galliera (which contains the handsome Palazzo Montanari, once Aldrovandi) of 1 748, we may reach the Church of S. Benedetto, built 1606 by Giovanni Ballarini. It contains : Right, 1st Chapel. Lucio Mazzari. Marriage of S. Catherine. 2nd Chapel. Ercole Procaccini. Annunciation. The other pictures by Cavedoni. 4tA Chapel. Cavedoni. S. Antony beaten by demons. Left, \st Chapel. Tiarini. The Virgin conversing with the Magdalen. Behind this church are the dull walks of the Giardini Pubblici and the rising ground called La Montagnola. In returning we may turn (left) from the Riviera di Reno to (right) the Church of S. Giorgio. It contains : Left, 1st Chapel. Tiarini. Flight into Egypt. 2nd Chapel. Ann. Caracci. Annunciation. yd Chapel. Id. The Pool of Bethesda. 4/A Chapel. Cantarini. S. Filippo Benizzi before the Virgin and Child. The lower part is by Albani. High Altar. Procaccini. S. George. A little further down the same street (left) is the Church of S. Gregorio, which contains : Left, 2nd Chapel. Lodovico Caracci. S. George and the Dragon, with S. Michael and the Devil above. +th Chapel. Ann. Caracci. Baptism of Christ. High Altar. Calvatrt. Miracle of S. Gregory. We are now again close to the hotels. Outside the Porta S. Mammolo, the second turn on the right is a steep paved walk, lined with acacias, leading to the Convent of La Madonna del Monte. Half-way up the VOL. n. 19 290 ITALIAN CITIES. ascent, on the right is the Villa of Minghetti, the Minister of Finance, marked by a bow-window, and, built into this villa, but (though used as a receptacle for plants in winter) care- fully preserved, is the little Chapel of La Madonna di Mez- zaratta, of great importance in the history of art. It was built in 1 1 06, and a great part of it has fallen down through age and neglect, but what remains has been restored. "This humble sanctuary has been correctly styled by Lanzi the Campo Santo of Bologna. It was built in the twelfth century, but the actual paintings are not more ancient than the middle of the fourteenth. Vitale was employed first, to paint a large 'Presepio,' or Nativity, immediately above the door, it is his sole work there. The early his- tory of Genesis, and that of Joseph, Moses, and Daniel were afterwards represented in four rows of compartments on the southern wall ; the life of Our Saviour in the same manner on the northern, and the history of the Passion on the eastern, or altar-wall. The compartments are small, and the compositions of a very infantine and primitive character, far in- ferior to contemporary works at Florence and Siena, yet full of fire and originality ; while impatience is rebuked by the recollection that Michael Angelo is said to have commended them, and by the certainty that Bagnacavallo and the Caracci took the most active interest in their preservation. Now, indeed, few of the series survive ; many have been whitewashed, the church has been re-roofed, cutting off the whole upper row, and having become private property, there is little security against the remainder being ultimately obliterated. Meanwhile it is a sweet and tranquil spot, unprofaned by tourists, musical with nightingales, and commanding a view which, if not equal to that from S. Michele in Bosco, will well reward you for the ascent ; while the remembrance of S. Bernardino of Siena, who loved the place and used to preach there,* lends it an association of historical and religious interest. But to revert to the Presepio. The composition is the old traditional one, happily varied ; Joseph, for instance, instead of sitting moodily in his corner, pours water into a vase for the Virgin to wash the child with, and a number of angels are kneeling in front in adoration. The execu- tion is very defective ; but there is an air of grace and feeling of the ideal in the composition, and in the figure of the Madonna. The paint- * The "picciol pergamo (incastrato nel muro) ove tante volte fe' udirsi S. Bernar- dino Sanese, divotissimo di questo luogo, e padre spirituale di que' confratelli," is still to be seen there. MADONNA DI MEZZARATTA. 291 ings immediately to the right and left are by another, and an unknown hand, apparently a Giottesco. " According to Vasari, the whole southern wall was painted by Cris- toforo, an artist some say of Ferrara, others of Modena, while the Bolognese claim him as their own countryman. Malvasia tells us he was the first that painted on the southern wall, if so the uppermost row only can belong to him, the second, and possibly part of the third, having been executed by a painter named Jacobus, and the fourth by one Lorenzo. Of this uppermost row, two or three fragments may be seen in the granary above the modern ceiling of the church ; the pret- tiest of them is a representation of Eve spinning, with her children on her knee, after the Fall. They are pale in colour, like the paintings of acknowledged Ferrarese origin, and the primitive Roman school of Lombardy, and decidedly different in style from the frescoes in the church beneath. Cristoforo also painted the altar-piece, now removed, but engraved by Agincourt, and which bore his name, and the date 1380. " Of the frescoes by Lorenzo, representing the history of Daniel, not a trace remains. The Marriage, which seems to have been painted over one of the original compartments, is evidently by a more modern and practised hand, of the fifteenth century : it is singularly graceful, but has been sadly injured. " Simon and Jacobus rank next in order among the artists of Bologna and of the Madonna di Mezzaratta. Both are said to have been of the Avanzi family. The compositions of Jacobus have been more fortunate as to their preservation than those of Simon. They may easily be re- cognized by comparison with the fourth compartment of the lowest row on the left-hand wall, representing the Pool of Bethesda, and which is signed with his name, 'Jacobus p.,' or fecit. The earliest in point of date are the series representing the history of Joseph, forming the second row, on the right-hand wall. Some of these are characterized by singular naivete ; the seventh, eighth, and ninth, are perhaps the most worth notice. The row immediately below these, dedicated to the life of Moses, is of comparatively inferior interest, though the four last com- partments (representing the Reception of the Tables of the Law, and the Worship of the Golden Calf ; the Judicial Massacre of the Israelites ; and the Delivery of the Tables to the Princes of Israel after their re- delivery from the Mount, and the Destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram) bear a resemblance to the manner of Jacobus, and may possil.ly be by his hand. But the remaining frescoes on the left-hand wall arc certainly his. The third and fourth of the lowest row are the most in- teresting. In the former, Our Saviour sits among his disciples Dis- coursing, while those without uncover the roof of the house, and let 292 ITALIAN CITIES. down the man sick of the palsy, who turns to Christ with clasped hands ; while, to the right, he is seen walking away healed, with his mattress bundled upon his shoulders. The foreshortenings are daring to an absurd degree, and the whole composition is very rude, but it is full of life and character, and it is impossible not to sympathize with such fear- less boldness. And the like may be said of the adjacent Pool of Beth- esda ; the angel descends to trouble the water, a sick person stands in it praying, the cripple who had been suffering for thirty-eight years sits up in bed in the centre of the composition, looking with earnest suppli- catory gaze and clasped hands towards Christ, whose attention however, like that of Joseph in the fresco described above, is drawn away from him by another work of love, the resuscitation of a little child ; he is seen again to the left, enthroned under a portico, surrounded by Phari- sees, and addressing a poor woman, who kneels at his feet. The groups and figures are well arranged, and there is more expression than in the frescoes on the opposite wall. The face of our Saviour is throughout peculiarly sweet and holy. Of the composition of Simon, carrying the history down to the Last Supper, and those on the altar-wall represent- ing the Passion, executed above half a century afterwards by Galasso of Ferrara, no traces whatever are now visible." Lord Lindsay's Chris- tian Art. We may now return to the high-road and ascend the hill, directly above the Porta S. Mammolo, by a delightful ter- raced road lined with plane-trees, to the great Olivetan Convent and Church of S. Michele in Bosco. Here the Popes had a summer residence, which is now taken posses- sion of by Victor Emanuel. Its many cloisters are bright with flowers in summer. The last, which is octangular, was adorned with frescoes by Lodovico Caracci, but little of his work remains entire, except some striking figures in a fresco of the Miracle of S. Benedict. "The masterly dignity of the character of Lodovico Caracci appears to most advantage in the cloister, where, assisted by his pupils, he re- presented the actions of S. Benedict and S. Cecilia in thirty -seven separ- ate histories. By his hand is the conflagration of Monte Cassino, and some other portions ; the remaining parts are by Guido, by Tiarini, by Massari, by Cavedoni, by Spada, by Garbieri, by Buzio, and other young artists. These paintings have been engraved and are worthy of S. MICHELE IN BOSCO, S. LUC A. 293 the reformers of that age. On beholding what we may term this gallery by different hands, we should be almost inclined to bestow upon the schools of Lodovico this trite eulogy ; that from it, as from the Trojan house, there issued only princes." Lanxi. In the Church, over the doors at the sides of the choir, are some admirable heads of monks of Dom. Canuti. The Sacristy, which ends in a curiously illusive perspective- picture, has frescoes by Bagnacavallo, and a Magdalen by Canuti. The halls of the Palace are handsome, but little worth seeing. The convent Dormitory is used as a kind of extra museum by the Belle- Arti. But the great attraction is the glorious view from the ter- race of the Papal Garden, which no one should omit to visit Like a map, Bologna lies stretched beneath with its innumer- able churches, amid which S. Petronio is a centre, and the Leaning Towers rise fantastically conspicuous. "The prospect, from an elevation, of a great city in its silence, is one of the most impressive, as well as beautiful, we ever behold." Hallam. A separate excursion should be made from the Porta Saragossa by the extraordinary portico of 635 arches, three miles in length (built 1676 1739 by voluntary contributions in honour of the Virgin), to the shrine of La Madonna di S. Luca, which is such a striking feature in all distant views of the town, occupying the same position in regard to Bologna as the Superga does to Turin. The view from the summit is quite magnificent The Church intended to receive one of the black images of the Virgin attributed to S. Luke and said to have been brought here from Constantinople in 1160 was built, in I 73 l > by Carlo F. Dotti. The only pictures of interest are 294 ITALIAN CITIES. some early works of Guido relating to the Mysteries of the Rosary in the 3rd Chapel on the right. Near the foot of the hill of S. Luca is the Certosa, a Car- thusian monastery founded in 1335, whose gardens are now used as the magnificent Campo Santo of Bologna (conse- crated 1801). The Church contains many pictures by late Bolognese artists, the most interesting are : Andrea Sirani. The Supper in the Pharisee's house. Elisabetta Sirani (painted in her 2Oth year). The Baptism of Christ. The artist has introduced her own figure sitting. The Cemetery is entered by a cloister devoted to monu- ments removed from suppressed convents and other build- ings. The most striking is that of Francesco Albergati, ob. 1517, with his beautiful sleeping figure. Among the monuments in the cloisters which surround the Campo Santo, we may notice that by Tadolini to the famous Clotilda Tambrom, who only died in 1817, and by Vela (1865) to Letizia Murat Pepoli (ob. 1859), with a statue of her father King Murat. A spot about three miles west of Bologna, at a place now called Crocetta del Trebbo, is pointed out by local authorities as the famous meeting-place of the second Roman triumvi- rate Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus B.C. 43. It is an island formed by the Reno the Rhenus of ancient times but its size (half a mile long, and a third of a mile wide) does not seem to correspond with the description of the spot in question. CHAPTER XXXVI. RAVENNA. IN entering upon a tour through the country towns of the Emilia, it may be well to recollect that here money ought to go much further than in other parts of Italy. If travellers have no courier, 2 frs. for a room and 3 frs. for a dinner will be found to be the usual prices. 3 frs. is cer- tainly the proper price at which to order a dinner, as no more would be obtained if you ordered it at 10 frs. The people of the Emilia are almost invariably kind, civil, and hospitable to strangers. They are celebrated for their beauty, especially the women of Pesaro and Fano, while the young men of Forli are considered the noblest specimens of humanity in existence. The men have no national costume, women of the upper classes generally wear knitted veils, something like Spanish mantillas, especially in the churches. The Emilia is very richly cultivated, the partition system being adopted ; by which the owner lets out the land to the contadino, for the benefit of his labour and implements, receiving half the produce in return. (It is three hours by rail from Bologna to Ravenna. I. 7. frs, 40 c. II. 5 frs. 60 c. III. 2 frs. So c. Trains are changed at Castel Bolognese.) 296 ITALIAN CITIES. (The Railway nearly follows the course of the Via Emilia. Imola Station. Imola occupies the site of the Roman station Forum Cornelii, mentioned by Cicero and Martial. It is the birth-place (1506) of the painter Innocenzo da Imola, but there is no good work of his here. The Cathedral of S. Cassianus has a picturesque octangular tower. In its crypt is the grave of S. Peter Chrysologus (the great orator of the $th century, whose surname illus- trates the effect of his sermons), and of S. Cassianus. " S. Casciano (Cassian), patron of Imola, was a school-master of that city, and being denounced as a Christian, the judge gave him up to the fury of his scholars, whom the severity of his discipline had inspired with the deepest hatred. The boys revenged themselves by putting him to a slow and cruel death, piercing him with the iron styles used in writing ; his story is told by Prudentius." Jameson's Sacred Art. Pius VII. was Bishop of Imola when he was raised to the Papal throne in 1800, and Pius IX. was its Bishop in 1846. After leaving Castel Bolognese, we pass Lugo (Station} supposed to occupy the site of the Lucus Dianse. 3 m. S. E. is Cotignola, where Attendolo, father of Francesco Sforza, was born 1369,* who here, a peasant's son, threw his axe into an oak to decide by its falling or re- maining fixed in the trunk, whether he should remain a day- labourer or join a band of condottieri. The painters Francesco and Bernardino Zaganelli took, from this their birth-place, the surname of Cotignola. Four miles north is Fusignano, where the poet Vincenzo Monti and the com- poser Angelo Corelli were born. Bagnacavallo (Station) gave a name to the painter Bartol. Ramenghi, who was born here, 1484.) * Montecchio, near Parma, also claims to be his birth-place. CHARACTERISTICS OF RAVENNA. 2 Ravenna. (Inns. Spada d ' Oro ; Europa, tolerable, as very rough Italian Inns, both in the Strada del Monte. Carriages from the station to the town, with I horse, 50 c. ; with 2 horses I fr. ; night, 75 c., with 2 horses, I fr. 50 c. Carriage for the afternoon to S. Apollinare in Classe, the Pineta, &c., 5 fn>. For Plwtographs of Ravenna. Ricci, 295, Strada Porta Sisi (Byron's House).) "If we seek through the world for a city which is absolutely unique in its character and interest, we shall find it at Ravenna. It is a city in which, as soon as we set foot, we at once find ourselves among the memorials of an age which has left hardly any memorials elsewhere. The sea, which once gave Ravenna its greatness, has fallen back and left the once Imperial city like a wreck in the wilderness. In the like sort the memory of an age, strange if not glorious, full of great changes, if not of great deeds, has passed away from other spots without leaving any visible memorial ; at Ravenna the memorials of that age are w ell- nigh all that is left. It is well that such a strange corner of history should still abide as a living thing in one forsaken corner of Europe. It is well that there should be one spot from which the monuments of heathen Rome and mediaeval Christendom are alike absent, and where every relic breathes of the strange and almost forgotten time which comes between the two." Freeman. " Ravenna in her widowhood the waste Where dreams a withered ocean ; where the hand Of time has gently played with tombs defaced Of priest and emperor ; where the temples stand, Proud in decay, in desolation grand, Solemn and sad like clouds that lingeringly Sail, and are loath to fade upon the sky." J. A. S. " Une chose console pourtant de la vue de ce desert qui a pris possession d'une cite" jadis si populeuse, si animee, ruine encore debout survivant a tant d'autres mines. Cette chose, c'est une incomparable reunion de monuments de 1'art chretien, qui, nulle part ailleurs ne se trouve aussi purement, aussi completement repr&ente" dans ses formes primitives et son myste"rieux symbolisme. Plus byzantine que Con- stantinople elle-meme, Ravenne, sauf la puissance et la gloire qui se sont retirees d'elle comme le font chaque jour les flots mouvants de 1'Adriatique, Ravenne est reside a peu pres ce qu'elle etait au temps de Justinien et des exarques. De indue que CATC rappelle la ville ctrusque, 298 ITALIAN CITIES. Cumes et Pompei la cite grecque et le municipe remain, 1'ancienne capitale de 1'Exarchat nous transports en plein Bas-Empire. Sa decadence, son immobilite ne representent que trop fidelement la decadence et 1'immobilite d'un etat qui dix siecles durant ne cessa de pencher vers son declin. Aussi, en la visitant, on ressent le triste plaisir d'avoir sous les yeux la necropole la mieux conservee de PItalie. Apres avoir fait le tour de ses vieilles murailles qui gardent les traces des breches ouvertes par les Barbares, penetrez dans 1'interieur de ses austeres basiliques, et vous verrez que 1'antiquite chretienne y revit plus intacte qu'a Rome, car vous n'y rencontrez pas le melange, parfois choquant, du sacre et du profane. Ainsi qu'on 1'a dit avec raison, Ravenne est done une ville essentiellement hieratique, sortant tout a coup de la profondeur de ses cryptes, et dont les portes semblent encore, de nos jours, gardees par deux statues, celles de 1'Empire et de la Religion." Dantier, " L'ltalie." The early History of Ravenna may be told in the words of Gibbon : " On the coast of the Adriatic, about ten or twelve miles from the most southern of the seven mouths of the Po, the Thessalians founded the ancient colony of Ravenna, which they afterwards resigned to the natives of Umbria. Augustus, who had observed the opportunity of the place, prepared, at the distance of three miles from the old town, a capacious harbour, for the reception of two hundred and fifty ships of war. This naval establishment, which included, the arsenals and magazines, the barracks of the troops, and the houses of the artificers, derived its origin and name from the permanent station of the Roman fleet ; the intermediate space was soon filled with buildings and inhabitants, and the three extensive and populous quarters of Ravenna (Ravenna, Cesarea, and Classis) gradually contributed to form one of the most important cities of Italy. The principal canal of Augustus poured a copious stream of the waters of the Po through the midst of the city, to the entrance of the harbour ; the same waters were introduced into the pro- found ditches that encompassed the wall ; they were distributed by a thousand subordinate canals, into every part of the city, which they divided into a variety of small islands ; the communication was main- tained only by the use of boats and bridges ; and the houses of Ravenna, whose appearance may be compared to that of Venice, were raised on the foundation of wooden piles. The adjacent country, to the distance of many miles, was a deep and impassable morass ; and the artificial causeway, which connected Ravenna with the continent, might be easily HIS TOR Y OF RA VENN A . 299 guarded, or destroyed, on the approach of a hostile army. These morasses were interspersed, however, with vineyards ; and though the soil was exhausted by four or five crops, the town enjoyed a more plentiful supply of wine than of fresh water. The air, instead of receiving the sickly and almost pestilential exhalations of low and marshy grounds, was distinguished, like the neighbourhood of Alex- andria, as uncommonly pure and salubrious ; and this singular advantage was attributed to the regular tides of the Adriatic, which swept the canal, interrupted the unwholesome stagnation of the waters, and floated every day the vessels of the adjacent country into the heart of Ravenna. The gradual retreat of the sea has left the modern city at the distance of four miles from the Adriatic ; and as early as the fifth or sixth century of the Christian era, the port of Augustus was converted into pleasant orchards ; and a lonely grove of pines covered the ground where the Roman fleet once rode at anchor. Even this alteration contributed to increase the natural strength of the place ; and the shallowness of the water was a sufficient barrier against the large ships of the enemy. This advantageous situation was fortified by art and labour : and in the twentieth year of his age, Honorius, emperor of the west, anxious only for his personal safety, retired to the perpetual confinement of the walls and morasses of Ravenna. The example of Honorius was imitated by his feeble successors, the Gothic kings, and afterwards the exarchs, who occupied the throne and palace of the emperors ; and, till the middle of the eighth century, Ravenna was considered as the seat of government, and the capital of Italy." Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This Venice-like condition of Ravenna is alluded to by many of the Latin poets,* especially by Claudian : "Antiquas muros egressa Ravennae Signa movet ; jamque ora Padi, portusque reliquit Flumineos, certis ubi legibus advena Nereus yEstuat, et pronas puppes nuno amne secundo, Nunc redeunte vehit ; nudataque litora fluctu Deserit, Oceani lunaribus aemula damuis." Cons. Hon. vi. 494. In A.D. 79, Christianity is said to have been first preached in Ravenna by its patron S. Apollinaris, who suffered mar- tyrdom here. In 404, Honorius, son of the great Theodo- Sil. Ital. viu. 602 ; Martial, xiii. Ep. 18; Id. iii. 56 ; Sid. Apol. c. ix. 300 ITALIAN CITIES. sius, removed the seat of the government of the Western Empire from Rome to Ravenna, and here his brave sister, Placidia, ruled for 25 years after his death, in the name of her son Valentinian III., in which time Ravenna attained its greatest glory, and the churches of S. Giovanni Evange- lista, S. Agata, S. Francesco, and SS. Nazaro and Celso were built. After the fall of Olybrius, who had married Placidia, daughter of Valentinian, the Herulian Odoacer nominally ruled for three years (490 493) in Ravenna as King. He was murdered in his palace, and succeeded by Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, who had already obtained a partnership in his government. Theodoric was an Arian,* and during his reign six great Arian churches were built, of which S. Apol- linare Nuovo and S. Spirito remain. Owing to the tolerance of Theodoric, Ravenna was no less enriched during his life- time with great Catholic churches, of which (the modernized) S. Maria Maggiore is one ; S. Vitale and S. Apollinare in Classe were also both commenced before his death. Theodoric died in 526, and was succeeded by a series of elective kings. The last who ruled in Ravenna was Vitiges, who was besieged in Ravenna and subdued (539) by Belisarius, the general of Justinian, then Emperor of the East. Under Justinian, Ravenna was ruled and its palace inhabited by the eunuch Narses, who took the title of Exarch, and for fourteen years (554 568) admin- istered the entire kingdom of Italy. During his reign and that of the succeeding Exarchs, Ravenna continued to be the chief town of Italy, Eome a mere provincial city. * The Arian heresy was concerning the nature of the Divine Trinity. The Arians maintained that there was only one God, and that the Son and the Holy Ghost were created beings. HISTOR Y OF RA VENNA. 301 "While it looked to Constantinople as its mother city, Byzan- tine treasures and the knowledge of Byzantine arts natur- ally contributed to its adornment, so that, in the words of Gregorovius, " Ravenna has become the Pompeii of the Gothic and Byzantine times." The Exarchate lasted 185 years the later Exarchs ruling feebly, like satraps of an old eastern monarchy. It came to an end under the Exarch Eutychius, who was driven out by Astaulphus, king of the Lombards, in A.D. 752. The attempt of the Lombards to seize Rome also, brought Pepin, king of the Franks, to the rescue, and he made over Ravenna as a temporal possession to the Holy See. From this time Ravenna lost its importance, though its Archbishops often gave it a certain lustre, many of them being raised to eminence either as Popes or Anti-Popes. From 1295 to 1346 it was ruled by the house of Polenta, under whom Dante found a refuge here. From the govern- ment of the Polentani, Ravenna passed to that of Venice, who ruled it till 1509, when it was ceded to Julius II., who made it the capital of the Romagna. In 1512, the battle of Ravenna was fought beneath the walls, in which a victory was gained over the Papal troops by the army of Louis XII., but Gaston de Foix was killed. The town, apart from its antiquities, is miserably ugly, squalid, and featureless, and even the wonderful interiors are too much spoilt by modernization to be beautiful, except the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and S. Apollinare in Classe. The early art history and the political history of Ravenna are identical. In later times the so-called " School of Ra- venna" was a very poor one; Luca Longhi (1507 1580) being its greatest luminary. 302 ITALIAN CITIES. One architectural feature of Ravenna will strike all visitors. It is that while almost all other campaniles in Italy are square, here they are almost all round. Two days at least should be given to Ravenna. The sights may thus be divided : 1st Day. Morning. S. Spirito. S. Maria in Cosmedin. S. Gio- vanni Battista. Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Tomb of the Exarch Isaac. S. Vitale. S. Giovanni Evangelista. Afternoon. Tomb of Theodoric (S. Maria Rotonda), and S. Maria in Porto Fuori. 2nd Day. Morning. Piazza da Aquila. Battistero. Duomo. Chapel of the Arcivescovado. Pinacoteca. S. Agata. S. Francesco. Tomb of Dante. S. Apollinare Nuovo. The Palace of Theodoric. S. Maria in Porto. Afternoon. Drive to S. Apollinare in Classe and the Pineta. If (which will prove a misery) only one day can be given to Ravenna, the things which must be seen are, the Mau- soleum of Galla Placidia, the Baptistery, Chapel of the Arcivescovado, Tomb of Dante, S. Apollinare Nuovo, the Palace of Theodoric, and (by a carriage) the Tomb of Theodoric, S. Apollinare in Classe, and a glimpse of the Pineta. The Pineta alone is inexhaustible. "The great monuments of Ravenna all come within less than a hundred and fifty years of each other, and yet they fall naturally into three periods. First come the monuments of the Christian Western Empire, the churches and tombs of the family of Theodosius. Next come the works of the Gothic Kingdom, the churches and the mauso- leum of Theodoric. Next come the buildings, S. Vitale amongst the foremost, which are later than the recovery of Italy under Justinian." Freeman. The Hotels are in the Strada del Monte. Turning left from hence by the Corso Garibaldi, the first street on the left contains the Church of S. Spirito^ or S. Teodoro, which was S. MARIA IN COSMED1N. 303 a basilica ("ecclesia matrix") built in the 6th century by Theodoric for the Arian bishops. It has three aisles separated by 14 grey marble columns with capitals of white marble. In the ist chapel on the left is a curious ambo, with sculptures of the 6th century. In the court in front of this church is S. Maria in Cosmedin, the octagonal Arian Baptistery of S. Spirito, also of the 6th century. The mosaics were added after it was given over to Catholic worship. They represent the Baptism of Christ, whose form is seen through the water, surrounded by the apostles, their figures divided by palm-trees. " Of doubtful age are the mosaics in S. Maria in Cosmedin, though the decoration of that building belongs almost indisputably to the time of the veritable Byzantine dominion ; probably, therefore, to the middle of the sixth century. We here observe a free imitation of the cupola mosaics of the orthodox church. Surrounding the centre picture of the Baptism of Christ are arranged here, as well as in them, the figures of the Twelve Apostles, bearing crowns in their hands, except that their line is interrupted on the east side by a golden throne with a cross. The figures are no longer advancing, but stand motionless, yet without stiff- ni>>. The heads are somewhat more uniformly drawn, but the draperies already display stiffness of line, with unmeaning breaks and folds, and a certain crudeness of light and shade. The decline of the feeling for decoration shows itself not only in the unpleasant interruption of the figures caused by the throne, but also in the introduction of heavy palm- trees between the single figures, instead of the graceful acanthus-plant. In the centre picture the naked form of the Christ is somewhat stiffer, though that of St. John is precisely the same as in the Baptisteries of .the orthodox church. On the other hand, the river Jordan is introduced as a third person, with the upper part of the figure bare, a green lower garment, hair and beard long and white, two red crescent-shaped horns on his head, a reed in his hand, and an urn beside him." A'iigifr. Returning to the Corso Garibaldi, we must take the next turn on the left (Strada S. Elia). Here (left) is the Church of S. Giovanni Battista, also called S. Giovanni delle Catine, 304 ITALIAN CITIES. which was built in 438 by Galla Placidia for her confessor S. Barbatian, and consecrated by S. Peter Chrysologus. It was, however, almost entirely rebuilt in 1683, and nothing remains of the old building but the curious round campanile, and 1 6 ancient columns, arranged in pairs, in the interior. In the piazza before the church stand three great sarcophagi. From the front of this church the Strada S. Crispino leads hence almost direct to the Church of SS. Nazaro and Celso, the famous Mausoleum of Galla Placidia* Outside it would not be recognized as a church, it is rather like a lowly outhouse of brick, the front not rising above the level of the wall in which it is engrafted. It is a Latin cross, 40 ft. long and 33 ft. broad, vaulted throughout, and with a cupola at the cross. In the centre is an ancient altar of oriental alabaster, formerly in S. Vitale, and referred to as existing in the 6th century. The three great sarco- phagi are the only tombs of the Caesars, oriental or occi- dental, which remain in their original places. That in the chancel, of Greek marble, contained the body of the Empress Galla Placidia. Through a hole (now closed) in one of its sides the embalmed body of the Empress might once be seen (as Charlemagne at Aix la Chapelle), seated in her cypress-wood chair and clad in her imperial robes, but in 1577 some boys set the robes on fire and the body was con- sumed. Placidia was daughter of the great Theodosius by his second wife Galla. After her father's death at Milan, in A.D. 395, and the removal of the court of her brother Honorius to Ravenna, she continued to reside in Rome. She was there during the siege by Alaric, was amongst the prisoners, and afterwards married Adolphus, King of the Visigoths, brother of Alaric. This husband, whom she loved, was murdered in * The Sacristan of S. Vitale has the keys of the Mausoleum. MAUSOLEUM OF GALL A PLACID! A. 305 his palace at Barcelona, A.D. 414, and Placidia herself treated with great cruelty by his assassin, the barbarian Sarus. Having been ran- somed by her brother from the Goths for 600,000 measures of wheat, she was shortly afterwards married to Constantius, the successful general of Honorius, by whom she became the mother of Honoria and Valentinian III. Her second husband was associated with Honorius in the govern- ment, but died in the 7th month of his reign, and, after a violent quarrel with her brother, Placidia and her children were forced to fly to Con- stantinople. Upon the death of Honorius she returned to capture Ravenna, and execute justice upon John, a usurper who had seized the throne. After this she practically ruled the Western Empire for 25 years, in the name of her son, the feeble Valentian III., who was only six years old at the time of her return to Ravenna, and during this time devoted her great wealth to the adornment of the capital. She died at Rome in 440. Tomb of Galla Placidia, Ravenna. The sarcophagus in the right transept contains the body of the Emperor Honorius II., brother of Galla Placidia ; that in the left transept the body of Constantius III., the second husband of Galla Placidia and father of Valentinian VOL. II. 20 306 ITALIAN CITIES. III. Near the entrance are two smaller sarcophagi con- taining the ashes of the tutors of Valentinian son of Placidia, and of her daughter Honoria. The story of Honoria is a tragic romance. Forbidden to make any but a distasteful and political marriage, she was discovered at 1 7 in an intrigue with her chamberlain Eugenius, and, after having been cruelly imprisoned by her mother, was exiled to pass the rest of her days in a weary confinement with her cousins at Constantinople, the sisters of Theodosius, Emperor of the East. Sick of her life, she adopted the desperate remedy of writing to Attila, King of the Goths, offering him her hand, if he would obtain her freedom. He listened to her proposal, but in asking her from her family, demanded also her share of the im- perial patrimony. He was indignantly refused (the right of female suc- cession being denied), and Honoria, removed to Italy, was condemned to languish in a perpetual prison for the rest of her life. The whole of the roof is covered with mosaics of the 5th century. " Before A.D. 450, we may consider the rich decorations of the monu- mental chapel of Galla Placidia, preserved entire with all its mosaics ; and therefore alone fitted to give us an idea of the general decorations of the ornamented buildings of that period. This chapel is built in the form of a cross, the centre being occupied by a square elevation, arched over in the form of the segment of a cupola : aisles and transepts termin- ate above in waggon roofs. The lower walls were formerly faced with marble slabs. From the cornice upwards begin the mosaics, chiefly gold upon a dark-blue ground, which binds the whole together with a pleasant effect. Upon the arches are ornaments, which, though not in the antique taste, belong, in point of elegance, to the most excellent of their kind. On the lunettes, at the termination of the transepts, are seen golden stags advancing between green-gold arabesques upon a blue ground towards a fountain an emblem of the conversion of the heathen. In the lunette over the entrance of the nave we observe the Good Shep- herd, of a very youthful character, seated among his flock ; while in the chief lunette over the altar Christ appears full length with the flag of victory, burning the writings of the heretics (or of the philosophers) upon a grate. On the walls of the elevated portion before alluded to are seen the Apostles, two-and-two, without any particular attributes ; between, and below each, a pair of doves sipping out of basins ; and finally, in the cupola itsel r , between large stars, a richly decorated cross MAUSOLEUM OF GALL A PLACID I A. 307 and the symbols of the Evangelists. Upon the whole, the combination of symbols and historical characters in these mosaics evinces no definite principle or consistently carried out thought ; and, with the exception of the Good Shepherd the figures are of inferior character. At the same time, in point of decorative harmony, the effect of the whole is incom- parable. On that account we may the more lament the loss of the very extensive mosaics of S. Giovanni Evangelista, also built by the Empress Galla Placidia." Kiigler. "The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia presents by far the most inter- esting and perfect example of early Symbolism its architecture, its mosaics, and its tombs thoroughly harmonizing. The mosaics are peculiarly beautiful ; in one of them the Good Shepherd is represented feeding one of his sheep with one hand, holding a small cross in the other. Another represents Our Saviour, the youthful head with a cross in his hand, standing beside a brazier of burning coals, * beyond which appears an open scrinium, or book-case, containing rolls of the Gospels, each marked with the Evangelist's name ; the cross glitters in a heaven of stars in the centre of the dome, and the emblematical animals of the Evangelists watch around it ; other symbols, also, are introduced, all most appropriate. But the tombs are still more interest- ing, as (with the exception, perhaps, of a few busts) the earliest speci- mens existing of Byzantine sculpture ; taken together with those of Galla Placidia's confession, S. Barbatian, and of the Archbishop Rinaldo, in the chapel of the south transept of the Duomo, and those of the eight archbishops of Ravenna, who lived in the seventh and eighth centuries now ranged in the aisles of S. Apollinare di fuori, they will enable you to form a satisfactory idea of its merits during these early ages. They are, for the most part, fairly executed for the time, especially those done by order of Placidia. Nothing can be more striking than the contrast they present in their simplicity to the tombs of the catacombs, so over- loaded with typical compositions. In these everything is symbolical. A cross, with two birds perched upon it or supporting the monogram of Christ between two lighted candles, or two sheep ; birds or stags drinking at a fountain, which springs up below the monogram enclosed in a wreath, or a lamb carrying a cross and standing on the Mount of Paradise are the most frequent subjects ; occasionally, but very rarely, the beardless figure of our Saviour occurs, seated on his throne. Of hi-.torical subjects, properly so called, none are to be met with in the whole series." Lindsay's Christian Art. Passing (left) the Church of S. Maria Afaggiorc (built first Probably in alltuion to Isaiah vi. 6. 308 ITALIAN CITIES. in 526, but entirely modernized, except its round campanile, in the i6th century, only 16 ancient columns remaining in the interior), we reach (right) the magnificent Church of S. Vitale. This masterpiece of Byzantine architecture, exter- nally a mass of rugged brick, was begun in 526, the year of the death of Theodoric, under the superintendence of the Archbishop S. Ecclesius and the jfulianus Argentarius under whom S. Apollinare in Classe was also built. Its resem- blance to the recently erected S. Sophia at Constantinople reveals its eastern origin. It was erected in honour of S. Vitale upon the place where he suffered martyrdom. "According to the Ambrosian legend, S. Vitalis, the famous patron saint of Ravenna, was the father of SS. Gervasius and Protasius, served in the army of the Emperor Nero, and was one of the converts of S. Peter. Seeing a Christian martyr led to death, whose courage appeared to be sinking, he exhorted him to endure bravely to the end, carried off his body, and buried it honourably ; for which crime, as it was then con- sidered, he was first tortured, and then burned alive. His wife Valeria, and his two sons Gervasius and Protasius, fled to Milan." Jameson's Sacred Art. The Church (which was consecrated in A.D. 547) is approached by a court, where there is a pretty portico with ornamented pillars. The interior is octagonal, and is sur- rounded by eight round-headed arches resting on wide piers, which each contain semi-circular recesses, one story above the other, with three small arches. Above is a semi-circular cupola, painted in the last century with coarse frescoes which greatly interfere with the harmony of this building, " where Justinian and Theodora still dimly blaze in the gold and purple of the mosaics."* " The chief architectural novelty and leading feature in this building, * Milman. S. VITALE. 309 is the dome. No vaulting of any kind had ever been hitherto em- ployed in the roofs of churches, much less that most skilful and admired of all vaulting, the cupola, or dome ; a mode of covering buildings per- fectly well understood by the Romans, but discontinued as art declined, and, for the first time, reproduced by the Greek architects of Con- stantinople, in the instance of S. Sophia. If it is difficult to support the downward pressure, and outward thrust, of ordinary vaulting, how much more is required when the pressure has to be resisted at every point, and the circle above has, as is frequently the case, to be connected with a square below ! This was accomplished, in the construction of S. Sophia, by means of what are technically called ptndtntiva ; brackets, on a large scale, projecting from the walls at the angles, and carried up to the base of the dome. At S. Vitale, which is not a square, but an octagon, a series of small arches is employed, instead of pendentives, but acting upon the same principle. By this expedient the dome is united to the body of the edifice. The thrust has, then, to be resisted At S. Vitale, Ravenna. by the thickness of the walls ; and the downward pressure to be sup- ported by arches and piers. In most cases the pendentives are exposed to view ; but at S. Vitale, the mechanical contrivances are concealed by 310 ITALIAN CITIES. a ceiling. It is always an object to diminish the weight of the dome ; and with this view materials of the lightest kind were employed in its construction. At S. Vitale the dome is composed of a spiral line of earthen vessels, inserted into each other ; and where the lateral thrust ceases, and the vertical pressure begins, larger jars are introduced in an upright position. The first re-appearance of a dome in Italy could not fail to excite admiration, and forms an epoch in the ecclesiastical archi- tecture of the country." H. Gaily Knight. The lower walls of the church are coated with great slabs of Greek marble. The red marble with which the piers are inlaid is quite splendid. The carving of the capitals is of the most exquisite beauty ; these blocks, sculptured in bas-relief, are a Byzantine feature, invented at Constantinople. Many of the sculptured fragments in different parts of the church are of great interest, especially reliefs (to the right of the high altar between the pillars of Verde Antico) representing some genii bearing a shell, and the throne of Neptune with a sea- monster beneath it ; and the relief called the " Apotheosis of Augustus " near the entrance of the Sacristy. The statues and pictures here are unimportant ; the best of the latter are those by the native family of Longhi (father, son, and daughter) in the Sacristy. The pavement has been raised 3 feet, and the adjoining street is 6 feet above the original level. But the great feature of all is the glorious Mosaics of the time of Justinian and Theodora, still almost as fresh as when they were erected. " Unfortunately, the decorations of the principal tribune, and those of the quadrangular arched space before it, are all that have been preserved. They refer in subject to the foundation and consecration of the church, with the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Gold grounds and blue grounds alternate here, the former being confined to the apsis and to two of the four divisions of the arched space. In the semi-dome S. VITALE. 311 of the apsis appears a still very youthful Christ, seated upon the globe of the world ; on each side two angels, with S. Vitalis as patron of the At S. Vitale. church, and Bishop Ecclesius as founder, the latter carrying a model of the building. Below are the four rivers of Paradise, flowing through green meadows, while the golden ground is striped with purple clouds. The figures are all noble and dignified, especially the Christ, whose ideal youthfulness scarcely recurs after that time. In the drapery there is much that is conventional, especially in the mode of shadowing, though a certain truthfulness still prevails. " Upon the perpendicular wall of the apsis appear two large cere- monial representations upon a gold ground, which, as the almost sole surviving specimens of the higher style of profane painting, are of great interest, and as examples of costume, quite invaluable. The picture on the right represents the relation in which the Emperor Justinian stood to the church the figures as large as life. In splendid attire, laden with the diadem and with a purple and gold-embroidered mantle, fastened with a monstrous fibula, is seen the Emperor, advancing, his hands full of costly gifts ; his haughty, bloated, vulgar, yet regular countenance, with the eyebrow* elevated towards the temple, is seen in 312 ITALIAN CITIES. front. To him succeed a number of courtiers, doubtless also portraits, and next to them the easily recognizable, fair, Germanic body-guard, with sword and shield. Archbishop Maximian, with his clergy, is ad- vancing to meet the Emperor. He, also, with his bald head, and the pathetic half-closed slits of eyes, is a characteristic portrait of the time. Opposite, on the left, is the Empress Theodora, surrounded by the gorgeously attired ladies and eunuchs of the court, in the act of entering the church. The Empress is also clad in the dark violet (purple) imperial mantle, and from her grotesque diadem hangs a whole cascade of beads and jewels, enclosing a narrow, pale, highly significant face, in whose large, hollow eyes, and small sensual mouth, the whole history of that clever, imperious, voluptuous, and merciless woman is written. A chamberlain before her is drawing back a richly-embroidered curtain, so as to exhibit the entrance-court of a church, betokened as such by its cleansing fountain. Justinian and Theodora are distinguished by bright nimbuses, a homage which the artist of that time could scarcely with- hold, since he evidently knew no other form of flattery. " Of somewhat inferior execution are the mosaics of the lofty quad- rangular space before the apsis, representing the Old Testament symbols of the sacrifice of the mass. On the vaulting, between green and gold tendrils upon a blue ground, and green upon a gold ground, are four flying angels upon globes, resembling antique Victories ; below them, in the four comers, are four peacocks, as emblems of Eternity. On the upper wall, above the apsis, two angels, gracefully hovering, are holding a shield with the sign of the Redeemer ; on each side, blazing with jewels, of which they are entirely constructed, are the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, with vine-tendrils and birds, on a blue ground, above them. On either side wall, in an architectural framework, which we are at a loss to describe, are the subjects we have already mentioned. Two semicircles contain the principal subjects, viz., the bloody and bloodless sacrifice of the Old Covenant. We see Abraham carrying out provisions to the three young men in white garments, who are seated at a table under a leafless but budding tree, while Sarah stands behind the door laughing. Then, again, we behold the Patriarch on the point of offering up his son Isaac, who kneels naked before him. Then Abel (an excellent and perfectly antique shepherd figure) in the act of holding up his sacrifice of the firstling of the flock before a wooden hut, while Mel- chizedec (designated by a nimbus as the symbol of Christ), advancing from a temple in the form of a Basilica, pronounces a blessing over the bread and wine. The pictures then continue further the history of the Old Covenant, showing Moses, who, as the prefiguration of Christ, is here represented as a youth ; then again, as he first appears under the S. VI TALE. 313 character of a shepherd ; and lastly, as he is receiving the tables of the Law upon the Mount, while the people are waiting below. Isaiah and Jeremiah, grey-headed men in white robes, appear to be vehemently agitated by the spirit of prophecy ; and further upward, in similar gestures of inspiration, are seen the Four Evangelists, seated with their emblems, S. Matthew looking up to the angel as if to a vision. Above, the subject is closed by fine arabesques, vine-tendrils, and birds. Finally, in the front archivolt next the dome are thirteen medallions between elegant arabesques upon a blue ground, containing the portraits of Christ and the Apostles ; individual, portrait-like heads, several of which have suffered a later restoration. The execution of the whole front space is partially rude and superficial, especially in the prophets and evangelists. In drawing, also, these portions are inferior to the works in the apsis, although, in that respect, they still excel those of the following century. In the delineation of animals, for example in the Lion of S. Mark, a sound feeling for nature is still evinced ; the same in the tree before Abraham's dwelling. In many parts the background landscape is elevated in a very remarkable manner, consisting of steep rocks covered with verdure, an evident attempt to imitate the forms of reality. Unfortunately nothing more is preserved of the mosaics of the cupola and the rest of the church." Kiigler. To those who are unacquainted with their history, and whose interest in them is awakened by their portraits, the following character of Justinian and Theodora will not be unwelcome : " Under Justinian, the nephew, colleague, and heir of Justin, the Roman Empire appears suddenly to resume her ancient majesty and power. The signs of a just, able, and vigorous administration, internal peace, prosperity, conquest, and splendour, surrounded the master of the Roman world. The greatest generals, since the days perhaps of Trajan, Belisarius and Narses, appear at the head of the Roman armies. Persia was kept at bay during several campaigns if not continuously successful, yet honourable to the arms of Rome. The tide of harlwrian conquerors rolled back. Africa, the Illyrian and Dalmatian provinces, Sicily, Italy, with the ancient capital, were again under the empire of Rome ; the Vandal kingdom, the Gothic kingdom, fell before the irreM-t- ible generals of the East. The frontiers of the empire were defended with fortifications constructed at an enormous cost. Justinian aspired to be the legislator of mankind ; a vast system of jurisprudence embodied the 314 ITALIAN CITIES. wisdom of ancient and of imperial statutes, mingled with some of the benign influences of Christianity, of which the author might almost have been warranted in the presumptuous vaticination, that it would exercise an unrepealed authority to the latest ages. The cities of the empire were adorned with buildings, civil as well as religious, of great magnificence and apparent durability, which, with the comprehensive legislation, might recall the peaceful days of the Antonines. The empire, at least at first, was restored to religious unity :' Catholicism resumed its sway, and Arianism, so long its rival, died out in remote and neglected con- gregations. " The creator of this new epoch in Roman greatness, at least he who filled the throne during its creation, the Emperor Justinian, united in himself the most opposite vices insatiable rapacity and lavish prodigal- ity, intense pride and contemptible weakness, unmeasured ambition and dastardly cowardice. He was the luxurious slave of his empress, whom, after she had ministered to the licentious pleasures of the popu- lace as a courtesan, and as an actress in the most immodest exhibitions, in defiance of decency, of honour, of the remonstrances of his friends, and of religion, he had made the partner of his throne. In the Chris- tian emperor seemed to meet the crimes of those, who won or secured their empire by the assassination of all whom they feared, the passion for public diversions, without the accomplishments of Nero, or the brute strength of Commodus, the dotage of Claudius. The imperious Theodora, even if from exhaustion or lassitude she discontinued, or at least condescended to disguise, those vices which dishonoured her hus- band, in her cruelties knew no restraint. And these cruelties were exercised in order to gratify her rapacity, if not in sheer caprice, as a substitute for that excitement which had lost its keenness and its zest. Theodora, a bigot without faith, a heretic, it might almost be presumed, without religious convictions, by the superior strength of her character, domineered in this as in other respects over the whole court, mingled in all religious intrigues, appointed to the highest ecclesiastical dignities, sold the Papacy itself. Her charities alone (if we except her masculine courage, and no doubt that great ability which mastered the inferior mind of her husband), if they sprung from lingering womanly tenderness, or that inextinguishable kindness which Christianity sometimes in- fuses into the hardest hearts, if they were not designed as a deliberate compromise with heaven for her vices and cruelties, may demand our admiration. The feeling which induced the degraded victim of the lusts of men to found, perhaps, the first penitentiaries for her sisters in that wretched class, as it shows her superior to the base fear of awaken- ing remembrances of her own former shame, may likewise be considered TOMB OF THE EXARCH ISAAC. 315 as an enforced homage to female virtue." Milman, ffist. of Latin Christianity. It lends an additional interest to S. Vitale, that it was so admired by Charlemagne, as to be adopted by him as the model for his famous church at Aix la Chapelle. In the passage, which leads from the basilica to the street towards S. Maria Maggiore, is the Tomb of the Exarch Isaac, who died here in 641 (8th Exarch of Ravenna). It is adorned with reliefs of Daniel in the Lions' Den, the Raising of Lazarus, and, on the front, the Adoration of the Magi, the last very curious the Magi running as hard as they can with their gifts, their cloaks floating on the wind. Tomb of the Exarch Isaac. Following the Strada S. Vitale, and turning to the right, we reach the Church of S. Domcnico, a basilica founded by one of the Exarchs, but quite modernized. It contains the grave of Luca Longhi the painter, and : ITALIAN CITIES. rd Chapel. Luca Longhi (15071580). The Finding of the True Cross. Choir. Niccolb Rondinelli (one of the best pupils of Giov. Bellini). S. Domenico, S. Peter. Chapel Left of High Altar. A curious "miraculous" crucifix, of wood covered with linen, which is said to have sweated blood during the battle of Ravenna. L>ft, 2nd Chapel. Luca Longhi. The fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. Close to this church is that of S. Michele in Affrisco, built in 530, but modernized. In the Stradone della Stazione, which continues the Strada del Monte, is the Church of S. Giovanni Evangelista or della Sagra, built in 425 by Galla Placidia in fulfilment of a vow that she would build a church in honour of S. John the Evangelist, if she were saved from shipwreck with her children on a voyage from Constantinople to Ravenna. In front of the church is an Atrium approached by a very in- teresting Gothic portal of 1300. Its sculptures record the story of Galla Placidia longing for a relic of the Evangelist wherewith to enrich her church, and receiving one of his sandals in a vision. In the lower part of the relief she is represented embracing the feet of S. John as he appears to her ; in the upper she presents the sandal he has left to the Saviour and S. John, her confessor S. Barbatian and others standing by. The church has three aisles, and retains its 24 ancient columns of grey marble. It contains : Left, j\fh Chapel.' The frescoes of the vaulting are, with great uncertainty, attributed to Giotto. In the centre is a medallion, con- taining the Lamb with a cross ; in each of the four rectangular divisions a Doctor of the Church and an Evangelist, facing each other, and, above them, the emblems of the Evangelists. Those who follow Crowe and Cavalcaselle will maintain that "there can be no doubt of the authen- ticity of this fresco, in which Giotto exhibited all the qualities of which PIAZZA MAGGIORE, P. DELL' AQUILA. 317 he was so complete a master in his prime." The frescoes have been ruined by "restoration." dth Chapel (left). Here are the only remains of the once magnificent mosaics of Galla Placidia in this church, a fragment representing the storm and the vow of the empress. Apse. Beneath the high altar repose SS. Canzius, Canzanius, and Canzianilla. The confessional beneath is of the 5th century. In the Campanile are two bells cast by Robert of Saxony, 1208. At the end of the Strada del Monte is the Piazza Mag- giore, representing the ancient Forum. It has (now adorned with figures of S. Apollinaris and S. Vitale) the columns which mark the towns which at some time have been under the Venetian rule. Between them is a seated statue of Clement XII. (1730 1740). Several palaces encircle the square, chiefly occupied for government or civic offices. The Palazzo Communale is adorned with busts of seven Car- dinal Legates, and part of the gates of Pavia, seized by the troops of Ravenna. The beautiful sculptured capitals of the columns in the colonnade deserve careful attention. They are supposed to be remains of a temple of Hercules. Beyond the Piazza Maggiore, is the little Piazza dclF Aquila, containing a column in honour of Cardinal Gaetani, and surmounted by an eagle which was his badge. The name of the square will bring to mind an earlier connection of the eagle with Ravenna, as the arms of the Polentani, whp ruled it in the latter part of the 13th century : " Ravenna sta come e stata molti anni : L'aquila da Polenta la si cova, Si che Cervia ricuopre co' suoi vanni." Dante, Inf. xxvii. 3l8 ITALIAN CITIES. Hence, the Strada del Duomo leads to the cathedral square. On the left is the Baptistery or Church of S. Giovanni in Fonte* the most interesting of all ancient baptisteries built A.D. 451, by Archbishop Neo. It is octangular and sur- rounded by two tiers of arches, with columns of different sizes and orders, probably collected from pagan edifices. It is little altered since the 5th century, except by the raising of the pavement, which has buried the bases of the pillars. There is water beneath. In the midst is the eight- sided baptismal font made with slabs of porphyry and white marble, with an ambo for the officiating priest. In one of the recesses is a curious ciborium and altar, said to contain the head of the martyr S. Felix ; in another is a font, said to have belonged to the Temple of Jupiter in (the suburb) Cesarea, and to have been afterwards used by S. Apollinaris in the purification of Gentile converts. The cupola blazes with the ancient mosaics. "The earliest mosaics of the fifth century with which we are acquainted, namely, the internal decorations of the Baptistery at Ravenna, are, in respect of figures as well as ornament, among the most remarkable of their kind. A double row of arches occupies the walls : in the spandrils of the lower ones, between splendid gold arabesques on a blue ground, are seen the figures of the eight prophets, which, in general conception, especially in the motives of the draperies, are in no way distinguishable from the later antique works. Though the execution is light and bold, the chiaroscuro is throughout tolerably com- plete. In the upper tier of arches, between rich architectural decora- tions, a series of stucco reliefs occupy the place of the mosaics. The subjects of these are male and female saints, with rams, peacocks, sea- horses, stags, and griffins above ; chiefly white upon a red, yellow, or grey ground. At the base of the cupola is a rich circle of mosaics con- sisting of four altars, with the four open books of the Gospel, four thrones with crosses, eight Episcopal sedilia beneath the conch-niches, * Entered by a low door close by. S. GIOVANNI IN FONTE. 319 and eight elegant tombs surmounted with garlands.* All these subjects are divided symmetrically, and set in a framework of architecture of beautiful and almost Pompeian character. Within this circle appear the chief representations the twelve Apostles, colossal in size ; and in the centre, as a circular picture, the Baptism of Christ. The apostles stand upon a green base, representing the earth, with a blue background, under a white gold-decorated drapery, which embraces the whole circle of the cupola, and is divided into compartments by gold acanthus plants. The robes of the apostles are of gold stuff ; and as they step along in easy, dignified measure, bearing crowns in their hands, they form a striking contrast to the stiff immobility of later mosaics. The heads, like most of those in the Catacomb pictures, are somewhat small, and, at the same time, by no means youthfully ideal or general, but rather livingly individual, and even of that late Roman character of ugliness which is so observable in portraits of the time. In spite of their walking action, the heads are not given in profile, but in front , which, in a work otherwise of such excellence, is decidedly not ascribable to any inability of drawing on the part of the artist, but to the desire of giving the spectator as much as possible of the holy countenances. In default of a definite type for the apostles the first traces of which can at most be discerned in the figure of S. Peter, who appears with grey hair, though not as yet with a bald head they are distinguished by inscriptions. Especially fine in conception and execu- tion are the draperies, which in their gentle flow and grandeur of massing, recall the best Roman work. As in the antique representations of Victory, the folds appear to be agitated by a supernatural wind. In the centre picture the Baptism of Christ the character of the nude is still easy and unconstrained, the lower part of the Saviour's figure being seen through the water a mode of treating this subject which continued late into the middle ages, probably on account of the artist's objection to give any incomplete representation of the Saviour's form. We are led to conclude this from the fact that in other figures, where no such scruples existed, that part of the person which is in the water is generally rendered invisible. The head of Christ, with the long divided hair, corresponds in great measure with the already described Catacomb type. The whole is still treated somewhat in the spirit of ancient fable, the figure being represented simply, without nimbus or glory, with a cross between the Saviour and the Baptist ; while the river Jordan, under the form of a river-god, rises out of the water on the left, in the act of pre- senting a cloth. The angels, which in later representations perform this office, occur but rarely at this time. The combined ornamental * Interesting at an early pictorial representation of the earliest memorial attar- tomb*. 320 ITALIAN CITIES. effect, the arrangement of the figures, and the delicate feeling for colour pervading the whole, enable us to form an idea of the genuine splendour and beauty which have been lost to the world in the destruction of the later decorated buildings of Imperial Rome." KiJgler. In the court close to the Baptistery are a number of ancient sarcophagi. The Cathedral, or Basilica Ursiana, was founded by Archbishop Ursus in A.D. 400, but was almost entirely rebuilt by Archbishop Guiccioli in 1734, only the round campanile and the ancient crypt remaining. The great door retains some fragments of the ancient door of vine- wood (whose planks measured 13 ft. by i) brought from Constantinople. In the Interior of the Church we may observe : Right Transept (Cappella del Sudore). Two magnificent marble sarcophagi, containing the remains of S. Rinaldus, and of S. Barbatian the confessor of Galla Placidia. Sacristy. A curious Paschal Calendar on marble for A.D. 532 626, a silver crucifix of the 6th century, and the ivory throne of the Arch- bishop Maximian, 532626, covered with bas-reliefs chiefly of the History of Joseph. Ambulatory behind the Choir. A bas-relief of S. Mark by Lombardi, and two sculptured marble slabs from an ancient ambo, shown by the inscription to have been erected by S . Agnellus. " The bas-reliefs of the ancient ambones, now incrested into the wall behind the choir, hardly deserve mention as works of art, but are curious as exhibiting in distinct rows, the fish, the dove, the lamb, the stag, peacock, &c. 'the whole sacred menagerie,' as Mr Hope calls it, of Symbolism." Lindsay's Christian Art. Choir. The picture of the Consecration of the church by S. Ursus is by Camufdni, that of the Death of S. Peter Chrysologus by Benvenuii. Left Transept (Cappella del Sacramento). Guido Reni. The Fall of the Manna, with the Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek in a lunette above. Left Aisle. Tomb of Archbishop Guiccioli, who rebuilt the cathedral. Behind the Cathedral is the Bishop's Palace (Arcivesco- vado). It contains much of interest, but especially the CHAPEL OF THE ARCIVESCOVADO. 321 Chapel, built by S. Peter Chrysologus, 439 450, and quite unaltered. Its walls are coated with great slabs of marble, and its ceiling is covered with the ancient mosaics. "The chapel consists of a dome upon four circular arches, on the soffits of which, upon a gold ground, are sets of seven medallions, with the pictures of the very youthful Christ, of the Apostles, and several saints, * upon a blue ground, a work which very nearly approaches the thirteen circular pictures in S. Vitale, but is lighter and inferior in execu- tion. The centre of the gold-grounded dome is occupied by a large medallion with the monogram of Christ, upheld by four simple and graceful angel figures rising from the four springings of the arch. In the four intermediate spaces are the winged emblems of the Evangelists, bearing the richly decorated books of the Gospel. The Lion of St. Mark is remarkable for an almost human form of head. A broad pas- sage leads into a space beyond, terminating in a waggon roof. This is decorated with birds and flowers upon a gold ground, which are very rudely and sketchily treated, and probably belong to a later period. " Kiigler. On the right of the space near the altar is a full-length figure of Christ, clothed in the " chlamyde " typical of the Church Militant. This is of the 5th century, but the figure of the Virgin and the two medallions of saints over the altar, were brought from the (destroyed) Basilica Ursiana, and are not earlier than the nth. In the ante-chamber of the chapel are a beautiful Arian Cross and a number of inscriptions belonging to the ancient cathedral. The Archives contain much that is curious, especially a brief of Paschal II. (1099 1 1 18), confirming the privileges of the Archbishops of Ravenna. Behind the Arcivescovado, at the entrance of the Strada di Classe, is the Pincuoteca. It contains a small collection, chiefly by the native family of Longhi : Feliciia*. Perpetua, Daria, Euferaia, Eugenia, Cecilia, Damian, Fabian, Sba- tian, Cry-ar.tlm>. Cryogonu*, CaMtanus- VOL. II. 21 322 ITALIAN CITIES. Luca Longhi. Crucifixion. Id. Virgin and Child throned, with saints. Id. The Deposition. Id. The Nativity an excellent work of this master. Id. Portrait of his daughter Barbara, herself an artist. Francesco Longhi. Nativity. Romanelli. S. Sebastian. Giorgio Vasari. The Deposition. Cotignola (Francesco Marchesi or Zaganelli). Virgin and Child, with S. J. Baptist and S. Catherine. In an ante-chamber are two fine busts S. Apollinare, by Thorwaldsen, and Cardinal Capponi, by Bernini. Other rooms contain the Model of a Dying Horse by Canova ; the Graces of Thorwaldsen ; the Endymion found in the studio of Cari(n>a after his death, and given by Cardinal Rivarola, and his models for the tomb of Volpato and Valerio. But the gem of the collection, alone worth a pilgrimage to Ravenna to see, is the exquisite Tomb of Guidarello Guidarelli, called Fortebraccio da Ravenna, removed Tomb of Guidarello Guidarelli. hither on the destruction of the Fortebraccio chapel near S. Francesco. It is by Baldaldo Giovenaldo da Ravenna, and 5. AC ATA. 323 is one of the most perfect and beautiful representations of death ever given in sculpture. The young knight is dressed in armour, and lies on a simple couch, his head has fallen on one side, the teeth are locked, and the long lashes have fallen over the eyes. The adjoining Collegia, once the Carthusian Monastery of S. Romualdo, encloses the Museum, Public Library, &c. The Museo contains a fine collection of ancient Medals, remarkable among which is the bronze medal struck in honour of Cicero by the town of Magnesia in Lydia. The Biblioteea Comunak contains a celebrated MS. of Aristophanes of the loth century, an illuminated 14th-cen- tury MS. of Dante, a prayer-book of Mary Stuart with miniatures, and other treasures. Here also is the wooden coffin which contained the remains of Dante. In the former Refectory, is the masterpiece of the native painter Luca Longhi the Marriage of Cana. The fine bronze statue of Alexander VII. (Fabio Chigi, 1635 1667) was removed hither from the Piazza S. Francesqp. Below the Collegio stands the closed Church of S. Niccolb, built by Archbishop Sergius in 768. Outside it, is one of the largest of the mediaeval sarcophagi. The street oppo- site this leads to the dreadfully damp Church of S. Agata, of the 5th century, retaining the 20 ancient columns of granite and marble which divide its nave and aisles. It contains : Right, Chapel at end of aisle. Luca Longhi. SS. Catherine, Agata, and Cecilia. The altar contains the bodies of the Archbishop S. Agnellus and the martyr S. Sergius, and is decorated with the mono- gram of " Sergius Diacomis. " Choir. Francesco da Cotignola. Crucifixion. The 6th-century mosaics of the Tribune were destroyed by an earthquake in 1688. 324 ITALIAN CITIES. End of the Left aisle. Barbiani. The Madonna with S. Peter. By the Strada Girotto a little above S. Agata, we turn (right) to (left) the Piazza S. Francesco. In the house at the corner of the square Lord Byron lived in 1819. The Church of S. Francesco is modernized except the (square) campanile, but was founded by Bishop Neo in 426, and dedicated to S. Peter. It was first called S. Francesco in 1261. The choir, and the bases and shafts of the 22 marble columns, remain from the ancient church. Right Aisle. Cappella dell Crocifisso. The capitals of the two beau- tiful columns of Greek marble are by Pietra Lombardo. 4tA Chapel. Saahi da Imola. Madonna throned, with saints and donors. End Chapel. Sarcophagus of the 5th century, of Archbishop Liberius. Left Aisle. Tomb of Luffo Numai, Lord of Forli, by Tommaso Flam- berti. Left of Entrance. Monument of Enrico Alfieri, General of the Franciscans, 1405. Of the same family as the poet. Right of Entrance. Monument of Ostasio de' Polentani, Lord of Ra- venna, dressed as a Franciscan monk, 1396. Near these are two mag- nificent sarcophagi. Close to the church is the miserable little round temple erected over the Tomb of Dante. " Dante a bien fait de mourir a Ravenne ; son tombeau est bien place dans cette triste cite, tombeau de 1'empire romaiu en Occident, empire qui, ne dans un marais, est venu expirer dans les lagunes. ' ' Dante vint au moins deux fois a Ravenne chercher un refuge sous les ailes de 1'aigle des Polentani, noble famille a laquelle appartenait cette jeune femme dont la touchante infortune est devenue un portion de la gloire du grand poe'te. Ravenne est doublement consacree par le berceau de Francesca et par le tombeau de Dante. " Non loin de ce tombeau s'eleve un pan de mur qui est peut-etre un reste du palais des Polentani. Dante vecut ses demieres annees dans ce palais, dont il reste seulement quelques debris incertains, et oil s'ecoulerent les premiers jours de Francesca. C'est alors, dit-on, qu'il TOMS OF DANTE. 325 immortalisa les malheurs de la fille des Polentani pour consoler son vieux pere. Mais il est peu vraisemblable qu'il ait attendu si long- temps pour raconter un evenement tragique arrive bien des anne'es aupara- vant, et qui se trouve dans 1'un des premiers chants de son poeme. " Le tombeau de Dante n'est pas de son temps ; il est malheureusement beaucoup plus moderne. Les cendres du poete ont attendu longtemps ce tardif hommage. Quand il mourut ici, le 14 septembre, 1321, age seulement de cinquante-six ans, une urne de marbre recueillit ses cendres proscrites. Son hole Guido della Polenta fut lui-meme chasse de Ra- venne avant d'avoir pu clever une tombe a celui que les agitations de sa terre natale avaient prive d'une patrie, et que les troubles de sa terre d'exil privaient d'un tombeau. Ce fut seulement plus d'un siecle apres que Bernardo Bembo, podestat de Ravenne pour la republique de Venise, fit construire, par le celebre architect et sculpteur Lombard!, un monument qui, malheureusement, a etc restaure en 1692 par un Floren- tin, le Cardinal Domenico Corsi, legal pour la Romagne ; et, plus malheureusement encore, a etc entierement reconstruit en 1780 par un autre legal, le cardinal Gonzaga da Mantoue. Les inscriptions sont peu remarquables. Dans celle du xviii* siecle, 1' admiration pour Dante a cru faire beaucoup en 1'appellant le premier poete de son temps. L'eloge etait modeste. Le Cardinal Gonzaga pensait en dire assez, et probable- ment ne soupjonnait pas que celui auquel il accordait cette louage re- lative put etre mis en comparaison avec les poetes italiens d'un siecle plus e'claire, tel que Fnigoni. II faut songer que vers ce temps Betinelli declarait qu'il y avail toul au plus cent cinquante bonnes terzaines dans la Divine Comedie. Une epitaphe plus ancienne, en mauvais latin, et qui a etc attribute a Dante, ne me parait pas pouvoir etre de lui ; les vers sont trop barbares. Les deux derniers sont encore, au moins pour le sentiment, ce qu'il y a de mieux dans ce lieu funebre : Hie claudor Danthes, patriis extorris ab oris, Quem genuit parvi Florentia mater amoris. " Us respirent une melancolie amere que Dante n'eut point desavouee ; m.iK les quatre premiers sont detestables, et je ne puis me resoudre a Ten accuser. ' ' Le monument, dans son etat actuel, porte 1'empreinte funeste du siecle dans lequel il a etc' reconstruit, comme tout ce que les arts produisaient alors. Cependant quand j'arrivai par la rue de Dante (strada di Dante) en presence de la mesquine coupole, quand le serviteur de la commune vint ouvrir la grille du mausolee, quand je fus en presence de la tombe ou repose depuis cinq siecles cet homme dont la vie fut si tourmcnti-e, dont la memoire est si grande, je ne vis plus les de"lauts de 1' edifice, je 326 ITALIAN CITIES. ne vis que la poussiere illustre qui 1'habite, et mon ame fut absorbee tout entie're par un sentiment ou se confondaient 1'emotion qu'on eprouve en contemplant le cercueil d'un ami malheureux, et 1'attendrissement qu'inspire 1'autel sanctifie par les reliques d'un martyr." Ampere. "The story of Dante's burial, and of the discovery of his real tomb, is fresh in the memory of every one. But the ' little cupola, more neat than solemn, ' of which Lord Byron speaks, will continue to be the goal of many a pilgrimage. For myself though I remember Chateau- briand's bare-headed genuflexion on its threshold, Alfieri's passionate prostration at the altar-tomb, and Byron's offering of poems on the poet's shrine I confess that a single canto of the Inferno, a single passage of the Vita Nuova, seems more full of soul-stirring associations than the place where, centuries ago, the mighty dust was laid. It is the spirit that lives and makes alive. And Dante's spirit seems more present with us under the pine-branches of the Bosco than beside his real or fancied tomb. 'He is risen,' 'Behold, I am with you always' these are words that ought to haunt us in a burying-ground. There is something affected and self-conscious in overpowering grief or enthusiasm or humiliation at a tomb." J. A. Symonds. " Ungrateful Florence ! Dante sleeps afar, Like Scipio, buried by the upbraiding shore ; Thy factions, in their worse than civil war, Proscribed the bard whose name for evermore Their children's children would in vain adore With the remorse of ages ; and the crown Which Petrarch's laureate brow supremely wore, Upon a far and foreign soil had grown, His life, his fame, his grave, though rifled not thine own." Byron, Childe Harold. When Pope Pius IX. was here in 1857, he wrote in the visitor's book, from Purgatorio xi. 100 " Non e il mondan rumore altro che un fiato Di vento ch'or vien quinci ed or vien quindi, E muta nome, perche muta lato. " " C'est a Ravenne que Dante publia son poe'me tout entier. Deux milles copies en furent faites k. la plume, et envoyees par toute 1'ltalie. On douta qu'un homme vivant encore cut pu ecrire de telles choses, et plus d'une fois il arriva, lorsque Dante se promenait lent et severe, dans les rues de Ravenne et de Rimini, avec sa longue robe rouge et sa couronne de laurier sur sa tete, que la mere, saintement effrayee, le S. APOLLINARE XUOVO. 327 montra du doigt a son enfant, en lui disant : ' Vois-tu cet homme, il est descendu dans 1'enfer ! ' " Dumas. The Strada Girotto leads into the Corso Garibaldi, on the opposite side of which is the grand Basilica of S. Apollinare Nuwo, built by Theodoric in 500, as the Arian Cathedral, under the name of ' S. Martino in Coelo Aureo.' When the Gothic kingdom fell, it was consecrated for Catholic worship by the Archbishop S. Agnellus. In the 9th century, when the relics of S. Apollinaris were transferred hither, it was called by his name. The 24 cippollino columns were brought from Constantinople, and have Byzantine capitals. The roof is of wood. In the nave is the ancient pulpit, covered with curious sculpture. The last chapel on the left, which has In S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna. an exquisitely wrought marble screen, sustained by four porphyry pillars, contains the sarcophagus which encloses 328 ITALIAN CITIES. the relics of S. Apollinaris, a bishop's throne of the loth century, and a mosaic portrait of the Emperor Justinian, which once, with that of S. Agnellus, stood over the entrance of the church. The mosaics of the nave are, as a whole, more impressive than any other mosaics in the world. "These mosaics, executed chiefly between the years 553 and 566 are perfectly unique in their way, though the principal portions, apsis and arch of triumph, have been restored. But the upper walls of the central aisle are still sparkling, from the arches up the roof, with their original and very rich mosaic decorations. Two prodigious friezes, next above the arches, contain long processions upon a gold ground, which, be longing as they do to the very last days of ancient art, remind us curi- ously of that Panathenaic procession upon the Parthenon at Athenr. On the right are the martyrs and the confessors ; they are advancing solemnly out of the city of Ravenna, which is here signified by a mag- nificent representation of the palace of the Ostrogothic kings, with its upper and lower arcade and corner towers and domes. Through the entrance-gate a gold ground shines forth, as symbol of dominion. On the walls are the female forms of Victory in gay garments ; and white hangings, richly decorated with flowers and fringes, ornament the lower arcade. The procession is advancing in slow but well-expressed move- ment through an avenue of palm-trees, which divide the single figures. All are clad in light-coloured garments, with crowns in their hands. Their countenances are all greatly similar, and are reduced to a few spirited lines, though still tolerably true to nature. The execution is careful, as is also the gradation of the tints. At the end of the proces- sion, and as the goal of it, appears Christ upon a throne, the four arch- angels around him noble, solemn figures, in no respect inferior either in style or execution to those in the apsis of S. Vitale. On the left side of the church (that which was occupied by the women) we perceive a similarly arranged procession of female martyrs and confessors advancing from the suburb of Classis, recognized by its harbours and fortifications. At the head of the procession is the Adoration of the Three Kings. Upon a throne, surmounted by four beautiful angels, appears the Ma- donna, here perhaps first represented as an object of reverence. She is depicted as a matron of middle age, with her right hand raised in the act of benediction ; a veil upon her head, which is encircled by the nimbus. Upon her lap is seated the already well-grown and fully- clothed child, also in act of benediction. Of the subject of the Three Kings the greater part has been restored, but a spiritedly expressed and S. APOLLINARE NUOVO. 329 active action is still discernible, as well as the splendid barbaric costume, with its richly bordered doublet, short silken mantle, and nether gar- ments of tiger-skin. Here, as in the opposite frieze, the last portion of the subject is best treated. Further up, between the windows, are single figures of the apostles and saints standing in niches, with birds and vases between them. The dark and heavy shadowing of their white garments, and the stiff and unrefined conception of the whole, certainly indicate a somewhat later period, probably the seventh century. Quite above, and over the windows, on a very small scale, and now scarcely distinguishable, are the Miracles of our Lord." Kiigler. " On the right hand as we enter, and immediately above the arches of the nave, we behold a long procession of twenty-one martyrs, carrying their crowns in their hands ; they appear advancing towards a figure of our Saviour, who stands with an angel on each side, ready to receive them. On the wall to the left is a like procession of virgin martyrs, also bearing their crowns, and advancing to a figure of the throned Madonna, who, with an angel on each side, appears to be seated there to receive their homage. These processions extend to the entrance of the choir, and the figures are colossal, I suppose about seven or eight feet high they are arranged in the following order : S. Clement S. Euphemia S. Ursinus S. Eulalia Justinus Paulina Apollinaris Agnes Laurence Daria Sebastian Agatha Hippolytus Anastasia Demetrius Pelagia Cyprian Justina Polycarp Sabina Cornelius Perpetua Vincent Christina Cassian Felicitas Pancratius Eugenia John and Vincentia Chrysogonus Anatolia Paul Valeria Sabinus Victoria Vitalis Crispina Gervasius & Lucia Protasius Cecilia "This list of martyrs is of very great importance, as being, I believe, the earliest in the history of Art. It shows us what martyrs were nm-t honoured in the sixth century. It shows us that many names, then held most in honour, have since fallen into comparative neglect ; and that others, then unknown or unacknowledged, have since become most celebrated. It will be remarked, that the virgins are led by S. F.uphcmia, and not by S. Catherine : that there is no S. Barbara, no S. Margaret, no S. George, no S. Christopher ; all of whom figure con- spicuously in the mosaics of Monreale at Palermo, executed five cen- 330 ITALIAN CITIES. turies later. In fact, of these forty-two figures executed at Ravenna by Greek artists in the service of Justinian, only five Euphemia, Cyprian and Justina, Polycarp and Demetrius are properly Greek saints ; all the rest are Latin saints, whose worship originated with the Western and not with the Eastern Church." Jameson's Sacred Art, ii. 527. Close to S. Apollinare, between it and the Strada di Porta Alberoni, is the fragment called the Palace of Theodoric, the only remnant of the famous palace of the Gothic kings, which was afterwards inhabited by the Exarchs and the Lombard sovereigns. It is a high wall adorned with arches and columns. Against the lower story stands a sarcophagus, which an inscription, of 1564, states to have once contained the ashes of Theodoric, and to have stood on the top of his mausoleum. This is, however, very uncertain. The palace was ruined by Charlemagne, who, with the permission of Pope Adrian I., carried off its mosaics and other treasures for Palace of Theodoric. the decoration of his palace at Ingelheim and his church at Aix la Chapelle. PALACE OF THEO DORIC. 331 "The fragment which remains enables us to judge of the style of the palace, and it is impossible not to believe that the architect who built it, had the palace of Diocletian at Spalatro in his view, so great is the resemblance between the fragment that remains and the Porta Aurea of that building. But it was the first time that small pillars, supported by brackets, had been used in Italy as external decorations ; and the first time that small pillars had been introduced as divisions of windows. The great change, however, is in the doorway which, in classical buildings, had always been square-headed and which, in this building, is round." H. Gaily Knight. To the history-lover this wall will have a special interest as part of the palace where the great Ostrogoth lived, where " he used to amuse himself by cultivating an orchard with his own hands," and where he died in A.D. 482. The barbarian (Herulian) Odoacer was ruling the Empire of the West, when Theodoric king of the Ostrogoths entered Italy, his invasion being the migration of a people, not the inroad of an army. After two great battles and a three years' siege in Kavenna, Odoacer agreed to a joint sovereignty, but was soon after murdered at a banquet. Then Theodoric " commenced a reign of thirty-three years, in which Italy reposed in peace under his just and vigorous and parental administration." The serene impartiality of Theodoric's government in religious affairs extorts the praise of the most zealous Catholic. Himself an Arian, he attempted nothing against the Catholic faith. He kept aloof from religious dissensions, devoting himself to maintaining the peace, securing the welfare, promoting the civilization, and lightening the financial burthens of his people. But in the last year of his reign the bigotry of his Catholic subjects (chiefly shown in their persecution of the Jews) "drove the most tolerant of princes to the brink of persecution." He was persuaded to listen to accusations of treason against the philosopher Boethius, whom he caused to be imprisoned at Pavia, and eventually murdered in his cell. The execution of Boethius was followed by that of his father-in-law, the venerable Symmachus, head of the Senate, whose only crime was his grief for the death of his friend. " After a life of virtue and glory, Theodoric descended with shame and guilt to the grave." One evening, it is related, when the head of a large fish was served on the royal table, he suddenly exclaimed that he beheld the angry countenance of Symmachus, his eyes glaring fury and revenge and menacing his murderer. He retired to his chamber, expressed to 332 ITALIAN CITIES. his physician his contrition for his crimes, and died three days after in the palace at Ravenna, bequeathing Italy to Athalaric and Spain to Amalaric his two grandsons, children of his daughter Amalasontha. A little further down the Corso Garibaldi is the Church of S. Maria in Porto, still much frequented, and formerly celebrated on account of a miracle-working image of the Virgin (praying) transferred hither from S. Maria in Porto Fuori in the i6th century. The church was built in 1553 from the ruins of the ancient Basilica of S. Lorenzo in Cesarea. It contains : Right, %th Chapel. Palma Giwane. Martyrdom of S. Mark. Left, tyh Chapel. Luca Longhi. The Virgin with Saints. Sacristy. A beautifully wrought sepulchral urn of porphyry. About two miles beyond the gate called Porta Alberoni (built 1793, in honour of Clement XII., as an approach S. Maria in Porto Fuori. to the Port of Ravenna) is the desolate Church of S. Maria in Porto Fuori, built at the end of the nth century, S. MARIA IN PORTO FUORI. 333 consequence of a vow made at sea by one Pietro Onesti, called // Peccatore. The name in Porto is derived from the belief that the huge basement of the four-sided (here un- usual !) campanile is that of the ancient Pharos, or lighthouse of the Port. The original pavement is now far below the surface, but Time has buried all the ancient buildings in Ra- venna as in Rome. Many of the Princesses of the Polentani family were interred here in mediaeval times. The interior contains : Left Aisle. A sarcophagus in which the body of the founder was laid in 1119. Choir. This and several other portions of the church are covered with frescoes attributed to Giotto. "According to tradition, the whole church was painted by Giotto, but time and white-wash have been busily at work, and the frescoes of the presbytery and of the Chapel of S. Matthew at the extremity of the southern nave, are the only ones that repay a minute examination. In the former series, the history of the Virgin is abridged into six compartments, of which the Massacre of the Innocents,* and her own Death are the most remarkable, the former for much invention and merit in the composition, the latter for the characteristic attitudes of the Apostles and the beauty of the Virgin's face, and for the singularity, that the Saviour receiving his mother's soul in his arms is represented with the youthful face of the Catacombs and the ancient mosaics. Other Byzantine reminiscences also occur here. The Massacre is broken by a pointed-arched niche, within which our Saviour is represented administering the Eucharist, presenting the wafer to S. Peter with his right hand, and the cup to S. Paul with the left, a composition strongly resembling that on the 'Dal- matica di S. Leone,' and a Martyrdom, in a chapel at the extremity of the northern nave, is completely the traditional composition of the Menologion. But the frescoes in the Chapel of S. Matthew, f though much injured, are the most interesting. The first represents his call to the apostolate, he is seated, a young man of pleasing countenance, and wearing the same red falling cap worn by Dante in the chapel of the Bargello ; he appears about to rise up and follow our Saviour an admirable figure, full of dignity, who turns away, signing to him most * Herod's daughter, introduced in this fresco, is shown asa portrait of Francesca da Rimini, t Shown as the Chapel of S. John the Evangelist 334 ITALIAN CITIES expressively. In the second compartment, he is seen healing a multitude of sick and infirm people at the capital of Ethiopia, where, according to the legend, he preached the gospel after the dispersion of the Apostles ; the attitudes and expression of the decrepit hand are excellent. In the third, almost destroyed, a large dragon is still visible, crouching before him, two magicians, we are told, then tyrannized over the country, and came to interrupt his preaching, each accompanied by his dragon, spitting fire from its mouth and nostrils ; S. Matthew went forth to meet them, and making the sign of the cross, the monsters sank into slumber at his feet. Of the remaining compartments, the best preserved is the sixth, representing the baptism of the young King and Queen, the crown of his ministry ; both are in white, the King in front, the Queen, with braided hair and her hands meekly crossed, behind him. The two last compartments, the seventh and eighth, probably represented the Apostle's martyrdom thirty-five years afterwards, during which interval he had acted as bishop of the Church of Ethiopia ; the lower compart- ment is quite effaced,- in the lunette above it, angels are seen wafting the soul to heaven." Lindsay's Christian Art. The whole discovery and uncovering of the frescoes is due to the personal diligence of the poor priest attached (1875) to the church. If the notion of making this the Campo Santo of Ravenna is carried out, we may hope that much more will be disclosed. Half a mile (right) from the Porta Serrata (the gate at the end of the Corso Garibaldi beyond S. Spirito), is the Tomb of Theodoric, erected in his life-time. After the fall of the Gothic kingdom, when the ashes of Theodoric were dis- persed, the building itself was preserved from destruction by being consecrated for Catholic worship under the name of S. Maria della Rotonda. The dome was surmounted by a porphyry vase as late as 1509, when it was thrown down during the siege of Ravenna by the papal army under Fran- cesco Maria della Rovere. " A quelque distance de Ravenne, au milieu d'une plaine immense, TOMB OF THEODORIC. 335 entrecoupe"e ca et la de ruines, de marecages, et dont 1'aspect severe, la nuclite morne rappellent les solitudes grandioses de la campagne romaine, on voit s'elever de loin le tombeau de Theodoric, que ce Barbare de genie fit construire de son vivant. Tout depouille qu'il soit des ome- ments qui le decoraient, cet edifice, bati de blocs de marbre et de pierres carrees, frappe encore par sa masse imposante, et peut etre regarde comme 1'un des plus curieux monuments de 1'architecture du siecle. Sa forme circulaire, la disposition des fen&res qui en eclairent 1'interieur, le deme solide recouvrant la voute, 1'enorme coupole dont il est couronne, tout donne a ce mausolee un cachet essentiellement original, rappellant le caractere demi-byzantin, demi-barbare, qui distinguait le roi des Goths. Mais ce qui imprime \ ce. tombeau quelque chose le plus saisissant encore, c'est que le sarcophage renfermant le corps de Theodoric a etc enleve, et depuis tant de siecles qu'une persecution intolerante a fait jeter au vent les cendres de ce prince, parce qu'il etait arien, le sepulchre est demeure vide des restes du puissant souverain qui avail voulu s'y assurer un repos eternel. Tel qu'il est aujour- d'hui, 1'aspect de 1'edifice, transforme en une chapelle tout 4 fait nue et ahandonnee, inspire une tristesse profonde. Les bases massives de ses piliers baignent dans la fange 1'un marecage. Ses portes sont verdies par 1'humidite ; la coupole qui le surmonte a etc fendue par la foudre, et dans la crypte, pleine d'une eau moisie, s'agitent des animaux immondes. " Dantier, ' ' Ultalie. " Tomb of Theodoric. " I know few monuments so interesting as the Tomb of Theodoric, and it ib highly picturesque externally. The body of the structure i 336 ITALIAN CITIES. round, and elevated high in the air on a decagonal basement supported by circular arches, now filled nearly to the suffit with water ; the interior is lighted by ten small loop-holes only ; the sarcophagus is gone ; the roof is of one solid stone, or rather rock, hollowed into the shape of a cupola, and dropped as it were from heaven three feet thick, more than thirty in diameter, and weighing two hundred tons the broad loops or rings, by which it was lowered, jutting out, externally, like ragged battlements, having never been smoothed away. The whole building, though not large, has a rugged, craggy, eternal character about it, weeds tuft themselves among the masomy, and the breeze dallies with them as on the mountain-side, and the scene is nearly as lonely. This monument, although unquestionably of Roman masonry, is the sole relic of what alone can pretend to the title of Gothic archi- tecture and most eminently characteristic it is of the indomitable race of the north ; one would think they feared that neither Alaric nor Theodoric could be held down in their graves except by a river rolling over the one, and a mountain covering the other." Lindsay's Christian Art. " The dome is 36 ft. in diameter, and consists of a single stone. This stone was brought from the quarries of Istria. It is excavated within, and worked to the proper convexity without ; but how so enormous a mass was raised to its present position, it is difficult to conjecture. The achievement would seem to be beyond the scope of mechanical power ; and we are left to the supposition that an inclined plane was employed, rising from the ground at some distance from the building, and ter- minating at the level of the walls. The singular handles, carved in the outer circumference, are believed to have assisted in moving the stone. "From an examination of the upper story of the mausoleum, it appears that it was once encircled by a decagonal arcade ; upon which, probably, stood the statues of the Twelve Apostles, which Louis XII. carried off into France. The construction of the arch of the original entrance is peculiar. The stones are dove-tailed into each other, in a manner which was, afterwards, much employed by the architects of the Middle Ages. " H. Gaily Knight. " The spirit of Theodoric, after some previous expiation, might have been permitted to mingle with the benefactors of mankind, if an Italian hermit had not been witness in a vision to his damnation, when his soul was plunged, by the ministers of divine vengeance, into the volcano of Lipari, one of the flaming mouths of the infernal world." Gibbon. S. APOLLINARE IN CLASSE. 337 About 3 miles beyond the Porta Nuova, at the other end of the Corso Garibaldi, is the wonderful Basilica of S. Apollinare in Classe. "There is little enough in the country to delight the eye. The fields in the immediate neighbourhood of the city are cultivated and not devoid of trees. But the cheerfulness thence arising does not last long. Very soon the trees cease, and there are no more hedge-rows. Large flat fields, imperfectly covered with coarse rank grass, and divided by the numerous branches of streams, all more or less dyked to save the land from complete inundation, succeed. The road is a causeway raised above the level of the surrounding district ; and presently a huge lofty bank is seen traversing the desolate scene for miles, and stretching away towards the shore of the neighbouring Adriatic. This is the dyke which contains the sulkily torpid but yet dangerous Montone. " Gradually, as the traveller proceeds, the scene grows worse and worse. Soon the only kind of cultivation to be seen from the road consists of rice-grounds, looking like what in truth they are poisonous swamps. Then come swamps pure and simple, too bad perhaps to be turned into rice-grounds, or rather simply swamps impure ; fora stench at most times of the year comes from them, like a warning of their pestilential nature, and their unfitness for the sojourn of man. A few shaggy, wild-looking cattle may be seen wandering over the flat waste, muddy to the shoulders from wading in the soft swamps. A scene of more utter desolation it is hardly possible to meet with in such close neighbourhood to a living city. "The raised causeway, however, keeps on its course amid the low- lying marshes on either side of it ; and presently the peculiar form of outline belonging to a forest composed entirely of the mountain-pine is distinguishable on the horizon to the left. The road quickly draws nearer to it ; and the large heavy, velvet-like masses of dark verdure become visible. In a forest such as the famous Pineta, the lines, especially when seen at a distance, have more of horizontal and less of perpendicular direction than in any other assemblage of trees. And the effect produced by the continuity of spreading umbrella-like tops is peculiar. " Then, soon after the forest has become visible, the road brings the wayfarer within sight of a vast lonely structure, bearing its huge long back against the low horizon, like some monster antediluvian saurian, the fit denizen of this marsh world. It is the venerable Basilica of S. Apollinare in Classe." T. Adolphus Trotlofe. VOL. II. 22 338 ITALIAN CITIES. The Cross, which we pass about y 4 mile from the city, sur- mounting a little marble column, and called La Crocetta, marks the site of the great Basilica of S. Lorenzo in Cesar^a, built A.D. 396, by Lauritius, Chamberlain of the Emperor Honorius, and destroyed by the barbarism of 1553. This church was the last relic of the ancient city of Cesarda, though the whole soil is full of marbles, and scarcely a sod is turned up without what in other places would be con- sidered a precious fragment being discovered. 'The grand Basilica of S. Apollinare was begun in 534 by " Julianus Argentarius," and consecrated in 549 by Arch- bishop Maximianus. It is supposed to occupy the site of a temple of Apollo, and to have been built on the spot where S. Apollinaris suffered martyrdom 455 years before. "It is related of Apollinaris that he accompanied the Apostle Peter from Antioch, and was for some time his companion and assistant at Rome ; but, after a while, S. Peter sent him to preach the Gospel on the eastern coast of Italy, having first laid his hands on him and com- municated to him those gifts of the Holy Spirit which were vouchsafed to the apostles. " Apollinaris, therefore, came to the city of Ravenna, where he preach- ed the faith of Christ with so much success that he collected around him a large congregation, and performed miracles, silencing, wherever he came, the voice of the false oracles, and overcoming the demons ; but the heathens, being filled with rage, threw him into prison, whence escaping by the favour of his jailer, he fled from the city (July 23, 79) by the gate which leads to Rimini. His enemies pursued him, and having overtaken him about three miles from the gate, they fell upon him and beat him, and pierced him with many wounds, so that when his dis- ciples found him soon afterwards he died in their arms, and his spirit fled to heaven." Jamesoit's Sacred Art. The vast church rises, like S. Paolo fuori le Mura, in the solemn silence of the Campagna, and its utter desolation gives it an indescribable interest, which is enhanced by its S. APOLLINARE IN CLASSE. 339 ancient associations, combined with the truth conveyed in its own inscription " Sanguis martyris semen fidei." S. Apollinare in Classe. " Between the Bosco, as the people of Ravenna call the pine-wood, and the city, the marsh stretches for a distance of about three miles. It is a plain intersected by dykes and ditches, and mapped out into innu- merable rice-fields. For more than half a year it lies under water, and during the other months exhales a pestilential vapour, which renders it as uninhabitable as the Roman Campagna ; yet in spring-time this dreary flat is even beautiful. The young blades of the rice shoot up above the water, delicately green and tender. The ditches are lined with flower- ing rush and golden flags, while white and yellow lilies sleep in myriads upon the silent pools. Tamarisks wave their pink and silver tresses by the road, and wherever a plot of mossy earth emerges from the marsh, it gleams with purple orchises and flaming marigolds ; but the soil beneath is so treacherous and spongy, 'that these splendid blossoms grow like flowers in dreams or fairy-stories. You try in vain to pick them ; they elude your grasp, and flourish in security beyond the reach of arm or stick. "Such is the site of the old town of Classis. Not a vestige of the Roman city remains nt a dwelling or a ruined tower, nothing but the ancient church of St. Apollinare in Classe. Of all desolate buildings this is the most desolate. Not even the deserted grandeur of San Paolo beyond the walls of Rome can equal it Its huge round campanile at the sky, which here vaults only sea and plain, a perfect dome, star-spangled, like the roof of Galla Placidia's tomb. Ravenna lies low to west, the pine-wood, immeasurably the same, to east- There is nothing else to be seen except the spreading marsh, bounded by dim snowy Alps and purple Apennines, so very far away that the level rack 340 ITALIAN CITIES. of summer clouds seem more attainable and real. What sunsets and sunrises that tower must see ; what glaring lurid after-glows in August, when the red light scowls upon the pestilential fen ; what sheets of sullen vapour rolling over it in autumn ; what breathless heats, and rain-clouds big with thunder ; what silences ; what unimpeded blasts of winter winds ! One old monk tends this deserted spot. He has the huge church with its echoing aisles, and marble columns, and giddy bell- tower, and cloistered corridors, all to himself. At rare intervals, priests from Ravenna come to sing some special mass at these cold altars ; pious folks make vows to pray upon their mouldy steps, and kiss the relics which are shown on great occasions. But no one stays ; they hurry, after muttering their prayers, from the fever-stricken spot, re- serving their domestic pieties and customary devotions for the brighter and newer chapels of the fashionable churches in Ravenna. So the old monk is left alone to sweep the marsh water from his church floor, and to keep the green moss from growing too thickly on the monuments. A clammy conserva covers everything except the mosaics upon tribune, roof, and clerestory, which defy the course of age. Christ on his throne sedet, eternumque sedebit, the saints around him glitter with their pitiless uncompromising eyes and wooden gestures, as if twelve centuries had not passed over them, and they were nightmares only dreamed last night, and rooted in a sick man's memory. For those gaunt and solemn forms there is no change of life or end of days. No fever touches them ; no dampness of the wind and rain loosens their firm cement. They stare with senseless faces in bitter mockery of men who live, and die, and moulder away beneath. Their poor old guardian told us it was a weary life. He has had the fever three times, and does not hope to survive many more Septembers. The very water that he drinks is brought to him from Ravenna, for the vast fen, though it pours its overflow upon the church floor, and spreads like a lake around, is death to drink. The monk had a gentle woman's voice, and mild brown eyes. What terrible crime had consigned him to this living tomb ? For what past sorrow is he weary of his life ? What anguish of remorse has driven him to such a solitude? Yet he looked placid and simple; his melancholy was subdued and calm, as if life were over for him, and he were waiting for death to come with a friend's greeting upon noiseless wings some sum- mer night across the fen-lands in a cloud of soft destructive fever-mist." y. A. Symonds. " The appearance of S. Apollinare di Fuori is injured by a large mass of modern workmanship, added in front, but the interior is spacious and beautiful, and was still more so before the poverty of the chapter * occa- As far back as the isth century. S. APOLLINAKE IN CLASSE. 341 sioned its being despoiled of the rich marbles which originally incased the walls. You will especially admire the broad and airy aisles, and their freedom from chapels or interruption of any sort, except the characteristic ornament of a line of (moveable) sarcophagi, containing the bones of the early archbishops. This church, like a rock deserted by the tide, is the solitary vestige of the suburb formerly designated 'Classis,' from the fleet that anchored under its walls the spot is now four miles distant from the sea, and most dreary and desolate, and the tide of population ebbed for ever. But the church is not the less interest- ing, both on account of its architecture and its mosaics, and an hour's ride to the north of it will carry you into the depths of the Pineta, which supplied the ships that wafted Augustus to Actium, and the Crusaders to Palestine, and where, if you watch in vain for the spectre Theodore and the scornful Honoria, you may at least hear the birds singing as sweetly to the accompaniment of breeze and bough as they did in Dante's ear when he wrote those lovely lines in the Purgatorio, introductory of Matilda ; the whole description indeed, and not one simile only, breathes of the Pineta," Lindsay's Christian Art. The Interior is 172 feet long by 93 wide. The nave is divided' from its aisles by 24 columns of cippollino with Corinthian capitals the columns probably taken from Pagan edifices. The roof is of wood. At the east end a flight of steps leads to the tribune, beneath which is the crypt containing the sarcophagus of S. Apollinaris. On either side the entrance are two huge sarcophagi richly sculptured with early Christian emblems, and four more stand in each of the aisles, containing the remains of Arch- bishops of the yth and 8th centuries. In the left aisle is an inscription (modern) stating that the emperor Otho III., having walked barefoot from Rome to Monte Gargano, passed forty days in penance of sackcloth and scourging in this church " ob patrata crimina" i. e. for the murder of Crescentius. At the end of this aisle, in the chapel of the Holy Cross, is a tabernacle of the gth century, over the altar of S. Felicola. In the centre of the nave is a little altar. 342 ITALIAN CITIES. "The little low altar, of an antiquity coeval with that of the church, which stands in the centre of the nave, is the sole exception to the entire and utter emptiness of the place. There are, indeed, ranged along the walls of the side aisles, several ancient marble coffins, curiously carved, and with semi-circular covers, which contain the bodies of the earliest Bishops of the See. But the little altar is the sole object that breaks the continuity of the open floor. The body of S. Apollinare was originally laid beneath it, but was in a subsequent age removed to a more specially honourable position under the high altar at the eastern end of the church. There is still, however, the slab deeply carved with letters of ancient form, which tells how S. Romuald, the founder of the Order of Camal- doli, praying by night at that altar, saw in a vision S. Apollinare, who bade him leave the world and become the founder of an order of hermits." A. Trollope. Most of the walls of the nave are occupied by the (chiefly imaginary) portraits of the unbroken succession of 130 Arch- bishops of Ravenna. But the tribune, and the triumphal arch in front of it, still retain their precious mosaics of the 6th century, when they were erected by Archbishop S. Agnellus being " the first picture of the Transfiguration which Italy knew, and that eight centuries before Raphael." " From 671 to 677 were probably erected these last mosaic decora- tions of importance at Ravenna, which, now that the history of art has sustained an irreparable injury in the destruction of St. Paul's at Rome, by fire, alone give us any idea of the manner in which whole rows of pictures and symbols in mosaic were employed to ornament the interior of churches. In the spandrils, between the arches of the centre aisle, we observe an almost perfect collection of those earliest symbols of Chris- tian art, from the simple monogram to the Good Shepherd and the Fisherman, while above the arch in a row of medallions are the por^ traits of the Archbishops of Ravenna ; of course not the original works which, owing to the destruction of the surface of these walls by that enemy of art Sigismund Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, were entirely lost but apparently correct copies. The heads here, as formerly in the pic- tures of the Popes in S. Paul's, are given full in front, the profile being totally unknown to that art. " The mosaics, however, in and above the apsis, are old and genuine remarkable relics of that time when the church of Ravenna, in league with Byzantium, once more declared itself .upon an equality with the 5 1 . APOLLIXARE IN CLASSE. 343 Roman Church, and sought by paying honour to its own patron saint, S. Apollinaris (the scholar of S. Peter), to place him upon a level with that apostle. The order and arrangement of these mosaics declare this intention in the clearest way. They exemplify, namely, the glorification of the Church of Ravenna. In the semi-dome of the apsis, upon a blue ground, with light pink and light blue clouds, appears a blue circle studded with gold stars and set in jewels, and, within this, a splendidly decorated cross with a half-length figure of Christ in the centre. On each side of the circle are the half-length figures of Moses and Elijah emerging from the clouds, both, on account of their transfiguration, very youthfully depicted. Far below, upon a meadow with trees, in the centre of the whole, stands S. Apollinaris, his arms raised in benedic- tion, surrounded by fifteen sheep. On the lower walls appear four Ravenna bishops, on a blue ground, under canopies with draperies and chandeliers, and on each side are two larger pictures of the sacrifices of Abel, Melchizedek, and Abraham, and, but little in character with the foregoing, the granting of the Privileges to the Church of Ravenna. In all these works the drawing is in every way inferior to those of the sixth century ; the execution, however, very careful, with more middle tones than usual ; the four bishops excepted, who are rudely and sketchily treated, and are only distinguished by more powerful and less conven- tional heads. "The two side pictures of the lower wall merit a close examination, especially the three sacrifices, which are here combined in one really spirited composition, and in point of execution are decidedly the best. Beneath an open curtain, behind a covered table, sits the venerable white-haired Melchizedek, in diadem and crimson mantle, in act of breaking the bread. On the left, Abel is seen advancing, in figure of a half-naked youth in linen chlamys, carrying a lamb. On the right, Abraham, an old man in white robes, is seen leading his son, who is not represented naked (as in S. Vitale), but wears a yellow robe. The cor- responding picture, the granting of the Privileges, is slighter, and inferior in drawing and execution, so that, for example, the outlines of the heads are rudely conspicuous. Three imperial youths, with nimbuses, are advancing from a curtained door of the palace Constantinus, who is clad in the crimson mantle, Heraclius, and Tiberius. On the right, quietly looking on, stands the Archbishop of Ravenna, surrounded by four ecclesiastics, one of whom is receiving from Constantine a roll with a red inscription, Privilegia. Here an obvious Byzantine stiffness n apparent, as compared with the two ceremonial pictures in S. Vitale. Upon the wall above the tribune, upon a strip of blue ground, may be seen, glimmering through the dust of a thousand years, a half-length of 344 ITALIAN CITIES. Christ with the signs of the Evangelists. These are succeeded by the twelve sheep, which are advancing up both sides of the arch of the tri- bune ; two palm-trees are placed lower down. Neither animals nor trees are superior to those within the tribune. On the other hand, in the figures of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, which are introduced lower down at the side of the tribune, we find traces of a good antique taste. Each is holding in his right hand the flag of victory (the Laba- rum), while the left so grasps the crimson mantle, which is faced with embroidered cloth of gold, that a part of the white tunic is visible. The heads are of youthful beauty." Kiigler. It will be observed in this mosaic that the figure of S. Apollinare occupies the central space, hitherto assigned only to Christ. " He is in the habit of a Greek bishop, that is, in white, the pallium embroidered with black crosses, no mitre, and with grey hair and beard. He stands, with hands outspread, preaching to his congregation of con- verts, who are represented by several sheep the common symbol. " Jamesorfs Sacred Art. Nothing remains of the ancient town of Classis, destroyed by Luitprand, king of the Lombards, in 728. The name Classis remained in that of Chiassi, which was applied to the part of the Pineta near this. Those who only pay a hurried visit to Ravenna may form some idea of the Pineta by entering it near S. Apollinare. Of this most ancient forest no mere verbal descrip- tion can give an idea. Yet how many have been written, beginning with that of Dante, who must constantly have walked here while the guest of the Polentani. " Vago gia di cercar dentro e dintorno La divina foresta spessa e viva, Ch'agli occhi temperava il miovo giorno, Senza piu aspettar lasciai la riva, Prendendo la campagna lento lento, Su per lo suol che d'ogni parte oliva. Un' aura dolce, senza mutamento Avere in se, mi feria per la fronte THE PINETA. 345 Non di piu colpo che soave vento ; Per cui le fronde, tremolando pronte, Tutte quanta piegavano alia parte U' la prim' ombra gitta il santo monte ; Non per6 dal lor esser dritto sparte Tanto, che gli augelletti per le cime Lasciasser d'operare ogni lor arte ; Ma con piena letizia l'6re prime, Cantando, ricevean intra le foglie, Che tenevan bordone alle sue rime, Tal, qual di ramo in ramo si raccoglie Per la pineta, in sul lito di Chiassi, Quand' Eolo Scirocco fuor discioglie. Gia m'avean trasportato i lenti passi Dentro all' antica selva, tanto ch'io Non poter rivedere ond 'io m'entrassi. Ed ecco piii andar mi tolse un no, Che'nver sinistra con sue picciole onde Piegava 1'erba che'n sua ripa uscio. Tutte 1'acque che son di qua piu monde, Parrieno avere in se mistura alcuna, Verso di quclla che nulla nasconde ; Avvegna che si muo/a bruna bruna Sotto 1'ombra perpetua, che mai Raggiar non lascia Sole ivi, ne Luna. " Purgatono, xxviii. Boccaccio chose the Pineta as the scene of his tale of the Nastagio degli Onesti, versified by Dryden in his Theodore and Honoria. Byron, who lived at Ravenna for two years, made it his constant ride. The inscription on his house speaks of it as one of the attractions which drew him to Ravenna " Impaziente di visitare 1'antica selva, che inspire gia il Divino et Giovanni Boccaccio." He has himself bequeathed us his impression of it : " Sweet hour of twilight. in the solitude Of the pine- forest, and the silent shore Which bounds Ravenna's immemorial wood, Rooted where once the Adrian wave flow'd o'er, 346 ITALIAN CITIES. To where the last Cesarean fortress stood, Evergreen forest ! which Boccaccio's lore And Dryden's lay made haunted ground to me, How have I loved the twilight hour and thee ! The shrill cicalas, people of the pine, Making their summer lives one ceaseless song, Were the sole echoes, save my steed's and mine, And vesper bells that rose the boughs along : The spectre huntsman of Onesti's line, His hell-dogs, and their chase, and the fair throng Which learn'd from his example not to fly From a true lover, shadow'd my mind's eye." Don j^uan, do. iii. Pineia, Ravenna. " As early as the sixth century the sea had already retreated to such a distance from Ravenna that orchards and gardens were cultivated on the spot where once the galleys of the Csesars rode at anchor. Groves of pine sprung up along the shore, and in their lofty tops the music of the wind moved like the ghost of waves and breakers plunging upon distant sands. This Pinetum stretches along the shore of the Adriatic for about forty miles, forming a belt of variable width between the great THE PI NET A. 347 marsh and the tumbling sea. From a distance the bare stems and velvet crowns of the pine-trees stand up like palms that cover an oasis on Arabian sands ; but at a nearer view the trunks detach themselves from an inferior forest-growth of juniper, and thorn, and ash, and oak, the tall roofs of the stately firs shooting their breadth of sheltering greenery above the lower and less sturdy brushwood. It is hardly possible to imagine a more beautiful and impressive scene than that presented by these long alleys of imperial pines. They grow so thickly one behind another, that we might compare them to the pipes of a great organ, or the pillars of a Gothic church, or the basaltic columns of the Giant's Causeway. Their tops are evergreen and laden with heavy cones, from which Ravenna draws considerable wealth. Scores of peasants are quartered on the outskirts of the forest, whose business it is to scale the pines, and rob them of their fruit at certain seasons of the year. After- wards they dry the fir-cones in the sun, until the nuts which they contain fall out. The empty husks are sold for fire-wood, and the kernels in their stony cells reserved for exportation. You may see the peasants, men, women, and boys, sorting them by millions, drying and silting them upon the open spaces of the wood, and packing them in sacks to send abroad through Italy. The pinocchi or kernels of the stone-pine are used largely in cookery, and those of Ravenna are prized for their good quality and aromatic flavour. When roasted or pounded they taste like a softer and more mealy kind of almonds. The task of gathering this harvest is not a little dangerous. They have to cut notches in the straight shafts, and having climbed, often to the height of eighty feet, to lean upon the branches, and detach the fir-cones with a pole, and this for every tree. Some lives, they say, are yearly lost in the business. "As may be imagined, the spaces of this great forest form the haunt of innumerable living creatures. Lizards run about by myriads in the grass. Doves coo among the branches of the pines, and nightingales pour their full-throated music all day and night from thickets of white- thorn and acacia. The air is sweet with aromatic scents ; the resin of the pine and juniper, the may-flowers and acacia-blossoms, the violets that spring by thousands in the moss, the wild roses and faint honey- suckles which throw fragrant arms from bough to bough of ash or maple, join to make one most delicious perfume. And, though the air upon the neighbouring marsh is poisonous, here it is dry, and spreads a genial health. The sea-wind, murmuring through these thickets at night-fall or misty sunrise, conveys no fever to the peasants stretched among their flowers. They watch the red rays of sunset streaming through the columns of the leafy hall, and glaring on its fretted rafters of entangled 348 ITALIAN CITIES. boughs ; they see the stars come out, and Hesper gleam, an eye of bright- ness, among dewy branches ; the moon walks silver-footed on the velvet tree-tops, while they sleep beside the camp-fires ; fresh morning wakes them to the sound of birds and scent of thyme and twinkling of dew- drops upon the grass around. Meanwhile ague, fever, and death have been stalking all night long about the plain, within a few yards of their couch, and not one pestilential breath has reached the charmed precincts of the forest. " You may ride or drive for miles along green aisles between the pines in perfect solitude ; and yet the creatures of the wood, the sunlight, the birds, the flowers, and tall majestic columns at your side, prevent all sense of loneliness or fear. Huge oxen haunt the wilderness, grey creatures, with wild eyes and branching horns and stealthy tread. Some are patriarchs of the forest, the fathers and mothers of many generations who have been carried from their sides to serve in ploughs or waggons on the Lombard plain. Others are yearling calves, intractable and ignorant of labour. In order to subdue them to the yoke, it is necessary to take them very early from their native glades, or else they chafe and pine away with weariness. Then there is a sullen canal, which flows through the forest from the marshes to the sea ; it is alive with frogs and newts and interminable snakes. You may see these serpents basking on the surface amid thickets of the flowering rush, or coiled about the lily-leaves and flowers, huge monsters, slippery and speckled, the tyrants of the fen." J. A. Symonds. From S. Apollinare one may return to the town by the Porta Sisi, passing the Colonna del Francesi, on the banks of the river Ronco, erected in 1557 to commemorate the great battle gained April n, 1512, by the troops of Louis XII. and the Duke of Ferrara over those of Julius II. The victory was marred by the death of Gaston de Foix, who fell in the moment of victory. 20,000 dead were left upon the field. " I canter by the spot each afternoon Where perish'd in his fame the hero-boy Who lived too long for men, but died too soon For human vanity, the young De Foix ! A broken pillar, not uncouthly hewn, But which neglect is hastening to destroy, SHORE OF RA VENNA. 349 Records Ravenna's carnage on its face, While weeds and verdure rankle round the base. I pass each day where Dante's bones are laid ; A little cupola, more neat than solemn, Protects his dust, but reverence here is paid To the bard's tomb, and not the warrior's column ; The time must come when both, alike decay'd The chieftain's trophy and the poet's volume, Will sink where lie the songs and wars of earth, Before Pelides' death, or Homer's birth. With human blood that column was cemented, With human filth that column is defiled, As if the peasant's coarse contempt were vented To show his loathing of the spot he soil'd : Thus is the trophy used, and thus lamented Should ever be those bloodhounds from whose wild Instinct of gore and glory earth has known Those sufferings Dante saw in hell alone." Byron, Don Juan. In the Strada di Porta Sisi (No. 225) Lord Byron lived in 1819, as is commemorated by an inscription. He moved hence to the Palazzo Guiccioli, 328 Via di Porta Adriana, where many of his poems were written. The present harbour of Ravenna, only used by small coasting vessels, is about four miles distant, and connected with the port at Porta Alberoni by a canal. Near it is a hut where the visionary but disinterested patriot Garibaldi concealed himself from the Austrians during his flight from Rome in 1849, and here his noble-minded wife Anita died from the privations to which she had been exposed, and was buried. "The least Dead for Italia not in vain has died. . . . Forlorn Of thanks be, therefore, no one of these graves, Not hers, who, at her husband's side, in scorn, 350 ITALIAN CITIES. Outfaced the whistling shot and hissing waves, Until she felt her little babe unborn Recoil, within her, from the violent slaves And bloodhounds of this world, at which, her life Dropt inwards from her eyes, and followed it Beyond the hunters. Garibaldi's wife And child died so. And now, the sea-weeds fit Her body, like a proper shroud and coif, And murmurously the ebbing waters quit The little pebbles while she lies interred In the sea-sand." E. Barrett-Brcrwning. It is strongly to be recommended that those who proceed from Ravenna to Rimini should drive thither in a carriage (about five hours, and for a party not nearly so expensive as the railway). The road skirts the Pineta, passes through the picturesque little town of Cesenatico, and, about nine miles before entering Rimini, crosses (near Sant'. Archangelo, the birth-place of Clement XIV.) the stream of the Uso. This is generally considered to be the Rubicon,* which, though a small river, had once a great importance, as from forming the boundary between Umbria and Cisalpine Gaul, it came, when the limits of Italy were considered to extend only to the frontiers of Cisalpine Gaul, to be regarded as the northern boundary of Italy. This it was which caused the passage of the Rubicon by Caesar to be regarded as so momentous an event. Here the Genius of Rome arose to restrain her son. " Ut ventum est parvi Rubiconis ad undas Ingens visa duci patriae trepidantis imago, * For a long time the identification of the Rubicon was a matter of controversy, and the Pisatello, two miles from Cesena, was regarded as having the principal claim to the name. An action which involved the inquiry was instituted at Rome, and in 1756 the decision of the " Rota" was given in favour of the Uso. THE RUBICON. ' 351 Clara per obscuram vultu mcestissima noctem Turrigero canos effundere vertice crines." Lucan, i. 185.* The smallness of this and other historic streams in Italy will produce almost a shock S. Maria Pomposa. " Now near the banks of Rubicon he Mood ; When lo ! as he survey'd the narrow flood, Amidst the dusky horrors of the night, A wondrous vision stood confest to sight. Her awful head Rome's rcv'rcnd image rcar'd. Trembling and sad the matron form appear'd ; A tow'ry crown her hoary temples bound, And her torn tresses tudcly hung around." Ren*. 352 ITALIAN CITIES. "Sometimes misguided by the tuneful throng, I look for streams immortalized in song, That lost in silence and oblivion lie (Dumb are their fountains, and their channels dry), Yet run for ever by the muses' skill, And in the smooth description murmur still." Eustace. Equally distant from Ravenna and Ferrara, but a long day's journey from either place, and most difficult to visit, as there is no sleeping accommodation possible in the dismal marshes of Comacchio, is the strangely grand and utterly desolate Church of S. Maria Pomposa. It is of the same class with the noblest of the Ravenna churches, and has sculptured capitals which rival those of S. Vitale in their richness and delicacy. CHAPTER XXXVII. FAENZA AND FORLI. i% hr. by rail (7 frs. 25 c. ; 5 frs. 10 c.) from Bologna brings travel- lers through the ugly, marshy Emilia to Forli, 20 min. before reaching which, we pass F AENZA (Inn. Corona), which by tradition derives its name from Phaeton. " Ecco 1'eccelsa Citta che prese nome da colui Che si mal careggio la via del sole, E cadde in Val di Po." Carlo Pepoli, LEremo, c. ii. Faenza occupies the site of the ancient Faventia, where Carbo and Norbanus were defeated by Metellus, the general of Sylla, B.C. 82. In 1376 the mediaeval town was pillaged with a horrible massacre of 4000 inhabitants by the papal troops under the English condottiere Sir John Hawkwood. Dante alludes to the signory of the Pagani at Faenza, who bore as their arms a lion on a silver field. " La citta di Lamone e di Santemo Conduce il leoncel dal nido bianco, Che muta parte della state al verno." Inf. xxvii. From the Station a straight street leads into the heart of the town, passing (left) the Piazza S. Francesco, con tain in:; VOL. II. 23 354 ITALIAN CITIES. a modern statue of Evangelista Torricelli, a native of Faenza, by whom the barometer was invented. The once picturesque Piazza Grande was completely modernized in 1873. It nas a pretty fountain with bronze ornaments. There is little in front to mark (right) the old Palace of the Manfredi, sovereign lords of Faenza, but a curious window may be seen in the court behind. This palace was the scene of the famous tragedy of Vincenzo Monti " Galeotto Manfredi " but the facts were not as he recounts them. A monk, who was an astrologer, had told Galeotto that he would be supplanted by his brother, and one day his wife, who was Francesca Bentivoglio, daughter of the Lord of Bologna, taunted him with this. In his irritation he gave her a blow, which she never forgave. Some time after, she feigned to be ill, and sent for her hus- band, and an assassin concealed in the curtains fell upon him. Being a strong man, Galeotto was getting the better of his murderer and throttling him, when Francesca, springing from the bed, stabbed him in the stomach and he fell. Francesca was afterwards imprisoned by the people of Faenza, but was released at the instance of Lorenzo de' Medici. Left of the piazza rises the rugged brick front of the Cathedral, dedicated to S. Constantius, ist bishop of Faenza, 313. It contains : Right, $th Chapel. Innocenzo da Imola, 1526. Holy Family and saints one of the best pictures of the master. Left of High Altar. Tomb of S. Sabinus, Bishop of Faenza, with reliefs relating to the story of his life by Benedetto da Majano. Left, yd Chapel. Tomb of S. Pietro Damiano of Ravenna, who died at Faenza. A street leads left to the Archiginasio, containing the PINACOTECA OF FAENZA. 355 Pinaeoteca, a small gallery, but interesting as illustrating the once numerous and remarkable school of Faenza. The best pictures are : ist Halt. C. I. Gianbattisia Bertucci, 1516. Virgin and Child, with S. John and angels. C. 6. Id. God the Father. C. 4. Id. S. Lorenzo and S. Romualdo. C. 5. Id. S. Ippolito and S. Benedetto (1506). These five pictures are most beautiful works of a very rare master, on no account to be confused with another and very inferior Gianbattista Bertucci, his grandson. D. 2. Marco Palmezzani. The Bearing of the Cross. D. 10. S. Bernardino da Feltre with the little Astorgio III. Manfredi, last sovereign of Faenza. A very interesting picture. Astorgio, son of the murdered Galeotto by Francesca Bentivoglio, was taken to Rome by Caesar Borgia, and drowned by him in the Tiber at the age of 16. 2nd Hall. E. 32. Innoctnzo da Imola. Holy Family. E. 34. Id. Holy Family, with SS. John and Catherine. F. I. Giacomo Bertucci, son of Gianbattista, signed 1565. Corona- tion of the Virgin, with saints beneath. F. 2. Guido Reni (from the Cappuccini). Virgin and Child, with SS. Francis and Christina a very fine picture. F. 3. Giacomo Bertucci, 1552. The Deposition. G. 13. Antonio di Mazzone, 1500. Virgin and Child, with SS. Peter, Paul, Domenic, Mark, and Luke. G. 24. MicheU Marnoni, 1066. The Martyrdom of S. Eutropius. H. j. Marco Manchetti. Christ in the Pharisee's House. In a street some distance on the other side of the piazza, is the Church of S. Afaglorio (a bishop of Faenza), which contains : *LtJt t 2nd Altar. Girolamo da Trtviso (sometimes attributed to Gior- 356 ITALIAN CITIES. gione). A most lovely Holy Family, with SS. Severe and Gregorio. The Holy Child holds a bird. At the further end of the town, in the Church of the Commenda in Borgo is another fresco by the same master, 1533. In the adjoining priest's House a bust of the Baptist by Donatella, 1420 " singularly refined, as well as simple, true, and natural in expression." A quarter of an hour more of railway brings us to Forli (fnn. Pasta, on the Corso). Forli occupies the site of the ancient Forum Livii founded by the Consul Livius Salinator after the defeat of Hasdrubal on the Metaurus. Here Galla Placidia married Ataulpus, King of the Visigoths, in 410. Forli was an independent Guelphic city till 1315, when the sovereignty was usurped by the Ordelaffi. In 1438 Forli was the birth-place of the great painter Melozzo : in 1682 of Morgagni, the founder of Pathologic Anatomy. The town is prosperous and busy, and the Corso a very handsome street. It ends in the Piazza. Here stood the palace in which Girolamo Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV., was murdered. " On the evening of the I4th of April, 1488, Checco d'Orsi (to whom he had long refused to pay his debts, presented himself at the prince's usual hour of granting audiences. It was after supper, and the Duchess Caterina Sforza had retired to her secret bower, a point of much im- portance to Checco and his friends. Entering the palace they made quite sure that the business in hand should not be interrupted by any inter- ference of hers, by placing a couple of their number at the foot of the stair which led to her private apartments. The others passing on to the great hall Sala dei Ninfi found Girolamo leaning with one elbow on the sill of the great window looking on to the Piazza Grande, and talk- ing with his Chancellor. There was one servant also in the further part of the hall. " ' How goes it, Checco mio?' said he, putting out his hand kindly. " ' That way goes it ! ' replied his murderer, stabbing him mortally as he uttered the words. S. MERCURIALE, DVOMO. 357 " So Catherine became a widow with six children, at twenty-six years of age. " 71 A. Trollope. In the piazza itself, a month afterwards, the minor con- spirators were publicly torn to pieces, and Count Orsi, in his 85th year, after being forced to witness the total destruction of his family palace the greatest indignity an Italian noble could suffer was dragged to death at a horse's tail, after which his side was opened and his heart torn out before the people. Some arches and a Gothic colonnade are probably remains of the palace of Riario Sforza. Facing upon the piazza, stands the Church of S. Mercuri- aU, with a grand brick campanile. Over the entrance is a curious group of the Adoration of the MagL First, the Three Kings are seen in bed and the angel appears to them ; afterwards they are portrayed again, taking off their crowns before the Virgin. In the interior are : Right, $tA Chapel. Marco Palmezzani. Virgin and Child, with SS. John and Catherine. Left, \th Chapel. Id. A group of saints kneeling, to whom God the Father appears with a multitude of angels. A very grand picture. In the lunette is the Resurrection. From S. Mercuriale a street leads direct to The Cathedral of Santa Croce, which has a good brick campanile. In the left transept is the famous chapel of La Madonna del Fuoco, of which the cupola is the master- piece of Carlo Cignani. " He spent the closing years of a long life at Forli, where he estab- lished his family, and left the proudest monument of his genius in that grand cupola, perhaps the most remarkable of all the pictorial produc- tions of the eighteenth century. The subject is the Assumption of our Lady, the same as in the cathedral at Parma ; and here, too, as there, it exhibits such a real paradise, that the more we contemplate it, the more it delights us. Near twenty years were devoted to its production, 35 ITALIAN CITIES. from time to time ; the artist, occasionally, during that period, visiting Ravenna, to consult the cupola by Guido, from whom he took his fine figure of S. Michael, and some other ideas. It is reported that the scaf- folds were, against his wish, removed, as he appeared never to be satis- fied with retouching and bringing the work to his usual degree of finish." Lanzi. Cignani and Torricelli are buried in this church. It con- tains a ciborium from a design of Michael Angela, an altar- piece (last chapel right) by Marco Palmezzani, 1506, and (under glass) " La Madonna delle Grazie," by Guglielmo degli Organi, a disciple of Giotto. The street which faces the west end of the Duomo will lead, right, to the Church of S. Girolamo, which contains : Right, 1st Chapel, covered with much injured but beautiful frescoes by Melozzo da Forli, who painted 1472 1475, and his pupil Marco Pal- mezzani. The kneeling figures of pilgrims in the lunette are portraits of Girolamo Riario and Caterina Sforza. 2nd Chapel. The exquisitely beautiful tomb of Barbara Ordelaffi, wife of Piero, lord of Faenza, ob. 1466. "The history of this ambitious and wicked woman is singularly at vari- ance with the lovely and beautiful image upon the sarcophagus in which she is buried ; and with the epithet 'ottima,' which is applied to her in the epitaph upon it. "The daughter of Astorgio Manfredi, she was betrothed when seven years old to Piero Ordelaffi, and became his wife in 1462. Thirsting for power, she, with her father's connivance, persuaded her husband to seize and imprison his elder brother Cecco, lord of Forli, and thus make himself master of the city ; but feeling their position insecure while the prisoner lived, she mixed poison with the food which she sent him in the Torre del Orologio. He escaped this danger, thanks to his wife Elisabeth, who shared his prison, and who bore about her person a ring which had the virtue of detecting poisons, but was soon after killed by a band of assassins, employed by Barbara. The plague having broken out at Forli, she removed to Forlimpopoli with her husband, who left her there and went to Florence. She would have followed him, had she not shortly been taken ill, and died, as it is supposed, from the effects of poison, which he, 'for reasons unknown,' caused to be administered to her." Perkins. PINACOTECA OF FOR LI. 359 *"$rd Chapel. Guido Rent. The Conception. One of the best works of the master. Right, the tomb of Morgagni, the Anatomist. 4/>4 Chapel. Injured cupola, with angels attributed to Palmezzani. Left, 1st Pillar. A recently discovered fresco of the Virgin and Child throned between SS. Jerome and Francis. The other churches of Forli are little worth visiting. All their good pictures have been removed to the Pinacoteca, and many of them are now turned into barracks. A street on the right of the Corso, opposite the Hotel La Posta, leads to the Piazza San Pellegrino. Here is the Church of the Servi, which contains (right of entrance) a tomb with a relief of the Adoration of the Shepherds, executed in his life-time by Luffo Numai, as his own monument and that of his wife Caterina Paolucci. Opposite this, in the former convent of the Frati della Missione, are the Public Library, and the Pinacoteca, which is deeply interesting as deriving all its wealth from native art. Here alone can be studied the grand works of Melozzo da Forli and his pupil Marco Palmezzani the latter of whom founded a numerous school. Indeed, except the fresco in the Vatican and a fragment on the staircase of the Quirinal, there are no important works of Melozzo out of Forli. It is a peculiarity of the masters of this school that they always signed their works in full, on a parchment brought by some means into the picture. In their sacred subjects they also always endeavoured to introduce the patron saints of the city, the Bishop Mercuriale and the warrior Valeriano. It is remarkable that Melozzo and his followers associate themselves entirely with the school of Mantegna, and have nothing whatever in common with the neighbouring school of Bologna. We may notice in the gallery : 360 ITALIAN CITIES. 79. Damiano da Zotto da Forli. S. Sebastian. 80. Francesco Menzocchida Forli, a pupil of Palmezzani, 1502 1574. Portrait of Cesarina, daughter of the famous Francesco Her- colani. 86. Guercino. A beautiful picture from the Church of S. Filippo Neri. Above, Gabriel receives the Message of the Annunci- ation from the Almighty ; below, the Virgin, a ssveet country- girl, kneels, reading. 87. Livio Agresti da Forli, c. 1580. The Presentation in the Temple. 89. Id. The Crucifixion. 90. Niccolb Rondinelli. Virgin and Child. 92. F. Franda. The Nativity. 94. Bagnacavallo. Holy Family. 96. Marco Palmezzani, 1456 1540. Portrait of Caterina Sforza. 98. Baldassare Carrari da Forli. Coronation of the Virgin. Beneath, on the left, S. Benedict and S. Mercuriale with the town of Forli ; on the right, S. Giovanni Gualberto and S. Bernardo. 104. Francesco Menzocchi. Crucifixion, with S. Bernardino and S. Roch. I IO. Pier Paolo Menzocchi da Forli. The Donation of the Rosary. *II2. Marco Palmezzani. A most interesting triptych. In the centre, the Madonna and Child, with Girolamo and Caterina Sforza kneeling at their feet ; at the sides, saints ; in the predella, Christ and the Apostles. 113. Marco Valeria Morolini da Forli, a pupil of Palmezzani. The Annunciation. 113. bis. Bartolommeo da Forli. The Deposition. 115. Marco Palmezzani. The Crucifixion a fresco. 1 1 6. Carlo Cignani. The Madonna crowning S. Rosa. 117. Francesco Zaganelli (II Cotignola), 1471 1540. God the Father, with kneeling saints. A very beautiful picture. 124. Bagnacavallo. Holy Family and donor. 126. Marco Melozzo da Forli. S. Antonio throned between S. Sebastian and S. John the Baptist. The pig appears beneath. On the throne are the arms of the Austoli family, for whom the picture was painted. God the Father is in a lunette above. This was formerly in the Church of the Carmine. The colouring is quite magnificent *I28. Marco Palmezzani. The Annunciation. The Angel with his lily kneels before the Virgin, who is seated under an arch. Behind, is a lovely Umbrian landscape, with figures hawk- ing and fishing : the Dove of the Holy Spirit appears on a cloud. PIN AC TEC A OF FORLI: 361 130. Giuseppe Galeppini da Forli (16251650). Marriage of S. Catherine. 131. Uvio Agresti. The Deposition. 132. Paolo Cignani (1709 1764). The Miracle of S. Domenico. 136. Barbara Longhl (of Ravenna). Virgin and Child, with SS. Mercuriale and Valeriano. 141. Fr. Albani. S. Sebastian. *I44. Scuola di Melozzo. Virgin and Child throned, with SS. Biagio and Valeriano. A grand picture, the face of the young warrior Valeriano quite beautiful. 145. Marco Palmezzani. The Bearing of the Cross. The heads are full of expression and grandeur. Were it not signed, this picture would be taken for a Bellini. The rich ornamentation on the robe of the Saviour is quite his. This is the favourite subject of the Master : it is repeated in the gallery at Faenza. 146. Fr. Alenzocchi. Virgin and Child, with SS. Mercuriale and Valeriano. * 147. Marco Palmezzani. The Last Supper, represented as a Sacra- ment. A most noble picture. The scene is a rich portico, backed by wild Umbrian mountains. The Saviour, in a long blue robe, with an expression of awful solemnity and sympathy, administers the wafer to S. Peter, S. John stands by as a deacon with the chalice. The other disciples kneel behind rapt in devotion, except Judas, who kneels behind Christ with an expression careless and pre-occupied. Behind, like a vision, is seen the rejection of the Temptation. *I48. Marco Palmezzani. A grand portrait of the artist painted (like all his pictures on wood) in his Both year for his tomb in S. Domenico, where it long remained. It was withdrawn by his family and sold to the Commune. Florence .and other galleries have offered immense sums for this picture. 150. Guercino. S. John Baptist. 151. Giorgione (sometimes attributed to Raphael). Portrait of Caesar Borgia, Duke of Valentinois. His other portraits are in the Borghese gallery at Rome and in the Castelbarco Gallery at Milan. This is a simple and beautiful picture. 154. Marco Palmezzani. Presentation in the Temple. 155. Id. The Flight into Egypt. These two pictures are very small, but full of character and beauty. 160. Francesco Menzocchi. Portrait of Cesare Hercohni, warrior of Forli, one of those who took Francis 1st prisoner at Pavia. The saddle-cloth of the king was always preserved in this family, lately extinct. 362 ITALIAN CITIES. 1 6 1. Damiano di Zotto. S. Roch. 162. Guido Rent. Head of the Madonna. A study for the picture of the Conception in S. Girolamo. {Over the Entrance) Guido Cagnacci. Two pictures of saints of local interest, as having been carried as standards at the translation of La Madonna del Fuoco. The Citadel, begun by Cardinal Albornoz in 1359, was enktrged under the Ordelaffi and the Riarii. Forli is the residence of the disinterested patriot Aurelio Saffi, one ofthe Roman triumvirate of 1849. He is remark- able for the heroism with which he has endured many vicissi- tudes of fortune, not the least that of his arrest at Rimini in 1874 (to prevent his possible influence in the elections), with 23 of his friends, when, after a month's incarceration in the malefactors' prison at Spoleto, and two months of solitary confinement at Perugia, they were released (hurried from their cells secretly at night for fear of a demonstration), the Government simply saying that they had " made a mistake, and that there was no longer any occasion to proceed against them." CHAPTER XXXVIII. RIMINI AND S. MARINO. IT is a little more than an hour by rail (5 frs. 30 c. ; 3 frs. 70 c.) from Forli to Rimini, passing : Forlimpoli (Stat). The ancient Forum Popilii. Cesena (Stat). Cesena was the last town of Cisalpine Gaul on the Via Emilia. Its situation on the Savio is described by Dante : " E quelle, a mi il Savio bagna il fianco, Cosi com ' ella sie ' tra il piano e il monte Tra tirannia si vive e stato franco." Inf. xxxii. It is very picturesque from a distance, surmounted by its rock-built castle. The bishopric of Cesena is one of the oldest in Italy, and is said to have been founded by S. Philemon, A.D. 92. The town was pillaged and its inhabit- ants cruellv massacred to the number of 3000 persons by the Legate, Cardinal Robert of Geneva, afterwards the Anti-pope Clement VII. Pius VI. (Giov. Angelo Braschi) and Pius VII. (Gregorio Barnabe Chiaramonte) were both natives of this town, and there is a statue of the former in the Palazzo Pubblico, which contains a fine fresco of Francesco Francia a Madonna and Saints. In front of the Palazzo is a hand- some fountain. The Library, founded by Malatesta Novello, 1452, contains much that is interesting. 364 ITALIAN CITIES. The Cathedral contains : Right Aisle, yd Altar. The Risen Saviour between the Baptist and S. John the Evangelist. "Behind the Baptist there kneels an elderly man with an expression of mild piety, according to the inscription described as Camillas Verardus, eques Pontificius. The hands of the kneeling figure are designed with admirable life. The style of the entire work is, it is true, affected by the naturalism which marked the entire fifteenth century, but it is softened by a decided sense of the beautiful. The drapery, with its delicate folds, is treated as a thin material which clings to the body almost transparently, as though it had been put on wet. Altogether all the figures display in their attitude and action, and in their type of countenance and expression, the general character common to the Lombardic School, but the execution is unusually tender and perfect in the smallest detail ; the hands are full of life, the hair displays masterly freedom, and S. John the Evangelist especially is among the most beautiful inspirations of the period." Liibke, History of Sculpture. Left Aisle, 1st Altar. A relief by Alfonso Lombardi da Ferrara, 1488-1537. " In the centre is S. Leonardo in a monk's cowl, which falls down in large simply arranged masses, and holding a chain with which he is raising his right hand. A thick curling beard encircles the beautiful head. To the left is S. Christopher, with the lovely Infant Christ, who is playing with his full beard. He is represented in an advancing attitude, the short light garment leaving the powerful and beautifully formed thigh almost free ; his hand is resting on the rude stem of a tree. On the right is S. Eustachius in the attire of a Roman warrior, rather indicated than fully detailed ; the upper part of the figure is bare and the arms are naked, and the mantle has fallen down over the shoulders in rather elegant than grand folds. The head is charming in its youth- ful splendour, and is surrounded with long curls ; in form and expres- sion it calls to mind the splendid heads of Sodoma, and is one of the most exquisite creations of this golden age. The artist of these three figures still adheres in the fine and careful treatment of the drapery, which affords an effective contrast to the simple monkish habit of S. Leonardo, to the tradition of the fifteenth century ; but the figures in their vigorous organization, mature and beautiful forms, and perfect understanding of structure, give the impression of an art which had arrived at the height of perfection. The head of S. Eustachius is equal to the finest works of Andrea Sansovino." Liibke. On a hill a short distance from the town are the Benedic- RIMINI. 365 tine Church and Convent of the MadonnA del Monte, where Pius VII. (" Padre Chiaramonte ") was a monk. Savignano (Stat). The birth-place of the Archaeologist Borghese, 1781. Soon after leaving this, the blue over- hanging mountain of San Marino comes in sight upon the right. It is just such a mountain as we see in the back- grounds of Palmezzani and other painters. Sanf Angela in Vado (Stat). The birth-place of Pope Clement XIV. (Lorenzo Ganganelli), 1705. Rimini (Stat). Inns. Tre Re, close to the station, a most comfortable small Italian Inn ; Aquila tfOro, in the town, very inferior. By those who are not in a hurry, or wish to rest, Rimini is a most pleasant place to stay at for a few days, and the air is delicious and invigorating. "The name of Rimini will to most minds first suggest the most pathetic passage in the whole range of the Inferno of Dante ; but, whether as classic Ariminum or as mediaeval Rimini, the city has far higher historic claims to notice than to have been the birth-place of the erring Francesca. The first strictly Italian city where Caesar appeared in arms after crossing the borders of his own province, the city which was the scene of the Council after which the world was said to have mourned and wondered to find itself Arian, certainly stands out in historic importance above its neighbours. Its later tyrants, too, of the I louse of Malatesta bear a more famous name than most of their neigh- bours, whom we chiefly remember, if we remember them at all, as fall- ing into the common gulf of ecclesiastical dominion, either in the days of Borgia or in the earlier days when Robert of Geneva, the future ant i -pope, wrought the great slaughter of Cesena. In the Forum of Ariminum we may see the stone which marks the spot where, according to local belief, Caesar addressed his soldiers ; but the inscription speaks of the oration as having been made 'superato Rubicone,' a phrase which savours rather of the rhetoric of Lucan than of the simple narra- tive of the great rebel himself, who did not think the crossing of a border stn-amlct worth recording. The momentary triumph of Arianism at Ariminum has left its memory in the name of the neighbouring La 366 ITALIAN CITIES. Cattolica, a spot which legend points out as the place of dwelling or shelter of the Orthodox minority in the famous Synod. In the general course of events there may seem to be a certain kind of propriety in the formal promulgation of the heretical faith in this particular district, as a kind of foreshadowing of the coming rule of the Arian Goth in not far distant Ravenna. As for the tyrants, one at least among them has taken care that neither himself nor his wife shall be forgotten by any visitor to Rimini. Sigismund and Isotta appear on church and fortress as the chief late adorners of the city ; and in the nomenclature of the modern streets, while the Dictator himself claims the great square of the modem Forum, many and earlier portions of the city bear the names of the most famous of the House of Malatesta." Freeman. "No one with any tincture of literary knowledge is ignorant of the fame at least of the great Malatesta family the house of the Wrong- heads, as they were rightly called by some prevision of their future part in Lombard history. The readers of the twenty-seventh and twenty- eighth cantos of the 'Inferno' have all heard of ' E il mastin vecchio e il nuovo da Verucchio Che fecer di Montagna il mal governo,' while the story of Francesca da Polenta, who was wedded to the hunch- back Giovanni Malatesta and murdered by him with her lover Paolo, is known not merely to students of Dante, but to readers of Byron and Leigh Hunt, to admirers of Flaxman, Ary Scheffer, Dore to all, in fact, who have of art and letters any love. "The history of these Malatesti, from their first establishment under Otho III. as lieutenant for the Empire in the Marches of Ancona, down to their final subjugation by the Papacy in the age of the Renaissance, is made up of all the vicissitudes which could befall a mediaeval Italian despotism. Acquiring an unlawful right over the towns of Rimini, Cesena, Sogliano, Ghiacciuolo, they ruled their petty principalities like tyrants by the help of the Guelf and Ghibelline factions, inclining to the one or the other as it suited their humour or their interest ; wrang- ling among themselves, transmitting the succession of their dynasty through bastards or by deeds of force, quarrelling with their neighbours the Counts of Urbino, alternately defying and submitting to the Papal legates in Romagna, serving as condottiere in the wars of the Visconti and the State of Venice, and by their restlessness and genius for military intrigues contributing in no slight measure to the general disturbance of Italy. The Malatesti were a race of strongly-marked character : more, perhaps, than any other house of Italian tyrants, they combined for generations those qualities of the fox and the lion, which Machiavelli S. FRANCESCO OF RIMINI. 367 thought indispensable to a successful despot. Their power, based on force, was maintained by craft and crime, and transmitted through tortuous channels by intrigue, and while false in their dealings with the world at large, they were diabolical in the perfidy with which they treated one another. "As far as Rimini is concerned, the house of Malatesta culminated in Sigismondo Pandolfo, son of Gian Galeazzo Visconti's general, the perfidious Pandolfo. It was he who built the Rocca and re-modelled the Cathedral. He was one of the strangest products of the earlier Renaissance. To enumerate the crimes which he committed within the sphere of his own family, would violate the decencies of literature. It is enough to mention that he murdered three wives in succession, Bussoni di Carmagnuola, Guinipera d'Este, and Polixena Sforza." y. A. Symonds. The broad road from the station leads to the gate of the town, beyond which it becomes Via Principe Umberto. Hence, on the left, the Via al Tempio Malatestiano leads to the famous Church of S. Francesco, generally called Tempio del Malatesti, a Gothic church entirely transmogrified by Alberti. " By introducing the joint initials of Sigismund Pandolfo and his mis- tress Isotta degli Atti into the ornamentation of the building, by inscrib- ing Sigismund's name upon the fa9ade, and by placing sarcophagi in which the eminent men of the court of Rimini were buried, under the arches upon the side of the building, Alberti made it a great mausoleum to the memory of Sigismund and his friends, and much more like a Pagan temple than a Christian church. Nor is this illusion dispelled by the interior, which with its heathen emblems, its deification of Sigismund and Isotta in the statues of SS. Sigismund and Michael, its medallions, bas-reliefs, and inscriptions in Latin and Greek, has so heathen an aspect, that we involuntarily look towards the altar for a train of chaplet-crowned priests and augurs, about to offer a milk-white heifer in sacrifice to the god and goddess of Rimini. " The woman who shares this homage with Sigismund, as she shared his life, was the daughter of Francesco di Atto of the noble family of the Atti ; her ' liaison ' with Sigismund Pandolfo commenced during the life- time of his second wife Polixena, daughter of Francesco Sforza, whom he is said to have strangled. The Neapolitan poet Porcellio, who lived at the court of Rimini, states that Isotta's father strongly condemned her 368 ITALIAN CITIES. conduct, and makes this the argument of three Elegiac Epistles, one of which (feignedly written by Isotta), pleads the irresistible power of love as an excuse for her fault, and the other (put into her father's mouth) re- plies, that the love which has subdued her is a false god, and that duty demands of her to leave her lover, and conduct herself henceforth like a virtuous woman. "This account conflicts with Tito Strozzi's statement that Francesco di Atto, Isotta's father, was Sigismund's faithful friend and councillor, and can only be made to agree with it if we believe, that the lovers were married after the death of Polixena Sforza, and that Isotta's father was reconciled to her. Besides these two elegies, other ' Isottaei ' are to be found in a rare book of poems, treating of the imaginary love of Jupiter for Isotta, which she repulses on account of her passion for Sigismund, and exalting her as more beautiful than Tyndaris, a better poetess than Sappho, and more constant than Penelope. "She was really but moderately handsome, judging from models, busts, and pictures, was clever as a writer of Latin verses, learned in physics and moral philosophy, and, as far as we know, constant to one lover. Through her influence, Sigismund was led to repent of his sins and to expiate by benefits and kind actions the injuries which he had formerly inflicted upon so many of his subjects ; and so great was his confidence in her judgment and experience, that at his death he left her joint ruler of Rimini with his natural son Sallustio. Fearful, however, that the Romish Church would seize upon her dominions on the plea of Sallus- tio's never having been legitimatized, she called Roberto, another illegi- timate son of her husband, to a share in the government, who, being am- bitious and wicked, caused Sallustio to be assassinated, and is said to have assisted by poison the progress of a slow fever, which attacked Isotta in 1470, and quickly carried her to the grave." Perkins' Tuscan Sculptors. The incompleteness of the Interior, and its barn-like roof, prevent S. Francesco from being beautiful, but the rich adornment of its chapels is deserving of careful examination. On the right of the entrance is the tomb of Sigismondo him- self, ob. 1468, the simplest in the family Mausoleum. Right. The 1st Chapel, of S. Sigismund, has his statue over the altar. The beautiful pillars of the arch are supported by elephants, the Male- testa crest. The statues are by Citiffagni. The low reliefs of angels on the inner wall are by Simone da Firenze, whose works resemble those of 5. FRANCESCO OF RIMfNI. 369 Donatello. The altar-piece, of the Holy Family, is by Luca Longki da Ravtnna. *Tke 2nd Chapel (of the Relics) contains a most beautiful fresco by Piero della Francesca, representing Sigismondo kneeling at the feet of his patron saint, S. Sigismund, king of Hungary. Behind him, are his favourite grey-hounds, and the castle which he built at Rimini is intro- duced. The fresco is signed " Pietri de Burgo opus, 1481." The yd Chapel is especially devoted to Isotta. Here, raised high against the wall, supported by elephants, is her sarcophagus, and over the altar is her statue as S. Michael vanquishing the Devil ! One of the shields which are held by the angels on the screen, bears the por- traits of the three Malatesta brothers, Sigismondo, Paolo, and Lanciano. The low reliefs by Simone in this and the opposite chapel on a blue ground, look like works of Luca della Robbia, but are certainly not by him. Left. The 1st Chapel (spoilt by modem gilding) has a magnificent sarcophagus containing the remains of the "Famiglia Malatesta," It is adorned with reliefs by Ghiberti. The beautiful statuettes of the Sibyls on the pillars are by Simone. "This church is the chief monument of Sigismondo's fame. It is here that all the Malatesti lie. Here too is the chapel dedicated to Isotta, ' Divae Isottae Sacrum ; ' and the tomb of the Malatesta ladies, ' Malatestorum domiis heroidum sepulchrum;' and Sigismondo's own grave with the cuckold's horns and the scornful epitaph ' Porto le corna ch' ognuno le vede, E tal le porta che non se le crede.' Nothing but the fact that the church is duly dedicated to S. Francis and that its outer shell of classic marble encases an old Gothic edifice, remains to remind us that it is a Christian place of worship. * It has no sanctity, no spirit of piety. The pride of the tyrant whose legend ' Sigismundus Pandulphus Malatesta Pan F. Fecit Anno Gratiae MCCCL ' occupies every arch and string-course of the architecture and whose coat-of-arms and portrait in medallion, with his cipher and his emblems of an elephant and a rose, are wrought in every piece of sculptured work throughout the building, seems so to fill this house of prayer that there is no room left for God. Yet the cathedral of Rimini remains a monument of lir->t-rate importance for all students who seek to penetrate the revived Paganism of the fifteenth century. It serves also to bring a far more The account of (his church given by ;neas Sylvius Piccolnmini , Pii Sccundi Com- ment. \\.ffi deserve* quotation : " .Kilificavit tamen nubile tcinplnm Arimini in hono- rem divi Fr.incici, verum ita gentilibu* operibus iniplcvit, tit non lam Chrislianorum a. 4oS ITALIAN CITIES. Qomtnico Aiino di Bologna. The Death of the Virgin. Northern Wall. (Over the 1st door) Sansovino. The Birth of the Virgin. ( Over the 2nd door) Tribolo. The Marriage of the Virgin. Later critics have not shared the unbounded praise bestowed by Vasari upon the Reliefs of the Santa Casa. "No more lamentable proof of the great inferiority of Tuscan sculp- ture during the first thirty years of the sixteenth century to that of the fifteenth, is to be found, than these elaborate works, which contain not a trace of that exquisite taste and sentiment which marked the works of earlier masters. Those finished by Sansovino are indeed far better than the rest, but even they in no wise deserve the praises which have been, heaped upon them. "The group of angels floating over the bed of the Madonna, in the relief which represents her death, is the only really pleasing piece of work in the whole series. The bas-relief was designed and commenced by Sansovino, and terminated by Domenico Aimo, surnamed ' 11 Bolog- nese ' ; as were the Birth and Marriage of the Virgin, and the Adoration, with the help of Bandinelli, Tribolo, and Montelupo." Perkins 1 Tuscan Sculptors. In the \st Chapel, on the right of the entrance, is the beautiful bronze Font, covered with reliefs by Vercelli and Vitali. " Over-richly decorated, its ornamental details exhibit various gro- tesque elements ; there are, however, many excellent details in the figures, and the execution displays the masterly skill which marks the entire school of Recanati. The whole surface is filled with figures ; all the framework is covered with arabesques, putti, emblems, festoons, and volutes. The general effect is overloaded, but the whole is finished with the most miniature-like delicacy." Liibke. Inscriptions in different languages along the nave tell the' story of the " Miraculous origin and translation of our Blessed Lady of Loreto." That in English is as follows : "The church of Loreto was a chamber of the house of the B. V. nigh ORIGIN OF THE SANTA CASA. 409 Hierusalem in the citty of Nazareth, in which she was bom and bred, and saluted by the Angel and therein conceaved & brought up her sonne Jesus to the age of twelue yeares. This chamber, after the ascension of our Saviour, was by the Apostles consecrated into a church in honour of our B. Lady, and -S. Luke made a picture to her likeness extant therein to be scene at this very day. It was frequented with great devotion by the people of the country where it stood whilst they were Catholicks, but when leaving the faith of Christ they followed the sect of Mahomet, the Angels took it, and carrying it into Sclavonia, placed it by a town called Flumen, where not being had in due reverence, they again transported it over sea to a wood in the te rrtiory of Recanati, belonging to a noble woman called Loreta, from whom it first took the name of our B. Lady of Loreto, and thence again they carried it, by reason of the many robberies committed, to a mountain of two brothers in the said territory ; and from thence finally, in respect of their disagreement about the gifts and offerings, to the comon high way not far distant, where it now remains without foundation, famous for many signes, graces and miracles, wherat the inhabitants of Kecanati, who often came to see it, much wondring, environed it with a strong and thick wall, yet could noe man tel whence it came originally, til in, the yeare M.cc.xc.vi the B. V. appeared in sleep to a holy devout man to whom she revealed it, and he divulged it to others of authority in this province, who determining forthwith to try the truth of the vision, resolved to choose xvi men of credit, who to that effect should go all together to the citty of Nazareth, as they did carrying with them the measure of this church, and comparing it there with the foundation yet remnat they found them wholy agreable, and in a wall thereby ingraven that it had stood there, and had left the place, which done, they presently returning back, published the premisses to be true, and from that time forewanls it hath byn certainly known, that this church was the chamber of the B. V. to which Christians begun then and have ever since had great devotiS, for that in it daily she hath donne and doth many and many miracles. One Friar Pavi de Silva, an ermit of great sanctity, who lived in a cottage nigh unto this church, whither daily he went to matins, said, that for ten years space, on the viii of September, two hours before day, he saw a light descend from heaven upon it, which he said was the B. V. who there showed herself on the feast of her nativity. In confirmation of which two vertuous men of the said citty of Kecanati divers times declared unto mee Prefect of Terreman and Governor of the forenamed church, as followeth. The one cal'd Paul Kcnalduci avouched that his grandfathers grandfather sawe when the angels brought it over sea, and placed it in the forementioned wood. 410 ITALIAN CITIES. and had often visited it there, the other called Francis Prior, in like sort affirmed, that his grandfather, being cxx yeares old, had also much frequented it in the same place, and for a further proof, that it had byn there, he reported that his grandfathers grandfather had a house nigh, unto it, wherin he dwelt, and that in his time it was carried by the Angels from thence to the mountain of the two brothers where they placed it as abovesaid. By order of the Right Reverend I, Robert Corbington, Priest of Monsignor Vincent Cassal of the Society of Jesus in the yeare Bolonia, Governor of this holy MDCXXXIV have faithfully trans- place, under the protection of the lated the premisses out of the most Reverend Cardinal Moroni. Latin original hung upon the said Church. To the honor of the ever glorious Virgin. From the Left Transept we enter the Sacristy, which contains a few pictures, including : Coreggio. Virgin and Child. Ghirlandajo. Virgin and Child. From hence we enter the Treasury (entrance \ fr. except on Sundays). Its ceiling and the Crucifixion over the altar are by Pomerancio. The objects in the glass cases round the room include gifts to the Virgin from most of the European potentates. Best deserving of notice are a crystal crucifix from Charles IV. of Spain ; chalices from Pius VII., VIII., IX. ; a banner won at Lepanto ; and a pea-l which was a gift a poor fisherman saved up his money to present, when he found one miraculously engraved with the image of the Virgin of Loreto ! The Cupola, built by Antonio da Sangallo, was adorned with frescoes by Roncalli. There are no especial objects in the church deserving mention, unless we except a kneeling bronze figure of Cardinal Gaetani, by Calcagnixtd Giacometti. THE PALAZZO APOSTOLICO. 411 The chapels are for the most part adorned with mosaic copies from the pictures of the great masters. The Palazzo Apostolico (now Reale) was begun by Julius II. in 1510, from designs of Bramante, and was finished by A. Sansovino and Antonio Sangallo. It has a Picture Gallery, containing little worth notice. The best pictures are : Titian. The Woman taken in Adultery. Vouet. The Last Supper. Guercino. The Deposition. Ann. Caracci, The Nativity of the Virgin. On the first floor of the Palace, removed from the Spfzieria, is the splendid collection of 380 Majolica pots, Lorcto, from the Recanati road. executed by Orazio Fontana da Urbino, Battista Franco, and others. They were given by Francesco Maria II., Duke of Urbino, and are of the most enormous value, and glorious in colour and design. In looking at these and other so-called specimens of so-called " Raffaeile ware," it should be remembered that the designs, exhibiting the taste of the 412 ITALIAN CITIES. great master, were all painted at least twenty years after his death. The fact that some of them were finished by Raffaellino da Colle has given rise, from a confusion of names, to the idea that Raffaelle Sanzio assisted in them. There is not much more to see in Loreto, but pleasant walks may be taken on the adjoining heights, and the walls of Sixtus V., with their massive bastion towers, are highly picturesque. The best general view of the place is about a mile from the town on the Recanati road, whence it is seen grandly backed by the heights of Monte Conero. 10 min. more by rail will bring us from Loreto to Porto Recanati (stat.), whence Recanati is about 4 m. distant, but it will be better to engage a carriage (4 frs.) from Loreto, whence it is only 5 m., to Recanati {Inn. Corona), an interesting old town, with much curious work in terra-cotta on its buildings. In the side-porch of the Cathedral of S. Flaviano is the monument of Pope Gregory XII., who laid aside the papal tiara at the Council of Constance, and died here as legate of the March of Ancona in 1417. In the Sacristy is a Madonna by Ludovico da S. Severino, 1463. Between the choir and the sacristy is an altar-piece in many compartments by Lorenzo Lotto. On the Palazzo Comunale is a bronze relief by Giacometti representing the arrival of the Santa Casa. The diploma of Frederick II., " Dei Gratia Romanorum Imperator," confer- ring its port upon the town, is preserved here. Recanati is. the birth-place (1798) of the poet Count Leopardi, who died in 1837 : there is a monument to him in the piazza. From the promenade on the old walls there is a beautiful view, M ACER AT A. 413 Recanati was long a separate State under the protection of the Popes, having its authority vested in a council of 200 citizens, of whom 97 were nobles. A carriage may be taken from Recanati to Macerata, which may also be reached by Diligence from the Railway Station of Civitanova. The hill-set Macerata (Inns. La Pace ; Postd) is one of the most flourishing towns in this part of Italy. It has magnificent views of the sea and over the valley of the Macerata. Potenza and Chienti. Its handsome palaces, for the most part built of brick, are only inhabited in summer. The Cathedral contains an Altar-piece by A/fgretto Nuzi, 1359, of the Madonna with 22 saints; in the niches SS. Anthony 4 i4 ITALIAN CITIES. and Julian. In the Church of S. Giovanni is an Assump- tion by Lanfranco. The walls were built by Cardinal Albornoz : the Porta Pia by Cardinal Pius. i m. from the town is the Church of La Madonna delta Vcrgine, a Greek cross by Bramante. There is an enormous Amphitheatre for the game of Pallone, which is very popular here. "The peasants seem here to observe a fixt uniform in dress, and orange is the prevailing colour. So constant are the women of this class to local costume, that the female head becomes a kind of geographical index. At Macerata they adhere to the ancient mode of plaiting and coiling the hair, which they transfix with long silver wires tipped at both ends with large nobs. At Recanati, they hang golden bells to their ear-rings, three or five to each chime, jingling like the crotalia of the Roman matrons. At Loretto, they adjust the handkerchief to their heads in the style of their Madonna. All the young men bind their hair in coloured nets, which is an old imitation of female attire, and, as such, was severely censured by Juvenal." Forsyth. (26 m. from Macerata, and 5 m. from the sea, is the hill- set town of Fermo, the Firmum Picenum of the Romans, 1116 ft. above the sea. It is a poverty-stricken town, but is crowned by a rocky platform on which stands the mediaeval Cathedral (modernized within), from the front of which there is a most glorious view of the coast and sea. It was the natural fortifications of this rock which in the Middle Ages caused Fermo to be regarded as the strongest place in all the Marches, and gave rise to the proverb " Quando Fermo vuol fermare Tutta la Marca fa tremare." The platform was formerly occupied by a castle, which was seized by a series of tyrants, who ruled the inhabitants from thence, till they prudently razed it to the ground in PER MO. 415 1447. The porch, a sort of west end ante-chapel to the cathedral, contains a number of curious sepulchral monu- ments, including a very fine one of a member of the Vis- conti family, inscribed, " Tura de Imola fecit hoc opus." In the Church of S. Francesco is the tomb of Ludovico Euffreducci, sculptured by Sansovino in 1530, This family first rose to wealth in the person of Tommaso, a famous physician, who died in 1403. His great-great-grandson Oliverotto was sent to study the art of war under Paolo Vitelli, and gained the reputation of one of the most success- ful soldiers of the day. When he returned to Fermo, he caused his uncle and adopted father Giovanni Fogliani, together with all the principal citizens, to be murdered at a banquet which they gave in his honour, and riding to the Palazzo Pubblico at the head of his men, proclaimed himself Lord of Fermo, a position which he maintained till he was murdered himself by Cesare Borgia, Dec. 31, 1502, at the famous banquet of Sinigaglia. It is this Oliverotto who was selected by Machiavelli as a model tyrant in " II Principe." On the murder of Oliverotto his sister-in-law fled with her infant son to the protection of her own family, the Baglioni of Perugia. In 1514 he returned to Fermo and gained a tem- porary popularity by defending the city against the Duke of Urbino, but having murdered Bartolommeo Brancadoro, the head of a rival family, was declared an outlaw. Leo X. sent out against him Niccolb Bonafede, the fighting Bishop of Chiusi. Lodovico was mortally wounded, and the bishop, equally prepared for office of soldier or priest, immediately dis- mounted, heard his confession, absolved him, and received his dying breath. It is one of the most characteristic anec- dotes of 16th-century warfare.) 4 i6 ITALIAN CITIES. About 28 m. from Macerata is the mediaeval town of Tolenlino (Inn. Corona), occupying the site of the Tolentinum Picenum of the Romans. The road thither passes " // Castello delta Rancia" where Murat was defeated by the Austrians under Bianchi in May, 1815. It was the loss of this battle which sealed his fate. There is much that is pic- turesque in the piazza of Tolentino with its pretty fountain. The Cathedral of S. Niccolo has considerable remains of old Gothic work, and an interesting cloister. The Chapel of the saint contains his tomb, upon which the peasants throw money through a grating. There are frescoes of the History of the Virgin attributed to Lorenzo and Jacopo da San Severino. A picture of the Fire at S. Mark's in Venice is attributed to Tintoretto. (?) Cloister of S. Niccol6 di Tolentino. The great Augustinian saint, Nicholas of Tolentino, was born about 1239 at the little town of S. Angiolo in Pontano, near Tolentino. While very young he became an Augus- TOLEXTIXO, MATELICA. 417 tinian monk, and was so distinguished by his austerities that it is said of him that " he did not live, but languished through life." He was equally celebrated for his sermons. He died Sept. 10, 1306, and was canonized in 1446 by Eugenius IV. His wonderful sanctity is said to have been foretold by the appearance of a star which rose from his birth-place at S. Angiolo and stood over Tolentino, and from this legend he is usually represented in art with a star upon his breast. Over the entrance of the Palazzo Pubblico is the bust of the learned Francesco Filelfo, who was born here. Tolentino is known in history from the disgraceful treaty of Tolentino by which Pius VI. assented to the robbery of the greater part of his dominions by Napoleon I. (At a little distance from Tolentino in the direction of Fermo, is Urbisaglia (Urbs Salvia), with many small Roman remains. San Sevtrino, about 8 m. west of Tolentino, is the ancient Decemon. It has two towns, ' Borgo' below and 'Castello' at the top of the hill. In the Chiesa del Castello are some frescoes by Niccolb Alunno, 1468. In the vestibule of S. Lorenzo is a Madonna by Lorenzo da S. Severino. In S. Domenico is a Madonna with saints, by Bernardino da Peru- gia. In the sacristy of the Cathedral is a good Madonna by Pinturiechio, 1500. \Vi>t of this is the town of Mateliea, where the Church of S. Francesco contains good pictures by Melozzo da Forli, ' Car/0 Crirelli, and Eusebio da Perugia. In the same direc- tion, scarcely ever visited by strangers, is Fabriano, a con- siderable town containing many good pictures, especially by the native artists Gentile and Antonio da Fabriano. Hence there is a hilly road, by La Genga, to Sassoferrato, VOL. n. 27 418 ITALIAN CITIES. which gave its name to the painter Giambattista Salvi 1605 1685 one of the most celebrated of the followers of the Caracci. Several of his works and many other good pic- tures remain in the churches of the town.) From Tolentino a dreary Apennine road leads by Valci- mara and La Muccia to Foligno. A road from La Muccia diverges to Camerino (Inn. Albergo Basconi), the ancient Ca- merinum. Its bishopric dates from 252, when S. Sovino was its first bishop. In has a University, one of the smallest in Italy. The Cathedral of S. Anino stands on the site of a temple of Jupiter : the fine bronze statue of Sixtus V., in front of it, was erected in 1587. The painter Carlo Maratta was born here in 1625. The great Palazzo Varani, which abuts on the city wall, recalls the mediaeval lords of Camerino, who were amongst the worst of the petty sovereigns of the Middle Ages. Early in the i5th century Rudolfo Varani left his dominions to be divided between his four sons, of whom two were by his first and two by his second wife. These four brothers were sum- moned to a conference on business by Giovanni Vitelleschi of Corneto, but only the two younger went to the meeting, of whom Pier Gentile was murdered by Vitelleschi, and Giovanni, escaping, was murdered by his two elder brothers the same evening at Camerino. In the next year Bernardo the second brother was murdered while walking on the walls of Tolentino, and shortly after Pandolfo the eldest was mur- dered during mass in the Dominican church by the people, together with five of his nephews and several of their chil- dren, the " brains of the infants being dashed out against the walls." Only two infants escaped. Of these, Giulio, car- ried off by his aunt, Tora Trinci, to Fabriano, where some of C A MERINO. 419 her own family were reigning, after a troubled and adven- turous life was finally strangled by a bravo in the pay of Cesare Borgia, who also murdered his three sons at La Cat- tolica. Such were the vicissitudes of Italian sovereignty in the Middle Ages. CHAPTER XLII. URBINO. (Urbino is most easily reached from the station of Pesaro. A humble diligence corresponding with the first trains from Ancona and Bologna leaves the piazza at 9.45 A.M., and takes 5 hours on the way. Each place costs 5 frs. A one-horse carriage for three persons will perform the distance in 3% hours, and costs 20 frs. The Albergo Italia at Urbino is clean and tolerable, with very low charges, but it is a rough Italian Inn.) A N uninteresting road leads from Pesaro through the fruit- ^~x ful valley of the Foglia, to the foot of the hill which is crested by the walls and towers of Urbino. A handsome approach by an excellent road winds round the walls, with grand views as it ascends. On the south is the Furlo, celebrated for its pass, and then the stately masses of Monte Nerone ; on the east the picturesque rocks of Monte San- Simone ; beyond this the mountain of the Falterone where the Tiber has its source ; to the north, on its peaked rock, is S. Marino. On the highest terrace the road passes under the tall pinnacled towers and perfectly colossal walls of the Ducal Palace. The visitor to Urbino cannot fail to be struck with the extraordinary beauty of the inhabitants, especially of the young men. Humanity flourishes here while all else is in decay. DUCAL PALACE OF URBINO, 421 " There is scarcely a house, a street, or a church in Urbino that does not now wear a deserted and desolate aspect ; even the grand palace of the Dukes, formerly not to be outshone for brilliancy by any Court in Europe, is tenantless or given up to base uses. Yet there still remain staircases, galleries, doorways, windows, and fire-places, rich in Raf- faellesque ornaments carved with a delicacy belonging less to stone than to ivory. It is by such details sometimes a mutilated bas-relief, some- times a broken arch or a defaced picture scattered here and there about the city that the traveller must be content to spell out the story of a Palace of Urbino. bygone splendour. Even nature appears to have fallen into days of dejection ; the vast palace, which seems ready to swallow up the small city, frowns over a landscape of barren grandeur ; the mountains throw their jagged crags into the sky savagely, and when the sun sinks beneath the high peaks which tower above Cagli and Gubbio the whole scene becomes inexpressibly solemn. Such was the cradle of the shadowed and sacred school of Umbria, The spirit of the spot must have been almost too sad for Raflaelle ; there is nothing joyous now remaining, and we can well understand why the aspiring painter left his birth-place early and returned to it seldom." Saturday Revifw, March 1875. The Ducal Palace La Corte is one of the noblest works of the Renaissance. It was begun in 1447 by the great Duke 422 ITALIAN CITIES. Federigo di Montefeltro, who evinced his devotion to his native place by turning the small castle which had previously existed here into a grand palace. For this purpose he sur- rounded himself with all the great architects and artists of the time, over whom Luciano Lauranna was the chief. To make a platform for his great work it was necessary to unite two rocks. The outer walls and window-frames are enriched with friezes of most exquisite sculpture. The entrance, from the piazza behind the palace, leads into a noble quadrangular court, the work of Baccio Pintelli, 1480. It is surrounded by inscriptions in honour of Federigo, and by colonnades, under which a collection of Roman altars, c. is arranged. A second court was used for tournaments and theatrical displays. Ascending the staircase on the left, which is adorned by a statue of Duke Federigo, we enter vast corridors, the walls of which are now covered with a number of inscriptions and other fragments collected in the neighbourhood by Cardinal Stoppani. Hence open a series of great halls, with beauti- ful sculptured chimney-pieces and door-frames, and richly inlaid doors. The letters F. C. repeated upon the ceiling of the principal hall prove that it was built before 1474. The furniture, and the frescoes of Timoteo Viti, described by Baldi, have disappeared. " The skilful hand of Ambrogio da Milano, none of whose sculptures are to be met with at Milan, was employed in carving trophies, military emblems, flowers, birds, and children, about the doors, windows, and chimney-pieces of the Ducal palace at Urbino. The utmost elegance and purity of taste is shown in these decorations. The architrave of one of the fire-places is adorned with a row of dancing Cupids, and the jambs with reliefs of winged boys holding vases filled with growing roses and carnations, whose structure and wayward growth show the closest and most loving study of Nature. In the leaves, flowers, and birds DUCAL PALACE OF URBINO. 423 colour alone seems wanting to give life. Well may Giovanni Santi eulogize them as ' Mostrando quanto che natura Fossa in tal arte. ' " Perkinf Italian Sculptors. It is greatly to be regretted that all the old historical furniture connected with the lives of the different Dukes and Duchesses, whose faces are familiar to us from the portraits of Giovanni Sanzio, Piero della Francesca, and others, should have been long since dispersed. Under the Dukes of the house of Montefeltro, Urbino was the most prosperous of the smaller Italian states, and the most charming descrip- tions of their just, generous, and paternal government are left by the historians of the time. Such is the picture of Duke Federigo, as drawn by Muzio : " In person Federigo was of the common height, well made and pro- portioned, active and stout, enduring of cold and heat, apparently affected neither by hunger nor thirst, by sleeplessness nor fatigue. His expression was cheerful and frank ; he never was carried away by passion, nor showed anger unless designedly. His language was equally remarkable for modesty and politeness ; and such was his sobriety that, having once had the gout, he immediately left off wine, and never again returned to it. His passions were so completely under control, that even in earliest youth nothing was ever alleged against him inconsistent with decorum and the due influence of his rank. He was uniformly courteous and benignant to those of private station, as well as to his equals and to men of birth. With his soldiers he was ever familiar, calling them all friends and brethren, and often addressing them as gentlemen or honoured brothers, whilst he personally assisted the sick and wounded and supplied them with money. None such were excluded from his table ; indeed, he caressed and invited them by turns, so that all loved, honoured, served, and extolled him, and those who had once been under his command were unwilling to follow any other leader. " But if lii-> kindness was notable in the camp, it was much more so among his people. While at Urbino, he daily repaired to the market- place, whither the citi/ens resorted for gossip and games, as well as for 424 ITALIAN CITIES. business, mixing freely with them, and joining in discourse, looking on at their sports, like one of themselves, sitting among them, or leaning on some one by the hand or arm. If, in passing through the town, he noticed any one building a house, he would stop to enquire how the work went on, encouraging him to beautify it, and offering him aid if required, which he gave as well as promised. Should any answer him, that although desirous of making a handsome dwelling, he was frustrated by the refusal of some neighbour to part with an adjoining hovel at a fair price, Federigo sent for its obstructive owner, and urged him to promote the improvement of the city, kindly assisting to arrange a home for him elsewhere. On hearing that a merchant had suffered loss in his business, he would enter his shop to enquire familiarly into his affairs, and, after learning the extent of his difficulties, would advance him the means of restoring his credit and trade. Once, meet- ing a citizen who had daughters to marry, he said to him, ' How are your family ? are any of your girls disposed of ? ' and, being answered that the father was ill able to endow them, he helped him with money or an appointment, or set him in some way of bettering himself. Indeed such instances of his charity and sympathy were numberless, among which were the number of poor but talented or studious children whom he educated out of love for letters. On the death of those in his service, he took especial interest in their families, providing for their maintenance or education, or appointing them to offices, and continually enquiring in person as to their welfare. When the people came forth to meet him as he went through his state, receiving him with festive demonstrations, he had a word for each To one ' How are you? ' to another ' How is your old father ? ' or ' Where is your brother ? ' to a third, ' How does your trade flourish ? ' or ' Have you got a wife yet ? ' One he took by the hand, another he patted on the shoulder, but to all he uncovered his head, so that Ottaviano Ubertini used to say, when any person was much occupied, ' Why, you have more to do than Federigo's bonnet.' Indeed, he often told the Duke that his cap was over-worked, hinting that he ought to maintain more dignity with his subjects. As an instance of his courtesy ; one day when he was returning from Fossom- brone to Urbino, he met a bride being escorted to her husband by four citizens, as was then customary, and he at once dismounted, and joined them in accompanying her and sharing in their festivities. . . . During a year of great scarcity, in the distribution of imported grain, he desired that the poor who could not pay in cash, should be supplied on such security as they could offer. The distribution took place in the court of the palace, under charge of Comandino, his secretary ; and when any poor man came, representing that, with a starving family and nothing CATHEDRAL OF URBIXO. 4=5 to sell, he could find no cautioner, Federigo, after listening from a window to the argument, would call out, ' Give it him, Comandino, I shall become bound for him.' And subsequently, when his ministers wished to enforce payment from the securities, he in many instances prevented them, saying, ' I am not a merchant ; it is gain enough to have saved my people from hunger.' " Federigo was most particular in the performance of justice, in acts as well as words. His master of the household having obtained large supplies for the palace from a certain tradesman, who had also many courtly creditors, and could not get payment, the latter had recourse to the Duke, who said, ' Summon me at law. ' The man was retiring with a shrug of his shoulders, when his lord told him not to be daunted, but to do what he desired, and it would turn out for his advantage and that of the town. On his replying that no tipstaff could be found to risk it, Federigo sent an order to one to do whatever this merchant might require for the ends of justice. Accordingly, as the Sovereign issued from the palace with his retinue, the tipstaff stood forward, and cited him to appear next day before the podesta, on the complaint of such-a-one. Whereupon he, looking round, called for the master of his household, and said, in presence of the court, ' Hear you what this man says ? now give such instructions as shall save me from having to appear from day to day before this or that tribunal. ' And thus, not only was the man paid, but his will was made clear to all, that those who owed should pay, without wronging their creditors. " During a severe winter, the monks at S. Bernardino, being snowed up, and without any stores, rang their bells for assistance ; the alarm reaching Urbino, Federigo called out the people, and went at their head to cut a way and carry provisions to the good friars." Trans, in Den- nistoun's " Dukes of Urbino. " Close to the palace is the Cathedral, with three aisles and a cupola. It contains : Chapel left of High Altar. Federigo Baroccio (a native of Urbino), 1528. The Last Supper. Sacristy. * Piero delta Francesco. The Flagellation. The Duke Odd 1 Antonio and his ministers, Manfredo, and Tommaso of Rimini, are represented in the foreground. It is signed OPVS PETRI DEBVR- GOSCI SEPVLI. Timotro delta Vile. SS. Martin and Thomas a Becket The portrait of Duke Guidobaldo is introduced. The bishopric dates from 313, S. Evandus having been 4=6 ITALIAN CITIES. the ist bishop; in 1563 it was created an archbishopric by Pius IV. Opposite the palace, is the Church of S. Domenico, with the Virgin and Child, and four saints in terra-cotta, over the door. The street to the right leads to (right) the Accademia delle Belle Arti, which contains a number of pictures collected from churches recently closed. We may notice : 63. Piero della Francesco. An Architectural study from S. Chiara. 73. Timoteo della Vite. S. Roch from S. Francesco. 76. Giusto da Guanto (Justus of Ghent) . The Last Supper. A very noble picture of the school of Van Eyk : the Duke Federigo and the Venetian Doge Zeno are introduced. From S. Agata. 79. Timoteo della Vite, Tobias and the Angel. The little Tobias, with the fish in one hand, is running, with the other in that of the beautiful protecting angel Raphael. From S. Francesco. *&2. Giovanni Santi, 1489. The Virgin and Child seated in bene- diction, with the Baptist and S. Francis on the left, and SS. Sebastian and Jerome on the right. The family of Gasparo Buffi, for whom the picture was painted, are introduced kneeling. Above is God the Father, with two angels holding a crown above the head of the Virgin. This is the finest work of the master. From S. Francesco. 102. Giovanni Santi. A Pieta. From S. Chiara. 103. Giovanni Santi. The Burial of Christ. From the Convent of the Zoccolanti. 140. Titian. Last Supper. From S. Francesco. 141. Baroccio. S. Francis receiving the Stigmata. From S. Francesco. *I58. Titian. The Resurrection. The Saviour floats upwards most grandly : two of the guards, suddenly awakened, gaze in amaze- ment ; the third sleeps profoundly. From S. Francesco. Returning to the lower piazza, we see, facing us, a street so steep that the stones are all set edgeways that the mules and donkeys may climb up them like cats. On the HOUSE OF RAFFAELLE. 427 left of this hill-side is the Casa da Raffaello, marked by an inscription : "Nunquam moriturus exiguis hisce in aedibus eximius ille pictor Raphael natus est, Oct. Id. Apr. An MCDXXCIII. Venerare igitur hospes nomen et genium loci, ne mirere. Ludit in humanis divina pote- tia rebus, et sxpe in parvis claudere magna solet."* The house was purchased by the grandfather of the painter for 240 ducats, " a sum more than realized in a business of general huckstering." Giovanni the father, who inherited the house, only gradually aspired from the making of chandeliers and picture-frames to the profession of artist, but his poetry, though rude, has much merit, and the Chronicle of Giovanni Santi, written to prove his attachment to the family of his sovereign (and now preserved in the Vatican Library), has furnished most important materials for the contemporary history of Urbino. This manuscript poem extends through twenty-three books in terza rima. In his dedica- tion Giovanni says that he " was early induced to embrace the admirable art of painting, the difficulty of which, added to domestic cares, would be a burden even for the shoulders of Atlas." His first wife was Magia (symbolical name for such a mother !), daughter of Battista Ciarla of Urbino, who here gave birth, April 6, 1483, to her second son, Raffaello. Here the childhood of the great painter was passed amid a family group consisting of Giovanni and Magia, his grandmother Elisabetta, his aunt Santa widow of the tailor Bartolommeo of Marino, and a little brother and sister. On August 2, 1485, Giovanni lost his eldest son ; on Oct. 3, 1491, Elisabetta died; Magia only survived her four days, Almighty power in man's affairs delude*, And often mighty things in mean includes." Tnuu. by Dr. Henry H'tlUtUy. 423 ITALIAN CITIES. and the little daughter a few days longer. All these events occurred in the house. Left with an only boy, Giovanni married again (in the Church of S. Agata) in the following year, with Bernardina, daughter of the goldsmith Pietro da Parte, who had a dowry of 200 florins, and who proved a very harsh stepmother to the little Raffaelle of nine years old. On August i, 1494, Giovanni himself died, leaving the boy then eleven, to the guardianship of two uncles, who at once placed him in the school of Pietro Perugino, then engaged on the Sala del Cambio at Perugia. The interior of the Casa Santi can scarcely be changed in its arrangement since the childhood of Raffaelle. On the ground-floor are the rooms used, according to Italian cus- tom, for the keeping and selling of goods. On the first floor, or piano nobile, are three apartments en suite. The central of these is the largest, and probably served for the reception of guests a cheerful room, twenty-seven feet square, with a brick floor and pannelled ceiling. On the right of this is the chamber in which Raffaelle was born, lately decorated with furniture of his time and prints and photographs from his pictures. Here is a small fresco of a golden-haired Madonna and Child by Giovanni Santi, said to be a portrait of his wife Magia Ciarla and the infant Raffaelle. The faces are of the peculiar type which may be recognized in many pictures both by the father and son. The room on the left, with a covered roof, was the studio of Giovanni. After his eleventh year, Raffaelle only returned once, or at the outside thrice, to Urbino, and then for a very brief visit. At the top of this street Contrada Raffaello on the right, is a solitary house, which was that where Timoteo della Vite lived and died. S. SPIRITO, S. FRANCESCO. 429 He was one of the best of the contemporary followers of Raphael, who had the greatest affection for him, and would willingly always have retained his companionship at Rome. But love for his native place, and affection for his widowed mother Calliope, induced Timoteo to return while quite a young man to Urbino, where he married Girolama Spacioli, by whom he had many children. His best works are now in the gallery at Bologna and in the Brera at Milan. He died in 1524, in his fifty-fourth year. Descending the street, on the left a side street leads to the Church of S. Spirito, which contains (hung too high up) at the sides of the high altar, two pictures by Luca Sig- nortlli the Crucifixion, and the Descent of the Holy Ghost. Opposite the church is a statue of Ccelestine V. (the hermit Pietro Murrone), who is claimed as a native of Urbino. Descending a little to the right from the piazza, an alley on the right leads to the small Church of S. Giwanni Bat- tista, which contains an interesting series of frescoes of the history of the Baptist by Lorenzo di S. Severino, 1416, but they are considerably injured by restoration. The cloisters of the now closed Church of S. Francesco contain the tomb of the Dukes Odd' Antonio and Antonio II., also of Nicajo the physician, and of Agostino Santucci, 1478. The church was built in memory of Count Carlo Pianani, ob. 1478, and to contain his tomb and that of his wife Sibilla. For the high altar of this church Giovanni Sanzio painted his great Madonna, and here he was buried, August, 1494, so that all should visit this church for Raphael's father's sake. In the Church of S. Bernardino, about \ m. from the town (to the left in approaching), are the black and white 430 ITALIAN CITIES. marble tombs of Duke Federigo III., 1482, and Duke Guidobaldo I., 1536. In returning from hence, it will be worth while to take the road below the town to see how finely the peaked towers and huge mass of the castle rise, with the dome of the cathedral, from the dark houses at their feet, beneath which is a lofty viaduct supported upon arches. In 1498 the famous Earthenware manufacture was intro- duced from Gubbio by Giorgio Andreoli, and came to great perfection in 1538 under Orazio Fontana. "Pungileone cites a certain potter of Urbino, named Giovanni di Donino Garducci, in the year 1477, and a member of the same family, Francesco Garducci, who in 1501 received the commands of the Cardinal of Carpaccio to make various vases. Ascanio del fu Guido is also mentioned as working in 1502 ; but the works of all these have dis- appeared, or are attributed to other fabriques, and it is not until 1530 that we can identify any of the artists mentioned by Pungileone : Federigo di Giannantonio ; Niccol6 di Gabriele ; Gian Maria Mariani, who worked in I53> Simone di Antonio Mariani in 1542; Luca del fu Bartolommeo in 1544 ; Cesare Cari of Faenza, who painted in 1536 and 1551 in the botega of Guido Merlino. "The workshop of Guido Durantino was celebrated in the beginning of the sixteenth century. About the same time flourished the dis- tinguished 'Francesco Xanto Avelli di Rovigo,' whose works are so well known and appreciated. Of the same school was Niccolo di Gabriele, or Niccol6 di Urbino. " Another celebrated painter of Majolica in the middle of the sixteenth century, was Orazio Fontana, originally of Castel Durante, whose family name appears to have been Pellipario." Chaffers. The hills around Urbino are peculiarly bare, brown, and featureless, except during their short summer. Altogether, perhaps, Urbino presents more forcibly the appearance of fallen grandeur than any place in Italy, and here, more than elsewhere, the Italian feels the words of Leopardi : "O patria mia, vedo le mura, e gli archi, E le colonne, e i simulacri, e 1'erme URBANIA. 431 Torri degli avi nostri, Ma la gloria non vedo." (About 13 m. east on the road to Citta di Castello is the small city of Urbania. Till 1635 it bore the name of Castel Durante, as which it was (1444) the birth-place of the cele- brated architect Bramante, and the seat of a famous manu- factory of Majolica.) CHAPTER XLIII. GUBBIO. (Gubbio may be most easily reached from the Station of Fossato on the line between Ancona and Foligno. There, a wretched diligence, 2 frs., meets the early trains, and performs the distance to Gubbio in 3 hrs. ; a carriage costs 10 frs. and takes only 2 hrs. ; the price must be arranged beforehand. Gubbio may also be reached from Urbino by the Furlo Pass. A carriage costs 40 frs. and takes about 12 hrs. The Leone cCOro at Gubbio is a bearable, but very rough inn : charges exceedingly moderate.) LEAVING Urbino, an excellent road descends the valley of the Metaurus to the mouth of the celebrated Furlo Pass. This is the most striking point in the Apennines. Tremendous precipices of grey rock hem in the river, just leaving room for the road, which is the Via Flaminia, to creep through, except where it passes through a tunnel made under Vespasian (37 metres long, 5^ broad, 4$ high). From the perforation or Forulus here, the name Furlo is derived. Procopius describes the spot as Fetra Pertusa, and Claudian sings : " Qua mons arte patens vivo se perforat arcu, Admittitque viam sectse per vicera rupis." vi. Cons. Hon. 500. So steep is the rock above the road that in wet seasons it is dangerous to pass this way, and several crosses by the wayside commemorate the fate of travellers who have been PASS OF THE FURLO. 433 crushed by the falling rocks. Here is 77 Monte tTAsdrubalc, where the sanguinary battle was fought B.C. 207 between the Romans and Carthaginians, in which Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, perished. Pass of the Furlo. " Carthagini jam non ego nuntios Mittam supcrbos : occidit, occidit Spes omnis, et fortuna nostri Nominis, Asdrubale interempto." Iforacf, iv. O<1. 4. The road crosses a curious old Roman bridge ralk-d I\mte Manlio, just before entering the rich little city of 7, which has a piazza with a fountain and I'alnxzo Communale. Close by is the Cathedral, rebuilt by Pius VI., after its destruction by earthquake in 1781. The Chunk of S. Dvmcnico contains : vou 11. 28 434 ITALIAN CITIES. />/?, 7.nd Chapel (of the Tiranni family). Gttn>anni Sanzio, an important work (ordered by Pietro Tiranni). The Virgin is seated on a throne in a niche, which may be observed as an especial characteristic of Sanzio. On her knees is the Child, at the sides of the throne two angels. That on the left with some reason is said to be the portrait of Raffaelle, then nine years old, and who, with his stepmother, had accompanied his father to Cagli. On one side are SS. Francis and Peter, on the other SS. Dominic and J. Baptist. In the background, on a mountain, are little figures representing the Resurrection. Above, in a medallion, is God the Father in benediction. At the side is the tomb of Battista, wife of Pietro Tiranni, with a Pieta between SS. Jerome and Buonaventura, a fresco hastily painted, but the head of Christ very noble ; it is inscribed Baptistae Conjugi Pientissimae Petrus Calliensis salutem deprecatur Anno MCCCLXXXI (sic) . Right, 2nd Altar. Fra Carnevale. The Annunciation. The Churth of S. Francesco contains a number of small frescoes by Guido Palmeruai, a Madonna and Child with Saints by Baroccio, and a Madonna and Child enthroned, by Gaetano Lapis da Cagli. A most dreary road leads from Cagli across a succession of hill-passes towards Gubbio. Just as it descends to the town the scenery becomes fine and the city gate is entered after a deep descent through an extraordinary narrow gully hemmed in by the perpendicular precipices of Monte Calvo. Gubbio is a beautiful place. Close under the steep mountain-side, upon which its churches and palaces rise in terraces, it stands between the arid desolation of the moun- tains and the rich luxuriance of a fruitful and fertile plain. Cypresses break the gloom of its old brown houses, and, above them, high against the mountain-side stands the beautiful Gothic Palazzo del Consule, with the remains of the old Ducal Palace on a higher level still. The lower town GUBBIO. 435 ends in the wide Piazza. Vittorio Emanuele, on one side of which is the Church of S. Francesco ',* containing: Choir. Franfuco Signorelli. The Conception. Gubbio. In the upper town two long streets run parallel with one another along the ledges of the hill. The lower of these ends in a Statue of S. Ubaldo. Close by, behind the Church of S. Trinita, is a Virgin and Child enthroned, by Martina Nello. Outside the opposite gate, is the Church of S. Agos- tino, which contains : feft, yd Altar. Ottaviano Nelli. La Madonna del Soccorso. Right, 2nd Altar. School of Nelli. Madonna with saints, angels, and the souls in purgatory. * S. Francis was often at Gubbio. His story tells that a wolf who had long ravaged the neighbourhood, was rebuked by S. Francis, who promised it a peaceful existence and daily food if it would amend its ways. The wolf agreed to the com- pact, and placed his right paw in the hand of S. Francis in token of good faith. " Brother Wolf," as S. Francis called him, lived afterwaids for two years tamely at Gubbio in good fellowship with all, and finally died, much regretted, of old age. 436 ITALIAN CITIES. Turning into the upper street, we find on the left, the humble Church of S. Maria Nunva, which is, in spite of white-wash, a sort of museum of local art. Where the plaster has been scraped away, fragments are shown of beautiful frescoes by Bernardino Nanni and Pintali.- On the left is S. Antonio by Guido Palmerucci. Now, on the right, comes the Palazzo Comunale, con- nected by a line of terraced wall with the noble Palazzo del Consule. They were formerly united by an open loggia, which has been recently destroyed to suit the whim of the Marchese Brancaleoni, the view from whose palace was injured by it. On the upper side, the Palazzo del Consule is entered by an arched staircase and grand Romanesque gateway beautiful in colour. From its platform is a lovely view. The campaniles and convents rise from the silvery mists of the town against the delicate green of the plain and the faint mountain distances. Over the door is an inscription saying that the building was begun in 1332, and that when that stone was placed there it was Oct. 1335. It leads into an immense hall, containing a good early fresco of the Virgin and Child with saints. On the upper floor is a second hall with a coved roof, and a fountain in its centre ; at the side is a sculptured lava-mano ; on the cornice of the door is inscribed " Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt." This palace was built for Duke Federigo, probably, from its re- still surrounded with inlaid panels. The inscription FL. DVX and G. BALDO. DX in the wood prove that their semblance to Urbino, by Luciano Lauranna. One room is decorations were only completed under Duke Guidobaldo, after 1482. Above the palace is the small Cathedral of SS. Mariano LA CORTE. 437 and Giacomo, a single nave spanned by a long succession of very simple Gothic arches. It contains : Left, 1st Chapd. Sinibaldo Ibi, 1507. The Madonna between SS. Sebastian and Ubaldo. yd Chapd. Timoteo ddla Vite, 1521. The Story of S. Mary Magdalen. Last Chapd. Orlando da Perugia. The Nativity almost identical with the Perugino of S. Agostino at Perugia. Close to the cathedral are the mutilated remains of the Ducal Palace " La Corte " built for the great Duke Federigo, though whether by Francesco di Giorgio or Baccio Pontelli is unknown. The mountain rises immedi- ately behind it, and it stands so perched on its rocky edge, that the paths which approach it must always have been precipitous, as they are still, but the workmanship of the doors and windows, which are all of marble, is most ex- quisite. Duke Federigo's private cabinet is decorated with intarsia work, in which the Garter with its motto, " Honi soil q. mal i pense," is the central ornament,* having been given to the Duke by Edward IV. of England. In this palace Federigo di Montefeltro lost his beloved wife Battista, who is represented with him at Florence in the pictures of Piero della Francesca. Celebrated for her learn- ing, in her twentieth year she had pronounced an extempore Latin address to Pius II. and the princes and ambassadors with him at Milan. She died July 6, 1472, aged 26, six months after giving birth to a son after eight daughters. Odisio says that she did not hesitate to offer her own life in return for the gift of a son worthy of his father. She saw in a dream a lovely phoenix perched upon a lofty tree, which, Thi> wa lately o.Tcrcd fur tale, and has perhaps already disappeared. 438 ITALIAN CITIES. after sitting there for thirty-six days, winged its flight heaven- ward till it touched the sun and then disappeared in flames. On hearing of her dangerous illness, her husband left the command of the Florentine armies, but only arrived in time to see her expire. She embraced her lord for the last time, caused her infant son to be placed in his arms, and then, in the words of Giovanni Sanzio : " Chiuse quel santo, onesto e grave ciglic, Renclendo 1'alma al cielo divotamente, Libera e sciolta dal mondan periglio." Muzio says " her death dissolved the most honoured, fitting, and congruous union of that or any other age." Among the other churches we may notice .5". Domenico, in the lower town, which contains : Left, "2nd Altar. Tomasuccio Nelli (brother of Ottaviano). S. Vincenzo. Left, $th Altar. Giorgio Andreoli. S. Antonio a terra-cotta statue. Right, yd Altar. Rajfadlino da Colle, 1546. Madonna and angels. The famous Eugubine Tables have so often been moved backwards and forwards between S. Pietro and the Palazzo Communale that one cannot say where they may be found another year. They are of bronze. Their language, their intention, and their importance, has afforded endless dis- cussion and amusement to antiquaries. Of the inscriptions with which they are covered, four are in Umbrian, two in I^atin, and one in Etruscan and Latin characters. They were found in 1444, in a subterraneous chamber at La Schieggia, near Gubbio (Iguvium-Jovium, the city of Jupiter). On the highest part of the town a temple of Jupiter Apenninus was once situated. A VELLANA. 439 Outside the walls are some trifling remains of an ancient Theatre and other buildings. (Gubbio is perhaps the best point from which to make the pilgrimage to the famous Monastery of Avellana, at one time the retreat of Dante, and where his chamber is still shown. It is situated in the wildest part of the Apennines under the mountain called Catria. Dante speaks of the Solitude made for prayer under the projection of the Apennines which is called Catria.) CHAPTER XLIV. PISA. (Hotels. Hotel de Londres, near the railway station, excellent, with a pleasant garden, and country aspect ; La Minerva. On the Lung' Arno, and much nearer the sights ; Peverada ; Vittoria ; Gran Bretagna. All the hotels are very good. At those on the Lung' Arno, Pension is about 8 frs. a day. A sunny room in winter is quite essential at Pisa. Restaurant, Nettuno. Lung' Arno, west of the Ponte di Mezzo. Carriages. The course, 45 c., 2 horses, 70 c. ; to and from the station, 63 c. and 85 c. ; 1st hour, I fr. 10 c. and I fr. 70 c., each hour after 85 c. and I fr. 15 c. English Church, behind the Palazzo Reale, which faces the Lung' Arno.) MANY travellers only go over to Pisa for a day from Florence or Leghorn.* Those, however, who have even a superficial interest in art will find this far too short a time to bestow upon a place which, next to Assisi, is the chief sanctuary of early Italian painting. When the one beautiful group of buildings around the cathedral has been examined, the effect of what Landor calls " the towers Of Pisa, pining o'er her desert stream, " will, upon the passing traveller, be only one of gloom and depression. "Pisa is celebrated for its leaning tower, and for its mild winter air. * Pot the railway from Genoa to Pisa see chap. iii. CHARACTERISTICS OF PISA. 441 But it strikes me as a hospital, where nothing flourishes but misery ! The sky is grey, the earth is grey, the city is grey, the Arno is grey, and the quays along the rivers are crowded with beggars, young and old. . . . Happy they who have no necessity to live here on account of the mild winter air ! Mild it is certainly, but mild as unsalted water-gruel. The city itself has a sickly, dying or dead appearance. It is, in fact, merely the corpse of the formerly powerful Pisa, the head of an independent republic." Fredriku B renter. The soft climate of Pisa has a wonderful soothing effect upon complaints of the chest, but it is horribly wet. " Mezzo dormendo ancor domando : Piove ? Tutta la intern notte egli e piovuto. Sia maladetta Pisa ! ogpor ripiove ; Aiui, a dir meglio, e' non e m u spiovuto . Aifteri, Son. cxxxiv. Those, however, .who stay here long enough, will find that in fine weather there is a great deal to be learnt and much to be enjoyed in the quiet streets, and on the sunny Lung' Arno, which retains much of beauty, though scarcely enough to enable one to conjure up the picture which Ruskin has painted of its appearance in the time of Nino Pisano. " Fancy what was the scene which presented itself, in his afternoon walk, to a designer of the Gothic school of Pisa Nino Pisano, or any of his men. " On each side of a bright river he saw rise a line of brighter palaces, arched and pillared, and inlaid with deep red porphyry, and with ser- pentine ; along the quays before their gates were riding troops of knights, noble in face and form, dazzling in crest and shield ; horse and man one labyrinth of quaint colour and gleaming light the purple, and silver, and scarlet fringes flowing over the strong limbs and clashing mnil, like sea waves over rocks at sunset. Opening on each side from the river were gardens, courts, and cloisters ; long successions of white pillars among wreaths of vine ; leaping of fountains through l>eds of pome- granate ami orange : and still along the garden paths, and under and through the crimson of the pomegranate shadows, moving slowly, groups of the fairest women Italy ever saw fairest, because purest and thought fullest ; trained in all high knowledge, as in all courteous art 442 ITALIAN CITIES. in dance, in song, in sweet wit, in lofty learning, in loftier courage, in loftiest love able alike to cheer, to enchant, or save, the souls of men. Above all this scenery of perfect human life, rose dome and bell-tower, burning with white alabaster and gold : beyond dome and bell-tower the slopes of mighty hills, hoary with olive ; far in the north, above a purple sea of peaks of solemn Apennine, the clear, sharp-cloven Carrara mountains sent up their steadfast flames of marble summit into amber sky ; the great sea itself, scorching with expanse of light, stretching from their feet to the Gorgonian Isles ; and over all these, ever present, near or far-r-seen through the leaves of the vine, or imaged with all its march of clouds in the Arno's stream, or set with its depth of blue close against the golden hair and burning cheek of lady and knight, that untroubled and sacred sky, which was to all men, in those days of innocent faith, indeed the unquestioned abode of spirits, as the earth was of men ; and which opened straight through its gates of cloud and veils of dew into the awfulness of the eternal world ; a heaven in which every cloud that passed was literally the chariot of an angel, and every ray of its evening and morning streamed from the throne of God. " The Two Paths. To see the Lung' Arno of Pisa in perfection, one should be at Pisa on the festival of La Luminara, which takes place every three years on the i yth of June, the vigil of S. Raniero the patron saint. Then, every building and boat is mapped out in fire, and the reflections in the still river produce a scene from fairy-land. Pisa " vituperio delle genti " rival of Florence in arts and arms, was, in its origin, one of the most ancient cities of Etruria, One tradition ascribes its foundation to Pelops,* another to the followers of Nestor in their wanderings after the fall of Troy.t In the time of the Empire its port was of great importance to Rome, and carried on a considerable trade in timber and marble. "The proud mart of Pisa, Queen of the western waves, Where ride Massilia's triremes, Heavy with fair-haired slaves." % * Pliny, iii. 5, s. 8. t Strabo, v. 223. J Macaulay's Lays. HISTORY OF PISA. 443 "Pisa was in the eleventh century what Venice became long after, the bulwark of Christendom against the Moslem. No power took a more active share in the real crusades against the infidel, and Pisa, unlike Venice, was free from any share in that mock crusade which overthrew the Roman Empire of the East, and paved the way for the coming of the Ottoman into Europe. But Pisa, like the Christians of the far East and of the far West, was already a crusading power before crusades were preached to Western Christendom at large. The maritime common- wealth did what emperors and kings had failed to do, and won back the great island of Sardinia from the Saracen. Within that, her insular realm, Pisa had judges and even kings to her vassals, and, when her episcopal church was raised to metropolitan rank, the. land which she had won back for Christendom was fittingly made part of the new ecclesiastical province. With the Saracens of Spain, of Africa, and of Sicily, the war- fare of the Republic was never-ceasing, and it was a warfare in which the Republic had as often to defend its own homes as to invade those of the misbelievers. The alternations of the struggle are well marked in the meagre entries of the national chronicle : " Anno 1005. ' Fuit capta Pisa a Saracenis.' " Anno 1006. ' Pisani devicerunt Saracenos ad Regium die Sancti Sixti.' "Anno 1012. 'Stolus Saracenorum de Hispania venit Pisas et de- struxit eas.' " Later on, in 1035, and 1050, and 1075, we read how the Pisan fleets took Bona, what the chronicler is pleased to call Carthage, how they drove back a Saracen prince who had again established himself in Sar- dinia, and how, after each victory, the loyal commonwealth Ghibeline, before Guelf and Ghibeline were heard of dutifully sent the crown of the vanquished prince to the Emperor. At last, in 1063, we come to the entry which may still be read on the front of the pile whose founda- tion it records : " Anno 1063. ' Pisani fuerunt Panormum et fractis catenis potus civi- tatcm ipsam ceperunt, ibique sex naves ditissimes ccperunt, Saracenis plurimis intcrfectis, et combusscrunt naves quinquc ; unam Pisas duxe- runt inirahili thcsauro plcnam, de quo thcsauro eodem anno majorem I'Knnam ccclcsiam incoeperunt.' " These entries set before us the loftier character of the Pisan common- wealth, at once maritime, crusading, and imperialist ; but they are mixed up with other entries pointing to the causes which in the end brought the commonwealth to its fall. Mixed up with the records of the great strife with the Infidel are the records of the local warfare by land with Luca, and by sea with Genoa. The never-ending rivalry with 444 ITALIAN CITIES. Genoa led in the thirteenth century to the two sea-fights of Meloria the first where the Ghibeline commonwealth made prey of the prelates bound for the Papal Council, the other that crushing overthrow in which history, as commonly read, sees the main cause of the downfall of the commonwealth. But perhaps a single defeat, however overwhelming for the moment, could not have crushed Pisa for ever, had not physical causes already determined that maritime rule was to pass away from the city of the Arno. Be this as it may, the history of Pisa, when forced to struggle on as a purely inland Power, is a sad contrast to the earlier days of her naval greatness. At one moment the stern tyrant of Lucca, at another the oppressed bondslave of Florence, engulfed at last in the common humiliation of Medicean dominion, chosen on account of her desolation as the theatre of an CEcumenical Council, twice only do the fortunes of Pisa call forth any real interest or sympathy. The Ghibeline city, true to her old faith, wakes with life as the Caesar from Liizelberg, the last real restorer of the Empire, comes to do honour to her loyalty, and at last to lay his dust within her mighty temple. She wakes again to a yet truer life in the last struggle with the revived democracy of Florence, so zealous for freedom for herself, so chary of letting others share with her in the gift. But at last, after the death of Henry the Seventh, the old Pisan commonwealth must be reckoned among the things that have passed away for ever. " Freeman. As most travellers do not visit Pisa, but only one corner of Pisa, we will proceed at once (by the new road and the Ponte Solferino turning at once to the left on entering the gate) to the north-west angle of the town the Piazza del Duomo. " II y a deux Pises : 1'une oil Ton s'est ennuye et ou 1'on a vivote pro- vincialement depuis la decadence ; c'est toute la ville, moins un coin ecarte : 1'autre est ce coin, sepulchre de marbre, ou le Dome, le Bap- tistere, la Tour penchee, le Campo Santo, reposent silencieusement comme de belles creatures mortes. La veritable Pise est la, et dans ces reliques d'une vie eteinte ou appe^oit un monde." Taint. " If many a noble monument is gone, That said how glorious in her day she was, There is a sacred place within her walls, Sacred and silent, save when they that die Come there to rest, and they that live, to pray, THE SIGHTS OF PISA. 445 For then are voices heard, crying to God, Where yet remain, apart from all things else, Four, such as nowhere on the earth are seen Assembled ; and at even, when the sun Sinks in the west, and in the east the moon As slowly rises, her great round displaying Over a city now so desolate Such is the grandeur, such the solitude, Such their dominion in that solemn hour, We stand and gaze, and wonder where we are, In this world or another." Rogers. " The gravity of Pisa pervades every street, but its magnificence is now confined to one sacred corner. There stand the Cathedral, the Bap- tistery, the Leaning Tower, and the Campo- Santo ; all built of the same marble, all varieties of the same architecture, all venerable with years, and fortunate both in their society and their solitude." Forsyth. "The group of buildings clustered in and about this verdant carpet, comprising the Tower, the Baptistery, the Cathedral, and the Campo- Santo, is perhaps the most remarkable and beautiful in the whole world ; and from being clustered there, together, away from the ordinary trans- actions and details of the town, they have a singularly venerable and impressive character.' It is the architectural essence of a rich old city, with all its common life and common habitations pressed out and filtered away. " Sismondi compares the Tower to the usual pictorial representations, in children's books, of the Tower of Babel. It is a happy simile, and conveys a better idea of the building than chapters of laboured descrip- tion. Nothing can exceed the grace and lightness of the structure ; nothing can be more remarkable than the general appearance. In the course of the ascent to the top (which is by an easy staircase), the in- clination is not very apparent ; but, at the summit, it becomes so, and gives one the sensation of being in a ship that has heeled over through the action of an ebb-tide. The effect upon the low side, so to speak, looking over from the gallery, and seeing the shaft recede to its base is very startling ; and I saw a nervous traveller hold on to the Tower in- voluntarily, after glancing down, as if he had some idea of propping it up. The view within, from the ground looking up as through a slanted tube is also very curious. It certainly inclines as much as the most sanguine tourist could desire. The natural impulse of ninety-nine people out of a hundred, who were about to recline upon the grass below it, to rest, and contemplate the adjacent buildings, would probably be, not to 446 ITALIAN CITIES. take up their position under the leaning side ; it is so very much aslant. " Dickens. Let us first turn to the Campanile, the famous Leaning Tower, which is quite as beautiful as it is extraordinary. It was begun in 1174 by Bonnano Pisano and William of Inn- spruck, and is built entirely of white marble. The founda- tions having been made insufficiently solid, before it had been carried to one-third of its height, it began to incline. The masonry was then strengthened by iron clamps, which preserve the tower from falling, because, though it leans 13 feet from the perpendicular, the centre of gravity is still within the base. 293 steps of white marble lead to the top of the tower, whence there is an interesting view over the town and country. The sensation of falling over is very curious and unpleasant.* "The tower of Pisa may claim to be the noblest tower of Southern Romanesque. The round form doubtless comes from Ravenna ; but the Pisan tower is a Ravenna tower glorified. At Ravenna, as in East- Anglia, the round form may have been adopted, in order to avoid quoins in a building of brick or flint. At Pisa, as in Ireland, the form was chosen out of deliberate preference. And the preference was a wise one. The square form could hardly have borne the endless ranges of arcade upon arcade, which perfectly suit the shape of the Pisan campanile, and which make it one of the noblest works of human skill ." Freeman. The Cathedral vn& begun in 1064 by the architect Bus- chetto (" Busketus "), and consecrated in 1118, by Pope Gelasius II. " Long celebrated for her maritime achievements against the Saracens in Sicily and on the coasts of Africa, Pisa added, in 1063, a still brighter leaf to her chaplet by bursting the chain of the port of Palermo, captur- ing six vessels laden with rich merchandise, and bringing them home in * Those who ascend must be careful not really to fall over, as the railing at the top is not continuous, and very misguiding. CATHEDARL OF PISA. 447 triumph to her native Arno. By a unanimous decree the citizens deter- mined to convert this booty into a cathedral, to surpass all others in size and beauty, and to be at once a thank-offering to heaven, and a perpetual monument to their country's honour. Everything was propitious the hour was ready with its man, the architect Buschetto, from whose master- mind the plan would seem to have sprung forth at once, complete, clear, and beautiful, like wisdom from the head of Jupiter; the first stone was laid that same year, and the building was completed before the close of the century, after becoming, long ere it was finished, the model of archi- tecture throughout the Pisan archbishopric." Lindsay's Christian Art. It is a Latin cross with a cupola at the meeting of the nave and transepts. The whole is of marble, chiefly white, which has taken the most beautiful soft creamy tint with time. The facade is adorned with 58 pillars, arranged in five tiers under a gable. The original bronze doors of Bon- nano Pisano at the west end were destroyed by fire in 1596, and those which now exist are the work of Giovanni da Bologna of 1602. The central door represents the History of the Virgin, those at the sides the History of our Lord. The mosaics in the lunettes are modern. The door of the south transept, called La Crociera di S. Raniero, escaped the fire, and dates from the 1 2th century, and is probably by Bonnano. It is covered with reliefs from the Gospel history. By the side of this door is an ancient inscription to Beatrice, mother of the celebrated countess Matilda. " The work of Buschetto shows that he had thoughtfully studied all the forms of architecture which had arisen in his age. The apse and the west front, if they stood at Lucca, would simply be remarked as the greatest among many kindred works. But the ground plan and the design of the interior introduces us to something which, in its fulness, has no parallel at Lucca, at Ravenna, or any other city. We see plainly the influence of the basilica, but we see no less the influence of the domical churches of Constantinople and Venice ; we see also, we venture to think, the influence of the mosques of Palermo, and of the churches, if not of Northern Europe, at least of Northern Italy. From the East came the central cupola, from the North we cannot but think came the spreading 443 ITALIAN CITIES. transepts ; and these two features Buschetto strove to work into har- mony with the central body, whose general design was to be that of the most gigantic of basilicas, but not without touches which must have come from a northern source. S. Sophia, S. Vital, and S. Mark had no long- drawn nave ; the basilicas had no central cupola ; the church of Pisa was to have both. The attempt was not wholly successful. Nothing can be more glorious than the Pisan interior lying directly east and west ; the long ranges of mighty columns, the double aisles, all leading on to the vast mosaic which looks down from over the high altar. The general effect is that of a basilica, the noblest of basilicas. But to this effect the cupola and the transepts are sacrificed ; they are denied their proper prominence, while they have prominence enough to disturb in some degree the perfect basilican ideal. The architect was evidently afraid to break in on the direct eastern and western range by giving the cupola its proper support constructive and sesthetical. We miss the four great lantern arches which should form a main feature in any church which has a central cupola or tower of any form. The cupola is, as it were, thrust in so as to interrupt the direct view as little as may be ; its sup- ports are thrown into the background ; its scale is insignificant, and instead of the round resting on the square, its form is that of an awkward ellipse. For the same reason, not to interrupt the direct range, perhaps also with some memory of the tribunes of S. Mark, the arcades are carried, though with some change of designs, across the opening of the transepts. The transepts are thus cut off from the main body of the building in a way which is most unusual, but which appears again, where we should not have looked for any especial likeness to Pisa, in the two great churches of Strasburg. "The Duomo has then some manifest faults, but the merits of the building far outshine its defects. The arcades are the very glory of the basilican idea, and they carry, what is not to be seen at Ravenna or Lucca, a real triforium. The form of a northern triforium is here skil- fully translated into language. It is made flat ; there is no recessing ; ornament is sought for, in the Italian fashion, by alternation of colours. The arcades and triforium are worked well together; but the architect was less successful with his clerestory, which still remains disjointed, with a gap between itself and the triforium, just as we see over the arcades of the basilicas from which the triforium is absent. The double aisles, as ever, help to heighten the feeling of vastness and infinity. And moreover to bring their arches to the level of the main arcades, they are given the pointed form. Let no one think that this is a sign of approach- ing Gothic. The pointed form is here the tribute of the vanquished Saracen, as in the triforium and the transepts we have the contribution of the Norman ally." Freeman. CATHEDRAL OF PISA. 449 The Interior is 311 feet in length, and 237 feet wide at the transepts. The harmonious majesty of all its details give it an appearance of much greater magnitude. The nave has five aisles. The 24 pillars of the central aisle were brought from the islands of Giglio and Elba ; those at the sides were evidently collected from ancient buildings, and, in most cases, retain their ancient capitals and bases. The roof of the central nave is flat and of wood, but the side aisles are vaulted. A hundred windows, chiefly of stained glass, pour a dim light through the solemn colonnades. " How beautiful do columns become when they support a roof! how superior to their effect as an idle decoration ! what variety in these, still changing their combinations as you pace along the aisles ! how finely do their shafts of oriental granite harmonize with the grandeur of the pile, while their tone of colour deepens the sombre which prevails here in spite of a hundred windows ! " Forsyth. Making the round of the church, beginning at the great west door, we see : Right. Tomb of Archbishop Matteo Rinucini, 1582, by Pittro Tacca, a pupil of John of Bologna. Beyond the next door. A remnant of a fresco attributed to Bernardo Nello Falcone. Tomb of Archbishop Francesco Frosini, 1718. 2nd Altar. Panni, 1 60 1. The Disputa. Behind the Pulpit (Altar of the Madonna delle Grazie). Andrea del Sarto (finished by Sogliari). Madonna with SS. Francis, Bartholomew, and Jerome. The Pulpit is a restoration of 1607 from the pulpit of Giovanni Pisano, destroyed in the fire of 1596. Three small statues of the Evangelists by Giovanni remain and are introduced in the present pulpit, which rests upon noble lions. On a neighbouring pillar is a beautiful picture of S. Agnes, by Andrea del Sarto, enchanting in colour and expression. The head is that of the painter's wife. Against the opposite column hangs a Madonna with saints, by Pierino del Vaga. Right Transeft. 1st Altar (right). Pieiino del Vaga, Madonna and saints. VOL. II. 29 450 ITALIAN CITIES. The Chapel of S. Raniero is from designs of the Sienese Lino. The mosaic (very high above) of the Madonna enthroned is by Gaddo Gaddi, 1312. The tomb of S. Raniero, of Verde di Volsevera, on a granite pedestal, is by Foggini. On the right is an antique statue, called S. Potitus, on the left S. Ephesus, by Lorenzi il Cavaliere. Raniero, Potitus, and Ephesus, are the special saints of Pisa. We shall make acquaintance with them at the Campo-Santo. Beyond the south door. Altar of S. Biagio (S. Blaise) by Stagi da Pietrasanta ; the statue of the Saint by Ti ibolo. Entrance of Choir. Two bronze angels by Giov. da Bologna. Choir. The enclosure of the high altar has six reliefs, of which four are by Fra Guglielmo Agnelli ; the two in the centre are modem. On either side of the Archbishop's thrones are pictures by Andrea del Sarto, SS. Peter, J. Baptist, Margaret, and Catherine, which, together with the beautiful S. Agnes, once formed an altar-piece. The bronze Crucifix over the high altar is by Giov. da Bologna. Two porphyry pillars have rich renaissance capitals by Stagi and Foggino. One supports a bronze angel with a candlestick by Staldo Lorenzi, the other a porphyry vase which was brought back from the first Crusade. The Tribune retains in three tiers some of the frescoes uninjured by the fire. By Beccafumi are, SS. Matthew and Mark, the Punishment of Korah, and Moses breaking the Tables of Stone. By Sodoma, the Sacrifice of Isaac and the Deposition from the Cross. In the upper tier, by Salimbeni, Moses in the Wilderness, and, by Beccafumi, SS. Luke and John. In the centre of the apse is the great mosaic of Christ (enthroned) in benediction or majesty, between the Virgin and S. John, from designs of Cimabue (1240 1302), his last and greatest work the figure of the Virgin is by Piceno da Pistoia added after the death of Cimabue. The frescoes on the arch of the tribune are the first works of Dom. Ghirlandajo. Near the entrance to the Sacristy, is the Byzantine picture called La Madonna sotto gli Organi, which was carried in procession when Charles VIII. of France declared the freedom of Pisa from the yoke of Florence. Over the Sacristy door. A relief of the Last Judgment by Giovanni Pisano. Left Transept. The tomb of Cardinal Francesco d'Elci, 1 742. Then the Cappella del Sacramento, decorated by Stagi and Mosca. The mosaic of the Annunciation is by Gaddo Gaddi. In the middle of the Church hangs the beautiful bronze lamp of Vicenzo Posenti, generally called Galileo's Lamp, because it is supposed to have suggested to him the movement of the Pendulum. The bronze statuettes of the Saviour and the Baptist on the holy-water basons are by Giov. da Bologna. BAPTISTER Y OF PISA . 45 1 Many of the pictures, unimportant in themselves, have an interest here as representing the story of S. Torpe or Torpet, who was patron of Pisa till he was superseded by S. Raniero. He was martyred, May 17, A. D. 70. S. Tropez near Marseilles is called from him. " The old Pisan chronicle relates, that in a frightful dearth caused by the want of rain, the bed of the Arno being completely dry, the head of St Torpe was carried in grand procession through the city ; and such was the efficacy of his intercession, that a sudden flood descending from the mountains not only overflowed the banks of the river, but swept away part of the pious procession, and with it the head of the saint. The people were in despair ; but lo ! two angels appeared to the rescue, dived under the waves, and brought up the head, which they restored to the hands of the archbishop." Jameson's Sacred Art. The Baptistery was begun in 1152 by Diotisalvi, as is shown by an inscription upon the first pillar on the right It rises, from a platform of three steps, a circular temple of white marble slightly inlaid with blue, a fashion probably of Saracenic origin. It has three stories. The second story, which has 60 pillars, was built by the free-will offerings of 34,000 families, who each contributed one soldo d'oro. The third story has 20 windows, which give the building its principal light. The cupola, the height of which is 102 feet from the pavement, is surmounted by a statue of S. Raniero. The doors are richly ornamented with reliefs from the history of Christ, the Baptist, &c. In the centre of the building stands the marble font for immersion, and beside it a pillar with a statue of the Baptist, of the school of Baccio Bandinelli. The Pulpit of c. 1 260, is a master-piece of Niccolb Pisano, and is inscribed, under the relief of the Last Judgment : "Anno milleno bis centum bisque triceno, Hoc opus insigne sculpsit Nicola Pisanus, Laudetur digne tarn bene docta manus." "In its form it is hexagonal ; six Corinthian columns support it ; and 45* ITALIAN CITIES. five of its compartments are enriched with bas-reliefs of surpassing beauty and interest. The subjects are the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation in the Temple, the Crucifixion, and the Last Judgment. This last, though the least successful of the five, attests the spirited efforts of Niccol6 to delineate the nude, and to catch the in- spiration of the antique models. The Adoration of the Magi is one of the finest of the compartments. In this charming composition the female figure on the sarcophagus (the tomb of the Countess Beatrice) in the Campo-Santo became to him the model for a graceful conception of the Virgin Mary ; and the attitudes, costumes, and draperies of this and of the accompanying figures, are such as almost to anticipate some of the best qualities of art of the time of Ghiberti. Three horses are introduced in the background, evidently studied from the sarcophagus, and rivalling them in spirit." J. S. Harford. "To show his skill in the delineation of animal life, Niccol6 has intro- duced, among the attendant sheep, a goat scratching its ear, with ad- mirable effect, an attempt that he has repeated with like success, on the pulpit at Siena." Lindsay's Christian Art. Behind the Baptistery is the entrance to the Campo-Santo (50 c. on leaving, to the Custode, who will allow you to walk about alone if desired). This beautiful " Garden of the Dead " is due to Arch- bishop Ubaldo de' Lanfranchi, who returned from Palestine with 53 ships laden with the sacred earth of Calvary. To enclose this precious deposit, Giovanni Pisano " Johanne magistro sedificante" was employed in 1278, and his work was completed in five years, but the beautiful Gothic tracery is of later date. The outer fagade is very simple, adorned with 44 pillars with arches in low relief. Over the eastern entrance is a Gothic tabernacle, containing a Madonna and saints by Giovanni Pisano. The building is 415 feet long by 137 wide. The cloister is 46 ft high, and 34 ft. wide. " Giovanni Pisana, having been appointed to enclose the space with walls, designed and built the first, as well as the most beautiful, Campo- Santo in Italy. Following the ground-plan marked out by Archbishop Lanfranchi, Giovanni raised his outer walls without windows, and with CAMPO-SANTO OF PISA. 453 only two doors looking towards the Duomo, that the frescoes, with which they were to be covered on the inside, might be protected as far as pos- sible from the injurious effect of the salt and damp sea-winds. Between these outer walls, which he decorated with arches and pilasters, and the inner, directly contiguous to the quadrangle, he made a broad-roofed corridor paved with marble, lighted by Gothic windows and four open doorways, through which are now obtained constantly recurring glimpses of the graves, the solemn cypresses, and the ever-blooming roses of this ' God's acre. ' Nothing could be better adapted to its purpose than the building thus constructed, which, completely shutting out the world, compels the eye to rest upon objects suggestive of death and eternity." Perkins 1 Tuscan Sculptors. The Campo-Santo should first be examined with regard to its frescoes, and afterwards with regard to the sculpture it con- tains. In order to enjoy the frescoes most profitably, the visitor (who enters by the south wall) should turn to the right to the narrow east wall, where, on the right of th6 chapel door, are : Buonamifo Cristofani, Bujfalmacco (c. 1273 1351). The Ascension, Resurrection, and Passion. Crowe and Cavalcaselle ascribe these pictures to a painter of the 1 4th century. They are certainly much painted over. " I do not think that the scene of the risen Christ showing his wounds was ever so perfectly conceived as in the group attributed to Bufialmacco. Instead of Thomas alone, there are several disciples who recognize the risen Christ, and, amid worshipping and adoring, contemplate his wounds with tender sympathy ; together they form one of the most beautifully arranged groups of the school. " In the picture of the Ascension also, the great amount of painting over cannot wholly destroy the beautiful old conceptions ; we clearly recognize how the apostles are divided between wonderment, protesta- tion, and devoted adoration." Burckhardt. The picture of the Crucifixion is " An early work, yet a most singular one, bold and original in com- position and by no means ill executed, and especially remarkable for the varied actions of the angels with which the sky is peopled ; one of them, 454 ITALIAN CITIES. among a group gathered round our Saviour, receives the blood from his side in a golden chalice ; another, standing on the cross of the penitent thief, extricates his soul from his mouth, while a devil performs the like office for his companion in punishment, receiving it in his arms, and a brother fiend, armed with a whip, bends forward, grotesquely and ex- ultingly, to welcome it to its new existence ; the angels who had been watching beside the one cross, fly away, wringing their hands in sorrow, while those attendant on the other rejoice over the good estate of the soul that has found grace even on the stroke of the eleventh hour. All of them are in communion with each other, sympathizing with man. The lower part of the composition is filled with warriors on horseback, the Virgin fainting, attended by the Maries, a group of Jews, women, children, &c., all expressive, though often caricatured." Lindsay's Christian Art. South Wall. Andrea Orcagna (c. 1315 1368). The three most wonderful pictures of this great master, who may be regarded as the Dante of painting. *i. The Triumph of Death. " On the right is a festive company of ladies and cavaliers,* who, by their falcons and dogs, appear to be returned from the chase. They sit under orange-trees, and are splendidly dressed ; rich carpets are spread at their feet A troubadour and singing girl amuse them with flattering songs ; amorini flutter around them and wave their torches. All the pleasures and joys of earth are here united. On the left, Death ap- proaches with rapid flight a fearful-looking woman, with wild stream- ing hair, claws instead of nails, large bat's wings and indestructible wire-woven drapery. She swings a scythe in her hand, and is on the point of mowing down the joys of the company. A host of corpses closely pressed together lie at her feet ; by their insignia they are almost all to be recognized as the former rulers of the world kings, queens, cardinals, bishops, princes, warriors, &c. Their souls rise out of them in the form of new-born infants ; angels and demons are ready to receive them ; the souls of the pious fold their hands in prayer, those of the condemned shrink back in horror. The angels are almost like gay but- terflies in appearance, the devils have the semblance of beasts of prey, or of disgusting reptiles. They fight with each other : on the right, the angels ascend to heaven with those they have saved ; while the demons * Castruccio Castracani and his companions. Castruccio is so described by Vasari, and has been identified by comparison with his medals. CAMPO-SANTO OF PISA. 455 drag their prey to a fiery mountain, visible on the left, and hurl the souls down into the flames. Next to these corpses is a crowd of beggars and cripples, who with outstretched arms call upon Death to end their sor- rows : but she heeds not their prayers, and has already hastened away. A rock separates this scene from another, in which there is a second hunting party, descending the mountain by a hollow path ; here again are richly attired princes* and dames on horses splendidly caparisoned, and a train of hunters with falcons and dogs. The path has led them to three open sepulchres in the left corner of the picture ; in them lie the bodies of three princes, in different stages of decay. Close by, in ex- treme old age, and supported on crutches, stands a monk (S. Macarius), who, turning to the princes, points down to this bitter 'memento mori.' They speak apparently with indifference of the circumstance, and one of them holds his nose from the horrible smell. One queenly lady alone, deeply moved, rests her head on her hand, her graceful countenance full of sorrow. On the mountain heights are several hermits, who, in contrast to the followers of the joys of the world, have attained, in a life of con- templation and abstinence, the highest term of human existence. One of them milks a doe, squirrels play about him ; another sits and reads ; and a third looks down into the valley, where the remains of the mighty are mouldering away. A tradition relates that among the distinguished personages in these pictures are many portraits of the artist's contempo- raries. " Kugler. 2. The Last Judgment. " Here, for the first time, the Judge becomes not merely a function, but a personal character, to whom the position and the celebrated ges- ture give a grand life-likeness. The belief of the age gave the Madonna a place as intercessor in the Last Judgment ; the painter gave her the same almond-shape glory as to Christ. The Apostles are here no longer mere inanimate spectators, but they take the most lively interest in the scene ; we see them lamenting, some looking up aghast to the Judge, some wrapped in their own sorrowful thoughts, some talking together." Burckhardt. " Above, in the middle, sit Christ and the Virgin in separate glories. He turns to the left, toward the condemned, while he uncovers the wound in his side, and raises his right arm with a menacing gesture ; his coun- tenance is full of majestic wrath. The Virgin, on the right of her Son, is the picture of heavenly mercy ; and almost terrified at the words of eternal condemnation, she turns away, while her countenance and mien Uguccione delta Fajgiuola, Lord of Pisa, and the Emperor Louis of Bavaria are the most conspicuous figures. 456 ITALIAN CITIES. express only divine sorrow for the lost. On both sides sit the Fathers of the Old Testament, the Apostles and the Saints next to them, severe, solemn, dignified figures. Angels, holding the instruments of the Pas- sion, hover over Christ and the Virgin ; under them is a group of angels, in the strictest symmetrical arrangement, who summon the dead from their graves ; two blow the trumpets, a third conceals himself in his drapery, shuddering at the awful spectacle. Lower down is the earth, where men are rising from the graves ; armed angels direct them to the right and left. Here is seen Solomon, who whilst he rises seems doubt- ful to which side he should turn ; here a hypocritical monk, whom an angel draws back by the hair from the hosts of the blessed ; and a youth in secular costume, whom another angel leads away from the condemned to the opposite groups. The blessed and the condemned rise in thick crowds above each other on both sides." Kugler. "Among the blessed, all are gazing upwards to the Saviour except a group immediately in front, of a queen helping her daughter out of the grave beautiful figures, full of grace and sweetness. One feeling for the most part pervades this side of the composition, there is far more variety in the other ; agony is depicted with fearful intensity and in every degree and character ; some clasp their hands, some hide their faces, some look up in despair, but none towards Christ ; others seem to have grown idiots with horror, a few gaze, as if fascinated, into the gulf of fire towards which the whole mass of misery are being urged by the minister of doom the flames bite them, the devils fish for and catch them with long grappling hooks, in sad contrast to the group on the opposite side, a queen, condemned herself and self-forgetful, vainly struggles to rescue her daughter from a demon who has caught her by the gown and is dragging her backwards into the abyss her sister, wringing her hands, looks on in agony it is a fearful scene." Lindsays Christian Art. " In the Last Judgment of Orcagna, the Seven Angels are active and. important personages. The angel who stands in the centre of the pic- ture, below the throne of Christ, extends a scroll in each hand ; on that in the right hand is inscribed, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father,' and on that on the left hand, ' Depart from me, ye accursed : ' him I suppose to be Michael, the angel of judgment. At his feet crouches an angel who seems to shrink from the tremendous spectacle and hides his face : him I suppose to be Raphael, the guardian angel of humanity. The attitude has always been admired cowering with horror, yet sublime. Beneath are other five angels, who are engaged in separating the just from the wicked, encouraging and sustaining the former, and driving the latter towards the demons who are ready to snatch them into flames. These CAMPO-SANTO OF PISA. 457 Seven Angels have the garb of princes and wamors, with breast-plates of gold, jewelled sword-belts and tiaras, rich mantles; while the other angels who figure in the same scene are plumed, and bird-like, and hover above bearing the instruments of the Passion." Jameson's Sacred Art. 3. Hell. Said to have been executed by Bernardo Orcagna from designs of his brother Andrea, and greatly inferior to the two other pictures. "A vast rib or arch in the walls of pandemonium admits one to the contiguous gulf of hell, a continuation of the second fresco in which Satan sits in the midst, in gigantic terror, cased in armour, and crunch- ing sinners of whom Judas, especially, is eaten and ejected, re-eaten and re-ejected again and again for ever." Lindsay s Christian Art. 41 L'Imperador del doloroso regno . . . Da ogni bocca dirompea co" denti Un peccatore a guisa di maciulla, SI che tre ne facea cosl dolenti." Inf. xxxiv. 2855. " II est impossible de ne pas reconnaftre ici des tableaux traces d'abord par le pinceau de Dante. On voit ici Satan devorant trois corps humains a demi engouflfres deja dans sa gueule gigantesque II est de meme dans 1'Enfer. Le nombre des victimes est pareil. Ce sont, chez Dante, Judas, Brutus, et Cassius, rapprochement bizarre en apparence, mais qui cesse d'etonner quand on a etudie, dans le Traitt de la Afonarchie, le systeme de politique et d'histoire que le guelfe banni s'e'tait fait en deve- nant gibelin, afin de justifier ses opinions nouvelles. Pour lui, les deux puissances de la terre, presque egales en saintete, et 1'une et 1'autre d'ori- gine romaine, c'e'taient d'une part le pape he'ritier de saint Pierre et vicaire de Je"sus-Christ quant au spirituel, de 1'autre 1'empereur heritier de Ce'sar et vicaire de* Dieu quant au temporel. A ce point de vue, les meur- triers de Cesar ctaient presque aussi coupables envers le genre humain que les meutriers du Christ. Pour Orcagna, en mettant trois damnes dans le gueule de Satan, il ne pouvait avoir d'autres raisons que de suivre Dante, qu'il a bien re'ellement copic dans cette fresque du Campo- Santo. Li sont aussi les bolge, grands trous circulaires dans lesquels 1'auteur de la Divine Comtdie avail plonge les differentes sortes de damnes; li on voit une figure decapite'e, et, comme Bertrand de Born, tenant par les cheveux sa tete sanglante ainsi qifunt lanttrne, expression 458 ITALIAN CITIES. familiere, mais terrible, parce qu'elle est d'une exactitude pittoresque, et fait voir a 1'esprit le tableau qu'Orcagna n'a pas craint de montrer aux yeux." Ampere, Voyage Dantesque. We now pass on to Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. The Life of the Hermits in the Thebaid painted c. 1330 1350. "We cannot attribute exclusively either to one or other of the two brothers the great work representing the life led by the saints in the desert. Notwithstanding the want of perspective, and the incorrectness of the drawing, it is nevertheless a masterpiece of grace and simplicity. (Beginning on the left at the top) S. Paul is seen visited in his solitude by S. Anthony the death of the former the two lions excavating his grave the temptations of S. Anthony Christ appearing to console him S. Hilary, who by the sign of the cross chases away a dragon which infested Dalmatia S. Mary the Egyptian receiving the eucharist from the hands of the blessed Zosimo the touching history of the two friends, Onofrio and Panuza the miraculous palm-tree, a bough of which flowered every month for their support the well-known adventures of S. Marina lastly, the different occupations of the monks, some of whom plait mats of rushes, others listen to the word of God, while the re- mainder are absorbed in contemplation : in a word, all that could oc- cupy the body or mind of these monkish saints in their solitude, is either represented or implied." Rio. Next (passing a Madonna in glory) comes, enclosed in six pictures, the Life of S. Raniero, patron of the city, born at Pisa, c. 1 100, of the noble family of the Scaccieri. The upper three, much injured by restoration, are, according to docu- ments, by Andrea de Firenze (1377), but, according to Vasari and others, by Simone Mcmmi. The lower three are by Antonio Veneziano, 1386. The subjects are : i I. S. Raniero is called from the pleasures and vices of the world by a servant of God. 2. He embarks for the Holy Land, having received from the priests the schiavina or slave-shirt, which he wore ever after in token of humility. 3. He puts on hermit's dress. CAMPO-SANTO OF PISA. 459 4. He has visions in his hermit life. 5. He returns to Pisa. 6. He detects the fraud of an inn-keeper at Messina who adulterated his wine, and, to his great horror, showed to him the Devil as a cat with bat's wings seated on his wine-cask. 7. He dies at Pisa in front of the monastery of S. Vito, is carried to heaven by angels, and his body is buried in the cathedral. 8. His miracles after death the sick being healed by touching his body, and a ship brought safely through a storm by his guidance. " A touching circumstance is connected with this work. It is, that in 1356, the plague reached Pisa by way of Genoa, where it carried off more than three hundred victims a day ; and that the senate and people going in the dress of penitents, bare-footed and weeping, to offer up prayers for mercy at the tomb of S. Raniero, the plague ceased its ra- vages from that moment. Now, it is proved from authentic documents, that Simone Memmi was summoned by the Pisans immediately after this miraculous deliverance, so that the painting which is seen in the Campo-Santo may be considered more a work of piety than of art, or rather it is a magnificent ex voto, destined to immortalize the remem- brance of a benefit conferred, and the gratitude excited by it. " All was mystery and poetry in the life of this holy personage. In a vision which he had in his youth, an eagle appeared to him carrying in its beak a lighted torch, and saying to him, / come from Jerusalem to enlighten the nations. His life had been filled with the most marvellous adventures ; and at his death, which occurred the I7th of June, 1 161, all the bells of the churches in Pisa tolled spontaneously ; the Archbishop Villani, who had been stretched for two years on a sick bed, was raised entirely healed, to officiate at his funeral, and at the moment when the Gloria in excelris was suppressed, as is usual in the service for the dead, a choir of angels chanted it over the altar, while a spontaneous accompani- ment burst from the organ ; and such was the sweetness and harmony of this angelic concert, that the spectators imagined that the gates of heaven were opened to them. This legend had been transmitted from mouth to mouth, and from one generation to another, for more than two centuries, when the principal events in the life of the saint to whom it referred were depicted on the walls of the Campo-Santo, by an artist who was princi- pally indebted for his success to his sympathy with those who employed his pencil. " Rio. The next frescoes, by Spinello Aretino, 1391, relate to the lives of the other Pisan saints (buried in the cathedral), SS. 460 ITALIAN CITIES. Ephesus and Potitus, soldiers of Diocletian, who were sent to exterminate the Christians in Sardinia, but, being warned in a dream, turned against the Pagans instead, and suffered martyrdom. Their relics were carried off hither by the Pisans, when they subdued Sardinia in the nth century. The three upper frescoes represent : 1. The mission of Ephesus on one side the Emperor gives him his commission on the other our Lord summons him to his service. 2. Ephesus receives the Christian standard (the standard still of Pisa) from S. Michael, and rights against the heathens in Sardinia, which is represented as an island by the water and fishes sur- rounding it. 3. The martyrdom of Ephesus who kneels uninjured in the midst of a furnace, while the flames destroy the executioners. The frescoes in the lower series are now quite unintelli- gible. "Few remain of the frescoes of Spinello Aretino (executed 1389 1392) and in a sadlyinjured condition. They represent the history of S. Ephesus. The appearance of our Saviour to him on his expedition against the Christians, as general of Diocletian, in the first large compartment, and his battle with the Pagans of Sardinia in the second, are full of fire and spirit, both men and horses are energetic and daring to a degree, although frequently uncouth from the very novelty of the groups and attitudes which the artist has attempted to delineate." Lindsay's Christian Art. Next come (beyond the 2nd door) by Francesco da Volterra (1371), long attributed to Giotto, six frescoes of the story of Job. "The subject is not happily chosen, first, because the book of Job is in itself a perfect poem, the beauty of which is independent of any addi- tion from art ; and, secondly, because this history is a kind of inward drama, in which all the scenes are represented as passing within the mind of a holy man whom God tries for his greater sanctification : hence painting, dependent for its effect on lines and colours, is unequal to give all the details and imperceptible gradations which properly belong to a scene, the dramatic interest of which is of so elevated a nature. The CAMPO-SANTO OF PISA. 461 history of Job, in the Campo-Santo, has sustained more injury from time than any of the adjoining paintings." Rio. "The subject, whether chosen intentionally or not, aptly illustrates the pious and noble constancy of Pisa in the midst of national misfortune. Four of the series have been entirely destroyed ; two remain, but mere wrecks. One of them (2nd upper) represents the appearance of Satan before our Saviour, seeking to tempt the patriarch, while, to the right, the trials have already begun, his servants are being killed, his cattle driven away by the Chaldeans ; in the other (2nd lower) Job is seen seated in his misery, naked, covered with sores and visited by his three comforters, while in the remainder of the picture, the Deity addresses them in reproof after the interview. The attitudes are noble, the coun- tenances expressive, the angels attendant on our Saviour beautiful, strongly resembling Cimabue's ; the Satan is very humble, crushed- looking, but venomous his figure purely Gothic, horned, hoofed, bat- winged, and with a serpent writhed round him." Lindsay's Christian Art. Beyond these are some later paintings : Ghirlandajo. Esther much repainted. Guidotti. Judith. We now reach the west end of the south wall and find it covered by a series of Biblical Histories, beginning with : Pietro di Puccio da Orvieto, c. 1390 (not Buffalmacco as in Murray, &c.), who in 1387 had designed the mosaics on the facade of Orvieto. By his hand are the first set of frescoes : I. God the Father a colossal figure bearing the globe of the world. In the comers SS. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. 2 (in the upper series). 1st. The history of Adam and Eve before and after the expulsion from Paradise. 2nd. The Death of Abel and the Death of Cain. 3rd. Noah's ark and the Deluge. "These frescoes evince a serious feeling in holy subjects, and, at the same time, a cheerful, natural treatment of the circumstances of lite. They are also remarkable for technical merits, particularly for a har- monious arrangement of colour." A'ugler. Next comes the Old Testament story from Noah to 462 ITALIAN CITIES. Goliath, 24 frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli, begun in 1069, and finished in 16 years, for the price of 9533 Pisan lire. "On the north side of the Campo-Santo at Pisa, are a series of paint- ings from the Old Testament History by Benozzo Gozzoli. In the earlier of these, angelic presences, mingled with human, occur frequently, illustrated by no awfulness of light, nor incorporeal tracing. Clear revealed they move, in human forms, in the broad daylight and on the open earth, side by side and hand in hand with men. But they never miss the angel. "He who can do this, has reached the last pinnacle and utmost power of ideal, or any other art. He stands in no need, thenceforth, of cloud, nor lightning, nor tempest, nor terror of mystery. His sublime is independent of the elements. It is of that which shall stand when they shall melt with fervent heat, and light the firmament when the sun is as sackcloth of hair." Ruskin, Modern Painters, pt. iii. These frescoes form a continuation, both in situation and subject, to the works of Pietro di Puccio, and occur in the following order : 1 (under the Adam and Eve of Pietro). The Drunkenness of Noah. In the right-hand corner is the famous " Vergognosa," covering her face with her hands, but peeping through her fingers. 2 (under the Death of Abel). The Curse of Ham with a beautiful Florentine landscape. 3 (under the Deluge). The Tower of Babel. Several portraits are introduced, those of Cosimo, Lorenzo, and Giulianode' Medici, and (in a berretta) Angelo Poliziano. 4 (over the entrance of the Cappella Ammanati). The Annunciation and |the Coming of the Magi with beautiful landscape and animals. Left, on a brown horse is the painter himself. 5 (above) . Abraham and the worshippers of Baal, from the Rab- binical traditions. Abraham, who refused to worship the Idol, is delivered from the fire prepared for him, and his brother Nahor, who consented, is consumed. Magnificent buildings are introduced. 6 (below). Abraham and Lot in Egypt. The whole journey of the patriarchs is represented in perspective. 7. The Victory of Abraham, with the Rescue of Lot and the Offering of Bread and Wine by Melchizedec. I CAMPO-SANTO OF PISA. 463 8 (below). The Story of Hagar much retouched. The birds and beasts are wonderfully introduced. 9 (above). The Escape of Lot from the destruction of Sodom. 10 (below). The Sacrifice of Isaac with the attendant circumstances the whole story. 1 1 (above). The Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca the whole story. 12 (below). The Birth of Jacob and Esau, and the principal events of their lives. 13 (above). The Marriage of Jacob and Rachael the dancers at the marriage-feast most beautiful. 14 (below). The Meeting of Jacob and Esau Lorenzo de' Medici is introduced in profile with many contemporary portraits. 15 (over the door of the Cappella Aula). Fragments of the Corona- tion of the Virgin by Pietro di Puccio. 16 (above). The Early History of Joseph. 1 7 (below). The Story of Joseph in Egypt. Beneath this picture is the grave of the artist Benozzo Gozzoli, 1478. 18 (above). Four scenes from the Childhood of Moses. 19 (below). The Passage of the Red Sea. 20 (above). The Giving of the Law to Moses. 21. The lower picture and the two beyond it as far as the angle of the west wall are destroyed. 22. Aaron's Rod, and the Brazen Serpent. 23. The Fall of Jericho and the Death of Goliath . 24. The Visit of the Queen of Sheba. Platina, Marcilio Ficino, and members of the Visconti and Gambacorti families are introduced on the right. " The immense work, which, in his declining years, Benozzo Gozzoli executed in the Campo-Santo, and which embraces the history of the Old Testament, from Noah to the time of Solomon, represented in 24 large compartments, nearly all in good preservation, must be considered, both as regards poetical merit and dimensions, as one of the most aston- ishing marvels of art ; and Vasari has justly remarked, that this gigantic undertaking might well alarm a whole legion of painters. Never have imposing or pastoral scenes been so happily represented by any artist ; in order to succeed in them, a mixture of grandeur and simplicity was required, which the naturalists' school of Florence was quite unable to reach ; and this want of power was still more fatally developed in the succeeding generation. In the fourteenth century several attempts had been made, which might have been successful if the methods of tech- nical execution had been better understood. Benozzo alone had the privi- lege of uniting this last advantage to the naive and grand inspirations of 464 ITALIAN CITIES. the early masters ; and it is on this account, perhaps, that no one has left, at least on so large a scale, a more perfect model of the patriarchal style the most difficult of any if we may judge from the very small numbers of paipters who have excelled in it." Rio. " In the prolonged ranges of varied subjects with which Benozzo Gozzoli decorated the cloisters of Pisa, it is easy to see that love of simple domestic incident, sweet landscape, and glittering ornament, prevails slightly over the solemn elements of religious feeling, which, neverthe- less, the spirit of the age instilled into him in such measure as to form a rery lovely and noble mind, though still one of the second order. In the work of Orcagna, an intense solemnity and energy in the sublimest groups of his figures, fading away as he touches inferior subjects, indicate that his home was among the archangels, and his rank among the first of the sons of men." Ruskin's Modern Painters. The first part of the West Wall is covered with inferior frescoes : Rondinosi, 1666. The Story of Josaiah and of Belshazzar's feast. The Cappella Ammanati (over the entrance of which are Magi of Benozzo) contains six heads in fresco by Giotto, removed hither, after the fire, from the Carmine in Florence. Here is the fine tomb of Ligo degli Ammanati, 1359. The Cappella Maggiore (Eastern Wall), of 1594, contains an interesting Crucifix of the i2th century, with the History of the Passion, and two Crucifixes by Giunta Pisano one of 1238. We must now turn to the monuments and fragments of ancient sculpture which have been brought together in the corridors of the Campo-Santo. This collection has been formed gradually. The Sarcophagi stood around the exterior of the Duomo in the nth, i2th, and i3th centuries, and, with the exception of that of the Countess Beatrice which was moved later, were all brought here in 1293, when the marble steps were added to the cathedral. Other tombs and works of art have been collected from the different CAMPO-SANTO OF PISA. 465 churches, a plan, which, though useful in many cases, has in others completely annihilated their interest, especially in the case of tombs removed from the churches for which they were intended, and where the bodies of those they com- memorated were interred. The best works are : South Corridor beginning at the eastern end. ii (On a Roman Sarcophagus with battle-scenes). Giovanni Pisano. S. Peter. 9 and 10. Statuettes of the Pisan School. IV. (On a Sarcophagus). Bust of Junius Brutus. VIII. Beautiful Bacchanalian fragment of a Sarcophagus. AA. 1 horwaldsen. Monument of the Anatomist Andrea Vacca Berlinghieri, ob. 1826, with a relief of Tobias with his blind father. BB. Van Lintk. Tomb of Count Marulli d'Ascoli. 22. Bonamico. Marble Architrave, with Christ and the emblems of the Evangelists. 33. Tommaso Pisano. Marble Altar and frieze. West Corridor. 45. Giovanni Pisano. Madonna (headless). 46. Tommaso Pisano. Part of the Tomb of Conte della Gherardesca (10131341). 99. Sarcophagus of the Emperor Henry VII. (of Luxembourg), who died at Buonconvento, 1313 formerly in the cathedral, first in the tribune, and then in the Chapel of S. Raniero. It is by Tino Ji Camaino, 13 '5- " Upon a sarcophagus of white marble lies the effigy of the emperor, robed in an imperial mantle decorated with the lions and eagles of the (iuclphs and Oihihellines, his hands crossed upon his breast, and his un- covered head, which is characteristic and full of repose, resting upon a cushion. This sarcophagus, adorned in front with eleven short and clumsy, hut not ill-draped, figures of saints, while at each end stand mourning genii, rests upon a double basement ; the upper one bears a long inscription recording the translation of his remains, followed by a concourse of more than three thousand persons, from the castle of Suva- reto in the Maremma, where they had been temporarily deposited." Perkins 1 Tuscan Sculptors. VOL. II JO 466 ITALIAN CITIES. " II faut saluer au nom de Dante la sepulture de 1'empereur Henri VII., ce malheureux Henri VII., celui dont il attendait tout ce que desirait son ame ardente : retour dans sa patrie, vengeance de ses enneniis, triomphe de ses idees politiques : celui dont il prophetisait, avec des paroles qui semblaient empruntees a Isaie, les prochains triomphes, et qui ne vint dans cette Italic, ou il etait tant attendu, que pour y mourir. Le pauvre empereur a la tete a demi soulevee ; il semble faire un effort inutile et retomber sous le poids de sa faiblesse. La tombe raconte sa vie. II tenta peniblement de relever la majeste imperiale ; elle retomba vaincue ; le temps en etait passe. On dirait qu'il est encore fatigue de sa rfialencontreuse tentative ; il a 1'air de dormir mal, et de ne pas etre a son aise, meme dans la mort. On a trouve, dit-on, dans un cercueil des vetements dores qui tombaient en poussiere. Cela peint bien sa destinee. De la poussiere de manteau imperial, c'est tout ce qui devait rester des projets d'Henri VII. et des esperances de Dante." Ampere. Near the tomb hang the chains of the Port of Pisa, taken by the Genoese in 1362, and given by them to Florence, where they long hung over the door of the Baptistery, but were restored in 1848. *47. Giovanni Pisano. An allegorical figure of Pisa sustained by the four Cardinal Virtues. " In criticizing the Pisa, which is interesting as being, perhaps, the largest statue made in Italy since the time of Constantine, it should be taken into consideration, that in such a work immense and untried difficulties presented themselves to a sculptor accustomed to treat sculp- ture as an architectural accessory. This statue represents the city of Pisa as a crowned and draped woman, holding two diminutive children at her breasts, as emblems of her fertility, girdled with a cord seven times knotted, in token of her dominion over the seven islands of Corsica, Sar- dinia, Elba, Pianosa, Capraja, Giglio, and Gorgona. She stands upon a pedestal, which is supported at the four corners by figures of Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice (the guiding principles of her govern- ment), between which eagles are sculptured, in allusion to her Roman origin. It would be hard to find anything more original than this strange work, whose ugliness is somewhat redeemed by an intensity of expression which arrests the attention, and the dramatic turn of the head of the principal figure, whose sly glance seems on the watch for some strange coming." Perkins 1 Tuscan Sculptors. LL. Tomb of Archbishop Pietro Ricci, 1418. NN. Tommaso Musi. Tomb of the Pisan painter Giov. Bat. Tem- pesti, 1804. CAMPO-SANTO OF PISA. 467 50. Orcagna. Madonna, on an antique capital. 52. A marble urn with Bacchic ornaments the bearded Bacchus was taken by Niccolo Pisano as a model for the high priest in the third subject of his pulpit in the Baptistery. North Corridor. 56. Relief in Parian marble. *59. Giovanni Pisano. Madonna half-figure from the Cathedral. 67, 70. Charity and Penitence statuettes of the Pisan School. XVI. Ancient marble sarcophagus with Bacchus, Ariadne, and the Centaurs. 73. Helmeted head of Achilles. (?) XIX. Mino da Fiesole. Bust of the famous Isotta da Rimini. *XXI. The tomb of the Countess Beatrice, 1076 Mother of the famous Matilda of Tuscany with the epitaph " Quamvis peccatrix, sum domna vocata Beatrix, In tumulo missa, jaceo quae comitissa ? " " It is an ancient sarcophagus, originally brought from Greece by the Pisans in the I Ith century, and after being adapted as the tomb of Beatrice, stood for centuries at the soutn door of the cathedral. On the front are the reliefs of the rejection of Phaedra by Hippolytus, and his departure for the chase ; they are of great excellence. Niccol6 Pisano was greatly indebted to their study. " Niccol6 Pisano got nothing but good, the modern French nothing but evil, from the study of the antique ; but Niccolo Pisano had a God and a character. " Ruskin, Modern Painters. 121. Andrea Pisano. Relief. 135. Frederick II. and his courtiers sculptor unknown. West Corridor. UU. Tomb of Filippo Decio, 1535, with beautiful Renaissance-decor- ation by Stagi. 141. Bartolini. " L'Inconsolabile." 142. Guv. Pisano. Candelabrum of the Cathedral. South Corridor. 172. Orcagna. Statuette. LIX. LXV. Sarcophagi with admirable ornaments. Even the most passing visitor to Pisa should give time to 468 ITALIAN CITIES. visit, on the Lung' Arno, the lovely little church of La Madonna della Spina, though its interest is greatly marred by its having been entirely rebuilt (1874-75) since the accession of the Sardinian government. The building itself has been carefully replaced stone for stone, but the erection of the new Arno wall, and the destruction of the little plat- form from which it was formerly seen so well, has anni- hilated its picturesque effect. "This chapel is an architectural gem, and, at the time it was executed, was considered to be a miracle of art. It was erected for the conveni- ence of mariners, who, in the flourishing times of Pisa, repaired hither before they set off on their voyage to implore the protection of the Virgin. It was twice built. The first edifice was begun in 1230, at the joint ex- pense of the Senate and of the Gualandi, a noble family of Pisa. In 1323 the Senate of Pisa determined to enlarge this chapel. At that time it was that the building acquired the form and the exuberance of orna- ment which it at present exhibits. It appears from successive decrees of the Senate that the work was in progress during the greater part of the I4th century. "In this building, also, although its general style is that of the advanced period, round forms still make their appearance ; but in all the upper part, the pointed style is employed alone. The canopies and taber- nacles are of the most delicate workmanship. The statues are well ex- ecuted, and if, in proportion to the size of the building, they appear to be too numerous, it must be remembered that the Italians had a peculiar passion for this species of decoration, not only from their love of orna- ment, but because Italy abounded in good sculpture. The whole of the building is of white marble. " The chapel derived its surname from a thorn in our Saviour's crown, which was brought from the Holy Land by a merchant of Pisa, and presented to this chapel by his descendants in 1333. The surname, however, was not adopted till the beginning of the next century." H. Gaily Knight. The chapel contains some of the best works of Nino Pisano, eldest son of the famous Andrea. "Three statues, of the Virgin and Child, attended to the right and left by S. Peter and S. Paul (in one of whom he has represented his father PALAZZO LANFREDUCCI, S. NICCOLA. 469 Andrea, whose face seems to have been disfigured by an enormous wen), and a bas-relief of the Virgin suckling the Infant Jesus, very coarse and vulgar, but remarkable for a delicacy and waxen smoothness of work- manship unequalled in his age, except by his fellow-pupil, the illustrious Orcagna." Lindsay's Christian Art. Having taken first those objects which all one-day visitors to Pisa ought to see, let us visit, in two walks, its remaining objects of interest taking the Ponte di Mezzo, close to which are most popular hotels, as a starting-point The Ponte di Mezzo itself was built by Ferdinand II. on the site of the ancient bridge on which the famous sham fights called Mazzascudi used to take place. Coming over the bridge let us turn west (left) down the Lung' Arno. Passing the Palazzo Agostini (No. 698) now the Gaffe del Ussero a rich Gothic building of the i5th century, the first turn on the right beyond the Via S. Frediano leads to the University, founded before 1 1 94, and enriched by Boni- fazio Novello della Gherardesca, Lord of Pisa, 1329 1341. The buildings are called Sapienza, and date from 1453, but are unimportant. In the Scuola Magna is a statue of Galileo by Demi, 1839. Near this, on Lung' Arno, is the Palazzo Lanfreducci or Alia Giornata (so called from an enigmatical inscription over the entrance), which was built at the end of the i6th century by Cosimo Paglioni. The chain over the door comes from S. Biagio alia Catena, the church of the Lanfreducci. The palace contains a well-known picture of Guido Keni " Human and Divine Love." Just behind the Palazzo Reale, in the Via S. Maria, is the Church of S. Niccola, which has a very remarkable and beauti- ful tower designed by Niccolb Pisano. It is in four stories, 470 ITALIAN CITIES. first round, then octangular, then round again, then six-sided and surmounted by a cupola. The third story is surrounded by a loggia with 16 marble columns. The interior has a winding staircase, which, according to Vasari, formed the model for that in the Belvidere. The tower leans slightly. The church was founded c. 1000, by Hugh, Marquis of Tus- cany, and contains some trifling remains of ancient mosaics. (The Via S. Maria leads from hence to the Duomo. It passes (left) the entrance to the Giardino Botanico, an admirable Botanic Garden, founded 1544.) The Lung' Amo is closed to the west, at the entrance of the Citadel, by the wonderfully picturesque Torre Guelfa, which, next to the Spina, is the most characteristic feature of the Lung' Arno. It defended the curious Ponte al Mare, built 1331, and destroyed by the floods, by which Pisa, owing to the utter incompetence and neglect of the repre- sentatives of the present Government, was devastated in 1869. Pisa. In looking down the river from this end of the town on a clear day, the traveller will be reminded of the lines which Shelley wrote on the Ponte a Mare ACCADEMIA DELLE BELLE ARTI. 471 " Within the surface of the fleeting river The wrinkled image of the city lay, Immovably unquiet, and for ever It trembles, but it never fades away. " Returning down the Lung' Arno as far as the Via S. Frediano, we find, at No. 972 of that street, the Aaademia delle Belle Arti, founded during the government of Napoleon in 1812. It contains some curious early pictures, including : ist Room. Giunta Pisano. A Crucifixion. This curious picture was once in the Palazzo Gambacorti. A figure and a coat-of-arms at the sides of the cross are discernible, but have been concealed from some motive at the time of the Republic. The Cathedral, S. Sepolcro, and the ancient Torre Ansiani are represented in the background. Buffalmacco. Baptism of Christ Giunta Pisano. Christ in benediction, with saints. Deodato (fOrlandi, 1301 (signed). Virgin and Child, with saints. Giovanni Bruno, c. 1370. S. Ursula, who protects Pisa a female figure in a robe covered with the " Aquila." Duccio. S. James, with SS. Antonio and John Baptist. 2nd Room. Cecco Pietro da Pisa. Crucifixion and Saints, painted for Gamba- corta when his daughter became a nun. Barnabo da Modena. Virgin and Child, with Angels painted (as the inscription tells) for the Pisan merchants. Traini. S. Dominic from S. Caterina, Simone Memmi. Saints and a gradino from S. Caterina. Jacobo Gettus, 1391. Saints, with the Annunciation above. yd Room. Zfnobio Machiavelli, 1470. Madonna and Child, with saints. Luta ThomJ, 1366. Crucifixion. Btnozzo Gottoli, Madonna and Child, with four saints. Id. Sketch for the fresco of the Queen of Sheba in the Campo- Santo. Id. S. Anna, with the Virgin and Child. Ambrogio d* Asti (signed). Christ with the Virgin and an angel. 4/A Room. Sodoma. Holy Family frr.n La Spina. 472 ITALIAN CITIES. Filippo Lippi. Virgin and Child throned, with saints. dih Room. Luca cT Olanda. S.Catherine. Ambrogio dAsti. ? God the Father and angels. Leonardo da Vinci.? A grand Christ perishing. There is a beautiful set of illuminated Choir-books from S. Francesco. The Via S. Frediano leads into the Piazza del Cavalieri, formerly the Piazza degli Anziani, the forum of ancient Pisa. It was granted to the knights of the Order of S. Stefano in 1561 by Cosimo I. The piazza is ornamented with a foun- tain and a statue of Cosimo I. by Francavilla. The Church of the Cavalieri di S. Stefano was begun in 1561 under Cosimo de' Medici, the first Grand-duke. It is a monument to the glories of the knights of S. Stephen. Along the walls are ranged banners and other trophies taken by them from the Turks. The ceiling is ornamented with paintings in their honour, viz. : 1. Cigoli, 1605. The Institution of the Order. 2. Ligozzi, 1604. The Return of the 12 galleys of the Order from the battle of Lepanto. 3. Crist. Allorl. Embarkation of Marie de Medicis at Leghorn for her marriage, on the galley Capitana di S. Stefano. 4. Jacopo da Empoli. The Capture of five Turkish ships by the gal - leys of the Order, 1602. 5. Ligozzi. The Plunder of Nicopolis (Prevosa), 16051606. 6. Jacopo da Empoli. The Capture of Bona on the coast of Africa. The church also contains : Right of Entrance. Vasari. Stoning of S. Stephen. Left, 2nd Altar. Bronzino (Alessandro Allori). The Madonna adoring the Infant Saviour. " Painted with all the art, diligence, design, invention, and beauty of colouring that can be conceived." Vasari. On the Walls. Pictures in chiaroscuro of the life of the martyred Pope S. Stephen (on whose day the Order was founded), by Vasari, Ligozzi, Empoli, and Allori. S. SfSTO, TORRE DELLA FAME. 473 Close to the church is the Palazzo Conventuale del Cava- licri, built by Niccolb Pisano, and decorated by Vasari. In the centre of the facade are busts of the first six Grand-dukes who were Grand-masters of the Order. The walls are adorned in graffito. On the opposite side of the square is the Church of S. Sisto, built in honour of the sainted Pope upon whose day no less than five victories were gained by the Pisans. In the interior are ancient columns, and, on either side of the entrance, reliefs of the early Pisan school taken from the old pulpit. Opposite S. Sisto (separated by the street) was the ancient Palazzo Gualandi alle Sette Vie, where, in the Torre della Fame (now destroyed), Archbishop Ruggieri degli Ubaldini, the chief of the Ghibelline party in 1288, imprisoned Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, who had cruelly oppressed Pisa at the head of the Guelfs. He was seized in his burning palace together with his two youngest sons, Gaddo and Uguccione ; Nino, called le Brigata, son of Guelfo, another son who was absent; and Anselmuccio, son of another son Ix)lto, who was dead. In March, 1289, the keys of the tower were thrown into the Arno, and the five captives were left to starve. Their awful fate gave rise to one of the most terrible passages of Dante, who represents Count Ugolino, in the Inferno, as telling the tragic story : " Breve pertugio dentro dalla muda, \..\ qual PIT me ha il titol della fame, E'n che cunvicne ancor ch'altri si chiuda. Ben so' crudel, se tu gia non ti duoli, Pensando ci6 ch'al mio cor s'annunziava ; E se non piangi, di che pianger suoli: 474 ITALIAN CITIES. GUI eran desti, e Ton s'appresaava Che'l dbo ne soleva cssere addotto, per sno segno ciascun dubitava : Ed k> sentii chiavar 1'uscio di sotto AIT orribile tocre : ood' k> goardai Nd TISO a* miei figliuoi senza fur motto, lo noo piangeva, si dentro impietrai ; Piangevan' elli ; ed Anselmuccio mio Disse : To guard! si, padre : che hai ? Pero non lagrimai, ne rispos' io Tutto quel giorno, ne la notte appresso, Infin che 1'altro sol nel mondo uscio. Come on poco di raggio se hi messo Nd doloroso carcere, ed io scorsi Per quattro visi il mio aspetto stesso. Ambe le mani per dolor mi morsi : qnei, pensando ch'io '1 fessi per voglia Di manit-ar, di SubitO Icvorsi, E disser : Padre, assai ci fia men doglia, Se tu mangi di noi : tu ne vestisti Queste misere carni, e tu le spoglia. Qaetaimi allor per non farli piii tristi : Quel di e 1'altro stemmo tutti muti : Ahi dura terra ! perche non t'apristi ? Poscia che fummo al quarto di venuti, Gaddo mi si gitto disteso a' piedi, Dicendo ; Padre mio, che non m'aiuti ? Qnivi mori : e come tu mi vedi, Vid 'io cascar li tre ad uno ad uno Tra'l qninto di e'l sesto : ond' io mi diedL Gia cieco a brancolar sovra ciascuno, E tre di li chiamai poi che fur morti : Poscia piii che'l dolor pote 1'digiuno Ahi Pisa, vituperio delle genti Del bel paese la dove il si suona Poi che i vicini a te pnnir son lend, Muovansi la Capraia e la Gorgona. E Ciccian siepe ad Arno in su la foce, Si ch'egli annieghi in te ogni persona. Che se'l conte Ugolino aveva voce D'aver tradita te delle castella, S. CATERINA. 475 Non dovei tu i figliuoi porre a tal crocc. Innocent! facea 1'eta novella, Novella Tebe, Uguccione e il Brigata E gli altri due che'l canto suso appella." Inf. xxxiil Turning from the piazza into the Via S. Lorenzo, by the Church of S. Appollonia, we find, on the left, the large tree- planted Piazza di S. Caterina. The great Dominican Church of S. Catcrina, finished in 1253, is the work of Fra Guglielmo Agnelli, a pupil of Niccolb Pisano. It has a beautiful facade rather resembling that of S. Domenico at Pistoia. Within, it is a single aisle, with a wooden roof, and contains several objects of great interest : Left ofEntrarue. Nino Pisano (son of the famous Andrea). The tomb of Simone Saltarelli, Archbishop of Pisa, ob. 1342. An altar-tomb adorned with three reliefs with scenes from the Archbishop's life, and surmounted by a canopy with figures of the Madonna and Child and angels. Centre of Left Wall. Francesco di Traino (the best pupil of Orcagna). The Triumph of S. Thomas Aquinas. " This is the sole surviving specimen of the works of the master. The composition is most singular. S. Thomas sits in the centre in glory, of gigantic stature in comparison to the figures which surround him. Our Saviour appears in the sky, blessing him, and sending down on his head inspiration in the shape of rays of light ; similar rays descend on Moses, S. I'aul, and the Evangelists, seated, or rather crouching, to the right and left of our Saviour, but rather below him, forming a semi-circle above S. Thomas, and each holding the volume of his writings open in his hands, and extending it towards the saint, rays of illumination darting from their leaves upon him. The whole sum of inspiration thus concentrated in his person is gathered as it were into a form in the volume of his works, probably the ' Summa Theologia,' held by him expanded in his hands, and from which the rays of light re-issue and re-descend upon a crowd of ecclesiastics at the bottom of the picture, parted into two companies, between whom, immediately below the Saint, Averrhees lies extended in pain and as one discomfited. While, finally, on platforms raised above the multitude, and to the right and left of S. Thomas, Plato and Aris- totle, typical of mere human wisdom, hold up their books towards him, 476 ITALIAN CITIES. and in each instance a ray of light darts down from him and illuminates the page. "This picture is in excellent preservation ; the colouring is dark, but soft and transparent, the figures are stiff but very characteristic ; its chief interest lies in its peculiarity of invention and composition, in which there is the germ of much grandeur. Traini was probably a young man when he painted it, and as only two other of his works are recorded, it may be supposed that he died before attaining maturity." Lindsay's Chtistian Art. " Dans ce tableau, il fallait que le triomphe de la foi sur la philoso- phic profane fut exprime ; c'est le celebre commentateur d'Aristote, Averrhoes, qui a etc choisi dans ce but. Le medecin Averrhoes, dont la philosophic scandalisa ses coreligionnaires musulmans, reunit en Oc- cident un assez grand nombre d'esprits forts dans des opinions peu chre- tiennes. Pe'trarque s'emporte avec vehemence centre ceux qui negligent 1'Ecriture sainte pour les livres d' Averrhoes. Dans ce tableau il est couche aux pieds de Saint Thomas ; il semble abattu, et, appuye sur son coude, il reve a sa defaite." Amplre. Chapel i ight of Choir. Fra Bartolommco, with Mariotto Albertinello. Madonna with SS. Peter and Paul injured by a fire in the iyth century. Near it an Annunciation carved in wood by A'ino Pisano. (A little north of this Piazza, behind the Church of S. Torpe, are the remains of some Roman baths " Bagni di Nerone.") The street on a line with S. Caterina, leads from the Via S. Lorenzo to the Piazza and Church of S. Paolo air Orto. From the lower side of this piazza the Via S. Francesco leads (right) to the Church of S. Francesco, of the 1 3th cen- tury. It has a beautiful campanile. Within, it is a single nave with seven chapels. Choir. Taddeo Gaddi, 1342. On the ceiling SS. Francis, Dominic, Augustine, &c., with various allegorical figures. "The Saints float in pairs towards each other." Left of the Entrance. Barnaba da Modena. A tabernacle picture of the Virgin Suckling the Infant Saviour. The Cloisters are Renaissance. In the Chapter-house are important frescoes of the story of the Passion by Niccolb di Ftitro Gerini, 1390. _ S. MATTEO, S. SEPOLCRO. 477 " These paintings are unfortunately much injured, but even in their remains we can trace a high degree of excellence. A solemn serenity, a peculiar pathos, pervade all these representations, and show that the deepest meaning of his subject was present to the artist's mind ; we find in them, besides, a high sense of beauty, and the expression of an intense feeling, which, as in Giovanni da Melano, already belongs to the second general style of this period. Pre-eminently beautiful is the representa- tion of Christ in the Resurrection, and still more so in the Ascension ; there is something wonderfully dignified, holy, and glorified in the features of the Saviour, which has, perhaps, never since been equalled." JGigler. At the entrance of the cloister, Ugolino and his sons are buried. " Quand je visitai le coin du cloitre ou gisent pele mele les victimes innocentes et la victime coupable (car il ne faut pas oublier qu'Ugolin avail asservi et peut-etre trahi sa patrie), autour de moi tout etait silen- cieux, serein et brillant. Une lumiere admirable inondait les Grangers qui remplissent 1'interieur du cloitre, un arceau encadrait leur verdure, le campanile rouge de Saint- Francois se detachait harmonieusement sur le bleu veloute du cieL J'eprouvais un sentiment profond d'adoration pour la nature et d'eloignement pour 1'homme, tandis que, le pied sur la fosse d'Ugolin, je regardais les Grangers et le ciel. Une seule pensee combattait cette impression. Je me disais : ' Ces atrocites, enfantees par les passions politiques, ont produit un des plus admirables chefs- d'oeuvre de la poesie humaine ; 1'art console de la vie." Amptre. Turning south from S. Francesco, and returning to the Lung' Arno, we find (left) the Gothic Church of S. Matteo. It is attached to a convent, which contains a good work of Aurelio Lomi. At the end of the Lung' Arno to the east is the entrance of the Passeggiata, a pleasant public walk much frequented in the afternoon, especially by the students of the University. It ends at the old Church of S. Biagio with a leaning campanile. Returning, and crossing the nearest bridge Ponte alia Fortezza we find, on the southern Lung' Arno Lung' Arno (ialileo (left) the very curious circular Church of S. Scpolcro, 478 ITALIAN CITIES. built in the i2th century by Diotisalvi, for the Knights Tem- plar. Opposite the Ponte del Mezzo is the Palazzo del Banchi, built by Buontalenti in 1605. On one side is the Palazzo del Governo, on the other the ancient Palazzo Gambacorti, now the Post-Office. On this side the Arno Lung' Arno Gambacorti beyond La Spina, is the great Church of S. Paolo a ripa d'Arno, founded in 805, and used as the earliest cathedral of Pisa. It is beautiful externally with delicate arcades of inlaid marbles, and has three aisles sup- ported by granite columns with white marble capitals. The walls, according to Vasari, were once decorated with frescoes by Cimabue, Buffalmacco, Simone, and Lippo Memmi, but of these nothing remains. Left Transept. Turino Vannidi Kigali, 1397. A curious altar-piece of the Madonna throned between the two rival patrons of Pisa S. Torpe and S. Raniero. Right of Entrance. Monument of the learned G. Borgondione, ob. 1194, with a curious epitaph, beginning Doctor docto ) rum Scema magistro ) jacet hie Burgundiusur ) laudabilis et diutur ) docta poeta ) > rum an medicma ) cui litera greca lati ) . . . / nn patuit sapientia tri ) Returning to and crossing Ponte di Mezzo, on the right is the Palazzo Toscanelli (Lung* Arno, No. 669), ascribed to designs of Michael Angelo. Here Lord Byron lived 1821 22. Palazzo Pieracchi (No. 660) was the ancient palace of the Medici. The Via del Borgo, which faces the bridge, has colonnades THE CASCINE AND COMBO. 479 like the streets of Padua and Bologna. On the right is the Church of S. Michele in Borgo, founded 1018, but chiefly built 1219 1262. The fagade is from designs of Guglielmo Agnelli, 1304. Within, it is a three-aisled basilica, with granite columns. t, 2nJ Altar. TaJJeo Bartoli. Madonna with Angels, and SS. Catherine, Julian, and Peter. A most pleasant drive may be taken from Pisa (from the Porta Nuova near the Duomo) to the sea-shore at the Gombo, about 6 m. (carriage 8 francs). We pass the Cascine di S. Rossore, formerly, in the liberal times of the Grand-dukes, the public park of the people of Pisa, but from which, since the accession of the Sardinian Government, they have been carefully excluded by Victor Emanuel. Here, through the railings, glimpses may be caught of 150 camels, which stalk about quite naturally through the woods, doing much of the farm-work, being the descendants of thirteen male and seven female camels brought from Tunis by Ferdinand II. in 1622. Hence, a most delightful drive, through beautiful pine woods, which (though the trees are not so fine) somewhat recalls the famous forest of Ravenna, leads to the bathing-place of Gombo, on the sandy shore, with a fine view to the north, along the coast by Viareggio, to the beautiful Carrara mountains. Rutilius gives an extraordinary account of the Port of . at the mouth of the Arno, which he describes as un- protected by art, but perfectly secure, because such was the tenacity of the weeds with which it was interwoven, as to exclude the agitation of the sea, while they yielded to the weight of vessels. 480 ITALIAN CITIES. " Contiguum stupui portum, quern fama frequentat Pisarum emporio, divitiisque maris, Mira loci facies ! pelago pulsatur aperto, Inque otnnes ventos littora nuda patent : Non ullus tegitur per brachia tuta recessus, vEolias possit qui prohibere minas. Sed procera suo praetexitur alga profundo, Molliter offensae non nocitura rati : Et tamen insanas cedendo interligat undas, Nee sinit exalto grande volumen agi." Itin. i. 533-540. From the Porta Mare, which leads to the Passeggiata, an excursion of four miles may be made on the Leghorn road to the exceedingly curious old Church of S. Pietro in Grado, commemorating in its name the landing-place Gradus, where S. Peter is supposed first to have set foot in Etruria. It was founded towards the close of the'ioth, but is chiefly of the 1 3th century. It is a three-aisled basilica with ancient columns, n of oriental granite, 15 of Greek marble. At the east end is a great tribune, with two smaller apses at the sides. The curious frescoes on the walls are attributed by Morrona to Giunta Pisano (1202 1255), on account of their similarity to some at Assisi, which are known to have been executed by that master. The ancient harbour of Pisa must have been on this spot, before the present coast was formed. Five miles from Pisa, in the Valle di Calci, is the Certosa, founded in 1347. The buildings are modernized, but hand- some. The Church has many modern paintings. Near this is La Verruca, the highest point of the Pisan hills, 1765 ft. above the sea, where, from the ruin of an old fortress of the Republic, is a most beautiful view. LEGHORN. 481 It is only i hour by rail from Pisa to LegJwrn (Livorno). {Hotels. Victoria and Washington (De Vecchi), 8 Via Colonnella, near the harbour, excellent Gran Bretagna, Pensione Suizzera, 17 Via Vit- torio Emanuele. Sea Baths, with linen, I fr. An omnibus runs con- stantly in summer, in 20 min. to the Bagni Casini alFArdenza. British Consulate. Macbean, 17 Via Borsa. Carriages. The course (in the town), 85 c., out of the town, I fr. 50 c. ; I hour, I fr. 70 c. Night to and from the railway, I fr. 80 c. ; the course, I fr. 15 c. ; outside the town, 2 frs. 80 c, ; the hour, 2 frs. 20 c. fare to the Steamers. To and from the outer harbour, I fr. Luggage, 30 c. each piece. To and from the inner harbour, I fr. From the landing-place to the hotel, each box, 80 c. ; each bag 40 c. It is im- portant to be well up in this legal tariff on arriving at Leghorn, where both boatmen and porters are peculiarly fierce and extortionate.) " Dans tous les autres pays du rnonde, il y a moyen de defendre son bagage, de faire un prix pour le transporter a 1'hotel, et si Ton ne tombe pas d'accord, on est libre de la charger sur ses epaules, et de faire sa besogne soi-meme. A Livourne, rien de tout cela. " La barque qui vous amene n'a pas encore louche terre qu'elle est envahie ; les commissionnaires pleuvent, vous ne savez pas d'ovl : ile sautent de la jetee, Us s'elancent des barques voisines, ils se laissent glisser des cordages des bailments. Comme vous voyez que votre canot va chavirersous le poids, vous pensez a votre propre surete, vous crani- ponnez au mole, puis, apres bien des efforts, votre chapeau perdu, vos genoux en sang et vos ongles retournes, vous arrivez sur le jetee. Bien, voila pour vous ; quant a votre bagage, il est deja divise en autant de lots qu'il y a de pieces : vous avez un portefaix pour votre malle, un portefaix pour votre necessaire, un portefaix pour votte carton a chapeau, un portefaix pour votre parapluie, et un portefaix pour votre canne ; si vous etes deux, cela vous fait dix portefaix ; si vous etes trois, cela en fait quinze. "Je suis retourne trois fois a Livourne. Les deux demieres, j'etais prevenu, j'avais pris mes precautions, je me tennis sur mes gardes ; chaque fois, j'ai pave plus cher. En arrivant a Livourne, il faut faire, comme en traversant les marais Pontins, la part des voleurs. La differ- ence est qu'en traversant les marais Pontins, on en rechappe quelque- fois, souvent meme ; 4 Livourne, jamais." Alexandre Dumas. There is nothing whatever worth seeing in Leghorn, and no one would think of staying there except for the sea-bath- VOL. II. 31 4?2 ITALIAN CITIES. ing, but its shops are sometimes amusing. The place is full of galley-slaves who do all the dirty work of the town in red caps, brown vests, and yellow trousers. The Cathedral has a fagade by Inigo Jones. It stands in the handsome Piazza d' Armi, where also are the Town Hall and a small Royal Palace. Near the harbour is a statue, by Giovanni deir Opera, of the Grand Duke Ferdinand I. (de' Medici), the Cardinal who mounted the throne after witnessing the death of Bianca Cappello and his brother Francesco. The four bronze statues of Turkish slaves round the base, are by Pietro Tacca. What is really charming is the Passeggiata outside the Porta a Mare, leading to Ardenza, an enchanting public walk with shrubberies, close to the sea. The waves dash up along the sea wall at the side, and the Islands of Elba, Gor- gona, and Capraja may be seen in the distance. From the same gate an excursion may be made to the \\i\\-Monastery of Monte-Nero, built 1770, in honour of a picture of the Virgin, which was supposed to have floated to Ardenza by itself, in 1345, from the Island of Negropont: it is now generally attributed to Margaritone. CHAPTER XLV. VOLTERRA. "tornemo a Vulterra, Sopra un monte, che forte e anticha, Quanto en Toscana niuna altra terra." Facclo degli Uberti. "Lordly Volaterra Where scowls the far-famed hold Piled by the hand of giants For god-like kings of old." Macaulay. (Volterra is most easily reached from Pisa by the branch line from Cecina to Le Saline (8 frs. 85 'c. ; 6 frs. 10 c. ; 4 frs. 20 c.), where an omnibus (i fr. 50 c.) meets the trains. The Albergo Naxionale is a clean and good country inn with very moderate charges.) T/OLTERRA, as the ancient Velathri, was one of the most important cities of Etruria, and especially so from her position. The Etruscan city was three times as large as the existing Volterra, and its walls, which were four or five miles in circuit, may be traced at a great distance from the present city. It is believed that Volterra was one of the last of the Etruscan cities to fall into the hands of the Romans. In the Middle Ages it was for a short time the residence of the Lombard kings, and greatly as it has de- creased in size and importance, it has at no time been wholly deserted. In the ijth century, in which most of the prin- cipal buildings were erected, the town had a revival. Since 4 8 4 ITALIAN CITIES. then its prosperity has been chiefly due to its Alabaster Works, on which two-thirds of the population are employed. The town is approached from the station by a long wind- ing hill. On nearing the walls the Etruscan gate is seen on the left of the road ; then, after winding under the Citadel, the traveller is set down by the omnibus close to the piazza and cathedral, at a very short distance from the inn. Turning to the right from the Albergo Nazionale and de- scending a steep street (the streets have no names written up), we reach the famous Etruscan gate, Porta delF Arco, still used as a gate of the city. It is adorned on the outside with three colossal heads, and is a double gate nearly 30 ft. deep united by massive walls. Just within the gate on either side are grooves for a portcullis. Porta dell' Arco, Volterra. From hence the Etruscan antiquary should proceed east ward along the walls of the modern town and on to where, below the church of S. Chiara, are some magnificent de- tached fragments of the ancient walls. The sixth of these E TR USC AN MUSE UM. 485 is forty feet high and a hundred and forty feet in length : the masses are rudely hewn and put together, and there are no traces of cement. Returning up the hill from the Porta dell' Arco and turn- ing left into the Piazza, we find, on the left, the stately Palazzo Communale, covered with shields of podestas, some of them in rich terra-cotta frames. Here is the exceedingly interesting Etruscan Museum, entirely devoted to objects collected at Volterra. It is well shown by an intelligent custode. Its most important objects are all sarcophagi with remarkable and varied decorations, and it is worthy of ob- servation, that the decoration is always the same for all the members of the same family. All the inscriptions read from right to left. We may notice : II, 12, 13, 14. As specimens of the earliest sarcophagi being all terra-cotta. In the succeeding sarcophagi the decoration of flowers indicates the age of the person contained ; for a young person the flower is single ; for a middle-aged, double ; for an old person, triple. In the centre of this room is a family group from the tomb called I Marmini. The female figure has a pomegranate, the sign of fecundity, in her hand ; below are representations of marriage, rearing of children, and education of children. As the art advances the sarcophagi are of alabaster. Here, in Volterra, it is interesting to know that there were alabaster works here 3855 years ago. In the subjects on these sarco- phagi, one family have a representation of the dead person about to mount for departure with a bag full of good and evil deeds ; another, of the same already mounted, but accompanied to the last by his rela- tions. No. 133 is very curious, the horses drawing the funeral car are repre- sented as joining in the grief of the mourners. After this we come to a later phase. Triumphal processions are re- presented, with music and torches. On the sarcophagi of warriors who have died for their country, a Genius holds the wheel, the symbol of im- mortality. Following these are mythological subjects, Atalanta and Meleager, Ulysses and the Sirens, the Riddle of CEdipus, and the Birth 436 ITALIAN CITIES. and Death of Minotaur. The former is quite too funny, the father flies from the horrible monster, the mother clings to an altar. In No. 371, 372, representing the Siege of Thebes, the Etruscan gate of Volterra, Porta dell' Arco, is introduced . No. 23 is a gigantic figure found at the entrance of a sepulchre and popularly called " II Sordato Barbato." "The cinerary urns of Volterra cannot lay claim to a very remote antiquity. They are unquestionably more recent than those of many other Etruscan sites. This may be learned from the style of art the best, indeed the only safe criterion which is never of that archaic cha- racter found on certain reliefs on the altars or cippi of Chiusi and Perugia. The freedom and mastery of design, and the skill in composition, at times evinced, bespeak the period of Roman domination ; while the de- fects display not so much the rudeness of early art, as the carelessness of the time of decadence." Dennis. The Library contains a fresco by Orcagna of the Madonna and Saints. There is a small collection of i2th and 13th- century Ivories, including the Pastoral Staff of the Carthusian Abbot of S. Salvatore, and that of a Bishop of the i2th century. The Second Room contains a Crucifixion of the School of Giotto, and a Madonna by Lodovico di Firenze. Amongst the smaller objects preserved here are some little vessels of spun gold and glass, very precious as being of a manufacture of which the art is long since lost. Close to the palace is the Cathedral, consecrated in 1120 by Calixtus II. Its simple and handsome west front was added by Niecotb Pisano in 1254. The interior is very hand- some, though much injured by paint and stucco. It contains : Right, Over door. Fine terra-cotta statue of S. Lino. Right of Right Transept. The Oratory of S. Carlo, which is a per- fect gallery of pictures. Over door. Bald. Franceschini. Madonna and Child, with saints. Right. Filippino Lippi. Madonna and Child, with SS. Bartolommeo and Antonino. CATHEDRAL OF VOLTERRA. 487 Leonardo da Pistoia. Madonna and Child, with SS. Se astian, Stephen, Laurence, and Nicholas. Kosselli. S. Carlo Borromeo. Ben-uenuto da Siena. The Nativity. The gradino is by Benozzo Gozsoli. Daniele de Volterra . S.Joseph. Sodoma. A small Crucifixion. End Wall. Camilla Intontri, finished by Guido Reni. The Mag- dalen. By a Contadino of Volterra. Francesco and Chiara. ' Left Wall. Pietro d" Afoaro Portoghese. Madonna and Child with saints a triptych. Rosso Fiorentino (Nonfinito). The Deposition. Taddeo Bartolo. Madonna and Saints. Luta Signorelli. The Annunciation. (Returning to the Church) Right of High Altar is the tomb of S. Octavian by Raffaelle Cioli, 1525. The Angels at the sides of the High Altar are by Mino da Fiesole. The Pulpit is of c. 1 150. " Resting on four columns, supported by two lions, a bull and a fan- tastic figure, the breastwork is adorned with reliefs ; the first represents Abraham on the point of sacrificing Isaac, and restrained by an angel hovering down. Then follows the Annunciation, in which an angel likewise appears hovering above ; lastly, there is a scene of Christ sit- ting with His disciples at a meal, while a female figure, pursued by a tiger and a serpent, is seeking protection at his feet. Here the pro- found symbolic element of Romanesque Art is intermingled, though in form, attitude, and drapery, a style prevails, which is evidently bor- rowed from the antique.' 1 Liibke. Left of Entrance. The tomb of Marco Maffei, Bishop of Cavaillon 1537- Opposite the cathedral, standing on a little platform over- looking the valley, is the Baptistery of S. Giovanni t which contains : Right. Andrea di Sanstnt'tto, 1 502. The old Font, now closed up, with reliefs of the four cardinal virtues and the Baptism of Christ Left. Mino da Fiesole, 1471. A noble Ciborium. Descending the steep street which leads from the corner of the piazza to the lower town, we find, on the left, the 488 ITALIAN CITIES. Monastery dedicated to S. Lino, first Bishop of Volterra. It has a remarkably pretty vaulted atrium covered with frescoes by Cosimo Daddi, and contains the tomb of the founder Raffaelle Maffei, 1523, with his statue by Sylvio da Fiesole and ornaments by Fra Angela Montorsoli. Just beyond this, on the right, is the Church of S. Fran- cesco. On the right of the high altar is the entrance to the Cappella della Confraternity del la Croce di Giorno of 1315, decorated with frescoes representing the Life of the Baptist and the finding of the True Cross, by Cennino, 1410. It is well worth while to pass out of the adjoining Porta S. Francesco and go straight on down the road (through a village) for about a mile in order to visit the extraordinary landslip called Le Baize. From the left of the road, just under the Badia di S. Salvatore, you look down into the most frightful chaos. The rains, washing away the lower strata of blue clay, are perpetually carrying down vast masses of the upper sandstone, and all attempts to stop it have been in vain. It is a horrible scene, looking down into the rifts and precipices of an arid and ghastly desert, and with the feeling that the flowery surface on which you are standing may be hurled into destruction to-morrow. On the hill-side behind are tolerably perfect remains of some walls of the old Velathrum, now at a great distance from Volterra. In the opposite direction, turning left from the hotel, are the Church of S. Michele, with a good Lombard front of 1285 ; the Church of S. Agostino, containing a picture of the Purification by II Volterrano, 1630 ; and the Citadel, where the mathematician Lorenzo Lorenzini was imprisoned, 1682 1693, by Cosimo III. in the Torre del Mastio. VILLA IXGHIRAMI. 4$9 Outside the gate near this is the Convent of S. Francesco, containing two good works of the Robbia school. Outside the Porta Selce also, on the east of Volterra, is the Villa Inghirami, with the strange rock labyrinth called Le Buche dei Saracini, and a well-preserved Etruscan tomb with forty-eight urns remaining in situ. As all the contents of the other principal tomb, / Marmini, have been removed to the Museum, it is scarcely worth visiting. The tomb is circular, about 1 7 ft. in diameter, with a pillar in the centre and a triple tier of benches round the walls, all hewn from the rock, on which the sepulchral urns were placed. Near this are the ruins of another double gate of the city Porta di Diana. Through the valley below the town runs the little river Cecina, where the young poet Marullo Tarcagnota was drowned as he was returning from Volterra, whither he had gone to visit his friend II Volterrano. This event inspired a Latin elegy of Ariosto. The rich Copper Mines of Monte Catini and the Boracic Acid Works of Count Lardarel at Lardarello, near Pomcrance, the birthplace of II Pomerancio Cristoforo Roncalli may be visited from Volterra, by those who have an interest in such things. The country is savage and desolate. About 8 miles from Pomerance is the fine ruined Castle of Rocca Si/ana. CHAPTER XLVI. LUCCA. aT is rather more than half-an-hour ten miles by rail from Pisa to Lucca (2 frs. ; i fr. 55 c. ; i fr. 15 c.), passing S. Giuliano (Stat.). The Bagnidi S. Giuliano, the Aquae Pisanse of Pliny (ii. 103), about 4 m. from the city, have two warm springs. The temperature of the Bagno Orientale is 109 Fahrenheit, that of the Bagno degli Ebrei, 84 Fahren- heit. There are twelve private baths, named from the heathen gods, and one for the poor. Behind the baths rises the hill mentioned in Dante " Perche i Pisan veder Lucca non ponno." Inf. xxxiii. 30. Ripafratta (Stat.). Here there is a picturesque mediaeval castle. " The Serchio, twisting forth Between the marble barriers which it clove At Ripafratta, leads through the dread chasm The wave that died the death which lovers love, Living in what it sought ; as if this spasm Had not yet past, the toppling mountains cling, But the clear stream in full enthusiasm Pours itself on the plain, until wandering Down one clear path of effluence crystalline Sends its clear waves, that they may fling HISTOR Y OF L UCCA. 49* At Amo's feet tribute of corn and wine : Then, through the pestilential deserts wild Of tangled marsh and woods of stunted fir It rushes to the Ocean." Shelley.) Lucca Hndustriosa is a very flourishing and prosperous place. It is largely frequented by the best Tuscan families, and there is very agreeable society here. (Hotels. Unh'trso (Nieri), in the Piazza Grande, most excellent and reasonable. It has a small garden, and its large lofty rooms are cool and airy in summer. This inn deserves special notice, because, without losing its character as an Italian Albergo, it has all the comfort and cleanliness which English travellers desire. Croce di Malta. Restaurant, Corona, near the Porta S. Pietro. Carriages. For the Bagni, or for drives. Giuseppe Menchetti, Via del Gallo. The shady ramparts of Lucca and its beautiful surround- ings made it a favourite summer resort, but its attractions have been greatly lessened since the accession of the Sar- dinian government, by the cruel destruction of the splendid avenues upon its walls the most beautiful public walks in any town of Italy, and nowhere are the philanthropic interests and refined taste of the Grand-ducal family more missed, than in this the peculiar city of their predilection. Lucca was a Ligurian town, and was considered as such till the reign of Augustus. In the Gothic wars of Narses it was a strong and important fortress. In 1314 it was subdued by Uguccione della Faggiuola, Lord of Pisa, with whom Dante resided here in 1314, and here became en- amoured of Gentucca, mentioned in the Purgatorio(\\\\. 23). In 1316 Dante fled further, to Verona, where Uguccione was also obliged to seek a refuge, when his son Neri seized his government. In 1315 Lucca fell into the hands of the powerful Castruccio Castracane, who ruled it for twelve years with the title of " Defensore delle parte imperiale e cafitano lucthese." On his death in 1328 the power of Lucca began to decline, and in 1342 it fell into the hands of Pisa, under which it endured a "Babylonish captivity" of 27 years. In 1369, however, Lucca purchased its freedom from the Emperor Charles IV. for 100,000 492 ITALIAN CITIES. ' gulden, and remained a republic under a Gonfaleniere della Giustizia, with a golden book like that of Venice, till the French invasion of 1 799. In 1805 Napoleon I. gave Lucca as a Duchy to his sister Eliza Bac- ciochi. In 1817 it fell to the Bourbon Dukes of Parma, by whom, in 1 847, it was ceded to Tuscany, under whose Grand-dukes it returned to more than its former prosperity. The one great native artist of Lucca was the sculptor Matteo Civitali, 1435 '5 OI but it possesses many important paintings by great masters, and to the architect its buildings are deserving of the most careful study. "The city which formed the favourite winter-quarters of the first Caesar, the city which, if enslaved, was also glorified by the genius of Castruccio Castracani, the city which preserved its republican independ- ence for two centuries and a half after Florence and Siena had fallen, is a city rich in attractions, both of nature and art. Lucca is remarkable for the prodigious number of objects, all of more or less importance, which it presents, without possessing any one building absolutely of the first rank." Freeman. On leaving the station and entering the town by the Porta S. Pietro, the Via di Porta S. Pietro leads into the Piazza Grande or del Giglio, decorated (1843) with a statue of Maria Luisa by Bartolini. On the west (left) stands the Palazzo Pubblico, formerly the Ducal Palace, begun in 1578 by Bart. Ammanati and finished in 1729 by Juvara and Pint. It. is nothing very remarkable. Passing the Hotel Universe, on the east of this piazza, the Via del Duomo leads to the noble Cathedral of S. Martino, the first view of which is most imposing. "The Duomo was begun in 1063 by Bishop Anselm, who, three years later, as Pope Alexander II., blessed the enterprise of the Xorman invader of England. The great apse is clearly the oldest part of the church, and is doubtless a remnant, the only remaining remnant, of the church begun by Anselm. The style is not very rich, but very highly finished, Romanesque, such as in any Northern country would belong to the twelfth century, and not to its earliest years. A range of tall columnar arcades, of which the alternate members are pierced for windows, supports an open gallery after the Italian and German fashion. CATHEDRAL OF LUCCA. 493 This apse is a grand and stately work, and it supplies a striking contrast to the minute, elaborate, and even fantastical ornament of the west front This, as the dated inscriptions bear witness, was built during the first forty years of the thirteenth century, and shows what the Italian Romanesque could grow into without any foreign intermixture. In the lowest stage three magnificent arches form a vast portico within which are the actual doorways ; above, are three ranges of open galleries, covered in their capitals, shafts, and cornices, with all the devices of an exuberant fancy. This type of front, with the omission of the portico, is the form which is followed in a large class of west fronts in Lucca. " Freeman. The faade was begun in 1204 by one Giudetto, next followed the Atrium in 1233, and the rest of the building c. 1320. The door on the left has a lunette of the Deposition from the Cross, which is of great interest as being the first essay of Niccolb Pisano as a sculptor. " The old legend of the taking down of our Lord's body from the cross, which is closely followed in this composition, says that ' while Nicodemus drew forth the nails which fastened the feet, Joseph of Arimathea sustained the body, so that the head and arms of the dead Saviour hung over his shoulder, and the afflicted mother, seeing this, rose on her feet, and she took the bleeding hands of her son as they hung down, and clasped them in her own, and kissed them tenderly.' " In the bas-relief, the two Marys kneel behind the standing figure of the Virgin, who holds one of our Lord's arms ; and on the opposite side, behind S. John, who holds the other, stand two figures, in front of whom kneels a man, who seems to be holding the crown of thorns. The centre is occupied by the grandly conceived form of Joseph of Arimathea, who sustains the drooping, lifeless body of our Lord in his arms, while Nicodemus detaches it from the cross, which is planted upon a rock, in whose hollow cavity is placed a skull, to mark the spot as Golgotha." Perkins 1 Tuscan Sculptors. Beneath this is a relief of the Adoration of the Magi attributed to Giovanni, son of Niccolb. The reliefs between the doors tell the story of S. Martin, and beneath are the months with their attributes. 494 ITALIAN CITIES. The Interior is very beautiful and more solemn than most Italian churches. A dim light falls through the narrow stained windows upon the pavement inlaid with patterns of coloured marble. The central window in the choir bears the name of the artist, Pandolfo di Ugolino da Pisa. From the roof of the nave hangs a wrought-iron cresset in which by ancient custom one of the many honorary privileges which once distinguished the Archbishops of Lucca is still maintained. Whenever he officiates pontifically it is filled with flax, and as the flames blaze up and die away, the choir chants " Sic transit gloria mundi." Here also by an ancient right the canons officiate in mitres and pectorals, while the chaplains of Lucca have the power of wearing the " cap pa magna." On the left of the nave stands the little Temple of Matteo Civitale, which forms a shrine for the Palladium of Lucca, a cedar-wood Crucifix of Eastern origin, of the 8th or Qth century, supposed to have been carved by Nicodemus with the assistance of an angel. The actual image is only shown on great festivals, a representation of it may be seen through the bars. It is interesting that the favourite oath of William Rufus was "per vultum de Lucca." The golden lamp which hangs before the shrine was presented in 1836 in the hope of averting the cholera. "This oratory was completed in 1444 for Domenico Galignano, and is without doubt a beautiful and well-proportioned structure. Matteo Civitale also sculptured a marble figure of S . Sebastian (at the back of the chapel), in full relief, and very beautiful, the drawing being good, the attitude graceful, the execution delicate, and the whole carefully finished. " Vautfi. "The cathedral of Lucca contains some Relics, which have un- doubtedly worked miracles on the imagination of people hereabouts. The grandfather of all Relics (as the Arabs would say) in the place is the CATHEDRAL OF LUCCA. 495 Volto Santo, which is a face of the Saviour appertaining to a wooden crucifix. Now you must know that, after the ascension of Christ, Nico- demus was ordered by an angel to carve an image of him ; and went accordingly with a hatchet and cut down a cedar for that purpose. He then proceeded to carve the figure ; and being tired, fell asleep before he had done the face ; which however, on awaking, he found completed by celestial aid. This image was brought to Lucca, from Leghorn, I think, where it had arrived in a ship, 'more than a thousand years ago,' and has ever since been kept, in purple and fine linen and gold and diamonds, quietly working miracles. I saw the gilt shrine of it; and also a hatchet which refused to cut off the head of an innocent man, who had been con- demned to death, and who prayed to the Volto Santo." John Sterling's Letters. Making the round of the church, we may observe : Right of Entrance, 1st Altar. Passignano. The Nativity. 2nd Altar. F. Zucchero. The Adoration of the Magi. yd Altar. Tintoret. The Last Supper. 4/A Altar. Passignano. Crucifixion a very solemn picture. The beautiful Pulpit of 1498 is by Matteo Civitale. Sacristy. Dom. Ghirlandajo. Madonna and Child, with SS. Peter, Clemente, Sebastiano, and Paul very beautiful. The predella has a scene from the lives of each of these saints. Here, under lock and key, is kept the curious Gothic cross, called "Croce dei Pisani," executed in 1350 by Bettuccio Baroni. Chapel near Sacristy. Leonardo da Grazia da Pistoia (signed). The Annunciation. Right Transept. The beautiful tomb of Pietro da Noceto, secretary of Pope Nicholas V., by Matteo Civitali, 1472 ; also the tomb of Domenico Bertini, 1479, the friend and patron of Civitali, with his bust. Cappella del Sagramento (opposite Noceto's tomb). Two praying angels by M. Civitali. Beyond this chapel (right), the Altar of S. Regulm t with his grand figure between S. Sebastian and S. J. Baptist, and their three martyrdoms beneath, by Civitali. S. Regulus was an African ItMiop who fled from the disputes between Catholics and Arians, and was martyred here (beheaded) by Totila. The legend says that he carried his head for two stadia after his death, when he met some of his disciples and delivered it up to them. I.fft of Choir. The Altar of Liberty dedicated " Christo Liberatori, ac Divis Tutelaribus " after the deliverance of Lucca from Pisa in 1369 496 ITALIAN CITIES. by Giovanni da Bologna. It is decorated with statuettes of the Baptist, S. Peter, and S. Paulinus, 1st Bishop of Lucca, and a relief of the Resurrection. On the wall close by is (hung too high up), by Daniele da Volterra, 1509, S. Petronilla. Left of Choir. 2nd Chapel. Fra Bartolommeo. Madonna with SS. Stephen and John Baptist a noble picture, the angel at the foot of the throne quite exquisitely beautiful. Left Transept. Jacopo della Quercia, 1544. Tomb of Ilaria Guinigi, Marchesa de Carretto (ob. 1405), wife of Paolo Guinigi, Lord of Lucca. "It is not more beautiful or perfect than other examples of the same period, but furnishes an instance of the exact and right mean between the rigidity and rudeness of the earlier monumental effigies, and the morbid imitations of life, sleep, or death, of which the fashion has taken place in modern times. Ilaria is lying on a simple couch, with a hound at her feet (emblem of conjugal fidelity), not on the side, but with the head laid straight and simply on the hard pillow, in which, let it be observed, there is no deceptive imitation of pressure (?). It is understood as a pillow, but not to be mistaken for one. The hair is bound up in a flat braid over the fair brow, the sweet and arched eyes are closed, the ten- derness of the loving lips is set and quiet ; tlure is that about them which forbids breath ; something which is not death nor sleep, but the pure image of both. The hands are not lifted in prayer, neither folded ; but the arms are laid at length upon the body, and the hands cross as they fall. The feet are hidden by the drapery, and the forms of the limbs are concealed, but not their tenderness. "If any of us, after staying for a time beside this tomb, could see, through his tears, one of the vain and unkind encumbrances of the grave, which, in these hollow and heartless days, feigned sorrow builds to foolish pride, he would, I believe, receive such a lesson of love as no coldness could refuse, no fatuity forget, and no insolence disobey." Ruskin, Modern Painters, ii. 66. Left Aisle, $th Altar. Jacopo Ligozzi. The Visitation. 2nd Altar. Angela Bronzino. Presentation of the Virgin in the Tem- ple. The faces are most beautiful, and of the greatest variety, especially an old withered hag in the corner, and a little child playing with a dog. Left of Entrance. Cosimo Rosselli a fresco. The Deposition from the Cross, and the carving of the " Volto Santo" by Nicodemus, and its transportation to Lucca. Opposite the cathedral is the Church of S. Giovanni, a PALAZZO GL'IXIGI, S. FRANCESCO. 497 basilica, stately and beautiful internally, with antique columns and a wooden roof. The architrave of the principal door has a relief of the Virgin and twelve Apostles, of the nth cen- tury. From the left transept is the entrance of the ancient Baptistery, but the font is modern ; here are a good stained window and a fresco of the Marriage of S. Catherine. At the entrance of this transept is the tomb of Giovanni Farina, 1826. Behind the cathedral is the Vescovado, and behind this the beautiful little Gothic Church of S. Maria della Rosa f r 333- The arrangement of the interior is very graceful, a wide vaulted nave separated by slender pillars from very narrow aisles; in the lunettes of the vaulting are frescoes. Ascending the Via della Rosa, on the right is the Church of S. Maria Forisportam (once outside the city walls), a Lombard building of 1260, heightened and altered in 1516. The interior is very simple and handsome. It contains good pictures by Guercino. An antique column rises in the piazza before the church. Proceeding north from hence by the Via dell' Angelo Custode, on the left, at the corner of the Via S. Simeone, is the grand old Palazzo Guinigi, with a machicolated tower and two ranges of windows, each formed by four beautiful Gothic trefoil arches enclosed in a circular arch. Following Via Angelo Custode and Via Nuova, we reach the Church of S. Piftro Somaldo, with a fine brick campanile, and a marble farade of 1213. Behind this church the Via della Fratta leads to the Church of S. Francesco, with an early canopied tomb on either side of the west entrance. It is a single nave (66 ft. wide) with a wooden roof, containing (right) the tomb of the famous Castruccio Castracane, Lord of Lucca, ob. Sept- 3 T 3 2 8, commemorated in the verses of Dante and VOL. u. ,1 498 ITALIAN CITIES. the fresco of Orcagna. Close by, on the other side of the altar of S. Francesco, is the tomb of the learned bishop Gio- vanni Guidiccioni, an excellent work of the i6th century. The present government have turned this church, so in- teresting to the Lucchesi, into a military magazine ! Hence, returning to S. Pietro, following the Via della Croce and turning left, in the Piazza, del Mercato, are the remains of a Roman Amphitheatre, two arcades of 54 arches. The arena is now used as a market. Close to this, and to the walls, is the noble Church of S. Frediano " Basilica Longobardorum," founded in 685 by Faulo, the major-domo of the Lombard king Cunibert. S. Frediano was an Irish saint, who migrated hither, and became Bishop of Lucca in the 6th century. He is chiefly celebrated from the legend of his having turned the course of the Serchio during an inunda- tion, by marking out the line of its new bed with a harrow. The fagade is of the i2th century, and bears a mosaic of Christ adored by angels and the apostles, with the inscrip- tion : Alta viri coeli spectatur cor Galilei Iste Dei natus Galilei nube elevatus. "The second church in the city, the great Abbey of S. Fredianus, has a front whose general design is bare and awkward, but its central compartment deserves notice. There are neither arcades nor wheel window. Over a small blank colonnade not an arcade is a single small window, and above that a magnificent mosaic picture, reminding one of those at S. Mark's, to which the whole design of the front is evidently sacrificed. " Freeman. On entering the church the most conspicuous object is the very curious old Font, of 1151, by Magister Robertas. It is covered with quaint sculpture. The Israelites are re- presented passing through the Red Sea clad in chain armour, S. FRED1ANO. 499 with odd-looking fishes swimming under their feet. Near this are an Annunciation and the figure of a Saint, fine works of the Robbia school. The new font is by Niccolb Civitali, nephew of Matteo. Besides these, in making the round of the church, we see : Right of Entrance. Amico Aspertini (one of the best scholars of Francia) a fresco. Madonna and Saints. Chapel near the Font. Tomb of Santa Zita the patroness of servants, who entered the Fantinelli family as a maid in her I2th year, and served them faithfully for 48 years. On the festa of the saint (April 27) when the aged mummy is exposed, dressed in green satin and lace, the concourse is so great that armed soldiers have to be placed at the doors of the chapel to prevent a crush. Relics and lives of S. Zita are sold in the piazza, and her shrine is visited by every domestic servant in Lucca and its neighbourhood, each offering a nosegay on the altar, which becomes piled with flowers a curious and pretty sight. " Sainte Zita est la Pamela de la legende : c'etait unepauvre servante que son maitre voulait seduire. Toutes les villes d'ltalie, au moyen age, avaient ainsi un patron ou une patronne dans le ciel, comme les anciens adoraient le genie du lieu, la divinite protectrice du pays. L'humble et chaste servante de Lucques a etc la patronne d'une re- publique guerriere. Les grands et terribles chefs du xiv c siecle, Uguccione della Faggiola, Castruccio Castracani, se sont inclines devant son image. Us ont passe rapidement : leurs tombes ne se trouvent plus dans la ville oil ils ont regne ; la cendre de Zita y repose encore, et Dante a prononce son nom." Ampere. Left of Entrance. Ridolfo Ghirlandajo. The Visitation. Left, 2nd Chapel (at S. Agostino). A series of frescoes by Amico A spertini, of the History of Lucca and the Volto Santo. " Delicately and carefully executed, with exquisite special detail, they betray all varieties of impression as they were taken up en passant by a phantast who never became truly formed and independent." Burckhardt. 4/4 Chapel (del S. Sacramento). Altar-piece of a Madonna and four saints, 1422, by Jacobus Magistri Petri de Senit. Isft Wall near High Altar. The Miraculous Stone of S. Frediano, which he is said to have lifted with his canons from its quarry, and placed in a cart drawn by wild cows, who brought it to its present resting-place. Right (Opposite the C. del Sacramento). Francesco Francia. The 5oo ITALIAN CITIES. Reception of the Virgin in heaven. Below, David, Solomon, S. Anselm, S. Augustine, and a Monk, standing by the tomb filled with flowers a most beautiful picture. * From S. Frediano, the Via del Liceo and the Via S- Lucia lead to the Church of S. Michele. "San Michele was originally founded by Teutprandus and Gumfranda his wife, in 764 ; and the bulk of the fabric belongs to that date. At that time the archangel, for whom a particular devotion had, in the preceding century, been imported from Apulia into the north of Italy, was the favourite protector of the Lombards. But the rich facciata, to which this church owes its celebrity, was added at a much later period, in 1 1 88, when Lucca was a free town, and its inhabitants resolved to do credit to themselves by adding splendour to their public buildings. In 1188 the celebrated architect Giudetto, who was after- wards employed to decorate the cathedral in the same manner, was called upon to ennoble the west end of S. Michele. The idea of this facciata, is evidently taken from the cathedral of Pisa, though executed in the more florid style which had subsequently come into fashion. If this facciata sins against classical rules in the multiplicity and irregularity of the orders of its columns, in their variety and over enrichment, it nevertheless produces a grand and imposing effect. The whole is con- structed of white marble from the quarries in the neighbourhood. The statue of the archangel at the summit is of colossal size. The wings are composed of separate plates of bronze, so contrived as to suffer the wind to pass through them freely, lest it should have a dangerous pur- chase upon so large a mass completely exposed to its power. Nothing more was done at S. Michele during the thraldom of Lucca, but when Lucca was again enfranchised the second order of the lateral colonnade was added. The colonnade is sufficiently in harmony with the facciata, but evinces the greater degree of purity of taste which by that time began to prevail." H. Gaily Knight. The church contains : Right, 1st Altar. Filippo Lippi. Four Saints. In the piazza in which this church stands is a modern statue of Francesco Burlamacchi. At the S.W. corner of the church is a statue of the Madonna attributed to Matteo Civitali. * This picture will probably be seized for the Gallery (1875). GALLERIA DELLE BELLE ARTI. 501 Returning to the Piazza del Giglio, we must enter the court of the Palace, and ascend the staircase in the left wing to (right at the top) the Galleria ddle Belle Arti. It contains : Entrance Hall. School of Francia. Christ in glory with the Virgin from S. Francesco. Perugino. (?) Madonna and Child with SS. Stephen and Paolo from the Carmine. Ignvto, 1300. The Salutation. Id. The Nativity from S. Francesco.* 2nd Hall (Gallery on right). 6. Pontormo. Giuliano de 1 Medici. 7. Guido Reni. Crucifixion, with SS. Giulio and Caterina from the Grand-ducal collection. IO. Federigo Zucckeri. His own Portrait. 15. Rutilio Manttti. Miracle of S. Antonio. 1 6. Sustermanns. Vittoria della Rovere with her son Cosimo III. de' Medici. 1 8. Id. Maria Maddalena d' Austria, widow of Cosimo II. de' Medici. 20. Tintoretto. Deliverance of a Slave from death by S. Mark. 23. Pietro Paolint. Virgin and Child with saints. 26. Sustermanns. Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici. 31. Id. Cardinal Carlo de' Medici. '32. Arnito Asperiini. Virgin and Child in glory, with four saints magnificent in colour. 35. Federigo Barocci. Principe Federigo d' Urbino. 36. Angelo Bronzino. Cosimo de' Medici. 39. Fra Bartolommeo, 1515. "La Madonna della Misericordia," painted for Sebastiano Lombardi, Prior of S. Romano, in honour of the protection given to the Lucchese during the wars with Florence. This picture has been seized from S. Romano with which it was so historically connected, in characteristic violation of the law, that as long as a church is kept open and used for public worship, its objects of art are The hanging of this room was unfinished in 1875 ; the pictures are probably more numerous now. 502 ITALIAN CITIES. not to be touched. It has greatly suffered by the change from the chapel, where all the lights were arranged with the sole object of adding to its dignity and grandeur. " This picture may sustain a favourable comparison with all the most magnificent works of the grand style of the artist. The Virgin is taking under her protection the people of Lucca, represented by a multitude of old men, women, and children kneeling before her, and over whom she appears to extend her mantle, sustained by angels. For knowledge of design, boldness of relief, and harmony of colour, we might seek in vain for a work more nearly approaching perfection ; while the selection of the figures and the general character of the outline is so completely his own, that we cannot for a moment suppose that Raffaelle had any hand in it." Rio. 40. Danide da Volterra. (?) The Deposition, 45. Sacchia. The Assumption, inscribed " His operis visis hvivs cognoscere qui sit Auctor vel dempto nomine quisq potest. MDXXVII." 50. Jacopo Ligozzi. Appearance of the Virgin to S. Domenic. 56. A. Bronzino. Ferdinando de' Medici. *59. Fra Bartolommeo, 1509 (from S. Romano). God the Father, with SS. Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Siena in adoration " figures of the highest female beauty, standing out most effect- ively against the low horizon of the landscape in the clear tone of the air." (Burckhardt.} " In this picture the resemblance to the style of Raffaelle is so striking, that he is supposed to have assisted directly in its execution, Fra Bar- tolommeo having only lent the magic of his colouring to the graceful and animated contours traced by the more skilful hand of his friend.* " A pen-and-ink drawing of this beautiful composition was in the collection of the Grand-duke at Florence, and it is impossible to imagine anything more graceful or charming than the angels in the upper part, or, indeed, anything more opposed to the angular style which charac- terizes certain of the works of Fra Bartolommeo ; this drawing was, in fact, placed at first among those of Leonardo da Vinci, and it was only on comparing it with the picture in S. Romano that it was afterwards assigned to its true author. " If we consider the choice of this thoroughly mystical subject, and the happy inspirations under which it was executed, with reference to * Rumohr, Italienische Forschungen. CALLER! A DELLE BELLE ART!. 503 certain passages in Vasari, who represents this pious and enthusiastic artist preparing himself for death by employing his pencil on votive offerings, and afterwards returning to Florence with a new passion, that of music, which threw a charm over the remainder of his life, when, I say, we compare these interesting facts with one another, we seem to discover in the depths of his soul the flux and reflux of that inward poetry which had agitated him so violently in the time of Savonarola, and which, having now become more calm, without being less abundant, reflected the ineffable visions of his celestial imagination. " Rio. 60. A. Bronzino. Garzia de' Medici. 66. Ignoto. Madonna and Child with four saints a noble picture. 68. Pietro Paolini. Birth of the Baptist 72. Sodoma. (?) Christ bearing his Cross. 74. Salimbeni. S. Catherine of Alexandria in a dress of the artist's time. 75. Fra Filippo' Lippi. Madonna and Child with saints, from the Grand Ducal collection. yd Hall (left of Entrance Hall). I. Domenichino. Samson. 3. Aurelio Lomi. The Deposition. 8. Paul Veronese. Paul the Hermit before the Council of Venice, if. Gessi. Adoration of the Magi. 4M Hall. 8. Bronzino. Bianca Capello. 13. Tintoretto. A Venetian Senator. $th Hall. I. Lanfranco. Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo from S. Agostino. 3. ntccafumi. The Continence of Scipio. 6. Vasari. S. Eustachio. 7. Id. The Conception. 8. Id. S. Biagio. Among the modern pictures is a pleasing portrait of Elisa Baciocchi, sister of Napoleon I., by Camuccini. This gallery concludes the list of sights usually visited 504 ITALIAN CITIES. by strangers. Those who make a long stay in Lucca will examine S. Salvatore, with some curious sculptures by Biduino da Pisa, 1 1 80 ; S. Giusto, with a rich Lombard fagade ; S. Cristofero, with a very interesting facade of 1396, and (against the first pillar on the right) the grave of the sculptor Matteo Civitale ; and S. Romano, with some (out- side) tombs, once remarkable for the grand works of Fra Bartolommeo which it contained. A delightful drive of about 14 miles from Lucca leads to the Bagni di Lucca, the favourite summer residence of strangers in Italy. A dazzling white road leads across the rich plain to Moriano, at the foot of the mountains, which are clothed with wood to their summits. Hence we follow the Serchio to Vinchiana, with its overhanging roofs and pergolas of vines. As the narrow valley opens, nothing can exceed its summer radiance ; corn-fields bright with gladiolus and poppies, vines dancing from tree to tree, Madonna- shrines peeping out of thickets of roses, and the higher ground covered with hoary olives, against which the cypress- stems rise almost black. A road to the left turns off to Marlia, once the summer palace of the Baciocchi, now of the Princess of Capua. Passing the picturesque town of Borgo Mezzano, on the left bank of the stream, we reach, about three miles from the Baths, the fine old Gothic bridge called Pontedella Maddalena,\)\\\\t in 1322. "The inundations of the Serchio made it necessary to build a bridge with an unusually high arch. The builder, not being able to construct the great arch, received a proposal from ' II Diavolo ' to complete it, provided the first passenger should be given up to him. Next morning the arch was finished, when the mason contrived to make a dog the first passenger. The arch-fiend, enraged to find himself outwitted, dashed BAGNI DI LUCCA. 505 the animal with such force to the ground, over the great arch, that his body passed through and was carried away by the flood. There is said to be a hole under the present pavement confirming the legend." StistecTs ''Bye-ways of Italy." Ponte della Maddalena. The Bagni di Lucca are three villages. The Ponte a Seraglio (Inns. America (Pagnini); New York; Corona) is close to the river, in a too confined situation. It is the busiest part of the Bagni, and contains the Club and the principal shops and livery-stables. About a mile higher up the valley, reached by green avenues, at the point where it most widens, is the Bagni alia Villa (Hotel Pavilion), a street following the river-bank. Near this is the English Church. On the hill-side, on the left, is the deserted villa of the Grand-dukes, and, near it, some of the pleasantest lodging-houses. Hence charming paths wind round the hill to the Bagni Caldi, which is the more picturesque of the three villages, and in the highest situation. Without possessing the slightest claim to grandeur of scenery, the green wooded hills and secluded valleys of Lucca are very attractive. The summer vegetation is in- describedly rich and luxuriant, and in the evening every So6 ITALIAN CITIES. slope is aflame with the fire-flies. With a pleasant society of intimate friends around one the summer months may be spent very happily at Lucca Baths, where every English comfort can be obtained, and where there is a resident English chaplain. The drawback is that in the day-time the heat makes it almost impossible to stir out of doors, and with the sunset a heavy dew falls which is often exceedingly Bagni Caldi. productive of rheumatism. Yet, though all through the hot hours of the day the whole world of the Bagni has seemed to be asleep, between four and five the roads through the chestnut woods become alive with pleasure-seekers in pony- carriages or on horseback. One of the favourite excursions is that to the village of Liigliano (about 3 m.) on a steep hill above the Lima. Better worth seeing are the old town of Barga, a drive of about 12 m., and Galicano, an exceedingly picturesque place, with its houses built along the edge of a rift overhung by a succession of bridges, and a walk to a curious hermitage on the mountain-side. More distant still, but accessible in a long summer day, is the Prato Fiorito, a beautiful mountain meadow, enamelled with early flowers. CHAPTER XLVII. PISTOIA AND PRATO. interesting towns of the Middle Ages are too JL little known and visited. Their churches, dating for the most part from the i3th century, are full of interest and beauty. These are chiefly built of black and white marble, and it is curious how, in many ways, these Tuscan cities repeat the characteristics of Florence on a small scale, as Vicenza and Udine repeat Venice. (The railway from Lucca (4 frs. 40 c. ; 3 frs. 65 c. ; 2 frs. 95 c.) passes Altopasico (Stat). Here is a church of 1330, with a very fine campanile. The country becomes filled with luxuriant loveliness before reaching : Peseta (Stat.), (Inn. Posta), a flourishing little town on the river Pescia. The modernized Cathedral retains its tower of 1306. It contains the tomb of Baldassare Turini, by Raf- faelle da Montelupo. The Church of S. Francesco has a pic- ture by Margheritone. Fra Domenico, the friend and fellow- sufierer of Savonarola, was a native of Pescia. Montecatini (Stat.). The Baths here are much frequented from May to September. It was close to this that the Ghi- belline Uguccione della Faggiuola, lord of Pisa and Lucca, completely defeated the Florentines, August 29th, 1315. 508 ITALIAN CITIES. Serravalle (Stat.). Here the valley was guarded by an old castle.) The railway from Bologna, after crossing the Apennine gorges by a variety of airy bridges, and piercing the Apen- nine rocks by more than forty tunnels, descends rapidly upon Pistoia, of which there is a fine view long before reach- ing it. At once, on crossing the mountain barrier, one ex- periences the change to the south to the land of the olive, orange, and cypress ; and the radiant beauty of the Tuscan hills seems to open a fresh existence. No description of them is equal to the words of Hawthorne : " They abound in the picturesque bits of rustic character and manners, so little of which ever comes upon the surface of our life at home. There, for example, are the old women, tending pigs or sheep by the wayside. As they follow the vagrant steps of their charge, these vener- able ladies keep spinning yarn with that elsewhere forgotten contriv- ance, the distaff ; and so wrinkled and stern-looking are they, that you might take them for the Parcse, spinning the threads of human destiny. In contrast with their great-grandmothers are the children, leading goats of shaggy beard, tied by the horns, and letting them browse on branch and shrub. It is the fashion of Italy to add the petty industry of age and childhood to the sum of human toil. To foreign eyes, it is a strange spectacle to see sturdy, sunburnt creatures, in petticoats, but otherwise manlike, toiling side by side with male labourers, in the rudest work of the fields. These sturdy women (if as such we must recognize them) wear the high-crowned, broad-brimmed hat of Tuscan straw, the cus- tomary female head-apparel ; and, as every breeze blows back its breadth of brim, the sunshine constantly adds depth to the brown glow of their cheeks. The elder sisterhood, however, set off their witch-like ugliness to the worst advantage with black felt hats, bequeathed them, one would fancy, by their long-buried husbands. "Another ordinary sight, as sylvan as the above, and more agreeable, is a girl, bearing on her back a huge bundle of green twigs and shrubs, or grass, intermixed with scarlet poppies and blue flowers ; the verdant burden being sometimes of such size as to hide the bearer's figure, and seem a self-moving mass of fragrant bloom and verdure. Oftener, however, the bundle reaches only half-way down the back of the rustic nymph, leaving in sight her well-developed lower limbs, and the crooked THE TUSCAN HILLS. 50 knife, hanging behind her, with which she has been reaping this strange harvest sheaf. A pre-Raphaelite artist might find an admirable subject in one of these Tuscan girls, stepping with a free, erect, and graceful carriage. The miscellaneous herbage and tangled twigs and blossoms of her bundle, crowning her head (while her ruddy, comely face looks out between the hanging side festoons like a larger flower), would give the painter boundless scope for the minute delineation which he loves. "Though mixed up with what is rude and earthlike, there is still a re. mote, dreamlike, Arcadian charm, which is scarcely to be found in the daily toil of other lands. Among the pleasant features of the wayside are always the vines, clambering on fig-trees, or other sturdy trunks ; they wreath themselves, in huge and rich festoons, from one tree to another, suspending clusters of ripening grapes in the interval between. Under such careless mode of culture, the luxuriant vine is a lovelier spectacle than where it produces a more precious liquor, and is there- fore more artificially restrained and trimmed. Nothing can be more picturesque than an old grape vine, with almost a trunk of its own, clinging fast around its supporting tree. "The scene is not less characteristic when you enter some small ancient town. There, besides the peculiarities of present life, you see tokens of the life that has long ago been lived and flung aside. The little town, such as we see it in our mind's eye, will have its gate and its surround- ing walls, so ancient and massive that ages have not sufficed to crumble them away ; but in the lofty upper portion of the gateway, still standing over the empty arch, where there is no longer a gate to shut, there will be a dove-cote, and peaceful doves for the only warders. Pumpkins lie ripening in the open chambers of the structure. Then, as for the town- wall, on the outside an orchard extends peacefully along its base, full, not of apple trees, but of those old humorists with gnarled trunks and twisted boughs, the olives. Houses have been built upon the ramparts, or burrowed out of their ponderous foundation. Even the grey, martial towers crowned with ruined turrets, have been converted into rustic habit- ations, from the windows of which hang ears of Indian corn . At a door, that has been broken through the massive stone-work, where it was meant to be strongest, some contadini are winnowing grain. Small windows, too, are pierced through the whole line of ancient wall, so that it seems a row of dwellings with one continuous front, built in a strange style of needless strength ; but remnants of the old battlements and machicolations are interspersed with the homely chambers and earthen-tiled house-tops ; and all along its extent both grape-vines and running flower-shrul>s are encouraged to clamber and sport over tin- roughnesses of its decay. " Finally.the long grass, intermixed with weeds and wild-flowers, waves Sio ITALIAN CITIES. on the uppermost height of the shattered rampart ; and it is exceed- ingly pleasant in the golden sunshine of the afternoon to behold the warlike precinct so friendly in its old days, and so overgrown with rural peace. In its guard-rooms, its prison-chambers, and scooped out of its ponderous breadth, there are dwellings now-a-days where happy human lives are spent. Human parents and broods of children nestle in them, even as the swallows nestle in the little crevices along the broken summit of the wall. " Passing through the gateway of this same little town, challenged only by those watchful sentinels, the pigeons, we find ourselves in a long narrow street, paved from side to side with flag-stones, in the old Roman fashion. Nothing can exceed the grim ugliness of the houses, most of which are three or four stories high, stone-built, grey, dilapidated, or half covered with plaster in patches, and contiguous all along from end to end of the town. Nature, in the shape of tree, shrub, or grassy side- walk, is as much shut out from the one street of the rustic village as from the heart of any swarming city. The dark and half- ruinous habit- ations, with their small windows, many of which are drearily closed with wooden shutters, are but magnified hovels, piled story upon story, and squalid with the grime that successive ages have left behind them. It would be a hideous scene to contemplate on a rainy day, or when no human life pervaded it. In the summer-noon, however, it possesses vivacity enough to keep itself cheerful ; for all the within-doors of the vil- lage then bubbles over upon the flag-stones, or looks out from the small windows, and from here and there a balcony. Some of the populace are at the butcher's shop ; others are at the fountain, which gushes into a marble bason that resembles an antique sarcophagus. A tailor is sewing before his door, with a young priest seated sociably beside him ; a burly friar goes by with an empty wine-barrel on his head ; children are at play ; women at their own doorsteps mend clothes, embroider, weave hats of Tuscan straw, or twirl the distaff. Many idlers, mean- while, strolling from one group to another, let the warm day slide by in the sweet, interminable task of doing nothing." Hawthorne, " The Marble Faun." Pistoia (Inns. Londra, indifferent and dear ; Inghilterra), said to have been founded by the soldiers of Catiline, rises in a rich plain, its pale-red domes and towers backed by the wooded Apennines. It retains its old walls and fortifications. The still flourishing trade of the gun-smiths here counted the inventor of a Pistol (from Pistoia) among PISTOIA. 511 its members. From its manufacture or its character the proverb calls the town " Pistoia la ferrigna " iron Pistoia, or Pistoia the pitiless. The sights of the place may be visited in four hours, but artists and antiquarians will wish to give a much longer time. The Cathedral and its surroundings, S. Domenico, S. Giovanni, S. Andrea, and S. Francesco, are the most important points. The following arrangement may save time to those who are hurried. On entering the gates, we should turn to the right down the Corso. Here, on the right, is the great Gothic brick Church of S. Domenico, dating from 1380. One of the picturesque nuns in the adjoining convent will open the doors. It contains : Right, 2nd Altar. Fra Bartolommeo. Madonna a fresco. Beyond yd Altar. Tomb of the Beato Lorenzo Pisano. Beyond $th Altar. Tomb of a bishop, under a Gothic canopy the Beato Andrea. Right Transept, Cappella Rospigl'wsi. Jacopo da Empoli. A Miracle of S. Carlo Borromeo. Chapel right of choir. Fra Paolino, 1539. Adoration of the Magi. Choir. Ghirlandajo. S. Sebastian. Left (over door). Bernardo Rossellini, 1464. Tomb of Filippo Lazzari, a famous lawyer. Left, 2nd Altar. Fra Paolino. The Crucifixion, with the Madonna, S. John, and S. Thomas Aquinas. The street in front of this church leads, in a minute, to the picturesque Church of S. Giovanni Evangelista (also called Fuortivitas) in the Via Cavour. It has a facade of 1 1 66, by Gruamonte, whose name is inscribed on the archi- trave of the side door, which is decorated with a curious relief of the Last Supper. It contains : Right. A Pulpit of 1270 of the school of Niccol6 Pisano, probably by Fra Guglielmo a" Agnello. It is too crowded with figures for effect, but rests on noble lions. Its reliefs represent : East, the Annunciation, 512 ITALIAN CITIES. the Visitation, and the Nativity : North, the Washing of the Feet, the Crucifixion, the Deposition, and the Giving of the Keys to Peter : West, the Ascension, the Amazement of the Apostles, the Pentecost, and the Assumption. Right. Delia Robbia. The Salutation a noble group. *Left. Giovanni Pisano, 1302. Holy Water Bason, borne by the Christian Virtues very quaint. Returning to the Corso, on the left is the Church of S. Paolo, with a fagade of 1136, built of serpentine and grey stone (recently restored) and surmounted by a beautiful open gallery of Gothic arches. The lofty portal, attributed to Giovanni Pisano, contains a statue of S. Paul adored by angels, by Magister Jacobus, 1302. Round the basement of the church are arches containing monuments. It con- tains : High Altar. Fra Paulino. Virgin and Saints. Proceeding, and turning a little to the left, we find the Church of S. Pietro Maggiore, with a beautiful front with rich arcades of striped marbles. Over the door is the Delivery of the Keys to S. Peter by Maestro Buono. A little further (right) is the Church of S. Bartolommeo. The west door, decorated with a relief of the Mission of the Apostles, has an inscription, saying that it is due to Rudol- phimts, 1167. The interior is lofty, with very narrow aisles separated from the nave by tall columns with rich capitals. On the right is a Pulpit by Guido da Como, 1250. It is supported by three columns, that in the centre resting on a quaint human figure, the others on a lion and lioness. The street in front of S. Pietro leads into the Via dello Spedale, where (right) is the interesting Spedale del Ceppo, founded 1218. Its beautiful frieze is by Giovanni, Luca, PALAZZO DEL COMUNE. 513 and Girolamo delta Robbia, 1535. It portrays the " Temporal Works of Mercy," clothing the naked, receiving strangers, nursing the sick, visiting prisoners, burying the dead, feeding the hungry, and comforting the mourners. The portico was built in 1514. " The frieze represents the Seven Acts of Mercy, and cost Andrea and his son Luca II. eleven years of labour. They spent upon it all the re- sources of their art, and by an unsparing use of colour produced a brilliant, if not a perfectly tasteful effect When closely examined, the compositions show careful observation of common nature ; as for example, in that representing the Visitation of the Sick the artist evidently studied the effects of illness upon some of the sufferers who lay in the hospital which he was employed to decorate, and then reproduced in his work what he had seen, without attempting to idealize. " Perkins 1 Tuscan Sculptors. Hence, by the Ripa della Comunita, we may ascend to the Piazza Maggiore, the centre of life at Pistoia, containing a modern statue of the good Bishop Niccolb Fortiguerra, and surrounded by ancient buildings. One side is occupied by the Cathedral and Baptistery. On the right is the Palazzo del Comune, on the left the Palazzo Pretorio. The Palazzo del Comune is a noble Gothic building of 1294 1385. On the front are a mace, with a pine-apple top, and a brazen head, attributed to Grandonio, the legend- ary hero of Pistoia, but probably set up to keep alive a contempt for the memory of Filippo Tedici, who betrayed Pistoia to Castruccio Castracane in 1325. The keys above it are supposed to be those of the prisons whose inmates were released on the intercession of Bishop Andrea Franchi in 1399. The wrought-iron balconies are very beautiful. In the Sala degli Avocati are a fresco and verses in honour of Grandonio. Two beautiful Ambones, preserved in another chamber, were found, during restorations, beneath the pavement of the cathedral. VOL. ii. 33 5 H ITALIAN CITIES. Amongst the shields of arms which hang here, those of the Cancellieri will recall the terrible part which Pistoia played in Florentine history ; for it was here that the Guelph party first became broken up into the Bianchi and Neri, divisions which so profoundly influenced the destinies of the republic. "Les historians contemporains s'accordent a attribuer aux habitants de Pistoia un caractere violent. L'origine de la querelle des blancs et des noirs offre des scenes d'une atrocite qui tranche meme sur le fond des moeurs farouches de 1'Italie au moyen age. Un jeune homme, appartenant aux cancellieri blancs, ayant insulte un cancelliere noir, celui-ci attaqua, le soir du meme jour, le frere de 1'agresseur, le blessa au visage et lui abattit la main. Le pere du coupable envoya son fils au pere du blesse, nomine Galfredo, pour traiter d'une satisfaction ; mais Galfredo blessa le jeune homme au visage, lui coupa la main sur une mangeoire de cheval, et le renvoya ainsi a son pere." Amplre. But Pistoia was chiefly Ghibelline " Ah Pistoia, Pistoia, che non stanzi D'incenerarti, si che piii non duri, Poi che'n mal far lo seme tuo avanzi ! " Dante, Inf. xxv. lo. The Palazzo Pretoria, built 1367 1377, has a picturesque court-yard with frescoed vaulting and walls hung with shields of podestas. On the left is a great stone table and the seat of judgment, with the inscription : ' ' Hie locus odit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat, Nequitiam, leges, crimina, jura, probos." The Cathedral of S. Jacopo was restored in 1240 by Niccolb Pisano. The noble four-sided campanile is sur- rounded near the top by three tiers of columns. The atrium is of 131 1. Over the central door is a Virgin and Child with angels by Andrea della Robbia ; over the side door, frescoes by Balducci and Giovanni Christiani, 1369. The interior is miserably modernized : it contains : CATHEDRAL OF PISTOIA. 515 Right. Statue of Leo XI. Then the curious tomb 'of Cino da Pistoia, ob. 1336. "The Poet Guittone Sinibaldi is better known as Messer Cino, the friend of Dante, who like him was driven into exile, and forced, as he says in one of his sonnets, a vagar per lo mondo. His monument consists of a Gothic canopy supported upon twisted columns, under which Messer Cino sits, clad in professional robes, in- structing several of his disciples, among whom appears his favourite pupil, Bartolo di Sassoferrato, and the lady of his love, Selvaggia Ver- giolesi. In the bas-relief on the front of the sarcophagus, upon which this group is placed, Messer Cino is again represented in the midst of his scholars, who are formally ranged on each side of him, in the style com- mon to all professional monuments of the time. As there is but little life in any of the figures, and little skill in grouping, it interests us less on account of its artistic merit, than as the resting-place of the man who was looked upon by Dante as among those who brought Italian poetry to perfection, and to whom Petrarch acknowledged great obliga- tions in regard to the formation of his own exquisite style. Born at Pistoia in the year 1272, this eminent man was a scholar of the gram- marian Francesco da Colle, and studied jurisprudence under Dino da Mugello at Bologna. Having warmly espoused the cause of the Bianchi, he was obliged to follow his chief, Filippo Vergiolesi, when the Neri expelled the Bianchi from the city ; but as he was deeply enamoured of Filippi's daughter, the beautiful Selvaggia, he must have found this exile deprived of its bitterness until death snatched her away, and left him to seek consolation in singing her praises in sonnets, as Dante sang those of Beatrice, Petrarch those of Laura, and Boccaccio those of Fiam- metta. After the death of Selvaggia, he went to study in the university of Paris, and on his return, revisited Sambuco, a town on the confines of Lombardy, to weep over the grave of her, ' che viva o morta gli dovea tor pace ? He then settled at Bologna, where he received a crown of laurel for his learned commentaries on the Codex of Justinian. Twenty- two years later, he returned to Pistoia, and soon after died, regretted by his fellow-citizens, who sought by posthumous honours to make amends for the long wanderings to which their factious quarrels had condemned him." Perkins' Tuscan Sculptors. This was the Cino to whom Petrarch addressed the sonnet : " Piangete, Donne, e con voi pianga Amore, Piangete Amanti per ciascun paese ; Poi che morto e colui che tutto intese 5i6 ITALIAN CITIES. In farvi, mentre visse al mondo, onore. lo per me prego il mio acerbo dolor. Non sian da lui le lagrime contese, E mi sia di sospir tanto cortese Quanto bisogna a disfogare il core. Piangan le rime ancor, piangano i versi, Perche '1 nostro amoroso Messer Cino Novellamente s' e da noi partito. Pianga Pistoia, e i cittadini perversi, Che perdut" hanno si dolce vicino, E rallegrissi '1 cielo, ov' egli e gito." The Sacristy contains an ancient sarcophagus which long held the relics of S. Felix, and has several curious specimens of goldsmiths' work. The Capptlla di S. Jacopo, right of the Tribune, contains a magni- ficent silver altar and shrine of the I4th century. The subjects relating to the story of S. James are by Lionardo Florentine, 1366 1371 ; those from the Old Testament history by Piero di San Lionardo 1355 1364 ; the paliotto or centre, representing the twelve apostles and scenes from the New Testament, by Andrea di Jacopo Ognabene de Pistoja, 1316, though several statues were added long afterwards by Brunelleschi, Nofri di Buto, and Atto di Pietro Braccini. Chapel left of Tribune. Lorenzo di Credi. Madonna, with SS. John Baptist and Nicholas a very lovely picture. Left of Entrance. Tomb of Cardinal Niccol6 Fortiguerra by Andrea del Verrochio, 1474. Between the doors. The Font, with reliefs by Andrea Ferrucci da Fiesole. " In four reliefs the history of S. John Baptist is delineated ; the scene of his birth exhibits unusual depth of feeling, also his preaching, the ban- quet of Herod, and the vivid scene of his execution. In the arched com- partment above, the Baptism of Christ is represented almost life-size in very strong relief and exhibits somewhat of Perugino's purest feeling. Very noble is the figure of Christ, who, with bent head, humbly crosses his arms on his breast ; while the beautiful adoring angels, standing and kneeling, recall the works of Lorenzo di CredL " Lubke. Opposite the cathedral is the eight-sided Gothic Baptistery, begun 1339 by Maestro Cellino di Nese from designs of Andrea Pisano. It is the only Baptistery built after the in- troduction of pointed architecture, when they were no longer needed, parish priests being then allowed to baptize. S. ANDREA, S. FRANCESCO. 517 The interior is unimportant. Close to the door is a beautiful little outside pulpit under a trefoil arch. Behind the side of the piazza facing the cathedral is the Church of S. Salvatore, which dates from 1270. The figures of S. Michael and King David guard the entrance. The name of a neighbouring street recalls a tradition that Catiline is buried here. In the street of the same name is the curious Church ofS. Andrea. It has a very rich front of 1 166 by Gruamontc and his brother Adeodato, but the effect is spoilt by a later attic gallery. Over the door is a statue of S. Andrew between lions, and below is a curious relief of the Coming of the Magi, who are represented twice riding to Herod, walking to the Virgin. On the pillar on the right is a hideous black head, said to be one of those stuck up to commemorate the treason of Tedici. The splendid Pulpit is by Giovanni Pisano, 1298 1301. It rests on seven red marble columns supported by beasts. The reliefs represent, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Massacre of the Innocents, the Crucifixion, and the last Judgment. There are noble figures at the angles. It bears the inscription : " Sculpsit Joannes qui res non egit inanes Nicoli natus sensia (scientia) meliore beatus Quern genuit Pisa doctum per omnia visa." Beyond this, in the great square called the Prato, is the fine Gothic Church of S. Francesco (entered through the cloister), once covered all over with frescoes, of which only some portions are now unclothed by whitewash. Still the church is very interesting, and contains : Right, 4/A Altar (Cappella Arrigfu). Poffi. The Presentation in the Temple. 5i8 ITALIAN CITIES. Sacristy (Cappelladi S. Ludovico}. Donna Lippa di Lapo, c. 1380. The Crucifixion, with the Nativity and the Deposition at the sides. The other frescoes are by Giovanni di Bartolommeo Christiana. Through this is : The Chapter House. A beautiful vaulted room opening by Gothic arches of stone and black marble into the cloister. The frescoes are of the I5th century. On the wall is the Stem of Jesse between the Trans- figuration and the Finding of the Cross. On the ceiling are, the Resur- rection ; S. Francis on the night of the Nativity ; the Death of S. Francis ; S. Francis in glory, In the centre of the Nave is the tomb of an Englishman, " Thomas de Weston, Doctor Legum, 1408. " Left, qth Altar. Bronzino. Resurrection of Lazarus. yd Altar. Matteo Rossdli. Marriage of Cana. 1st Altar. Eliz. Sirani. Virgin and Child, with SS. Francis and Catherine. '. Left of Entrance. Aurelio Lomi. Flight into Egypt the Holy Family, with a crowd of angels surrounding them. In returning to the piazza we may visit (conspicuous by its great dome) S. Maria deir Umilta, built in 1509 by Ven- tura Vitoni da Pistoia. The church is octangular with a very handsome atrium, the pictures are indifferent. In history, Pistoia is chiefly connected with the defeat of the followers of Catiline in 62 B.C. Shut in between the troops of Antony and of Metellus Celer, they fought with the utmost valour. " The place which each man had occu- pied in life, he covered with his body in death," and Catiline himself fell fighting in the thick of the evening. "They found Catiline at the foot of the mountains, and he had his army and his people in that place where is now the city of Pestoire. There was Catiline conquered in battle, and he and his soldiers were slain ; also a great part of the Romans were killed, and on account of the pestilence of that great slaughter, the city was called Pestoire." Brunetto Latini Tresor, I. i. 37. (The Maria Antonia railway from Pistoia to Florence runs near the foot of the Apennines, through a most luxuriant and CATHEDRAL OF PRATO. 519 beautiful plain, filled with fruit-trees growing out of luxuriant corn-fields, while vines cling in garlands from tree to tree, and every wall and bank is hung with water-melons and pumpkins. " Paysage toscan, agreable et noble. Les bles en herbe sont eblouis- sants de fraicheur ; au-dessus d'eux s'ordonnent les files d'ormeaux charges de vignes, bordant la rigole qui les arrose. Le campagne est un verger que les eaux amenagees viennent fertiliser. On voit ces eaux venir abondamment des montagnes et se tordre bleues et limpides sur leur lit trop large de cailloux roules. Partout des traces de prosperite. Le versant des montagnes est pique de mille petits points blancs ; elles sont la chacune dans son bouquet de chataigniers, d'oliviers et de pins. On Toil des marques de goflt, de bien-etre dans celles qu'on apercjoit en pas- sant ; les fermes elles-memes ont un portique au rez-de-chaussee ou au premier etage pour prendre le frais le soir. Tout produit ; la culture monte haut dans la montagne, et se continue 93 et la par la foret primi- tive. L'homme n'a point reduit la terre a un squelette decharne ; il lui a conservi ou renouvele son vetement de verdure. Quand le train s'e"loigne, ces etages de terrains chacun avec sa culture et sa teinte, plus loin la bordure pale et vaporeuse des montagnes, entourent la plaine comme d'une guirlande. L'effet n'est point celui d'une beaute gran- diose, mais harmonieuse et mesuree." Taint. Prato (Inns. Locanda del Giardino ; Locanda del Con- trutci) is a charming old thirteenth-century town on the banks of the torrent Bisnzio. The beautiful little Cathedral, originally built in the form of a Roman basilica in the 1 2th century, was enlarged c. 1320 under Giovanni Pisano, who added its cruciform shape. It is inlaid with black and green serpentine from Mont- ferrato, alternating with white marble. The campanile was built in 1340 by Niccolb di Cecco. At one comer of the west front projects the pulpit of Donatella of 1434, whence the " Sacra Cintola " is exhibited the girdle of the Virgin, said to have been brought back from Palestine in 1141 by 520 ITALIAN CITIES. Michele dei Dagomari. In its seven panels are beautiful sculptures of dancing children. "The troop of merry children sculptured upon it who, entwined like vine-tendrils, go dancing and singing on their way, are varied with admirable effect by the deep and angular edge-cuttings of those in the foreground, which mark clear shadows upon the flatter relief of the figures behind them, and render their outlines distinct even at a con- siderable distance. With a view to protect them from injury, their surfaces are kept broad and flat throughout, so that those parts of the figures which are in the highest relief do not protrude beyond the cornice, or the pilasters which divide the pulpit." Perkins' Tuscan Sculptors. At Prato. In the lunette over the principal entrance is the Virgin between S. Stephen and S. Laurence, the guardian saints of CATHEDRAL OF PRATO. 521 the church, by Andrea della Robbia (14371528), the nephew and scholar of Luca. " On the left of the entrance is the Cappella della Sacra Cintola, built to preserve the legendary girdle of the Virgin, after an attempt to steal it, in order to sell it at Florence, had been made by a thief, who was put to a cruel death. With its rich colouring, its black marble pillars, its delicate screen and swinging lamps, and the groups of people ever kneeling round it, this chapel is a capital subject for an artist. It is separated from the nave by a curious wrought-iron screen from designs of Fil. Brunelleschi. The little statue of the Madonna over the altar is by Gitrv. Pisano. The walls are covered with frescoes by Agnolo Gaddi, c - '395 which tell the story of the Cintola : Left Wall. The History of the Virgin from the Rejection of Joa- chim to the Nativity. End Wall. The Assumption of the Virgin, who loosens her girdle as she ascends. S. Thomas kneels to receive it. Right Wall. S. Thomas, going as a missionary to the east, entrusts the girdle to a disciple. A thousand years after, the girdle is bestowed as a dowry upon the daughter of a Greek priest at Jerusalem (in whose family it had been kept) upon her marriage with Michele Dagomari of Prato who had joined the crusade of 1096. Michele and his bride have a prosperous voyage to Pisa, the casket containing the girdle being placed at the foot of the mast of the vessel. Being arrived at home, Michele, from a desire the better to guard the girdle, placed it under his bed, and the angels lifted him while he slept to the bare floor, to reprove such irreverence. On his death-bed Michele bequeaths the girdle to Bishop Uberto. 44 It appears to me that the picture reflects a portion of the poetry it con- tains. This love beyond the sea, blended with the chivalrous adventures of a crusade this precious relic, given in dowry to a poor girl the devotion of the young couple to this revered pledge of their happiness their clandestine departure their prosperous voyage, accompanied by dolphins, who form their escort on the surface of the water their arrival at Prato, the repeated miracles, which, together with a mortal malady, draw at length from the lips of the dying man a public declara- tion, in consequence of which the holy girdle was deposited in the cathedral, all this mixture of romantic passion and naive piety effaces for me the technical imperfections of the work." Rio. There is a rival girdle at Tortosa in Spain, brought down from heaven in 1178. 522 ITALIAN CITIES. Over the entrance, the story of the gift of the girdle is told in a picture by Rudolfo Ghirlandajo. Beyond the 4th pillar on the left, stands the circular pulpit. The reliefs of the Assumption of the Virgin and Martyrdom of S. Stephen are by Rossellino (i473)> the rest by Mino da Fiesole. Over the door of the Sacristy is a monument by Vuenzio Danti, 1566, to Carlo de' Medici, a natural son of Cosimo Pater Patriae, who was Dean of this Cathedral. In the choir are a series of frescoes, amongst the most important works of Filippo Lippi, begun in 1456, for the most part illustrative of the lives of S. Stephen and S. J. Baptist. The Via dei Sarti leads from the Cathedral to a small piazza, containing the picturesque Palazzo del Pretoria of 1284. In the opposite Palazzo Comunale (centre door on left) is a small Picture Gallery, chiefly collected from sup- pressed convents in Prato. It contains : 1. Pacino di Buonaguida, Madonna and Saints. 2. Taddeo Gaddi (a gradino). The Assumption and the Story of the Cintola. 4. Piero di Miniato da Pistoia (a gradino) . The Story of S. Matthew. 9. Leonardo Mascagni da Prato, c. 1620. The Calling of S. Mat- thew from the Convent of S. Matteo. 11. Filippo Lippi. The Gift of the Cintola. On the right SS. Gre- gorio and Margherita present a Franciscan nun ; on the left are S. Luigi Vescovo and the angel Raphael with Tobias. 12. Id. The Nativity. 13. Neri di Bicci. Madonna and Child, SS. Roch, Sebastian, Dominic, and Leonard from S. Domenico. 14. Andrea di Giusto. Virgin and Child with Saints. 19. Andrea di Firenze. Virgin and Child with Saints. 20. Andrea del Castagno. Crucifixion. 21. Filippo Lippi. Madonna and Child, with SS. John Baptist and Stephen. Below, Francesco di Marco Datini presents one ot the Buonuomini of the hospital. 23. Angiolo Allori. Portrait of Baldo Macini of Prato. 35. Francesco Morandini (Poppi). S. Raphael and Tobias. Hence the Via del Apianato leads to the Church of S. Francesco with a striped marble front. ^ Le^ho APPROACH TO FLORENCE. 523 The adjoining Refectory has interesting frescoes by Niccoib di Piero Gerini (1390). Near this (left) is the Church of La Madonna delle Careen, a fine Greek cross with a central cupola, built 1485 91 from designs of Giuliano di San Gallo. At the end of the Via S. Margherita is a beautiful Madonna of F. Filippo Lippi, of 1498. It is a drive of about 5 miles from Prato to the Castle of Monte Murlo in the Apennines, once celebrated in Floren- tine history, belonging to the Conte della Gherardesca, a descendant of Ugolino. It is chiefly of the thirteenth cen- tury. (After the train leaves Prato the country becomes richer and lovelier at every step. At Sesto, we pass near the villa and china manufactory of the Marchese Ginori ; at Castello, beneath the beautiful royal villa of La Petraja (see Drives from Florence), and then, we enter " The city of Lilies," and glide into the Railway Station just behind the great church of S. Maria Novella.) END OF VOL. II. INDEX. A. Abano, i. 359 Agordo, i. 372 Alassio, i. 20 Albaro, i. 57 Albenga, i. 21 Albizzola, i. 26 Alessandria, ii. 185 Altopasico, ii. 507 Alzano Maggiore, i. 227 Ambrogiana, villa of, iii. 249 Ancona, ii. 390 400 Arch of Trajan, 393 Cathedral, 395 Churches S. Agostino, 398 S. Ciriaco, 395 S. Francesco dell' Ospedale, 399 S. Maria della Misericordia, 398 S. Maria Piazza, 398 Loggia dei Mercanti, 398 Palazzo del Comune, 400 Anghiari, iii. 411 Angrogna, i. 105 Antelao, the, i. 373 Aosta, i. 109 Arcola, i. 68 Arezzo, iii. 322 331 Amphitheatre, 331 Cathedral, 324 Churches S. Annunziata, 331 Badia, La, 329 S. Francesco, 327 S. Maria della Pieve, 323 Confraternita della Misericordia, 326 Palazzo Pubhlico, 323 Arezzo continued. Piazza Grande, 325 Arona, i. 206 Arqua, i. 362 Asciano, iii. 314 Assisi, iii. 370 401 Cathedral, 380 Churches S. Antonio, 382 S. Chiara, 381 Chiesa Nuova, 380 S. Damiano, 396 S. Francesco, 384 S. Francesco delle Carcere, 394 S. Maria degli Angeli, 373 Rio Torto, 399 S. Rufino, 380 Porziuncula, La, 375 Temple of Minerva, 379 Avellana, ii. 439 Avenza, i. 70 Avigliana, i. 89 B. Badia di Settimo, iii. 214 Bagnacavallo, ii. 296 Bagni di Lucca, ii. 505 Barga, ii. 506 Bassano, i. 367 Battaglia, i. 361 Baveno, i. 210 Belcaro, castle of, iii. 294 Belgirate, i. 207 Bellaggio, i. 195 Bellosguardo, iii. 211 Belluno, i. 370 Bergamo, i. 216 Accademia, 225 Cappella Colleoni, 224 INDEX. Bergamo con tin tied. Cathedral, 224 Churches S. Agostino, 224 S. Andrea, 227 S. Bartolommeo, 227 S. Bernardino, 227 S. Chiara. 217 S. Grata, 224 S. Maria Maggiore, 219 S. Spirito, 226 S. Tommaso in Limine, 227 Bergeggi. i. 23 Bevagna, iii. 416 Bibbiena, iii. 228 Biella, i. 114 Blevio, i. 193 Bobbi, i. 105 Bobbio, ii. 194 Bologna, ii. 246 294 Accademia delle Belle Arti, 268 Antico Archiginnasio, 257 Campo Santo, 294 Casa Galvani. 287 Lambertini, 265 Rossini, 276 Cathedral, 258 Certosa, the, 294 Churches S. Annunziata, 285 S. Bartolommeo di P. Rave- gnata, 261 S. Bartolommeo di Reno, 288 S. Benedetto, 289 S. Caterina Vigri, 285 cilia, 284 S. Cristina, 277 S. Domenico, 281 S. Francesco, 287 S. Giacomo Maggipre, 263 S. Giorgio, 289 S. Giovanni in Monte, 277 S. Gregorio. 289 S. Lucia. 280 La Madonna di S. Luca, 293
  • . 1 >'>menico. 251 S. Kiustino Maggiore, 251 S. Francesco, 251 S. Giovanni Evangelista, 252 34 INDEX. Brescia continued. S. Giulia, 247 Madonna delle Grazie, 250 delle Miracoli, 250 S Maria Calchera, 247 S. Nazzaro e Celso, 250 S. Pietro in Oliveto, 253 Museo Civico, 247 Patrio, 245 Palazzo del Municipio, 243 Torre del Orologio, 243 della Palata, 251 Brianza, the, i. 190 Brienno, i. 194 Broni, ii. 186 Buonconvento, iii. 299 Busseto, ii. 204 C. Cadenabbia, i. 195 Cagli, ii. 433 Caldiero, i. 321 Camaldoli, convent of, iii. 242 Camerino, ii. 418 Camerlata, i. 183 Camogli, i. 58 Campaldino, iii. 223 Campi, School of the, i. 231 Campione, i. 258 Campo Reggiano, iii. 403 Campo Rosso, i. 8 Caprese, iii. 412 Caprile, i. 372 Careggi, villa of, iii. 219 Carmagnola, i. 93 Carrara, i. 70 Carrara di S. Stefano, i. 360 Casale, i. 117 Cascina, iii. 251 Casebruciate, ii. 392 Casentino, the, iii. 226 Castagnolo, iii. 215 Casteggio, ii. 186 Castel Arquato, ii. 204 Castel Catajo, i. 360 Castelfidardo, ii. 401 Castel Franco, i. 370 Castel Guelfo, ii. 206 Castellaro, i. 18 Castello, iii. 219 Castelluzzo, i. 103 Castel Secco, iii. 331 Castiglione, i. 210 Castiglione Fiorentino, iii. 332 Castiglione d'Olona, i. 204 Cavallermaggiore, i. 94 Centa, river, i. 22 Cernobbio, i. 193 Cerreto-Guidi, iii. 250 Certaldo, iii. 251 Certosa, the, i. 166 of the Val d'Emo, iii. 208 Cervaro, i. 60 Cervi, i. 20 C'esena, ii. 363 Cesenatico, ii. 350 Chatillon, i. 109 Chiana, Val di, iii. 321 Chiaravalle, i. 163 Chiavari, i. 61 Chiavenna, i. 197 Chioggia, ii. 141 Chivasso, i. 117 Chiusi, iii. 319 Cittadella, i. 370 Citta di Castello, iii. 403 Citta del Pieve, iii. 321 Civitella Raniari, iii. 403 Cogoletto, i. 27 Colico, i. 197 Como, i. 184 Como, lake of, i. 192 Cortina d' Ampezzo, i. 375 Cortona, iii. 333 338 Cathedral, 337 Churches S. Agostino, 338 S. Domenico, 334 S. Margherita, 335 S. Niccol6, 335 Fortezza, 336 Etruscan Museum, 336 Cospaglia, Republic of, iii. 407 Courmayeur, i. in Cremona, i. 230 240 Baptistery, 237 Campo Santo, 238 Castle, 240 Cathedral, 232 Churches S. Abbondio, 233 S. Agata, 232 S. Agostino, 232 S. Giacomo in Breda, 232 S. Luca, 232 S. Margherita, 232 S. Nazzaro, 233 S. Pelagia, 233 S. Pietro al Po, 233 S. Sigismondo, 239 Palazzo Maggi, 232 INDEX. Cremona continued. Palazzo Pubblico, 238 Torrazzo, 237 Cuneo, i. 95 Custozza, i. 303 D. Desenzano, i. 255 Diano Marina, i. 20 Dolceacqua, i. 9 Domo d'Ossola, i. 210 Dongo, i- 197 Donnaz, i. 108 E. Empoli, iii. 249 Krba. i. 190 Este, i 361 Euganean Hills, i. 358 F. Faenza, ii. 353 Fano, ii. 387390 Feltre, i. 370 Fermo, ii. 414 Fiesole, iii. 193 Finale Marina, i. 23 Fiorenzuola, ii. 204 Florence, iii. i 188. Accademia delta Crusca, 18 delle Belle Arti, 131 Filannonica, So del Pimento, 18 Badia, La, 54 Baptistery, 101 Bargello, 57 Bigallo, 91 Borgo dei Greci, 69 S. A|K)stoli, 81 dei Pinti, 140 S. lacopo, 181 Bridges (Ponte) Carraja, 161 S. Trinita. 161 Vecchio, 164 alle Grazie, 168 Campanile of Giotto, 94 Canto delle Colonnine, 68 Cantonata dei Pazzi, 52 Cascine, (he, 160 Cathedral. 95 Collcgio Eugeniano, 105 Florence continued. Cemeteries Florentine, at S. Miniato. 201 Jewish, 1 88 Protestant, 142 Churches S. Ambrogio, 143 S. Annunziata, 138 S. Apostoli, 81 S. Apollonia, 114 La Badia, 55 S. Biagio, 82 Calze, le, 184 S. Carlo Borromeo, 87 Carmine, the, 185 S. Croce, 69 S. Elisabetta, 184 S. Firenze, 67 S. Frediano, 188 S. Gaetano, 149 S. Giovanni Battista, 101 S. Giovannino, 117 S. Jacopo sopr' Arno, 181 S. Leonardo in Arcetri, 42 S. Lorenzo, 108 S. Lucia, 1 60 S. Maddalena dei Pazzi, 141 S. Marco, 129 S. Maria in Campidoglio, 89 dei Fiore, 95 Maggiore, 107 Nipaticosa, 88 Novella, 149 sopr' Arno, 165 S. Margherita dei Ricci, 50 S. Martino, 49 S. Niccol6, 169 Ogni Santi, 161 Or S. Michele, 83 S. Piero Buonconsiglio, 89 Scheraggio, 42 S. Pietro Maggiore, 54 S. Salvador, 161 S. Simone, 80 S. Spirit- 1, 182 S. Stefhno, 82 S. Trinita, 15 Convents S. Apollonia, 114 Carmine, 185 S. Croce, 78 Maratte, 79 S. Maddalena dei Pazzi. 141 S. Marco, 117 S. Maria degli Angeli, 140 S. Maria Novella, 159 INDEX. Florence continued. S. Onofrio, 158 Croce al Trebbio, 149 Egyptian Museum, 159 Fortezza di S. Giorgio, 169 Galleries Uffizi, 19 Feroni, 34 Pitti, 172 Gardens Boboli, 181 Ruccellai, 160 Torregiani, 184 Gates (Porta) S. Frediano, 188 S. Gallo, 114 S. Giorgio, 169 S. Niccolo, 169 S. Romana, 185 Hospitals (Ospedale) Innocenti, 138 S. Maria Nuova, 144 della Scala, 159 S. Matteo, 151 Misericordia, 92 Houses (Case) of Alfieri, 17 S. Antonino, 170 Corso Donati, 54 Dante, 49 Folco Portinari, 50 Fra Bartolommeo, 184 Ghiberti, 144 Guidi, 170 Mariotto Albertinelli, 49 Michael Angelo, 80 Niccol6 Soderini, 182 S. Zenobio, 82 Libraries Magliabecchian, 18 Marucelliana, 117 Nazionale, 18 Palatine, 18 Riccardi, 117 Marzocco, the, 43 Mercato Nuovo, 82 Vecchio, 89 Palaces (Palazzo) Alessandri, 53 Antinori, 149 Arte di Lana, 87 Barbadori, 181 Barberini, 69 Borgherini, 81 Canigiani, 168 Capponi, 140 Florence con tin ued. della Cavajola, 89 Cento Finestre, 107 Cerchi, 49 Cocchi, 69 Conte Bardi, 80 Corsini, 162 dei Galli, 53 Gondi, 67 Guadagni, 184 Guicciardini, 171 Martelli, 117 della Mercanzia, 36 Montalvo, 53 del Municipio, 81 Nonfinito, 52 Orlandini, 107 Pandolnni, 114 Pitti, 171 Quaratesi, 52 Riccardi, 115 Ridolfi, 171 Rinuccini, 182 Salviati, 50 Seristori, 69 Spini, 17 Strozzi, 146 Stufa, 69 Torrigiani, 168 del Turco, 81 Uffizi, 1 8 Uguccione, 36 Valori, 54 Vecchio, 42 Velluti Zuti, 140 Passage of the Ponte Vecchio, 35 Piazza della Annunziata, 137 d'Azeglio, 143 del Carmine, 188 dei Castellani, 68 S. Croce, 69 del Duomo, 104 S. Felicita, 169 S. Firenze, 67 dei Giudici, 68 del Grano, 68 dell Indipendenza, 158 Manin, 161 S. Maria Novella, 149 S. Miniato tra due Torre, 90 de Renai, 169 della Signoria, 35 S. Spirito, 184 S. Trinita, 15 IADEX. Florence continued. Streets (Via) Albizzi, 52 Allegri, 79 S. Agostino, 184 dei Bardi, 165 Calimala, 91 Calzaioli, 83 Cerretani, 149 Condotta. 48 S. Egidio, 144 dei Fibbiai, 141 del Fosso, So S. Gallo, 114 dei Ginori, 114 Gitaldi, 80 Ghibellina, 79 Guicciardini, 169 Maggio, 170 dei Malcontenti, 78 della Mandorla, 140 Marsigli, 170 della Murta, 104 Nazionale, 158 dei Oricellari, 159 Parione, 163 Pelliceria, 91 della Pergola, 141 dei Pinti. 141 Por S. Maria, 82 Porta Rossa, 83 S. Sebastiano, 141 Seragli, 184 ~virito. 183 Tornabuoni, 146 dei Vecchietii, 89 Theatre of the Pagliano, 80 Towers (Torre) dei Amidei, 82 Barbadore, 113 Bocca di Ferro, 49 dei Donati, 50 S. /x-nobio, 8a Foligno, iii. 415 Forli. ii. 356363 Mond, 357 Citadel, 362 Churches S. (iirolnmo, 358 S. Mercuriale, 357 The Srrvi, 359 Pinacoteca. 359 Forlimpopoli, ii. 363 Fort Rani, i. 108 Fratta, iii. 403 Furlo, pass of the, ii. 432 G. Galicano, ii. 506 Gallinara, island of, i. 21 Garda, i. 260 Garda, lake of, i. 256 Gargnano, i. 258 Garlanda, i. 22 Genoa, i. 29 56 Acqua sola, promenade of, 47 Albergo dei Poveri, 47 Banco di S. Giorgio, 36 Campo Santo, 57 Cathedral, 37 Churches S. Agostino, 54 S. Ambrogio, 42 S. Annunziata, 46 S. Donato, 54 S. Giacomo, 53 S. Giovanni di Pr, 51 S. Maria di Carignano, 54 S. Maria di Castello, 53 S. Matteo, 39 S. Siro, 46 S. Stefano, 56 House of Andrea Doria, 39 Loggia dei Banchi, 35 Piazza. Acqua Verde, 50 Bianchi, 35 Carlo Felice, 42 Embriaci, 53 Pontoria, 54 Ponte di Carignano, 54 Porta di S. Andrea, 56 S. Tommaso. 51 Porto Franco, 36 Stracla degli Orefici, 35 Gombo, the, ii. 479 Gravedona, i. 197 Gravellona, i. 210 Gressoney S. Jean, i. 215 Gubbio, ii. 434438 Guesella, the, i. 370 I. Idro, lake of, i. 260 II Deserto, i. 27 Imola, ii. 29'' Irnpmneta, iii. 210 Inciso, i. 190 Intra, i. 211 Iseo, lake of, i. 228 INDEX. Isola Bella, i. 207 Comaccina, i. 194 dei Frati, i. 257 S. Giulio, i. 213 Madre, i. 209 dei Pescatore, i. 209 Irrea, i. 108 La Cattolica, ii. 385 Civetta, i. 372 Chiusa, i. 91 Falterona, iii. 241 Penna, iii. 241 Tour, i. 103 Vemia, iii. 229 Verruca, ii. 480 Lampedusa, i. 18 Laveno, i. 211 Lecco, i. 195 Leghorn, ii. 481 I^egnago, i. 366 Lerici, i. 66 Levanto, i. 63 Limone, i. 258 Ix>ano, i. 22 Locarno, i. 212 Lonigo, i. 321 Loreto, ii. 402 411 Lucca, ii. 491 504 Cathedral, 492 Churches S. Cristoforo, 504 S. Francesco, 497 S. Frediano, 498 S. Giovanni, 466 S. Giusto, 504 S. Maria Forisportam, 497 S. Maria della Rosa, 497 S. Michele, 500 S. Pietro Somaldo, 497 S. Romano, 504 S. Salvatore, 504 Galleria delle Belle Arti, 501 Palazzo Guinigi, 497 Pubblico, 492 Lucignano, iii. 314 Lugano, i. 200 lake of, i. 199 Lugliano, ii. 506 Lugo, ii 296 Luino, i. 201, 211 Luna, i. 69 M. Macagno Inferiore, i. 211 Macernta, ii. 413 Macugnaga, i. 210 Maderno, i. 258 Madonna d'Oropa, i. 114 Maggiore, lake of, i. 206 Malcesine, i. 260 Malmantile, iii. 215 Mantua, i. 303 320 Argine del Mulino, 306 Casa di Mantegna, 313 Castello di Corte, 310 Cathedral, 308 Churches .S. Andrea, 312 S. Maria delle Grazie, 317 S. Sebastiano, 312 Museo, 311 Palazzo Bianchi, 311 Castiglione, 311 Ducale, 309 Guerrieri, 311 della Ragione, 312 del Te, 313 Piazza Dante, 312 delle Erbe, 312 S. Pietro, 317 Virgiliana, 311 Ponte S. Giorgio, 311 Torre della Gabbia, 308 del Zuccaro, 308 Malelica, ii. 417 Menaggio, i. 199 Mendrisio, i. 189 Metaurus, the, ii. 391 Milan, i. 121 163 Arco della Pace, i. 151 - Archaeological Museum, 153 Biblioteca Ambrosiana, 148 Brera, the, 153 Castello, 152 Cathedral, 124 Cenacolo of Leonardo da Vinci, 145 Churches S. Ambrogio, 130 S. Carlo Bbrromeo, 150 S. Celso, 138 S. Eustorgio, 136 S. Fedele, 150 S. Giorgio in Palazzo, 130 S. Giovanni in Conca, 143 $. Lorenzo, 135 INDEX. Milan continued. S. Marco, 156 S. Maria del Carmine. 152 S. Maria delle Grazie, 145 S. Maria presso S. Celso, 138 S. Maurizio, 144 S. Nazaro Maggiore, 138 S. Pietro Martire, 136 S. Satiro, 143 S. Sempliciano, 151 S. Sepolcro, 149 S Stefano in Broglio, 141 Colonne di S. Lorenzo, 131 Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, 139 La Scala, Theatre of, 150 Loggia degli Ossi, 145 Ospedale Maggiore, 140 Palazzo della Citta, 145 del Ragione, 145 Litta, 145 Trivulzi, 139 Piazza d'Armi, 151 del Duomo, 129 della Scala, 150 del Tribunale, 145 Seminario Arcivescovile, 150 Mincio, the, i. 303 Mirabouc, i. 105 Modena, ii. 232 245 Cathedral, 235 Churches S. Francesco, 244 S. Giovanni Decollate, 245 S. Maria Pomposa, 245 S. Pietro, 244 S. Vincenzo, 244 La Ghirlandaja, 237 Palazzo Ducale, 240 Piazza Reale, 240 Grande, 236 Pinacoteca, 240 University, 244 Moncalieri, i. 89 Monferrat, duchy of, i. 117 Monselice, i. 361 Monte-Aperto, iii. 297 Montctx-llo, i. 321 ; ii. 186 Monte Berico. i. 331 Montecatini, ii. 507 Monte Catini. mines of, ii. 489 Montccchio, i. 333 ; ii. 226 Monte Chiaro, ii. 194 Monte Conero, ii. 400 Monte Corona, iii. 403 Montefalco, iii. 417 Monte Generoso, i. 189 Montegrotto, i. 36* Montelupo, iii. 248 Monte Murlo, ii. 522 Monte Nero, ii. 482 Montepulciano, iii. 315 Monteriggione, iii. 252 Monte S. Bartolo, ii. 387 Monte Venda, i. 358 Monte Zago, ii. 204 Montjovet, i. 109 Monza, i. 179 Moriano, ii. 504 Murano, ii. 149 Musso, i. 197 Muzzano, lake of, i. 201 N. Nervi, i. 58 Nesso, i. 194 Noli, i. 23 Novalesa, i. 92 Novara, i. 168 O. Olera, i. 227 Orta, lake of, 212 Orvieto, iii. 321 Osimo, ii. 401 P. Padua, i. 335358 Archivio Pubblico, 341 Baptistery, 342 Cathedral, 342 Churches S. Antonio, 347 S. Antonino, 351 S. Bovo, 344 Carmine, 338 Eremitani, 353 S. Francesco, 353 S. Giorgio, 351 S. Giustina, 345 S. Maria den Arena, 553 S. Maria Nuova, 351 S. Maria in Vanzo, 344 II Bo, 341 Loggia del C onsiglio. 339 Municipale, 344 Orto Botanico, 346 Palazzo del Capitan, 339 del Municipio, 341 INDEX. Padua continued. Papafava, 344 della Ragione, 340 Piazza S. Antonio, 347 delle Erbe, 339 delle Frutte, 339 dei Signori, 339 Prato della Valle, 344 Scuola del Santo, 352 Tomb of Antenor, 352 Torre d' Ezzelino, 339 S. Tommaso, 344 University, 339 Pallanza, i. 211 Palmaria, island of, i. 65 Parma, ii. 207 225 Archaeological Museum, 219 Baptistery, 216 Camera di S. Paolo, 224 Cathedral, an Churches S. Alessandro, 218 Annunziata, 225 S. Giovanni Evangelista, 212 S. Maria della Steccata, 217 S. Sepolcro, 211 Collegio Lalatta, 211 Palazzo Farnese, 219 del Giardino, 225 Pilotta, 225 Piazza di Corte, 217 Grande, 211 Pinacoteca, 220 Teatro Farnese, 219 Parola, ii. 206 Passerino, iii. 411 Pavia, i. 172 178 Bridge. 177 Castello, 175 Cathedral, 173 Churches S. Croce, 174 S. Francesco, 176 S. Maria delle Carmine, 174 S. Michele, 176 S. Pietro in Cielo d'Oro, 174 Collegio Ghislieri, 176 Palazzo Malaspina, 174 Tomb of S. Augustine at, 173 University of, 175 Pegli, i. 27 Pelago, iii. 223 Pella, i. 213 Pelmo, the, i. 376 Perarolo, i. 373 Peretola, iii. 216 Perugia, iii. 343 367 Arco d'Augusto, 356 Biblioteca Pubblica, 347 Casa Baldeschi, 346 di Pietro Perugino, 363 Cathedral, 350 Churches S. Agnese, 358 S. Agostino, 357 S. Angelo, 357 S. Antonio, 355 S. Bernardino, 362 S. Domenico, 364 S. Ercolano, 363 S. Francesco degli Conven- tuali, 362 S. Francesco al Monte, 358 S. Giuliana, 367 S. Lorenzo, 356 S. Maria Assunta, 356 S. Maria di Monte Luco, 363 S. Pietro dei Casinensi, 365 S. Severe, 355 Etruscan Museum, 362 La Veduta, 367 Palazzo Antinori, 356 Conestabifi Staffa, 355 Monaldi, 346 Pubblico, 349 Piazza del Papa, 353 Sopramuro, 346 Pinacoteca, 358 Porta Manzia, 345 Sala del Cambio, 347 Tomb of the Volumnii, 368 Torre degii Sciri, 363 University, 358 Pesaro, ii. 385 Peschiera, i. 261 Pescia, ii. 507 Pesia, Certosa of, i. 95 Petraja, iii. 218 Piacenza, ii. 187 194 Cathedral, 188 Churches , S. Agostino, 193 S. Antonio, 189 S. Giovanni in Canale, 193 S. Francesco, 198 S. Maria della Campagna, 191 S. Sepolcro, 191 S. Sisto, 192 S. Vincenzo, 189 Hospital of S. Lsizzaro, 193 Palazzo Communale, 190 Farnese, 192 Piano, lake of, i. 199 INDEX. Piccolo Paggi, i. 60 J'lt-nza, iii. 317 I'i"tra Santa, i. 72 Pinerolo, i. 103 Pisa, ii. 440 480 Accademia delle Belle Arti, 471 Baptistery, 451 Campanile, 446 Campo-Santo, 452 Cascine, 479 Cathedral, 416 Churches S. Biagio, 477 S. Caterina, 475 Cavalieri di S. Stefano, 472 S. Francesco, 470 S. Maria delle Spine, 468 S. Matteo, 477 S. Michele in Borgo, 479 S. Niccola, 469 S. Paolo del Onto, 476 S. Paolo Ripa d'Arno, 478 S. Pietro in Grado, 480 S. Sepolcro, 477 S. Sisto, 475 Giardino Botanico, 470 Palazzo Agostino, 469 dei Banchi, 478 Conventuale dei Cava- lieri, 475 del Governo, 478 Gualandi. 475 Lanfreducci, 469 Pieracchi, 478 Toscanelli, 478 Ponte alia Fortezza, 477 al Mare, 470 del Mezzo, 469 University, 469 Pisogne, i. 228 Pistoia. ii. 510519 Baptistery, 516 Cathedral, 517 Churches S. Andrea, 517 S. Bartolommeo, 511 S. Domenico, 511 S. Francesco, 517 S. Giovanni Kvangclista, 511 S. Jacopo. 514 S.Maria dell 1 Umilta, 518 S. Paolo, 513 TO Maggiore, 513 S. Salvatore. 517 Palazzo del Comune, 513 Pretorio, 514 Piazza Maggiore, 513 Po, river, i. 84, 85 Poggibonsi, iii. 252 Poggio a Cajano, iii. 216 Poggio Imperiale, iii. 199 Pontassieve, iii. 222 Pontedera, iii. 251 Ponte Felcino, iii. 402 Ponte Grande, i. 210 Ponte S. Mariino, i. 108 Poppi, iii. 227 Porlezza, i. 199 Porto, i. 201 Porto Fino, i. 60 Maurizio, i. 20 Recanaii, ii. 412 Venere, i. 62 Pozzolengo, i. 261 Pra del 1'or, i. 261 Prato, ii. 519 Pratolino, iii. 197 Prato Vecchio, iii. 246 R. Racconigi, 94 Radicofani, iii. 317 Rapallo, i. 61 Ravenna, ii. 295352 Arcivescovado, 320 Biblioteca Communale, 323 Cathedral, 320 Churches S. Agata, 323 S. Apollinare Nuovo, 327 S. Apollinare in Classe, 337 S. Domenico, 315 S. Francesco, 323 S. Giovanni Battista, 303 S. Giovanni Evangelisia, 316 S. Maria in Affrisco, 316 S. Maria in Cosmedin, 303 S. Maria Maggiore, 307 S. Maria in Porta Fuori, 332 S. Nazaro e CYlso, 304 S. Niccolo, 323 S. Spirito, 302 S. Teodoro, 302 S. Vitale, 308 Colonna dei Frances!, 348 House of Byron, 349 Mausoleum of Galla I'lacidia. Palazzo Communale, 317 Guiccioli, 349 Theodoric, of. 330 Piazza dell' Aquila, 317 b. Francesco, 324 INDEX. Ravenna continued. Maggiore, 317 Pinacoteca, 321 Tomb of Dante. 324 the Exarch Isaac, 315 Theodoric, 324 Recanati, ii. 412 Recoaro, i. 334 Reggio, ii. 231 Rho, i. 206 Rimini, ii. 365 377 Amphitheatre, 374 Arch of Augustus, 373 Bridge of Augustus, 373 Castle of the Malatesti, 376 Churches S. Chiara, 374 S. Francesco, 367 S. Giuliano, 376 Palazzo del Comune, 375 Ruffo, 375 Piazza Cavour, 374 Giulio Cesare, 371 Ripafratta, ii. 490 Riva, i. 259 Rocca di Fontenellato, ii. 206 Rocca Silana, ii. 489 Rora, i. 106 Rovigo, i. 365 Rubicon, the, ii. 350 Rusina, ii. 226 Ruta, i. 59 S. Sacro Monte of Orta, i. 213 Varallo, i. 213 Varese, i. 202 Sagro di S. Michele, i. 84 S. Agostino, i. 6 Ambrogio, i. 89 Angelo in Vado, ii. 365 Columba, tomb of, iii. 293 Domenico di Fiesole, iii. 189 Fiora, mountain of, iii. 317 Fruttuoso, convent of, i. 60 Gimignano, iii 302 311 Giovanni Ilarione, i. 333 Giuliano, ii. 490 Giustino, iii. 407 Leo, ii. 382 Lorenzo al Mare, i. 20 Margherita, i. 60 Maria Pomposa, ii. 352 Marino, republic of, ii. 377 Martino, i. 261 S. Michele, Sagro di, i. 89 Miniato, iii. 199 Miniato dei Tedeschi, iii. 251 Niccolo, ii. 1 86 Pierino, iii. 251 Quirico, iii. 318 Remo, i. 13 Romolo, i. 16 Salvatore, Monte di, i. aoi Salvi, convent of, iii. 199 Severino, ii. 417 Stefano al Mare, i. 20 Vivaldo, iii. 311 Salarco, iii, 315 Salo, i. 358 . Saluzzo, i. 94 Sambonifazio, i. 321 Sandria, i. 200 Santuario, the, of Savona, i. 24 Sarnico, i. 228 Sarzana, i. 68 Sarzanello, i. 69 Sassoferrato, ii. 417 Savigliano, i. 94 Savignano, ii. 365 Savona, i. 23 Sermione, i. 255 Serravalle, ii. 508 Serravezza, i. 73 Sestri, di Levante, i. 6t Settignano, iii. 198 Shelley, death of, i. 67 Siena, iii. 252 296 Badia, La, 289 Biblioteca Communale, 285 Casa di S. Caterina, 276 dell' Opera, 272 Cathedral, 265 Churches S. Agostino, 287 S. Ansano, 292 S. Bernardino, 289 Carmine, 288 Concessione, 286 S. Cristoforo, 285 S. Domenico, 278 Fonte Giusta, 290 S. Francesco, 288 S. Giovanni Battista, 273 Osservanza, I>a, 293 S. Quirico, 288 Servi di Maria, 286 S. Spirito, 286 Collegio Tolomei, 288 Fonte Brand a, 276 Gaja, 256 INDEX. Siena contin ued. Nuova, 289 Hospital of S. Maria della Scala, 273 Istituto delle Belle Arti. 281 Lizza, La, 289 Loggia dei Nobili, 263 del Papa, 263 Palazzo Buonsigpori, 287 del Capitano, 264 dei Diavoli, 294 Grottanelli, 264 Magnifico, 274 Piccolomini, 263 Piccolomini delle Pa- pesse, 263 Saracini, 263 Spanocchi, 289 University, 286 Signa, iii. 215 Sinalunga, iii. 314 Sinigaglia, ii. 391 Soci. iii. 241 Solferrino, i. 256 Spello, iii. 413 Spezia, gulf of, i. 63 Spotorno, i. 23 Stresa, i. 207 Stupinigi. i. 89 Superga, La, i. 89 Susa, i. 92 Sylvano, i. 60 T. Taggia, i. 17 Tai Cadore, i. 373 Tavemola, i. 228 Tenda, Col di, i. 95 Terminara, i. 373 Thrasymene, iii. 338 Ticino. river, i. 177, 178 Tolentino, ii. 416 Torcello, ii. 153 Tortona, ii. 185 Toscolano, i. 358 Trascorre. i. 227 Trebbia, the. ii. 186 Triuino, i. 333 Turin, i. 7486 Accademia, 80 Armoury, 77 Cappuchin Convent, 85 Cathedral, 78 Churches Consolata, La, 79 T urin con tin ued. Corpus Domini, 79 S. Lorenzo, 79 Madre di Dio, 85 Superga, 87 Palazzo Carignano, So Madama, 76 Municipio, 79 Reale, 77 Valentino, 86 Piazza Carignano, 80 Carlo Alberto, 84 Carlo Felice, 76 Castello, 76 di Citta, 79 Savoia, 79 Public Gardens, 85 U. Urbino, ii. 420431 Accademia delle Belle Arti, 42^ Casa Santi, 427 Cathedral, 425 Churches S. Bernardino, 429 Francesco, 429 Giovanni Battista, 429 Spirito, 429 Ducal Palace, 421 Urbisaglia, ii. 417 Uso, the, ii. 350 V. Vado, i. 23 Val di Camporciero, i. 108 Valdagno, i. 333 Valdieri, baths of, i. 95 Valeggio, i. 302 Valenza, i. 117 Varallo, i. 213 Varcnna, {.196 Varese, i. 20 Varigotti, i. 23 Venas, i. 376 Venice, ii. i 156 Abbazia dclla Miscricordia, 109 Accademia, 51 Archaeological Museum, 45 Armenian Convent, 136 Arsenal, 97 Bridge of Sighs, 40 INDEX. Venice con tin ued. Campanile, 16 Campo S. Angelo, 105 S. Angelo Ratfaello, 116 S. Benedetto, 106 S. Giovanni in Bragora, 100 S. Maria, 131 S. Maria Formosa, 82, 83 S. Margherita, 117 S. Paternian, 106 S. Polo, 132 S. Stefano, 105 S. Zaccaria, 81 Campiello Angaran, 119 delia Strope, 131 Canareggio, the, 114 Casa Businello, 66 Ferro, 79 Goldoni, 130 Churches S. Andrea, 119 S. Angelo di Murano, 149 S. Antonino, 82 S. Aponal, 132 S. Apostoli, 75, 109 S. Biagio, 96 S. Donato di Murano, 148 S. Fosca di Torcello, 153 S. Francesco delle Vigne, 92 S. Geremia, 73 S. Giacomo del Orio, 130 S. Giacomo del Rialto, 68 S. Giobbe, 114 S. Giorgio, 135 S. Giorgio dei Greci, 82 S. Giovanni in Bragora, 99 S. Giovanni Crisostomo, 107 S. Giovanni e Paolo, 84 S. Gregorio, 50 S. Giuliano, 107 S. Giuseppe di Castello, 94 S. Lazaro, 91 S. Luca, 105 S. Marco, 19 S. Marcuola, 73 S. Maria del Carmine, 117 S. Maria Formosa, 82 S. Maria dei Frari, 125 S. Maria dei Gesuiti, 109 S. Maria Mater Domini, 131 S. Maria dei Miracoli, 107 S. Maria del Orto, no S. Maria della Salute, 47 S. Maria Zobenigo, 103 S. Martino, 99 Venice contin ued. S. Marziale, no S. Maurizio, 104 S. Moise, 103 S. Niccol6 al Lido, 139 S. Niccol6 al Tolentino, 119 S. Pantaleone, 118 S. Pietro di Castello, 94 S. Pietro di Murano, 149 S. Polo, 132 S. Raffaello, 116 II Redentore, 134 S. Rocco, 125 S. Salvatore, loC I Scalzi, 72 S. Silvestro, 67 S. Simeone Grande, 70 S. Spirito, 117 S. Stae, 70 S. Stefano, 104 S. Trovaso, 115 S. Vitale. 79 S. Zaccaria, 80 Corte del Maltese, 106 del Sabion, 107 del Rener, 75 Doges of, 6 Fondaco dei Tedeschi, 75 dei Turchi, 71 Frari, the, 125 Giardini Papadopoli, 119 Pubblici, 94 Giudecca, the, 134 Gondolas, 10 Grimani Breviary, the, 41 Islands Burano, 149 Castello, 102 S. Elena, 138 S. Giorgio, 135 Giudecca, 134 S. Lazaro, 136 S. Michele, 145 Mazzorbo, 149 Murano, 146 S. Niccold, 102 Pelestina, 141 S. Pietro, 93 Poeggia, 141 S. Servolo, 140 Sotto Marina, 141 Torcello, 150 Libreria di S. Marco, 41 Vecchie, 15 Lido, the, 138 Loggia sotto il Campanile, 17 J.VDEX. Venice con tin ued. Museo Corner, 71 Orto Botanico, 114 Palazzo Badoer, 100 Balbi, 65 Barbarigo delle Terrazze, 66 Bembo, 82 Benzon, 77 Bernardo, 66 Ca d'Oro, 74 Camerlenghi, 70 Capello, 132 Cavalli, 77, 79 Contarini, 78, 106 Contarini delle Scrigni, 63 Capo villa, 71 Corner del la Ca Grande, 79 della Regina, 70 Spinelli, 78 Dandolo, 76 Dario, 51 Dona, 66 Ducale, 30 Duodo, 71 Emo, 79 Erizzo, 74 Falier, 108 I Farsetti, 77 Fini, 79 Foscari, 63 Foscarini, 117 Grassi. 78 Grimani, 74, 77, 82 Grimani a S. Polo, 65 Giustini.ini, 79 Giustiniani Lonin, 78 Labia, 73 Loredan, 76, 105 Manfrin, 73 M ant 11, 76 Manzoni, 51 Marcello, 74 Martinengo, 77 Michele delle Colonne, 75 Mocenigo, 78 Moro Lin, 78 Morosini, 75, 105 Municipio, 77 Persico. 65 Pesaro, 70 Pisani, 65, 105 Polo, 107 Keizonico, 63 Sagrcdo, 75 banudo, 108 Venice con tin ued, Tiepolo, 65 Trevisan, 8 Tron, 71 Vendramin Calenghi, 73 . Zenobio, 117 Papadopoli Gardens, 119 Piazza S. Marco, 17 Piazzetta, 15 Pietra del Bardo, 16 Piombi, the, 39 Ponte del Corner, 131 del Paradiso, 80 S. Polo, 132 del Rialto, 68 dei Sospiri, 40 S. Toma, 130 Pozzi, the, 41 Procuratie Nuove, 15 Vecchie, 15 Railway Station, 7 Rialto, 67 Scala dei Giganti, 33 Scuola degli Albanese, 104 S. Giovanni Evangelista, 132 S. Marco, 91 S. Rocco, 119 Statue of Bartolommeo Colle- / one, 84 Teatro Rossini, 106 Torre del Orologio, 15 Verona, i. 262302 Accademia Filarmonica, 280 Amphitheatre, 299 Arco dei Borsaii, 285 del Leone, 299 Baptistery, 288 Castel S. Felice, 290 S. Pietro, 289 Vecchio, 280 Cathedral, 286 Churches S. Anastasia, 268 Bernardino, 281 Elena, 288 Eufemia, 285 Fermo Maggiore, 297 Giorgio in Braida, 291 Giovanni in Fonte, 288 in Valle, 291 Maria Antica, 272 della Campagna, 300 Matricolare, 286 in Organo, 293 Nazzaro e Cclso, 393 INDEX. Verona continued. S. Pietro Martire, 269 Siro, 291 Stefano, 290 Tommaso Cantuariense, 392 Zeno, 281 Gardens Giusti, 293 of the Orfanotrofio, 299 House of Giolfino, 285 Museo Civico, 295 Lapidario, 280 Oratorio di S. Zenone, 284 Palaces Bevilacqua, 285 Canossa, 285 Cappelletti, 299 del Consiglio, 271 Giasti, 293 della Guardia, 280 Maffei, 278 Pompei, 295 Portalupi, 285 Piazza Bra, 279 della Erbe, 278 Navona, 271 del Signori, 270 Pinacoteca, 295 Ponte Acqua Morta, 298 Castello, 280 delle Navi, 297 Nuovo, 292 Pietra, 289 Porta Stuppa, 280 Tombs Count of Castelbarco, 268 The Scaligers, 272 Vescovado, 288 Walls, 300 Viareggio, i. 73 Vicenza, i. 321 333 Basilica, 325 Casa di Palladio, 327 Pigafetta, 325 di Ricovero, 330 Cathedral, 324 Churches S. Corona, 326 S. Lorenzo, 330 S. Maria al Monte, 331 Vicenra continued. S. Pietro, 330 S. Stefano, 326 Museo Civico, 328 Palazzo Barbarano, 331 Chiericati, 328 Conte Porto al Castello, 324 Loschi, 325 Porto, 331 della Ragione, 325 Annibale Tiene, 325 Marc Antonio Tiene, 331 Valmarana, 331 Rotonda Capra, 332 Teatro Olimpico, 330 Torre del Orologio, 325 Villa Valmarana, 332 Villa Carlotta, i. 194 d'Este, i. 193 Melzi, i. 196 Pizzo, i. 193 Pliniana, i. 193 Villafranca, i. 302 Villanuova, i. 321 Villar, i. 104 Vmchiana, ii. 504 Voghera, ii. 185 Vogogna, i. 210 Volterra, ii. 483 489 Baize, le, 488 Baptistery, 487 Buche dei Saracini, 489 Cathedral, 486 Churches S. Agostino, 488 S. Francesco, 488 S. Michele, 488 S. Salvatore, 488 Etruscan Museum, 485 I Marmini, 489 Palazzo Communale, 485 Porta del Arco, 484 di Diana, 489 Villa Inghirami, 489 Voltri, i. 27 Vorazze, i. 27 W. Waldenses, the, i. 96 107 JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS. tfje same &utjjor, WALKS IN ROME. Fourth Edition. Two Vols., Crown 8vo, 2U. "The best handbook of the city and environs of Rome ever published. . . . Cannot be too much commended." Pall Mall Gazette. " This book is sure to be very useful It is thoroughly practical, and is the best guide that yet has been offered." Daily News. " Mr Hare's book fills a real void, and gives to the tourist all the latest discoveries and the fullest information bearing on that most inexhaustible of subjects, the city of Rome ..... It is much fuller than ' Murray,' and any one who chooses may now know how Rome really looks in sun or shade. ' ' Spectator. II. DAYS NEAR ROME. With more than 100 Illustrations by the Author. Second Edition. Two Vols., Crown 8vo, 24^. " Henceforward it must take its place as a standard work indispensable to every intellectual student." Times. " Mr Hare probably knows Italy better than almost any Englishman living. . . The information which it affords will enable any one who cares, to see more of the genuine native life of Italy in a month than most pilgrims to the Peninsula see in a lifetime." World. " A delightful sequel to Mr Hare's ' Walks in Rome.' " Spectator. III. WANDERINGS IN SPAIN. With Illustrations. Third Edition. Crown 8vo, loj. &/. "We recollect no book that so vividly recalls the country to those who have visited it, and we should recommend intending tourists to carry it with them as a companion of travel." Times. " Mr Hare's book is admirable. We are sure no one will regret making it the companion of a Spanish journey. It will bear reading repeatedly when one is moving among the scenes it describes no small advantage when the travelling library is scanty." Saturday Review. " Here is the ideal book of travel in Spain ; the book which exactly an- tir ipatcs the requirements of everybody who is fortunate enough to be going to that enchanted land ; the book which ably consoles those who are not so happy, by supplying the imagination from the daintiest and most delicious of its stores.' Spectator. " Sinc<- the publication of ' Castilian Days.' by the American diplomat, Mr John Hay, no pleasanter or more readable sketches have fallen under our notice." Athenaum. DALDY, ISBISTER & CO., 56, LUDGATE HILL, E.C tfjc same Stotijor. LIFE. WITH TWO STEEL PORTRAITS. Twelfth Edition. Two Vols., Crown 8vo, 2is. " The name of Hare is one deservedly to be honoured ; and in these 'Memorials,' which are as true and satisfactory a biography as it is pos- sible to write, the author places his readers in the heart of the family, and allows them to see the hidden sources of life and love by which it was nourished and sustained." Athenaum. "One of those books which it is impossible to read without pleasure. It conveys a sense of repose not unlike that which everybody must have felt out of service time in quiet little village churches. Its editor will receive the hearty thanks of every cultivated reader for these profoundly interesting ' Memorials ' of two brothers, whose names and labours their universities and church have alike reason to cherish with affection and remember with pride, who have smoothed the path of faith to so many troubled wayfarers, strengthening the weary and confirming the weak." Standard. " The book is rich in insight and in contrast of character. It is varied and full of episodes, which few can fail to read with interest ; and as exhibiting the sentiments and thoughts of a very influential circle of minds during a quarter of a century, it may be said to have a distinct historical value. " Nonconformist. "A charming book, simply and gracefully recording the events of a simple and gracious life. Its connection with the beginning of a great movement in the English Church will make it to the thoughtful reader more profoundly suggestive than many biographies crowded and bustling with incident. It is almost the first of a class of books the Christian world just now greatly needs, as showing how the spiritual life was maintained amid the shaking of religious ' opinions ' ; how the life of the soul deepened as the thoughts of the mind broadened ; and how, in their union, the two formed a volume of larger and more thoroughly vitalized Christian idea than the English people had witnessed for many days. " Glasgow Herald. AN ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME OP MEMORIALS OF A QUIET LIFE. With 57 Photographs, illustrating by Portraits and Views the previous Volumes. Crown 8vo. DALDY, ISBISTER & CO., 56, LUDGATE HILL. E.G. DG U2T H27 1876 v.2 THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW.