UKIV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES
 
 FLORENCE
 
 Panorama of Florence,
 
 ^FLORENCE 
 
 ITS HISTORY— THE MEDICI— THE HUMANISTS 
 LETTERS— ARTS 
 
 r.v 
 
 CHARLES YRIARTE 
 
 NEW EDITION, REVISED AND COMPARED WITH THE LATEST 
 AUTHORITIES HY 
 
 MARIA HORNOR LANSDALE 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 HENRY T. COATES & CO.
 
 Copyright, 1897, by 
 HENRY T. COATES ct CO.
 
 ISJI 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction, 1 
 
 CHArTER I. History, 11 
 
 II. The Medici 27 
 
 III. The Renaissance, ..... 121 
 
 IV. Illustrious Florentines, .... 139 
 Y. Etruscan Art, 266 
 
 VI. Christian Art, 280 
 
 VII. Architecture 285 
 
 VIII. Sculpture, 348 
 
 IX. Painting, 417 
 
 
 
 -4 
 
 1==" 1539737 ^^^
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Photogravures by W. H. Gilbo, New York 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Panorama of Florence, Frontispiece 
 
 Portrait of Dante from the Fresco in the Bar- 
 
 GELLo, Giotto, 20 
 
 Portrait of one of the Medici in the Kiccardi 
 
 ChapeIv, Benozzo GozzoU, 48 
 
 The Duomo, Cathedral of S. Maria del Fiore, 
 
 Scene of the Pazzi Conspiracy, .... 60 
 Staircase in the Courtyard of the Bargello or 
 
 Palazzo del Podesta, 70 
 
 Portrait of Bianca Cappello, Bronzino, . . .91 
 
 Galileo's Tower, 108 
 
 House of Dante, 142 
 
 The Great Cloister, Church of S. Maria Novella, 
 
 Fra Giovanni da Carpi, ...... 152 
 
 Pitti Palace, 178 
 
 Cloisters of S. Croce, and Pazzi Chapel, BruncUcschi, 198 
 
 The So-called ''Bella Simonetta," Sandra Botticelli, . 214 
 
 Cloister of Monastery of S. ^NFarco, .... 226 
 
 Fra Girolamo Savonarola, 234 
 
 Galileo (School of Sustermans), .... 260 
 
 Dancing Boys, Donatdlo, 274 
 
 Basilica of S. Miniato, 286 
 
 ( vii )
 
 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Palazzo Yecchio, Amolfo di Cambio, .... 298 
 
 PoNTE Vecchio, 310 
 
 Cloisters of S. Croce, Arnolfo di Cambio, . . . 320 
 
 Loggia dei Lanzi, 340 
 
 La Madonna del Sacco, Cloister of the SS. Annun- 
 
 ziATA, Andrea del Sarto, 346 
 
 Tabernacle in Or San Michele, Andrea Orcagna, . 354 
 
 Dancing and Singing Boys, Luca della Bobbia, . . 376 
 
 YiTTORiA CoLONNA, 3Tuziano, 390 
 
 Perseus, Benvenuto Cellini, 404 
 
 Maddalena Doni, Baphael, 418 
 
 Coronation of the Virgin in Church of S. Croce, 
 
 Giotto, 426 
 
 Madonna and Child, Filippo Lippi, .... 438 
 Peter Martyr in the Convent of S. Marco, Fra 
 
 Angelico, 445
 
 FLORENCE. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Italy in the thirteenth century carried on and 
 brought to its cro^wTiing point the work of civiUzation 
 which France in the twelfth century had started by 
 means of the crusades, the estabUshment of commimal 
 franchises, and the foundation of the Uniyersity of 
 Paris. The symbol created by the genius of Lucre- 
 tius, where the successiye labor of generations is rep- 
 resented by running-men passing their torches from 
 hand to hand, had neyer been realized with so much 
 grandeur ; the sacred torches had fallen from French 
 hands, and had been picked up by Italy, in whose 
 grasp they emitted a light Avhich dazzled the whole 
 world. 
 
 Rome, notwithstanding the Barbarian inyasion, tlie 
 schism, and the exile of the Papacy, still retained the 
 recollection of her glorious past, brought eyen more 
 yiyidly before her by the superb monuments which 
 had withstood the ravages of time and of man. But 
 eyen Rome, like the rest of Italy, acknowledged the 
 superiority of Florence comparable to Athens itself, 
 and all the cities of Italy di<l homage to her genius, 
 'l (1)
 
 2 FLORENCR 
 
 for she, together with Siena, had been the first to 
 make the onward move. In the course of a century, 
 from Dante and Giotto to the first of the Medici, 
 from the two Pisani to Brunelleschi, Donatello, and 
 Alberti, Florence reached the summit of human 
 thought and the zenith of phistic beauty. "While at 
 the yery moment Avhen it seemed as if she must 
 exhausted by the efiforts which residted in the 
 birth of the Renaissance, she was about to produce 
 the two human beings, Leonardo da Vinci and Michael 
 Angelo, who in the domain of Art bring most nearly 
 home to us the diyine origin of our poor humanity. 
 AYe must go back to Greek Art and to the age of 
 Pericles for another such epoch in the world's history •, 
 and to form some idea of the reyolution which was 
 then brought about, we must reyert to the adyent of 
 Christianity, which founded modern society upon the 
 ruins of the old world. 
 
 It wiU be my endeayor to trace, as I proceed, the 
 causes, direct and indirect, of this miquestioned supe- 
 riority of Florence oyer the other cities of the Penin- 
 sida. To the sum of human knowledge which con- 
 stitutes the trading capital of humanity, Florence 
 contributed the largest share, and she further and 
 aboye all possessed that gift and priyilege of plastic 
 beauty, just as some of God's creatures haye the 
 priyilege of gracefulness. There was a period in her 
 history when everything that her artists touched 
 turned to gold. Their works were instinct with the
 
 INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 profound faith that inspired them, and tlieir consum- 
 mate strength and skill were masked by the gracefid- 
 ness of their finish. Even to this day the marbles, 
 frescoes, and manuscripts produced during this bril- 
 liant epoch in Florence, or by Florentines, retain a 
 rare and unicpic individuality, an undefinable some- 
 thing made up of nobility, grandeur, calm strength, 
 and sober elegance. Our eyes are attracted at a 
 street corner, under a porch, in a gallery, or on the 
 walls of a convent, as the case may be, by some ob- 
 ject which stands out in such relief that the surround- 
 ing objects are, so to speak, obliterated. This is 
 because the soul of Florence has passed into the in- 
 spired work : we recognize the sign by which all the 
 works of the fifteenth century in Italy are marked, 
 as we breathe the soft and subtle perfume which they 
 exhale. 
 
 This superiority of Florentine Art has been every- 
 where felt, and all Italy was subject to its peaceful 
 yoke as we are to-day. From Papal Rome, where 
 the illustrious pontiffs of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries gathered about them the artists of Florence 
 and the humanists of Tuscany, to the condottieri who 
 wore the purple at Milan, Urbino, Ferrara, Mantua, 
 Rimini, and Bologna, all the rulers of Italy sought to 
 assemble a court composed in the main of illustrious 
 Florentines. If they wanted to erect a cathedral or 
 church, to cast an equestrian statue of some famous 
 soldier, to Avrite the history of some great city, or to
 
 4 FLOKEXCE. 
 
 train tlie heir to a principality^ it was to Florence 
 that they turned their attention. Florence was the 
 focus, the school, and the laboratory of human genius, 
 and though there were other centres of intelligence — 
 each northern tOAvn being in the fifteenth century a 
 miniature Athens — Florence predominated over them 
 all. 
 
 There are three distinct periods in the history of 
 Florence. From the second half of the thirteenth to 
 the end of the fourteenth century she was struggling 
 for existence, and torn by the conflicting passions of 
 her OA\ai citizens divided by hereditary feuds. She 
 attempted to establish liberty, but only succeeded in 
 paving the way for an Athenian form of tyranny 
 which had genius for its excuse and the majority of 
 the citizens for its accomplices. Yet amid these in- 
 cessant struggles of Guelphs and Ghibellines, and in 
 spite of continual disturbances, the work of elabora- 
 tion was ever going on, and has been a cause of as- 
 tonishment to all the historians of that period. In 
 France the English invasion and intestine strug- 
 gles had extinguished civil life, and had put back the 
 progress of humanity ; but in Tuscany the flower of 
 the Renaissance grew and bloomed in blood, unfold- 
 ing itself in all its beauty at the dawn of the fifteenth 
 century. This was the second and most brilliant of 
 the three periods : that which was adorned by Cosimo, 
 Father of his Country, and by Lorenzo the Magnifi- 
 cent j by savants, such as Marciho Ficino, Politian,
 
 INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 Pico della ^lirandola, Cristofero Landino, Baccio Ugo- 
 lini, Kinuccini, and the two Acciajuoli ; by artists, 
 like Brimellesclii, Michelozzo Michelozzi, Donatello, 
 Leo Battista Alberti ; and by men of political genius, 
 such as Leonardo Bruni Aretino, Machiavelli, and 
 Carlo Marsuppini. 
 
 At the time of the siege of Florence (1530), the 
 splendor of this period was at its apogee, but with 
 the exception of Galileo, who was destined to dis- 
 cover fresh truths, all the great innovators were in 
 their graves. Michael Angelo upon his bastion, for- 
 tifying Florence and defending San Miniato, is sym- 
 bolic of the genius of Florence struggling for inde- 
 pendence and freedom against Charles V. "When the 
 city opened her gates the Republic was doomed, and 
 the days of her greatness were numbered with the past. 
 
 The sixteenth century was not a barren one. 
 Tumultuous, full of life, and with a tendency to ex- 
 tremes, it was more turbulent than the fifteenth ; and 
 ever eager to learn, it gave birth to a vast number 
 of works, devoid, however, of the ardent faith, the 
 conscientiousness, and the infinite depth which marked 
 the preceding era. John of Bologna, with his martial 
 air, Benvenuto himself, who may be looked upon as a 
 condottiere who had by some accident found his way 
 into the career of Art, and who, for all his fine ways, 
 was an artist to the core, with all the qualities and 
 defects of his age, cannot make us forget the gentle 
 Desiderio, the tender Mino, and Donatello, about
 
 6 FLOREXCE. 
 
 whose -works there is always something novel, dis- 
 tinctive, and grandiose. 
 
 Xo one will feel surprised when I say that it is the 
 second period, from the thirteenth century to the fall 
 of the Republic, which has been the subject of my pre- 
 dilection. It seems to have come to be imderstood 
 within the last twenty years that, with the exception 
 of two or three great figures which are the synthesis 
 of human genius, and which shed their lustre over 
 the early part of the sixteenth century in Italy, 
 humanity disclosed nearly all its secrets from the time 
 of Dante to the death of Michael Angelo and of Leo- 
 nardo da Vinci. While if contemporary chroniclers 
 have exhausted all that there is to say concerning the 
 great literary and philosophical characters, the history 
 of Art is only just dawning. Benozzo Gozzoli, Lippi, 
 Memmi, Pollaiolo, Piero della Francesca, Botticelli, 
 Baccio Baldini, Pisanello, Finiguerra, Benedetto da 
 Maiano, Michelozzo, Desiderio, and their contempo- 
 raries have been but little kno^\T^i in modern times, 
 and their works not familiar even in their native 
 places. 
 
 The period which begins with the first Grand Duke 
 of Tuscany, Cosimo I., and finishes with John Gaston, 
 Avas not devoid of glory for Florence. If the indi- 
 viduals are less famous, and if a sovereign like 
 Lorenzo the Magnificent is replaced by one plunged 
 in crime like Cosimo, there was an impetus acquired, 
 a traditional greatness, a flow of sap which con-
 
 INTRODUCTIOX. 7 
 
 tinned to produce flowers and fruit. Tlie last 
 prince of this race had a glimmer of intellectual 
 genius, a desire to learn, a spark of sacred fire, and a 
 certain sense of what was due to posterity which in- 
 duced him to bequeath to his country Art treasures 
 testifying clearly to his magnificence, his judgment, 
 and his taste. Now and again, even during its de- 
 cline, may be seen some sudden flicker of the Flor- 
 entine genius about to be extinguished ; and the period 
 of the decadence of Florence with the Academy of 
 the Cimento would pass muster for the Renaissance 
 of some benighted peoples. 
 
 The genius of Florence was incarnate in the ^ledici; 
 it has therefore been necessary to write the history 
 of these merchant princes, who had the honor of 
 twice giving their name to the century in which they 
 lived : with Cosimo and Lorenzo at Florence, and 
 with Leo X. at Rome. After having related the his- 
 tory of the Medici, I have sketched the movement 
 known as the Renaissance, endeavoring to explain 
 why Italy was the country of its birth, and have com- 
 prised in this essay biographies, summary in their 
 character but derived from the most trustworthy 
 sources, of the leading personages in philosophy and 
 literature. 
 
 The principal monuments of Florence give us an 
 insight into her civil life, for at that period the char- 
 acters of men were reflected with great distinctness 
 in their works. In this remarkable city, where were
 
 8 FLORENCE. 
 
 born all tlie great ideas upon wliicli are based the 
 glory, the prosperity, and the experience of modern 
 society, the Palazzo Vecchio — to take only this one 
 building, of which D'Azeglio has said that it is a 
 magnificent preface to the annals of Florence — fit- 
 tingly symbolizes, by its rugged exterior and splendid 
 ornamentation within^ the dual character of an epoch 
 in which the body was hardy Avhile the miixd was re- 
 fined and eager for knowledge. The history and art 
 of Florence are in her streets ; and to walk about her 
 squares, and to visit her churches and palaces, is 
 equivalent to reading the chronicles of the city from 
 the twelfth to the sixteenth century. 
 
 Art necessarily occupied a large place at Florence, 
 for the city Avas at once a museum and a temple. I 
 have, therefore, treated the arts from their very be- 
 ginning, that is the Etruscan period, to their deca- 
 dence, in chronological order, describing the genius 
 of each artist and the position Avhich he held, rather 
 than attempting to give his biography. 
 
 I do not retract what I said in my book on Venice, 
 when I described the Frari, and the San Giovanni and 
 Paolo monuments as the most splendid which had ever 
 been erected to the memory of man, not even except- 
 ing those of the Vatican, of St. John Lateran, and of 
 Santa Maria del Popolo : but Avhile those at Florence, 
 erected in the middle of the fifteenth century, are 
 plainer and less pompous, they are more human and 
 more touching, and Leopardi himself, with the in-
 
 INTEODUCTIOX. 9 
 
 stincts of an artist, bent the knee to Desiderio and 
 Donatello. Michael Angelo is more grandiose and 
 inscrutable, stirring the imagination and inspiring a 
 sort of religions terror with those enigmatic figures 
 which seem to be carrying on in the obscurity of the 
 tomb " the inward dream never to be completed ;" 
 but with all his genius he lacked the infinite candor, 
 the angelic softness, and the exquisite chasteness of 
 these sculptors of the fifteenth century. They re- 
 mind us of Greece, where flowers were scattered over 
 the graves, giving an impress of gentle repose and 
 peace to death, and stripping it of its sinister char- 
 acteristics. The philosopher and the cardinal whom 
 KoseUino and Desiderio respectively have chiselled 
 upon the marble sarcophagus seem to be sleeping 
 peacefully, and their faces only reflect the calm and 
 the beatitude of the blessed who know eternal truth. 
 
 I need not say that it is impossible to describe 
 within the limits of this book the whole history of 
 Florence, I can only endeavor to give the essence of 
 it. Those who do not know the city may perhaps be 
 tempted to visit her, while those Avho have been so 
 fortunate as to dwell Avithin her Avails aaIII, I A^enture 
 to hope, bo carried back in memory to her, and ca^oIvc 
 from the darkness of recollection the living and bright 
 reality. 
 
 As it Avas necessary to make a choice from a A'ast 
 mass of matter, Avliich Avould liaA^e filled ten volumes, 
 I have divided the Avork into several sections, begin-
 
 10 FLORENCE. 
 
 ning with the History of Florence and the Benaissance 
 Movement, and going on to the Xotahle Personages and 
 to Art itself. This is not the ^yhole of Florence, but 
 it gives^ so to speak, the soul of the great city which 
 has been the victim of one of the greatest historical 
 movements of our day — the Unity of Italy. 
 
 Florence has a strong claim upon our affections, for 
 she is the mother of all those to whom the intellect is 
 more than the body ; and her streets and palaces are 
 a fruitful som'ce of study and instruction. Rome is 
 grander, and appeals more strongly to the imagina- 
 tion ; Venice is more strange, more unique, more 
 picturesque ; but Florence is more indispensable than 
 either of them to humanity. She has given birth to 
 Dante, the divine poet ; to ]\Iichael Angelo, the " man 
 with four souls ;" and to Galileo, the blind man who 
 could read in the darkness the secrets of the universe. 
 If Florence disappeared from off the surface of the 
 globe the archives of human thought woidd lose their 
 most famous documents, and the modern Latin race 
 would go into mourning for its ancestors.
 
 HISTORY. 11 
 
 C H A P T E K I. 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 Of tlic many conflicting opinions as to the origin of 
 Florence, the one which seems to have the greatest 
 "weight of evidence in its favor is that it is Etruscan, 
 or at all events that it owed its creation to the debris 
 of the last Etruscan cities conquered by the Romans. 
 It absorbed those colonists Avhom the Greeks called 
 Tyrrhenians, but whom the Romans named Tuscans, 
 and who, three centuries before the foundation of 
 Rome, established in the heart of the peninsida a 
 powerful kingdom extending from Pisa to Tarquinium, 
 between the shores of the Mediterranean and the foot 
 of the Apennines. Although Machiavelli, in the first 
 chapter of his " Storie Fiorentine," represents Flor- 
 ence as being a Roman colony, built by the cohorts 
 of Sylla, modern science holds to the opinion that 
 the town on the banks of the Arno was originally a 
 city formed by emigrations from Fiesole, that cradle of 
 so many artists, from whose heights the eye com- 
 mands so grand a prospect.* 
 
 * According to one account, Catiline after conspiring against 
 Eome fled to Fiesole, whither the Eonians, under the consuls 

 
 12 FLOEEXCE. 
 
 Svlla, the proconsul, embellished the city, hut about 
 the middle of the sixth century it suffered greatly at 
 the hands of the Goths and Vandals, who descended 
 at that time like a plague upon Italy. For about the 
 space of two himdred years little or nothing is known 
 of Florence, but during^tlie comparative peace and 
 order of Charlciiingnc'.s rule ^lie once more emerged 
 
 from obscurity and In'gan to take a prominent place 
 among the Ivomaii colonies in Tuscany, of which, 
 
 I' however, Pisa was at that time the most important. 
 In the year 1010 the hitherto rival cities of Flor- 
 ence and Fiesole formed an alliance, and the two 
 coats of arms were blended to symbolize the union. 
 Florence abandoned her white lily and Fiesole her 
 blue half-moon, so that the new device was simply a 
 shield divided in the middle, the red field of Florence 
 occupying one side and the white field of Fiesole the 
 other.* 
 
 Metello and Fiorino, followed and fought him. Fiorino was 
 killed on the shores of the Arno, and Julius Cresar, after aveng- 
 ing his death by laying siege to and destroying Fiesole, built a 
 city on the spot onAvhich lie died, called Fiorenze, in memory of 
 him. Another tradition makes the name a corruption of Flu- 
 entia, because it stands at the junction of the Arno and the Mug- 
 none ; while still another ascribes its origin to the great number 
 of flowers which grow in that region. 
 
 '' Alfine gli abitanti per memoria 
 Porch 'era posta in un prato di fiori 
 Le denno il nome hello onde s'ingloria." 
 
 * The lily, however, continues to this day to be used as the
 
 HISTORY. 13 
 
 The arms of the Republic underwent further 
 changes at each great event in lier history (ahhough 
 the standard displayed from the ^^ Caroccio " in time 
 of war was invariably the red and white field adopted 
 in 1010). This accounts for the different coats of 
 arms carved on the facades of some of her public 
 buildings. AVe find, for instance, the word '^ Lihertas'''' 
 on a blue field, the device of the Priors of the Arts, 
 w^hich was adopted at the close of the twelfth century, 
 when Florence threw off the imperial yoke. The 
 golden keys crossed on a blue ground, bestowed on 
 the city in 1205 by Clement IV. An eagle trampling 
 
 emblem of the city. There are various legends as to its origin. 
 The most common one states that when the Florentines were 
 being sore pressed by an army of Barbarians on Sta. Reparata's 
 Day, October 8, 405, the saint suddenly appeared on the battle- 
 field, holding in her hand a blood red banner Avith a white lily 
 on it, and turned the fortunes of the day. The Florentines, in 
 grateful remembrance of this incident, adopted the white lily on 
 a red ground as their coat of arms. Anotlier account tells how 
 in the days of Xuma Pompilius a crimson shield fell from Heaven 
 into Rome and was adopted as the " insegna e arme^' of the city. 
 The Romans subsequently bestowed this '^insegna'' upon all the 
 cities founded by them, as Perugia, Florence, Pisa, and the 
 Florentines, in allusion to Fiorino and the name of their city, 
 added the white lily as an " Intrasegna-insegnafrapposta ad altra nd 
 campo delV ai'me gentilizie." — Villari Chroniche, p. 22. 
 
 In 1250 the red lily on a white field was adopted. When, the 
 Guelphs having obtained the upper hand, the Gliibellines were 
 driven out of tlie city, the latter retained the wliite lily, and 
 added the double-lieadcd eagle of the Empire. — See Dante, Di- 
 vine Comedy, Paradiso, Cant. xvi.
 
 14 FLORENCE. 
 
 a dragon under foot^ also bestowed by Clement TV., 
 the Guelplis adding the small golden lily later. The 
 golden lilies on a blue field, with a golden file, adopted 
 when Charles of Anjou assumed the government of 
 the city in 1267. And the shield divided perpen- 
 dicularly, with golden lilies on a blue field on one side, 
 and red stripes on a golden field on the other, the 
 arms of Eobert of Anjou, King of Xaples, appointed 
 Lord of Florence in 1313. 
 
 During the last half of the eleventh century Flor- 
 ence was ruled by the Countess Matilda. This cele- 
 brated woman was the last representative of the 
 powerfid house of Canossa. Her mother, Beatrice of 
 Lorraine, had inherited Tuscany, Liguria, part of 
 Lombardy, Modcna, and Fcrrara, and Matilda, an ar- 
 dent supporter of Hildebrand (Gregory VII.), put 
 herself and her vast possessions at the disposal of the 
 Pope, bequeathing everything she had to the Holy 
 See at her death, which occurred in 1115. The Em- 
 peror denied her right so to dispose of her lands, 
 claiming them as fiefs of the Empire, and thus a large 
 part of Italy was drawn into the struggle between 
 "those two halves of God, the Pope and the Em- 
 peror," which was destined to distract her for cen- 
 turies, and convert that beautiful country into a vast 
 battlefield. Florence, however, always keen and 
 wary, contrived to hold aloof, and quietly occupied 
 herself in strengthening her own hands and building 
 up a system of self-government^ so that in due course
 
 HISTORY. 15 
 
 of time sho was able not only to resist the demands 
 of the various imperial representatives sent to her by 
 Henry IV. and Frederick Barbarossa, but to adopt a 
 very independent tone in her dealings with the Popes 
 themselves. As early, however, as 1177 civil discord 
 broke out among her citizens. Many of the powerful 
 no])les living in the neighboring country or "contado 
 had boeil Fni])dued by the Commune, their castles de- 
 stroyed^' and tliey themselves forced to take up their 
 abode in tin' city, wlifi'c, fnr some time at least, they 
 were excluded from tlic })ri\ iloi^T's of citizenship and 
 all share in the Government. Thanks fo this policy , 
 a strong " opposition '' party was formed, composed/ 
 of these immigrant n obles, seve ral powerful families, 
 Avith the Uberti at their head, who had been kept out 
 of office, and all the other malcontents, from whatever 
 cause, who happened to be in the city. They rose 
 against the Government, and for two years the city 
 was the scene of continuous broils and faction tights. 
 
 In 1184 Frederick Barbarossa, temporarily recon- 
 ciled with the Holy See, visited the city in person. 
 The nobles, who had gotten the worst of it in their 
 sfi'uggle with the people, made a formal complaint to 
 him, Avith the result that Florence, by Avay of pun- 
 ishment, Avas depriA^ed for a short time of her juris- 
 diction OA'cr the ''contado." Party feeling ran high, 
 and it needed but a triflins^ incident to kindle into 
 flames the smoldering embers of mutual distrust. 
 
 In the year 1215 a betrothal took place between a
 
 16 FLOEENCE. 
 
 member of the powerful family of Buondelmonte and 
 a daughter of the Amadei. As the former was rid- 
 ing through the city one day he was suddenly ac- 
 costed by a lady of the house of Donati, who re- 
 proached him bitterly for allowing himself to be 
 drawn into an alliance in every way unworthy of 
 him, declaring that she had always intended to bestow 
 her own daughter upon him, having reserved her for 
 this very purpose, and concluded by pointing out the 
 maiden in question, who had followed her mother to 
 the street. No sooner did the bridegroom-elect set 
 eyes upon her than, captivated by her extraordinary 
 beauty, he threw honor and prudence to the winds 
 and announced his intention of marrying her forth- 
 with. Great was the indignation of the Amadei when 
 news of the insidt reached them. A meeting was 
 held of all the relatives and adherents of the family, 
 who bound themselves by an oath to avenge the 
 slight ; and on Easter morning, lying in wait for the 
 youthful bridegroom, they dragged him from his 
 horse near the Ponte Yecchio and murdered him 
 forthwith. The Avhole city at once flew to arms, 
 those whose leanings were towards the Guelphs sid- 
 ing with the Buondelmonti, and the rest, forming a 
 Ghibelline party, Avith the Amadei at its head. And 
 thus were those names of evil omen imported into 
 Florence, where they became the rallying cries in a 
 struggle AA'hieh century after century deluged the city 
 with blood, led to the exile of the greatest of her
 
 HISTORY. 17 
 
 children, and made her an easy prey to foreign 
 powers.* 
 
 By the middle of the thirteenth century Florence, 
 Pisa, Siena, Arezzo, and Pistoia were firmly estab- 
 lished as independent commmies, and Florence had 
 engaged in numerous wars, directed chiefly against 
 her neighbors, the 8ienese, with whom, however, a 
 treaty of peace was signed in 1235. In 1248 the 
 Emperor Frederick XL, who was carrying on a fierce 
 struggle with Pope Innocent IV., treacherously in- 
 cited the Ghibelline leaders — the Uberti — to rise, 
 hoping to strengt iLen the Im perialists in Italy by 
 stirrjpg u^~party feuds. The GhibeUincs were suc- 
 cessful, and tli<' (hu'lphs driven out, some taking' 
 refuge in the upper Valdarno and others intrenching 
 themselves in the fortress of Capraia in the lower 
 Valdarno, where the Ghibellines, aided by reinforce- 
 ments sent by the Emperor, attacked and eventually 
 overcame them. The Ghibellines, left in undisputed 
 power, carried things Avith so high a hand that befor£_ 
 long popular discontent broke out. As soon as the 
 news of their discomfiture at Montevarchi, on Octo- 
 ber 20, 1250, reached Florence the people assembled, 
 and meeting with little or no resistance, proceeded to 
 
 * Guelph was derived from Welf, and Ghibelline from Wai- 
 blingen, a castle belonging to the Emperor Conrad. They are 
 said to have been first used in the battle of "NVeinsberg in 1 1 10, in a 
 struggle between the Welfs of Altdorf and the imperial line of 
 Ilohenstaufen.
 
 1) 
 
 18 FLORENCE. 
 
 establish a new form of Government. Thirty-six 
 CajixyrtiJi di Popoh — six for each of the six wards of 
 the city — were appointed ; a Cajntano dyJ^OM^o^ to 
 represent the people, as the Podesta* became from 
 henceforth more and more the accredited representa- 
 tive of the nobles, and, Hke him, appointed for but 
 one year, and, to balance these two opposing parties 
 in the Government, twelve Anziauq (elders) del Fopolo^ 
 two from each ward. The population was formed 
 into a military organization under the co mipand.jg f 
 the .Ca2)ifa)W, the city being divided into twenty 
 armed companies, each with its banner and Gonfa- 
 loniere ; and the ringing of theT)ell hung in the Tower 
 of the Lion, by the Cajntano, was to be the signal for 
 the people to assemble. This civil and military form 
 of Government, so rapidly and quietly constructed 
 and adopted by the Florentine people, was thaAu n- 
 dation upon which was built the liberty and strength 
 of the Republic. 
 
 The Ghibellines were cowed for the nonce, and the 
 exiled Guelphs returned. For ten years the new 
 Government lasted — a period of great prosperity, as 
 witnessed by her rapid growth in wealth and power. 
 
 * The office of Podesta was created in the year 1207. The 
 city was then governed by gix consuls and a Senate, and with a 
 view to obtaining impartiality in the administration of justice it 
 was determined to appoint a " foreigner "—i.*'., some one from 
 another city — to preside over the civil and criminal courts for the 
 space of one year, with the title of Podesta, and full authority to 
 convict, pass sentences, and execute judgments.
 
 HISTORY. 19 
 
 In 1252 the gold florin was first struck. Then came 
 the disastrous battle of Montaperti — in September, 
 12G0 — when the Guelphs were utterly defeated by 
 an army of Ghibellines collected at Siena by Fari- 
 nata degli Uberti. So great was the slaughter that 
 Dante speaks of it as having dyed the waters of the 
 Arbia red. 
 
 "Che fece 1' Arbia colorata in rosso." 
 
 — Inferno, Canto x. 
 
 Florence came near paying with her very exist- 
 ence on that occasion for the discord she had let loose 
 among her children, and to Farinata degli Uberti is 
 due the honor of having saved her from total destruc- 
 tion, for when at the conference of the Ghibelline 
 leaders, which took place at Empoli after the battle, 
 it was suggested to raze the turbulent city to the 
 ground, he alone of all present interposed in her be- 
 half, and to such purpose that the infamous project 
 was abandoned. 
 
 Another brief period of peace ensued, the people, 
 excluded by the Ghibellines from all participation in 
 public affairs, devoted their surplus energies to the 
 extension of trade, and commerce received so mar- 
 vellous an impetus that the foundations were laid of 
 many great private fortunes, and the commonwealth 
 increased enormously in wealth and importance. 
 Manfred, the friend and ally of the Ghibellines, hav- 
 ing been defeated and slain in February, 1266, the 
 Guelphs began to reassert themselves, and by the
 
 20 FLOKE^XE. 
 
 following November had managed to gain control of 
 the city, from whence they sallied forth from time to 
 time on victorious expeditions, directed against the 
 surromiding cities, towns, and villages, where Gliib- 
 ellines were known to have taken refuge. 
 ] In October, 1278, however, both parties having 
 grown weary of strife. Pope Nicholas III. was re- 
 quested to mediate between them, and accordingly 
 dispatched Cardinal Latino to represent him, with 
 the result that peace was concluded, and from hence- 
 forth the name of Ghibelline is but little heard in the 
 annals of Florence. Then began a period of extra- 
 *-^"''" ordinary prosperity ; arts and industries flourished to 
 a surprising extent, and Florence took the first place 
 among all the Tuscan communes. Florentine mer- 
 chants enjoyed the highest reputation for integrity 
 throughout not only Italy, but the entire world. 
 Magnificent buildings were erected by order of the 
 commune, and also by private enterprise, while archi- 
 tecture, literature, and art were represented by such 
 men as Arnolfo di Cambio, Dante, and Cimabue. 
 After the death of Frederick IL, in December, 1250, 
 an interregnum had occurred in the Imperial succes- 
 sion, and when, in 1281, Kudolph of Hapsburgh en- 
 deavored to recall the Tuscan communes to their alle- 
 giance, it was found that they had grown completely 
 \ beyond the Imperial control, while the Guelph party 
 \ being pre-eminent, the support of the Pope could be 
 I relied upon.
 
 Portrait of Dante from the Fresco in the Barg^ello* 
 
 Giotto.
 
 HISTORY. 21 
 
 In 1282 an important change was made in the form 
 of government. Among other means taken by Car- 
 dinal Latino to establish a lasting peace between the 
 factions had been the substitution of a body com- 
 posed of fourteen citizens — eight Guclphs and six 
 Ghibellines — for the An.:i(uti. It was now enacted 
 that Pr iori clelle Arti should be selected, one by each 
 guild, ib be its president, and that three of these, that 
 is, one from each of the three powerful Guilds of the 
 Calimalaj^the money -db^ftgers, and the woollen-cloth 
 merchants, should be appointed to be at the head of 
 the Government. Before long the "" fourteen " Avere 
 abolished altogether and the priors increased to the 
 number of six. The council thus formed was the 
 nucleus of the celebrated body of the Sigiioria, the 
 office of Gonfaloniere being created in 1293. 
 - In 1289 a great battle Avas fought at Campaldino, 
 in which Florence and the Guelph Government 
 achieved a signal victory over the Aretines, aided by 
 exiled Ghibellines. Dante, then about twenty-four, 
 took part in this battle, and Vieri de' Cerchi behaved 
 with great gallantry. 
 
 The peace which now seemed to be so firmly es- 
 tablished was, however, destined to be of short dura- 
 tion, and before long the old quarrel broke out with 
 increased violence under new party names. 
 
 The most powerful family of Pistoia was at this 
 time the Cancellieri, but these numerous descendants 
 of a common ancestor, who had had two wives, had 
 
 J
 
 22 FLOKEXCE. 
 
 quarrelled among themselves. The whole city was 
 dividcdj those espousing one side taking the name of 
 ]3tancJii, after one wife, and the others styling them- 
 selves Ko'i. 
 
 In 1300 Florence, thinking to mend matters, took 
 the government of the distracted city into her own 
 hands, and conceived the unfortunate idea of banish- 
 ing the chiefs of both factions to Florence, tvith the 
 result that all the friends and connections of the Bian- 
 chi, with Vieri de' Cerchi at their head, at once es- 
 poused their cause, while the Kcri had as poAverful 
 a following, with Corso Donati for their leader. Thus 
 was Florence once more torn by internal discord, 
 the old Guelph party siding for the most part with 
 the Nerij and the Ghibellines with the BiancJii The 
 former, fearing that the others were getting things too 
 much into their own hands, determined to apply to 
 Pope Boniface VIII. to settle the dispute. He ac- 
 cordingly summoned Yieri de' Cerchi to Rome, coun- 
 selled him to become reconciled Avith his enemies — 
 Messer Corso Donati in particular — and promised 
 him his favor and protection if he would do so. But 
 Yieri would have none of it, declared that he was not 
 at enmity with anyone, and returned to Florence, 
 leaving the Pope greatly incensed against him and 
 his party. The so-called '' Ordinances of Justice," 
 instituted in 1293 l^y Giano della Bella, a powerful 
 Guelph leader, only served to arouse opposition and 
 discontent, being drastic measures directed chiefly
 
 HISTORY. 23 
 
 against tlie nobles of whatever party. The office of 
 Gonfaloniere was created at the same time^ as one of 
 the means of enforcing the " ordinances." 
 
 A skirmish that occurred during the popuhir fes- 
 tivities on May Day, 1300, between the youths of 
 both factions, set the whole city in an uproar. The 
 Guelphs again applied to the Pope for aid, and Car- 
 dinal Acquasparta was sent to Florence in the quality 
 of Papal Legate. In June, as the city guilds were 
 going in procession, headed by their consuls, to the 
 church of San Giovanni, — it being the eve of the fes- 
 tival of that saint, — a party of nobles belonging to 
 the Xeri suddenly attacked them, shouting, '^ We are 
 the ones who gained the victory at Campaldino, and 
 you are keeping us out of all the offices and emolu- 
 ments of our city !" In order to quell the disturbances 
 the Priors — Dante being one at that time — decided 
 to banish for a certain period some of the leaders of 
 each party. The Bianchl left at once, but the Xcri 
 resisted, and a plot was formed, with the connivance 
 of the Legate, to introduce an armed force from Lucca 
 into the city. The Signory, however, getting wind 
 of it, put a stop to the whole thing, and forced the 
 conspirators to leave. Whereupon the Legate, seeing 
 no hope of establishing certain '^ reforms " in the gov- 
 ernment of the Republic, upon which he had set his 
 heart, departed in dudgeon, and Florence was placed 
 under a Papal interdict. 
 
 The Emperor Henry VII. died in 1313, but not-
 
 24 FLORENCE. 
 
 withstanding this severe blow the Ghibelline party, 
 under Uguccione dell' Fagginola, won the battle of 
 Montecatini against the Florentines in 1315, and 
 were again victorious in 1325 at Altopascio, under 
 the notorious Castruccio Castracane of Lucca. 
 
 In 1342 the Florentines, feeling that aftairs were in 
 a very bad Avay indeed in their city, invited Gaul- 
 thier de Brienne — styled Duke of Athens by reason 
 of some shadowy claim to that title — to hold the office 
 of Captain and Protector of the People for one year, 
 and also to be Captain-General. The duke was given 
 the same salary, privileges, and authority as his pre- 
 decessor, but showed himself to be such a tyrant and 
 despot that before many weeks had elapsed the 
 Florentines were anxious to be rid of him. This, 
 however, proved no easy matter, and it was not until 
 he had held office nearly a year and a number of 
 plots against his life had been defeated that he and 
 his supporters Avere ffiially driven out. 
 
 The absence of any one holding supreme authority 
 led to a renewal of popular agitation, and the form of 
 government was continually changing, first the peo- 
 ple, and then the nobles getting the upper hand — the 
 Grandi and the PopoJani, or the Fopoh gnisso and 
 the ])opolo minuto. 
 
 In the midst of all these troubles a terrible scourge 
 fell upon Florence. In 1348 the plague coming from 
 the East ravaged the city, destroying, according to 
 Machiavelli, a hundred thousand persons, and indi-
 
 HISTORY. 25 
 
 rectly inspiring Boccaccio with a work wliicli is gen- 
 erally looked upon as his masterpiece. A body called 
 the '' Capitani dl Parte Giielfa '' had been instituted 
 in 1267, and had gradually come to wield an almost 
 unlimited power^ two leading families, the Albizzi 
 and the Ricci, being rivals for the foremost places in 
 it ; and we find Salvestro de' Medici now appearing 
 in the office of Gonfalonier, and as the favorite and 
 leader of the people. 
 
 By the spring of 1378 the tyranny of the rulers 
 had become intolerable, the popular discontent waxed 
 greater and greater, finally culminating in the out- 
 break termed the '^ Ciompi Revolution," in allusion to 
 the ciompi — wooden shoes — worn by the artisans who 
 took part in it. Before the close of July the people had 
 gained their ends. Michele di Lando, a wool comber, 
 who for about the space of twenty-four hours had 
 absolute control of the Government, used his authority 
 to hold an election of members for a new Sii2:norv, 
 and enforce other measures by which order was re- 
 stored. 
 
 The fifty years that elapsed between these events 
 and the rise of the Medici family to power were at 
 once stormy and brilliant. When the inevitable re- 
 action against the popular government came, the Al- 
 bizzi succeeded in obtaining the ascendency, and in 
 1382^ their long oligarchical government began. 
 There was, as a matter of course, plenty of civil 
 strife, but with it all Florence succeeded in carrying
 
 26 FLORE^XE. 
 
 on foreign wars of aggression, in enlarging her terri- 
 tory, and in increasing her commerce. The prevail- 
 ing system of taxation was, however, a cause of great 
 discontent, especially among the lower classes, on 
 whom it bore most heavily. When at last, through 
 the efforts of Giovanni de'Medici, a reform was effected 
 in 1427 the gratitude of the people knew no bounds, 
 and the foundation was laid of that influence and 
 popularity upon which the Medici family afterwards 
 built up their enormous power. 
 
 From the death of Giovanni, Avhich occurred in 
 February, 1429, up to within a few years of the fall 
 of the Republic — a period covering about a hundred 
 years — the history of Florence is practically the his- 
 tory of the Medici family, which I am about to trace 
 from its origin to the height of its greatness, and its 
 final decline.
 
 ''' YlWJi/'^^'^" 
 
 ran^Vdil ' 
 
 iiilHti^niiy) ^ lo 'lyrfj 
 
 »U/J1 ill 1 V ' 
 
 
 
 V) t^-'Mt^T^sK - T'»i)n
 
 GKNEALOGY 0?THE MKDlf t FAMILY. 
 
 fllRAEDO. 
 <5'm«(Skd~( 1360—1428) . 
 
 Co«irao the Elder, Father of = 
 his Conntry (1389—1464). I 
 
 Piero I. — Lucrezia Tornabuoni. C 
 
 Lorenzo - 
 I 1396-1440). 
 
 11467-1504). { Storza. 
 
 fflinal ' 
 (1511—1535). 
 
 Catherine — Dae d'Orltens, Alexander — Margaret of 
 (1619-1689). afterwardg (1610—1537), Austria, 
 Henri 11. PitBt Dulie of daughter of 
 Florence. Cliarles V. 
 
 i 
 
 Francesco = 1st. Joanna of 
 
 [arius (1641 I Austria. 
 
 -1687). 2d. Bianca 
 
 I Capello. 
 
 Cosinio m. = Marie Loui| 
 (I642-I723). I d'OrlSans. 
 
 John Gorton 
 (1671—1737).
 
 THE MEDICI. 27 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MEDICI. 
 
 The origin of the Medici is purely Florentine. As 
 early as 1215 we find a certain Buonagiunta de' 
 Medici appearing as one of the councillors, and the 
 name constantly reappears in the annals of that early 
 period. The first, however, to occupy a prominent 
 place in history, and rise high enough above the 
 level of his fellow-citizens to foreshadow that this 
 merchant family was destined to give Tuscanv her 
 future sovereigns, was Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, 
 whose election in 1421 to the office of Gonfaloniere, 
 while it caused much satisfaction among the people, 
 did not fail to arouse great uneasiness among the 
 rulers. Niccolo da Uzzano pointed out clearly to his 
 associates the danger of thus placing power in the 
 hands of one who not only came from a prominent 
 and ambitious family, but himself possessed wealth 
 and mental attainments far above the ordinarv. Gio- 
 vanni was, however, far too sagacious a man to en- 
 danger his position by any overt act. He kept his 
 ambition in check, devoted himself to the accumulation^ 
 of enormous wealth, effected a reform in the method 
 of taxation — being the author of the famous Catasta
 
 28 FLOKENCE. 
 
 — and died, deeply regretted by all classes^ on tlie 
 28th of February, 1428. 
 
 ^[achiavelli has left a portrait of him ^vhich all 
 writers of history have accepted. He was very 
 charitable, seeking out the poor in order to relieve 
 them. Affable to all men, he was never a candidate 
 for posts of honor, and yet they were showered upon 
 him. He was only to be seen at the Government 
 palace at such times when the public weal demanded 
 his presence. Of a pacific disposition, he did all in 
 his power to avoid war. Careful of the public money, 
 his main object was to increase the revenues of the 
 State. In public office he distinguished himself by 
 his benevolence. Without being absolutely eloquent, 
 he was gifted with rare intehigence. Sedate and even 
 melancholy in appearance, he was amiable and cheer- 
 ful in his relations with others. Born in 1360, he 
 was twice elected Prior, once Gronfaloniere, and once 
 a member of the War Council of Ten. He was mar- 
 ried to Piccarda Bueri, by whom he had two sons, 
 Cosimo and Lorenzo. He lived to see these two sons 
 grow up and develop habits of great activity, both 
 mental and physical, and to find that, while liberal 
 and generous, they sought to increase the family in- 
 heritance and make it useful to the State. 
 
 At his death Giovanni was interred in the sacristy 
 of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, which he had em- 
 ployed Brunelleschi to restore at his expense. He 
 had not, however, the satisfaction of witnessing the
 
 THE MEDICI. 29 
 
 completion of tlils edifice^ which was to be the pan- 
 theon of liis family, though the work was carried on 
 by his two sons. His tomb is situated in the centre 
 of the Sagrestia Vecchia, Avhere, five years later, his 
 wife was laid beside him. It is only after looking 
 through all the original correspondence of these mer- 
 chant princes, as I have done, that one can appre- 
 ciate their lofty intellect, their flexibility, and varied 
 attainments. There was nothing doing in their day 
 in which they had not some share, or Avhich came for- 
 eign to them, whether war, public office, diplomacy, 
 politics, art, or literature ; and, above all, they were en- 
 dowed — gifted politicians that they were — with pecu- 
 liar affability towards men of low degree, did they 
 but possess any real merit. 
 
 Warmth of heart and the power to kindle enthu- 
 siasm in others were their special attributes, as may 
 be gathered from passages in some of the letters still 
 preserved in the ^^ Archivio di Stato " of Florence, 
 under the title '^ Lettere Innanzi il Principato." 
 
 COSIMO THE ELDEE. 
 
 During his father^s lifetime Cosimo had taken part 
 in public affjiirs while still engaged in the business of 
 his house, and as he had a reputation for unusual in- 
 telligence, combined with rare prudence, he was on 
 several occasions selected to undertake the most deli- 
 cate missions, as, for instance, when he represented 
 the Republic of Florence at the Council ot Constance,
 
 30 FLOKENCE. 
 
 when the claims of Baldassare Cossa — John XXIII. — 
 to the Papacy were set aside. There is a curious in- 
 cident in this connection which testifies to the proud 
 attitude assumed by the Repubhc towards the great 
 powers^ including the greatest of them all — the 
 Papacy. After his deposal by the Council, Cossa fled 
 in disguise — it is said accompanied by Cosimo — but 
 having been discovered and taken, he was confined 
 by order of the Council, in Heidelberg Castle, where 
 he would no doubt have remained for the rest of his 
 life had he not paid a large sum of money as a ran- 
 som and promised to do homage to his rival on his 
 knees. This ceremony took place in Florence with 
 much pomp and circumstance. Martin Y. then re- 
 storing him to favor, he was appointed Cardinal- 
 Bishop of Frascati and permitted to pass the brief 
 remainder of his days in peace at Florence, where 
 his death occurred in January, 1418. Donatello and 
 Michelozzo Michelozzi were instructed to erect a tomb 
 worthy of one who had been ^^ Pope and prisoner of 
 a Pope." A splendid monument was accordingly 
 raised, which may still be seen, in the Baptistery of 
 San Giovanni, on the right of the high altar. But 
 the inscription provoked the wrath of Pope Martin, 
 who had never quite forgiven the Florentines for a 
 doggerel about himself which the little boys had 
 shouted through the streets on the occasion of his last 
 visit, and he imperiously demanded that the words 
 ^^ quondam papa " should be erased^ to which the
 
 THE MEDICI. 31 
 
 Signory returned the disdainful reply : '^ Quod scripsi 
 scripsi." It is sometimes alleged that Pope Jolin^ out 
 of gratitude for the many services rendered him by 
 Giovanni and Cosimo de' Medici, bequeathed them 
 large sums at his death, but this has been disproved 
 by the publication of the Medicean Archives, among 
 which are documents showing that the Pontiff actually 
 died in debt to the house of Medici.* 
 
 Giovanni lived long enough to initiate his sons into 
 public life, but Cosimo ranked higher than his father, 
 and laid the foundation of the fame of his family. 
 He married the daughter of Count Bardi, and when 
 he became head of the house his influence and credit 
 increased every day. He did not exercise any offi- 
 cial authority in the strict sense of the term, but that 
 moral supremacy, to which the public gave voluntarv >^ 
 adhesion, and which became the hereditary privilege 
 of this illustrious family, was in his case very marked. 
 
 The Government at that time "consisted of a Coun- 
 cil of Priors, presided overby a Gonfaloniere, appointed 
 for a period of only two months, in order that power ^ 
 might not remain permanently in the hands of anv 
 one party. This precaution against tyranny was 
 rendered useless, if not by the devices of the Medici, 
 at all events by the extraordinary influence which 
 thev exercised over the masses. They had so multi- 
 
 * See Archivio Storico Italiano. (Vol. iv., page 433, Docii- 
 lenti, i., ii., and iii.) — Napier's Florentine Hist.
 
 32 FLORENCE. 
 
 plied their good deeds^ had made such an intelligent 
 use of their wealth, and had managed their patronage 
 so well, that every one felt his hands to be tied, and 
 unconsciously, perhaps, surrendered at discretion. 
 "With this class the public weal was identified with 
 the private interests of the Medici. If at the elec- 
 tions Cosimo, Lorenzo, and their children, nephews, 
 and more distant relatives did not gain the vote for 
 themselves, partisans of their family were returned. 
 In course of time a powerful party of the Florentines 
 came to look upon the Medici as the natural deposi- 
 taries of power, as a nursery garden of politicians 
 indispensable to the public welfare. 
 
 It will easily be understood that they had made 
 many enemies, and Rinaldo degli Albizzi, who was 
 leader of the opposite faction, contrived in the autumn 
 of 1433 to obtain control of the Signory about enter- 
 ing into office, so that on September 7th Cosimo was 
 cited to appear before that body at the palace. Act- 
 ing against the advice of his friends he obeyed the 
 summons, and was forthwith consigned to a prison 
 within the walls of that building. 
 
 The historian who resides at Florence, and the 
 man of the world who always likes to compare monu- 
 ments with history, and to see if documents tally with 
 oral statements, may still picture to themselves, by 
 visiting in the tower of the Old Palace the prison 
 called the Alberghettino, the scene which was enacted 
 there in 1433, when Cosimo, placed under the charge
 
 THE MEDICI. 6'6 
 
 of Federico Malvolti^ exchanged the splendor of his 
 father's palace for the gloomy and confined residence 
 to which he was consigned by his enemies. jMachia- 
 velli says that, for fear of being poisoned, the son of 
 Giovanni, Avho was soon to be called the ^' Father of 
 his Country," refused all food for four days, and sub- 
 sisted on a crust of bread. 
 
 He was shortly afterwards banished, taking refuge 
 iirst at Padua and afterwards at Venice. He was 
 not the only victim of the Signory, his brother 
 Lorenzo, with all the other Medici and their prin- 
 cipal partisans, being likewise obliged to leave Flor- 
 ence. 
 
 Cosimo was at that time forty-six years of age, and 
 we know that during his exile he interested himself 
 in art, science, and literature, and that Avhile at 
 Venice he applied to some of the eminent artists who 
 were destined to become illustrious in his service for 
 designs for the buildings which he purposed some day 
 to erect. It was evident that in exiling him the Flor- 
 entines wished to get rid of a citizen Avhoni they 
 deemed too powerful, and that, as in the case of 
 Aristides, they were tired of hearing him called the 
 Just. This was only a prudent step, no doubt, on 
 the part of those avIio were anxious to preserve the 
 Republican form of government ; but the people are 
 always ready to accept a certain degree of servitude, 
 and are easily aroused to enthusiasm for those who 
 seem born to command. Before a year had elapsed 
 
 3
 
 34 FLORENCE. 
 
 they began to murmur and demand the recall of 
 Cosimo, who had not conspired agamst his country, 
 and who, while in exile, still sought to embellish and 
 to render it more prosperous. Pope Eugenius, then 
 at Florence, threw the weight of his influence in with 
 the Medician party, and by the force of the reaction 
 — ^which is one of the characteristic features of popu- 
 lar government — Cosimo was recalled. Then was 
 witnessed the singular spectacle of a whole city going 
 out to greet one who was neither a conqueror nor a 
 chosen ruler, but merely a man who had peacefully 
 exercised a constant influence, and whose moral au- 
 thority, not guarded by any decree or law, was as 
 effectual as any recognized and legal power. 
 
 From this time forth the Republic ceased to exist 
 in reality, though not in name, for that was main- 
 tained for a long time, Cosimo being styled the Father 
 of his Country ; but the ]\Iedici dynasty was prac- 
 ticaUy established, and the people paid willing obei- 
 sance to a family whose ^^ manifest destiny " Avas so 
 plainly indicated. The date of their return (1434) 
 marks virtually the end of the Republican epoch. 
 
 Cosimo Avas then in his prime, and he lived for 
 thirty years after his return from exile. Reading 
 with care the history of Florence, it will be seen that 
 these thirty years were the most prolific in regard to 
 ^ intellectual culture and the development of art. 
 Lorenzo the Magnificent reaped the harvest, but his- 
 tory must ascribe the merit of it to Cosimo the Elder.
 
 THE MEDICI. 35 
 
 The mere recollection of this memorable epoch makes 
 the heart beat faster, and the hand which Avould fain 
 depict it cannot but tremble. One must go back to 
 the days of Pericles to find so lofty a flight in every ^ 
 branch of literature, science, and art. Countless 
 books have been written about the Renaissance, and 
 no effort has been spared to trace out its origins, and 
 to show by what combination of circumstances this 
 sublime efflorescence of human genius was brought 
 about. There are indeed apparent and immediate 
 causes, but the movement had been long in prepara- 
 tion, and the two preceding centuries remarkably rich 
 in artistic productions. 
 
 Cosimo, besides those literary tastes which led him 
 to gather around liim the greatest thinkers, philoso- A 
 phers, and poets of his day, also took a strong interest 
 in architecture, and had a practical knowledge of art ; 
 it is to him that w^e owe San Lorenzo, the church and 
 convent of St. Mark, the monastery of San Verdiana, 
 the monastery of San Gerolamo upon the heights of 
 Fiesole, where the Gerolamite hermits assembled, 
 until it was suppressed by Clement IX., and the abbey 
 of San Bartolomeo and San Romolo for the canons of 
 the Lateran. At Mugello, his favorite residence until 
 Careggi was built, he reconstructed from its very 
 foundations the convent of Bosco a Prati, and in each 
 of these rcHgious houses he took care that there was 
 a library of MSS. Countless was the number of 
 private chapels built at his expense, such as the
 
 36 FLORENCE. 
 
 i^oviziato at Santa Croce ; and those in the convent 
 of Agnoli belonging to the Camalduli Fathers ; in the 
 church of the Servi ; and that of San Miniato al 
 Monte. When to these are added the gift of all the 
 ornaments^ furniture, and utensils necessary for cele- 
 brating public worship^ it will be seen what immense 
 wealth the house of Medici must have possessed. 
 
 Giovanni himself lived in .great state, but his son 
 outdid him in splendor. San Tommaso in Mercato, 
 the first residence of the Medici, was abandoned for 
 the splendid palace in the Via Larga. During his 
 lifetime he had four summer residences in the neigh- 
 borhood of Florence : Careggi, which still exists, Fie- 
 sole, Cafaggiuolo, and Trebbio. He kept up the state 
 of a prince rather than of a private individual, and 
 his charities were far reaching, for he founded an 
 asylum at Jerusalem for needy pilgrims, and em- 
 ployed his leisure time while exiled at Venice in 
 founding a library of MSS. in the monastery of the 
 canons of San Giorgio. 
 
 All the subsequent doings of the Medici are well 
 known, and I have had in my hand the account-books 
 of the expenses of all these buildings ; these historic 
 documents, which are now of great value, being pre- 
 served in the State archives of Florence. They are 
 called the ^' Libro di Ragione," and it was in them 
 that the steward kept a debtor and creditor account 
 of all that he paid and received. During the life- 
 time of Giovanni alone the expenditure under this
 
 THE MEDICI. 37 
 
 head amounted to five hundred thousand gold crowns, 
 and even this enormous sum did not make any ap- 
 preciable difference in the ever-growing fortune of 
 the house. It will, of course, be well understood that 
 Giovanni himself, the founder of the house, did not 
 amass all this wealth, his inheritance from his father 
 being a very considerable one ; but his business as a 
 money-changer, carried on upon an immense scale, 
 had increased it very much. As far back as the 
 fourteenth century the Medici had sixteen counting- 
 houses in different cities of Europe, and they had also 
 contracted for the taxes and excise of the Republic, 
 so that a very large profit accrued from all these 
 transactions, conducted with a scrupidous honesty 
 which had established their credit upon very solid 
 foundations. Moreover, they carried on a banking 
 business, and it w^as to these operations — not always 
 very profitable, because they sometimes lent money 
 to those of their fellow-citizens who could not pay 
 the interest, or even Avhat they had borrowed — that 
 they owed their immense popularity. This generosity 
 may, however, not have been wholly disinterested, 
 and several contemporary writers, Varchi among 
 them, have denounced their liberality as being all a 
 sham, and have said that Giovanni founded the influ- 
 ence of his family upon corruption, and bought his 
 way to supreme power. 
 
 Be this as it may, Giovanni and his two sons be- 
 came bankers to kings, and lent money to sovereigns
 
 38 FLORENCE. 
 
 ■vvho sought to possess tliemselves of dominion. Ed- 
 Avard IV. always said that it was thanks to them that 
 he wore the crown of England. 
 
 For such a man as Cosimo, with children worthy 
 of himself — animated by a liberal and generous spirit, 
 a warm-hearted and intelligent patron of arts, science, 
 and letters, circumspect and daring by turn, as occa- 
 sion requires — there need be no limit to success. He 
 possessed, moreover, that most powerful of all engines 
 for travelling along the road to power — boundless 
 wealth. The name of Medici, like that of Maecenas, 
 >j/ became in future ages the synonym for an enlightened 
 patron of literature ; and if this family did not absolutely 
 initiate the extraordinary movement which, starting 
 from Florence, spread throughout Italy, they sup- 
 ported it with such ardor and profound conviction 
 that they gave their name to the century, so that one 
 now speaks of the '^ age of the Medici " as of the 
 ^^ age of Pericles." 
 
 Cosimo, in his position, might, had he so desired, 
 have espoused some Italian princess, or even the 
 daughter of a sovereign house ; but he had the tact 
 to marrv a Florentine, the daughter of Count Bardi ; 
 and he adopted the same course with his children, 
 marrying his eldest son Piero to Lucrezia Tornabuoni, 
 and his other son, Giovanni, to Cornelia degli Ales- 
 sandri. His brother Lorenzo died comparatively 
 young, without having occupied a very prominent 
 place in the State ; but as he left a son, Piero Fran-
 
 THE MEDICI. 39 
 
 cisco de' Medici, the family divided into two branches 
 — the elder, of which Cosimo the Father of his 
 Country was the head, and the younger, issuing 
 from Lorenzo, second son of Giovanni Averardo di 
 Bicci. 
 
 It was Cosimo Avho built the Medici Palace, now 
 called the Riccardi Palace, as a ftimily residence. 
 Machiavelli has described his death in the villa at 
 Careggi, and has left a flattering portrait which brings 
 out the principal traits in his character. After enu- 
 merating his endowments, his undertakings, and 
 splendor of life, he praises him for having always pre- 
 served, both in public and private, so simple a de- 
 meanor that he might easily have been mistaken for 
 the humblest of his fellow-citizens. He led for the 
 most part a very laborious life, but during his latter 
 years allowed himself some mental relaxation, and 
 leaving the management of his business to the Torna- 
 buoni, the Benci, the Portinari, and the Sassetti, 
 w^hose fortunes he had made, surrounded himself with X 
 men of letters, and artists. He was the personal 
 friend of Donatello and Michelozzo, of Marcilio Ficino, 
 of Cristofero Landino, of Giovanni Cavalcanti, of 
 Bartolomeo and Filippo Valori, of Baccio Ugolini, of 
 Giovanni, Pico, and of Leone Battista iVlberti. 
 
 He had not, it nuiy be admitted, the high intellect- 
 ual culture of Lorenzo the Magnificent, but it was 
 enouo'h for a Medici to be, as re<rards comprehension 
 
 and enthusiasm, on a level Avitli those who produce
 
 40 FLOEENCE. 
 
 and create. Moreover there are extant letters of 
 Cosimo tlie Elder which show that he was an ardent 
 student. In one of these he writes to Marcilio Ficino : 
 '"'■ I came to Careggi yesterday as much for the pur- 
 pose of improving my land as of benefiting myself. 
 Come to see me as soon as you possibly can, and do 
 not forget to bring with you divine Plato's treatise on 
 ^ The Sovereign Good.' You ought ere this to have 
 translated it into Latin. There is no research to which 
 I woidd devote myself more zealously than to that of 
 truth. Come, then, and bring with you the Orphean 
 lyre." 
 
 This is not the only proof of his enthusiasm for 
 literature. In the shrubberies and woods of Careggi 
 he spent the hottest hours of the day in learned dis- 
 cussion with the great writers and philosophers whose 
 names we have quoted. A profound admirer of 
 Gemistas Plethon, the Greek philosopher who up- 
 held the doctrines of Plato, and whose tomb I dis- 
 covered at Rimini, Cosimo determined to found a 
 Platonician school, and he placed at the head of it 
 Marcilio Ficino, a man of profound intellect, a great 
 thinker, a great writer, and a Christian philosopher, 
 who declared that the proofs of the Divinity were to 
 be found among the pagans, as the Fathers of the 
 Church in his day Avere not sound. Marcilio was the 
 son of Cosimo's physician ; and beneath the trees of 
 Careggi, and in the rooms of that summer residence, 
 there assembled an areopagus composed of the human-
 
 THE MEDICI. 41 
 
 ists wlio paved the way for tlie literary Renaissance 
 in Italy. 
 
 The death of Cosimo the Elder was very touching. 
 He had been unhappy in his private life, for Gio- 
 vanni, the son whom he liked best, had died young, 
 and Piero, nicknamed Gotfoso — so deformed and de- 
 bilitated was he by gout — became too infirm to bear 
 the burden of public affairs. Cosimo, therefore, found 
 his sole consolation in literature. Still, he lived to 
 see his grandson Lorenzo, the son of Piero, grow up, 
 and at the age of sixteen this lad showed signs of the 
 ability which made him the greatest man of his day. 
 Cosimo, however, never got over the death of Gio- 
 vanni, and as he was being carried one day in his 
 chair through the magnificent rooms of the Riccardi 
 Palace he was heard to murmur, '^ Too large a house 
 for so small a family." Cosimo died on the 1st of 
 August, 1464, at Careggi, just outside Florence, and 
 he was buried in the basilica of San Lorenzo, at the 
 foot of a marble column. The traveller who visits 
 the church and pauses before the high altar will be 
 standing upon a circle of inlaid marble bearing the 
 inscription, " Cosmus Medicos — Hie Situs est — 
 Decreto PubHco — Pater Patriae." 
 
 PIEEO I. (NICKNAMED THE GOUTY.) 
 (141G-14G9.) 
 
 Piero the Gouty, who was never popular, survived 
 his father five years, and died at the age of fifty-
 
 42 FLOEENCE. 
 
 three, hit3 ill-health preventing him from taking an 
 active part in public affairs. As his brothers Carlo 
 and Giovanni had predeceased him, the only brilliant 
 representative of the race of the Medici was his sou 
 Lorenzo, who gave early promise of his distinguished 
 abilities. At Cosimo's death Piero on the advice of 
 Diotisalvi Neroni, a trusted friend and councillor of 
 his father, took a step which made him very unpopular. 
 He had a list of his debtors made out, and sought to 
 recover the sums standing against their names, but 
 as Cosimo had never claimed these moneys, which in 
 many cases had been advanced without any intention 
 of having them repaid, his right was called in ques- 
 tion and his popularity gone. For all that he was 
 a thorough Medici, and in many respects a very 
 interesting character. Following the example of 
 Cosimo, he retained the services of Marcilio Ficino, 
 and published at his own expense the five volumes 
 of Plato which the latter had translated into Latin. 
 It should be borne in mind, too, that he founded a 
 chair, in Avhich ]\L^rcilio gave lectures on the great 
 Greek philosopher to large and enthusiastic audi- 
 ences. There was quite a fever for study, and it is 
 difficult for us, absorbed as we are in the common- 
 places of politics and in the dreary round which 
 dampens all generous ideas and extinguishes all noble 
 aspirations, to conceive the enthusiasm which took 
 possession of the people of Florence. Marcilio Ficino 
 suspended before the bust of Plato, as above the altar
 
 THE MEDICI. 43 
 
 of a cliurcli^ a liglited lamp. Francesco Saccliotti 
 tells us that on one occasion an admirer of Dante took 
 the tapers which were huniing upon the altar of the 
 crucifix, and placed them before the poet's bust, say- 
 ing, ^^ Accept them, for you are more worthy of them 
 than He." The whole city was a prey to delirium, 
 but delirium of a most generous kind. 
 
 Boccaccio was the earliest reader of the Iliad and 
 the Odyssey in the original, and he translated them 
 into Latin with the assistance of a Greek residing: in 
 Calabria. Petrarch, who did not know Greek, but 
 who had read the Latin translation, preserved the 
 originals as a relic. The movement in favor of Hellen- 
 ism was started by the Greeks who came to the 
 Council of Florence, and Piero's son vulgarized the 
 poets and historians of antiquity by forming the 
 famous library of manuscripts which in course of time 
 became the ^^ Laurentiana." 
 
 During the reign of Cosimo the Elder, Xiccolo 
 Niccoli spent all his fortune in purchasing manu- 
 scripts, and Cosimo, remarking how well versed he 
 was in antiquities, took him into his employ, and 
 opened a credit to enable him to buy whatever 
 seemed to him Avorth having. It was he who dis- 
 covered the remaining works of Ammianus IMarcelli- 
 nus, Cicero's '^ de Oratore," and the Lubecca Pliny. 
 He had converted his house into a public librarv, 
 and any one Avas allowed to go in and read, copv, or 
 translate, while those who wanted advice on any
 
 44 FLOKENCE. 
 
 point connected with their studies received all the 
 assistance in his power. At his death he left eight 
 hundred manuscripts, valued at eight thousand gold 
 florins, which Cosimo, with his usual liberality, pur- 
 chased and presented to the monastery of San Marco, 
 which occupies so prominent a place in the history 
 of Florence. By his wife Lucrezia Tornabuoni, Piero 
 had two sons, Lorenzo and Giuliano, and by his own 
 express desire he was buried without pomp in the 
 Sagrestia Vecchia of San Lorenzo. His sons Lorenzo 
 surnamed the Magnificent, and Giuliano, built him a 
 superb tomb near the entrance to the Lady Chapel. 
 Andrea Yerocchio, the sculptor of the equestrian 
 statue of Colleoni* and the ^^ Child and the Dolphin," 
 was employed on its execution. It consists of a por- 
 phyry sarcophagus resting upon a marble slab sup- 
 ported by bronze tortoises, and decorated with foliage 
 of the most exquisite workmanship. 
 
 LOKEXZO THE MAGNIFICENT. 
 
 (1448-1492.) 
 
 Camilla Lucrezia Tornabuoni, the mother of Lorenzo 
 the Magnificent son of Piero, has left behind her a 
 reputation for great prudence, resolution, and dig- 
 nity, some of the stories which are related of her re- 
 minding one of the mother of the Gracchi. She was 
 as highly educated as any woman of her time, and 
 
 ^ See chapter on Yerrochio.
 
 THE MEDICI. 45 
 
 the number of works dedicated to her prove how 
 much interest she took in literature. Piero and she 
 had selected, as tutor for their son Lorenzo, Gentile 
 of Urbino, afterwards Bishop of Arezzo. He was 
 succeeded by Cristofero Landino ; and Argjropulus, a 
 learned Hellenist who had taken refuge at Florence 
 after the foil of Constantinople, taught the boy Greek 
 and the philosophy of Aristotle. Marcilio Ficino, 
 the friend of his father and the son of his grand- 
 father's physician, instructed him in the doctrines of 
 Plato. 
 
 The precocity of Lorenzo had struck every one, 
 and at the age of sixteen he was so intimately versed 
 in political affairs that he was deemed ripe for a diplo- 
 matic mission. He was first sent to Pisa, to receive 
 Frederick, son of Ferdinand King of Naples ; then 
 to Rome, where Pope Paul IL took a great fancy to 
 him ; to Bologna, in order to strengthen the ancient 
 alliance between Florence and the Bentivoglios ; to 
 Ferrara, in order to gain over the Este family ; to 
 Milan, where he stood godfather to a son of Duke 
 Galeazzo Sforza ; and to Venice, Avhere he kept him- 
 self informed as to the doings of the Republic, which 
 was always ready to take hostile action against Flor- 
 ence. In 1466 a conspiracy formed against him and 
 his father, who was to have been put to death while 
 being carried in his litter from Careggi to Florence, 
 was discovered and crushed, some assert through the 
 vigilance of Lorenzo. Accaiuoli and Diotisalvi Xe-
 
 46 FLOKENCE. 
 
 roni at once fled, and the rest of the conspirators be- 
 ing exiled, fined, or admonished, the Medician party 
 was left in complete power. On the death of Piero 
 there followed a comparatively peaceful epoch of de- 
 velopment for arts and literature. Lorenzo was at 
 the head of this movement, forming his magnificent 
 collections and founding libraries. Always surrounded 
 by the leading personages of the time, he devoted aU 
 
 y his leisure to literary pursuits, and it was at this period 
 that he carried on those discussions in the woods of 
 the CamaldulcE with Cristofero Landino, Rinuccini, 
 the two Acciajoli, Leo Battista Alberti, and Marcilio 
 Ficino, anent the charms of a contemplative life, 
 which gave rise to the Disjyutationes Camaldulenses 
 of Landino. 
 
 Full of enthusiasm for literature, Lorenzo was 
 
 ,r himself the author of numerous sonnets, odes, religious 
 and other poems of sufficient merit to place him among 
 the foremost poetical writers of his day. His Canti 
 Caniavaleslii are sometimes called the earliest exam- 
 ples of the modern satire in the Italian language. He 
 was very partial to what were then called " triumphal 
 displays," the various tableaux in which were de- 
 signed by himself, and the execution intrusted to the 
 greatest artists of the day. No pains were spared to 
 make these fleeting representations, in which an- 
 tiquity was revived for an hour, as perfect as possi- 
 ble. The painters decorated the chariots and de- 
 signed the costumes, the sculptors had the modelling
 
 THE MEDICI. 47 
 
 of the groups^ horses were caparisoned in the skins 
 of lions, tigers, or elephants, beautiful women were 
 adorned with the emblems of the pagan divinities, 
 and poets commented on these compositions, and de- 
 scribed the figures in the triumphal processions. 
 Parts in it were taken by such men as Alemanni, 
 Ruccelai, and Xardi; and a Medici or a Strozzi would 
 spend fabulous sums in converting his fancy into real- 
 ity for an hour. The corporations, at that time so 
 powerful, united in the effort to make these "tri- 
 umphs " succeed, and men learned in antiquity, like 
 Pohtian and Marcilio Ficino, were asked to do their 
 part towards gratifying the partiality of the Floren- 
 tine people for these allegories. 
 
 I have searched in vain for some pictorial record 
 of the wonderfid fetes given by the Medici and other 
 wealthy citizens of their day ; but the art of engrav- 
 ing, by which they might have been preserved to us, 
 was not then in existence. It was not imtil the close 
 of the fifteenth century that a few painters, whose 
 very names have been forgotten, began to reproduce 
 on canvas contemporaneous events ; these pictures, 
 Avhich enable us to form an accurate idea of the cos- 
 tumes and festivals of the time, and of Florentine life 
 in the fifteenth century, being very scarce. It is 
 only in Paolo Ucello, or upon the marriage caskets, 
 of which South Kensington Museum possesses a fine 
 collection, that we catch a few glimpses of what pub- 
 lic and private life was at that period. We know by
 
 48 FLORENCE. 
 
 a casket in the Academy of Fine Arts at Florence 
 what an aristocratic wedding was like^ and the fres- 
 coes by Benozzo Gozzoli in the Riccardi Palace en- 
 able us to form an opinion of, the deportment of the 
 day ; but a plastic record of life in Florence anterior 
 to 1450 is rarely to be met with. The only insight 
 into the inner ways of the inhabitants is that which 
 is to be gained from the manuscripts of the beginning 
 of the century, the embossed reliefs on caskets, and a 
 few rare specimens of contemporary art. With these 
 exceptions all is antique. Piero della Francesca, Pisa- 
 nello, PoUauiolo, Paolo Ucello, Benozzo Gozzoli, and 
 Matteo da Pasti have recorded with chisel, pen, or 
 brush some incidents of every-day life, trifling at that 
 time, but of surpassing interest now ; and this is all 
 we know. Botticelli, Lippi, and Memmi, engrossed 
 in allegorical studies, tell us nothing of their own time, 
 closely as their style is identified with it. 
 
 We are more fortunate as regards literature, though 
 without illustrations to accompany them the many 
 narratives of these contemporary Avriters carry little 
 meaning with them, interesting as are the works of 
 Boccaccio, Francesco Sacchetti, Jacobo Passavanti, 
 Giovanni Yillani, Poggio Bracciolini, and Niccolo 
 Niccoli. 
 
 The sixteenth century abounds in documents, and 
 there are as many as twenty illustrated works repre- 
 senting festivals and "triumphs." Yet, interesting 
 as these are, they have not the raciness of the fif-
 
 Portrait of one of the Medici in the Riccardi Chapel* 
 
 Benozzo Gozzolu
 
 THE MEDICI. 49 
 
 teenth century^ and one cannot help regretting that 
 it is impossible to convey a precise idea of the singu- 
 lar customs which then prevailed. 
 
 The narrative of a Florentine triumph, designed 
 by Andrea Dazzi — reader of Greek and Latin to the 
 academy of the city — the cost of which was borne 
 by the Del Diamante Company, is still extant. Dazzi 
 suggested three chariots representing Youth, Man- 
 hood, and Old Age. The artists Avho designed the 
 chariots were RafFaello delle Vivole, La Carota, and 
 Andrea del Sarto ; while the costumes and figures 
 were designed by Piero da Vinci, the father of Leo- 
 nardo, and Bernardino di Giordano. The first chariot 
 bore the motto : ''' We shall be ;'^ the second, '' We 
 are ;" the third, '"' We have been." 
 
 Lorenzo the Magnificent, like all the citizens of 
 that day, belonged to a corporation ; he Avas presi- 
 dent of his, the " Broncone," and he' commissioned 
 Japo Xardi, a very learned man, to design him six 
 chariots, so that the festival might be a more impos- 
 ing one. 
 
 Pontormo was the painter who executed this de- 
 sign. The first chariot, drawn by oxen, represented 
 the Golden Age with Saturn, Janus, the double-faced, 
 seated in front of the Temple of War, the door of 
 which was closed, holding the key of the temple, and 
 trampling Discord under foot ; then came semi-nude 
 shephci'ds crowned with flowers, mounted on tigers 
 and lions. Then came Numa carrying the religious
 
 50 FLORENCE. 
 
 books, all the orders of priesthood, the augurs, the 
 haruspices, and all the pagan liturgy, with the mate- 
 rial for offering up sacrifices. 
 
 Titus Manlius Torquatus followed upon a triumphal 
 car drawn by eight horses, preceded by senators with 
 lictors and fasces. Behind him Julius Caesar tri- 
 umphant, in a car drawn by elephants, surrounded 
 by all the imperial court, and followed by the peoples 
 whom he had vanquished. Caesar Augustus repre- 
 sented in the cortege the ''' Triumph of the Poets," 
 some of whom, crowned with laurel and mounted 
 upon winged horses, personified their native province, 
 while each carried the works he had composed. The 
 sixth car was that of the Emperor Trajan, accom- 
 panied by the doctors of the law and the imperial 
 legislators. The car of the Grolden Age, carved by 
 Baccio Bandinelli, brought up the rear. Lastly, upon 
 a golden terrestrial sphere, a figure representing Dis- 
 cord was writhing in convulsions ; while a naked in- 
 fant, glittering with gold, represented the Youth of 
 the renascent Golden Age. The chronicler adds that 
 this beautiful child, the son of a baker, who had doubt- 
 less served as a model for some of Donatello's and 
 Desiderio da Settignano's sculptures on the tombs in 
 Santa Croce, caught cold and died soon afterwards. 
 
 Upon another occasion Lorenzo the Magnificent 
 celebrated the '^ Triumph of Bacchus f' but the only 
 description of this masquerade we have is the lines 
 which he composed for the occasion, his theme being,
 
 THE MEDICI. 51 
 
 " Let us Ccat and driiikj for to-morrow we die." The 
 canti carnavalcschl of that day, it may be stated, were 
 very often full of buffoonery and ribaldry. 
 
 The Florentine people were never tired of these 
 festivals, and every variety of subject was brought 
 into recpiisition. On one occasion a group of artists, 
 who were in a gloomy vein, after having celebrated 
 the " Triumph of Life," determined to represent the 
 ^^ Triumph of Death." Li the midst of the carnival, 
 when all was joy and mirth, and the streets and bal- 
 conies were filled with eager spectators, a chariot, 
 painted black, with death's heads and cross-bones 
 picked out in Avhite, and drawn by black buffaloes, 
 was paraded through the streets, a black skeleton, 
 with a scythe in its bony hands, being enthroned 
 upon coffins. The chariot halted at each street cor- 
 ner, and a suite of mourners and lugubrious phantom 
 figures chanted in a mournful key to the accompani- 
 ment of funeral trumpets : 
 
 *'Fummo gia come voi siete : 
 Voi sarete come noi : 
 Morti siara come vedete : 
 Cosi morti vedrem voi." 
 
 '^ We were as you are, you will be as we are ; and 
 as you see us dead, so shall we see you dead." It 
 may easily be imagined what consternation and ter- 
 ror this caused the timid women and children in the 
 crowd, while the more sceptical indulged in sinister 
 jokes.
 
 52 FLORE^XE. 
 
 Vasari has given a long description of this singular 
 device, the invention of which he ascribes to Piero 
 de^ Medici, the father of Lorenzo. It was Pontormo, 
 once more, who was commissioned to design the 
 chariot, which, in order to lend more reality to the 
 scene, was followed by a number of men (supposed 
 to be dead) on horseback, the leanest and the most 
 cadaverous-looking that could be found having been 
 selected for the occasion. These were followed by 
 naked mutes, carrying a torch in one hand, and in the 
 other a large standard with skull and cross-bones. 
 
 Yasari was himself intrusted with the preparations 
 for another '^ triumph," all the details of which, in- 
 cluding the monuments and temporary altars, the 
 chariots, the allegorical figures and the dresses, were 
 designed by him. All his original drawings have 
 been preserved in an album, which is in the print- 
 room of the Uffizi Gallery, where I recently exam- 
 ined it in the company of Chevalier Carlo Pini, the 
 librarian, whose premature death has been so univer- 
 sally regretted. Lorenzo was unquestionably the 
 V greatest of the Medici family, the true Maecenas of 
 his day, and even before the '^Principato," when only 
 called as first citizen to fill a post from which he could 
 at any moment be displaced, he put himself at the 
 head of the intellectual movement, and became the 
 centre and the protector of art and literature. He was 
 the intimate friend of Donatello and ^lichelozzo Mich- 
 elozzi, and bv their advice formed unrivalled collec-
 
 THE MEDICI. 63 
 
 tions of pictures, statuary, antique stones, gems, 
 goldsmith's work, and sumptuous furniture, litting 
 out the Riccardi Palace with the most valuable and 
 most perfect specimens of eacli. Every article in 
 this collection bore either his arms or his initials. 
 There are porphyry vases now in the possession of 
 Baron Davilliers of Paris which unquestionably 
 formed part of it. 
 
 Passionately fond of arcliitecture, Lorenzo worked 
 himself with the most noted architects of his day, and ^ 
 they always found his opinions worth listening to. 
 He was equally zealous in the cause of literature, and 
 founded, first at San Marco and afterwards at San 
 Lorenzo, a school of copyists, whose duty it was to 
 reproduce ancient manuscripts. The Laurentian 
 Library, designed by Michael Angelo, and added to 
 by Vasari, is a witness to the zeal of the Medici for 
 the advancement of learning. 
 
 Lorenzo spared no effort to gather around him 
 learned men of all countries. He reopened the Uni- 
 versity of Pisa, paid the professors, took upon him- >- 
 self the cost of additional buildings, provided them 
 with books, and dispatched Giovanni Lascari to the 
 East with an unlimited credit to make fresh pur- 
 chases. It was a plain citizen who did all this, and 
 it seemed as if the whole of Florence Avas centred in 
 his person. Strange to say, ambassadors were ac- 
 credited to him as to a sovereign, even when he was 
 only an individual member of the Council of State ;
 
 54 FLORENCE. 
 
 and a hundred different circumstances combined to 
 increase bis personal autbority, wbicb made itself felt 
 as a mere matter of course. The Emperor of Ger- 
 many ; King Jobn II. of Portugal ; tbat great patron 
 of literature, Mattbias Corvin 5 and Louis XI. bim- 
 self, tbat astute politician and prince, wbo paved tbe 
 Avay for Frencb unity by bis abasement of tbe feudal 
 lords, corresponded Avitb bim, it may be said, as with 
 an equal, for be received, without any intermediary, 
 their ambassadors and their messages. I have ex- 
 amined, in the State archives of Florence, all the let- 
 ters which go to make up the Medici Cartcggio before 
 and after tbe " Principato," and it is most instructive 
 to see in what familiar terms the highest personages 
 in human lustory carried on discussions with a private 
 individual. 
 
 Tbe historian Guicciardini has left a description of 
 Florence in the prosperous year of 1490, when tbe 
 city, in the enjoyment of peace under the tranquil 
 rule of Lorenzo, seemed to have reached the summit 
 of its splendor. He depicts Tuscany as being en- 
 riched from mountain, to valley and plain by the 
 peaceful and orderly labor of its prosperous inhabit- 
 ants ; the State as being calm in the knowledge of 
 its strength, in no fear of servitude either from Rome 
 or tbe Empire, and successful in attaching to itself 
 those nei^rbborino* cities which were formerlv hostile 
 and independent ; princes as coming from all parts 
 of the world to visit the city and do homage to the
 
 THE MEDICI. 55 
 
 IVredici and the eminent citizens wlio Avere gatliered 
 around them ; and the extraordhiary advance of civil- 
 ization in every department of the national life. He 
 depicts for us a people supple, skilful, well gifted, and 
 so devoted to art that each street was a museum in 
 itself, and a class of artists who had an inborn taste 
 like the Athenians in the time of Pericles, and who 
 seemed able to create Avithout bodily fatigue or men- 
 tal effort marvels Avhicli move and fascinate us even 
 now. And there can be no doubt that this unparal- 
 leled prosperity was due to Lorenzo de' Medici, Avho 
 carried on the Avork of his ancestor Cosimo, the peace- 
 maker of Italy and the moderator of the Republic. 
 
 PRIA^\TE LIFE OF LORENZO THE MAGXIFICEXT, 
 
 It is interesting to in\'estigate the character in pri- 
 vate life of this remarkable man. His intimates and 
 associates at Careggi and Camalduli liaA^e given him 
 his place in history, and Politian asserts that none of 
 them Avere his superiors as regards subtlety of argu- 
 ment and soundness of judgment. He AA-as somcAvhat 
 caustic, it has been said, and his epigrams have re- 
 mained famous ; but, Avitli all his undisputed author- 
 ity, he Avas endoAved Avith a generosity Avhich impelled 
 him to make future proA'ision for the many gifted men 
 who, absorbed by intellectual Avork, had failed to put 
 by anything for their old age. He has been accused 
 of being a deA'otee of pleasure, of acting a double 
 part — of being, that is, very austere in his public 
 
 y
 
 56 FLORENCE. 
 
 capacity and a pleasure-seeker in private, tlioiigli 
 able at a moment's notice to revert to business. His 
 father had married him while stiU very young to 
 Clarice Orsini, of an ilhistrious Roman family, and 
 the ceremony was performed on the 4th of June, 
 1469. The marriage was not one of the heart, for 
 Lorenzo recorded it as follows in his diary : ^^ I, 
 Lorenzo, have taken in marriage Clarice, daughter 
 of Jacob Orsini ; or rather, she was given to me in 
 marriage, and the wedding Vv-as celebrated in our 
 house on the 4th of June, 1469." But this coldness 
 was soon changed into a lasting and perhaps passion- 
 ate affection, for on the 22d of July the same year 
 he writes to her from Milan, ^^ I am doing all I can 
 to hasten my return. It seems as though we had 
 been separated a thousand years." 
 
 Clarice bore him four daughters and three sons : 
 Peter, born in 1471 ; John, in 1475 *, and Jidian, in 
 1478. Their education was confided to the famous 
 Politian, to whom he gave a very handsome villa at 
 Fiesole. The last named, in his correspondence, 
 gives a flattering description of this residence, and 
 in writing to Marcilio Ficino, who was at the foot 
 of the hill with Lorenzo at Careggi, he asks him to 
 come up to Fiesole, and as an inducement says that 
 he can give him some capital wine from his own vine- 
 yard. 
 
 Clarice Orsini died so suddenly in 1488 that Lorenzo 
 ■was prevented from being present when she drew her
 
 THE MEDICI. 67 
 
 last breath, but he seems to have felt her loss very 
 much. Less fortunate in his own affairs than in 
 })uljlie life, Lorenzo, far from increasing his fortune, 
 lost a great part of it. In the first place, he acquired 
 the surname of ^lagnifico from the profusion with 
 which he spent money for the encouragement of art 
 and architecture ; and though his ministers and stew- 
 ards ought, by the exercise of care, to have made 
 good his losses, they only widened the breach, and 
 the time came when Florence, out of gratitude to the 
 most illustrious of her children, was obliged to assist 
 him. Lorenzo then made a thorough change in the 
 conduct of his affairs, and instead of investing what 
 little remained to him in commercial speculations, he 
 purchased land and founded agricultural colonies in 
 the districts of Prato, Pisa, and Val di Pesa, which 
 brought in a more certain income than that derived 
 from commerce. In 1480 Lorenzo succeeded in 
 establishing a Council in which the absolute power 
 of the Commonwealth was concentrated. It was 
 composed of seventy citizens appointed for life and 
 all completely under his influence, so that from hence- 
 forth he held undisputed sway over Florence. 
 
 I have said nothing about the most formidable, 
 though not the only conspiracy hatched against him 
 — that of the Pazzi, which broke out on the 2Gth of 
 April, 1478, in the church of Santa ]\Iaria del Fiore, 
 and cost his brother Giuliano his life. Battista Fres- 
 cobaldi likewise made an attempt on his life in the 
 
 /
 
 58 FLORENCE. 
 
 Carmine Church ; and Baldmetto da Pistoia tried to 
 assassinate him in a villa outside of Florence. 
 Lorenzo was once wounded, but the would-be assassins 
 all paid the penalty of their crimes. 
 
 He was, however, such a suiFerer from gout, that 
 at the age of forty his health broke down, and he 
 lived but a few years longer. Politian, describing 
 his last moments, says that all the nerves were shat- 
 tered, and that the seat of the mischief was in the 
 intestines. Lorenzo was taken ill at Florence, but he 
 had himself carried to the Careggi villa, where all his 
 friends gathered about him and entertained him with 
 their clever talk. 
 
 It is said that among the last visitors to his bedside 
 was one whose name was already becoming famous 
 throuahout Italv. This was Girolamo Savonarola ; 
 and there are two very opposite accounts — one by 
 Burlamachi and the other by Politian — of what passed 
 at the interview between Lorenzo and the fierce 
 monk. Burlamachi asserts that Lorenzo humbly 
 asked the father's absolution for three faults for 
 which he felt great remorse. 
 
 The first was the sack of Volterra, whose women 
 and children were cruelly used by the soldiers, for 
 which he was responsible, as he had promised that 
 their lives should be spared. The second was his 
 having appropriated the marriage portions of the 
 young girls, to which act must be ascribed the going 
 astiay of many women who were thus thrown with-
 
 THE MEDICL 69 
 
 out resource on the world. The third fault was the 
 reprisals made after the Pazzi conspiracy^ by which 
 many innocent persons were put to death. 
 
 Savonarola reminded the dying man of the in- 
 exhaustible mercy of God, but insisted upon his 
 making amends for each of these faults as far as pos- 
 sible, to which Lorenzo agreed. Before leaving, 
 however, he declared that in order to obtain the 
 divine favor, Lorenzo must restore to Florence her 
 lost liberty and re-establish popular government ; 
 whereupon, according to Burlamachi, the sick man 
 turned over on his bed and refused to hear anv 
 more. 
 
 Politian's account is verv different. Accordins: to 
 him, Lorenzo, feeling his end to be near, sent for a 
 priest and confessed to him. The priest — who had 
 been sent for, instead of coming of his own accord, 
 as Burlamachi asserts — said, on leaving the sick 
 chamber, that he had never seen a dying man show 
 so much courage, presence of mind, and clearness of 
 intellect. At nightfall the holy sacrament was 
 brought, and Lorenzo rose to receive it ; having 
 taken it on his knees, he went back to bed and spoke 
 a few words of encouragement to his son Piero, who 
 was the only person with him. One Piero Leori, a 
 celebrated doctor of that day, Avho had been sent for 
 at the last moment, came in just afterwards, and, ac- 
 cording to Politian, asked for some precious stones, 
 which he wanted to pulverize and mix with a potion.
 
 60 • FLORENCE. 
 
 Politian admmistered the medicine, and Lorenzo, 
 recognizing his voice, said, '^ What, is that you, dear 
 Angiolo I" pressing him to his bosom. Pohtian was 
 obliged to go out of the room to give free course to 
 his grief, and on his return Lorenzo again noticed 
 him and asked after Pico della Mirandola. He in- 
 sisted on liis being sent for, and Lorenzo, clasping 
 him to his breast, declared that he should ^' die happier 
 for having seen such a dear friend. I only wish that 
 I could have lived to complete our library." Savon- 
 arola then came in, and Politian makes no allusion to 
 any recriminations, speaking of the monk as if he 
 had been gentle and forbearing, and saying that when 
 he left he gave them all his benediction.* The room 
 gradually became crowded, and while all the others 
 Avere overcome Lorenzo remained perfectly calm. 
 When his medicine was administered, and he was 
 asked if it was pleasant to the taste, he replied, " As 
 pleasant as anything can be to a dying man." He 
 died with his eyes fastened on the crucifix, and Poli- 
 tian speaks in glowing terms of his liberality and 
 magnificence, of his constancy in adversity, and of 
 his modesty in good fortune. 
 
 * Even Politian does not say, however, that Savonarola pro- 
 nounced absolution. Prof, Pasqnale Yillari considers that the 
 account given by Biirlamachi is the true one, and cites a number 
 of authorities in support of this opinion. See " Hist, of Giro- 
 lamo Savonarola and of His Times." By Pasqnale Yillari. 
 Book I., Ch. IX. Note.
 
 The Duomo, Cathedral ot S. Maria del Fiore, 
 Scene of the Pazzi Conspiracy.
 
 THE MEDICI. 61 
 
 GIULIANO DE' MEDICI. 
 (1453-1478.) 
 
 THE PAZZI CONSPIRACY. 
 
 Assassinated in cold blood at Santa Maria del Fiore 
 when only five-and-twenty , Giuliano was^ like Lorenzo, 
 a son of Piero il Gottoso ; and he, too, was born to 
 command. Like all who die young, he leaves behind 
 him kindly recollections, and Politian gives the follow- 
 ing sketch of him : " He was tall, with broad shoul- 
 ders, a well-developed chest, strong, muscular ; Avell 
 built on his legs^ and endowed with more physical 
 power than a man can need. His eyes were a deep 
 black, his complexion very dark, like his hair, which 
 he wore brushed back from the temples. A fine 
 horseman and a good shot, he was also an adept at 
 gymnastics and all kinds of games, while, in gratify- 
 ing his fondness for the chase, he did not know what 
 fatigue and hunger meant. He was high-minded and 
 firm in his judgment, with an instinctive fondness for 
 all that was elegant, and a decided taste for poetry. 
 He has left behind a few verses in the vulgar tongue 
 on grave subjects, but light literature formed his 
 favorite reading. Very ready-witted, extremely ur- 
 bane, and with an unmitigated contempt for false- 
 hood, he did not readily forget an injury. He was 
 particular as to his dress, but not to the extent of 
 being a fop. He had a manly carriage, and, while 
 full of respect for his elders, was very considerate to
 
 62 FLOEENCE. 
 
 those beneath liim. All these qualities made him a 
 general favorite, and his death was looked upon as a 
 public calamity." 
 
 It is said that some days after the conspiracy which 
 put an end to his life, one of his most intimate friends, 
 Antonio de San Gallo, went to Lorenzo the Magnifi- 
 cent, and made a confession to him. Giuliano had 
 formed a liaison with a young girl of the Gorini family, 
 by whom he had had a son. Lorenzo, after having 
 received his evidence and ascertained the truth of it, 
 took this child under his care, and lie afterwards be- 
 came Pope Clement YIL There is not in the whole 
 history of Florence a more dramatic episode than 
 that which is known by the name of '^ the Conspiracy 
 of the Pazzi." We have two contemporary narra- 
 tives which are historic landmarks : one in Latin, 
 written by Angelo Politian, the other in the vulgar 
 tongue by Machiavelli. Dandolo, in his splendid 
 essays on '' Florence down to the Fall of the Repub- 
 lic," declares that Machiavelli's narrative is spoilt by 
 the tone of spite that underruns it all, Avhilst Politian's, 
 on the other hand, bears the impress of favoritism. 
 In Machiavelli the facts are perhaps more clearly set 
 forth, and he it is whom I have taken for my au- 
 thority. I now give the true causes of the conspiracy, 
 according to Machiavelli, which, in 1478, nearly cost 
 Lorenzo de' Medici his life. Pope Sixtus IV., angry 
 with the Medici for the assistance they had lent to 
 Nicolo Yitehi and other barons of the Romagna, had
 
 THE MEDICI. 63 
 
 taken from Lorenzo the charge of the treasure of the 
 Holy See in order to invest it in the hands of a cer- 
 tain Pazzi, a man of a noVjle Plorentine family, of 
 good position, and owner of a bank at Rome. This 
 Pazzi was the last survivor of three brothers who 
 had left children. One — Guglielmo — had espoused 
 Bianca, the sister of Lorenzo de' Medici ; Francesco, 
 the other nephew, had for some years lived at Rome ; 
 while Giovanni, the third, had chosen as his wife the 
 daughter of Buonromei, a man of immense wealth, 
 of whom she was the sole heiress. All this fortune 
 would then in the course of things come to Giovanni's 
 wife, but a relative appearing upon the scene claimed 
 a share of the property. 
 
 A lawsuit followed, and the daughter of Buonromei 
 lost all that she had inherited from her father ; and 
 the Pazzi detected in this decision the influence of 
 the Medici, Giuliano himself expressing to his brother 
 Lorenzo the fear that by grasping at too much they 
 would lose all. Lorenzo, however (avc must remember 
 that it is Machiavelli who is speaking), elated with 
 youth and power, imagined that he might do what 
 he pleased ; Avhile the Pazzi, on the other hand, 
 strong in the j^ossession of Avealth and a high social 
 position, were fully determined not to put up with so 
 gross an injustice, and souglit means for a speedy 
 vengeance. The first to act in the matter was 
 Francesco, by far the most energetic and sensitive 
 member of the familv. He declared that he was
 
 64 FLORENCE. 
 
 determined to recover that which he had ah-eady lost 
 or else to lose all. He passed nearly all his time at 
 Rome, out of hatred to the Florentine Government, 
 and Avhilst there contracted a close alliance Avith 
 Girolamo, Count of Riaro, the Pope's nei^hew. They 
 interchanged confidences on the subject of their 
 mutual animosity against the Medici, till they began 
 to conspire and think out by what means they coidd 
 change the form of government. The conclusion 
 they arrived at was dramatic : the death of Giuliano 
 and Lorenzo alone would enable them to arrive at 
 their end. They did not doubt but that the Holy 
 Father Avould lend his aid, provided, however, it was 
 made clear to him that the end was well defined and 
 easy of accomplishment. They next confided their 
 scheme to Francesco Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa, an 
 ambitious prelate, who had suftered much at the 
 hands of the Medici family. Salviati readily joined 
 the conspiracy ; but they had a far more difficult task 
 in enlisting the services of Jacopo di Pazzi. This Avas, 
 hoAvever, finally accomplished, and another Jacopo, 
 son of the celebrated Poggio, tAvo others of the Sal- 
 viati — the one a brother and the other a connection 
 of the Archbishop, Bernardo Bandini, and Napoleone 
 Franzesi, energetic, young, courageous, and devoted 
 to the Pazzi, joined, as also did GioA^anni Battista da 
 Montesecco, Condottiere in the Papal serA'ice, together 
 Avith Antonio da Volterra and a priest named Stefano. 
 Rinato de' Pazzi, an able and thoughtfid man, Avho
 
 THE MEDICI. 65 
 
 foresaw tlic dangers of such an enterprise, refused to 
 listen, and did dll lie could to dissuade tlieni from 
 their project. The Pope had ])laced Eaffaelo Riario, 
 a nephew of Count Girolamo, at the college of Pisa, 
 and Avhilst there he Avas promoted to the Cardinalate. 
 The conspirators invited the Cardinal to come to 
 Florence, with the idea that his arrival would serve 
 as a screen to the execution of their project. The 
 Cardinal did in fact arrive, and was received by 
 Jacopo de' Pazzi. The first suggestion was to get 
 rid of the ]Medici during the visit that they would no 
 doubt pay to the illustrious stranger, but they failed 
 to put in an appearance. It Avas next proposed to 
 give a banquet on Sunday, April 26, 1478, and assas- 
 sinate the two brothers at table, but hearing that they 
 would not be there, another plan had to be hastily 
 substituted. They would kill them even in the 
 cathedral, where they could hardly fail to be present 
 at divine service on the occasion of the attendance of 
 Piario. Lorenzo was assigned to Montesecco, Avhile 
 Francesco de' Pazzi and Bernardo Bandini were to 
 attack Giuliano. Montesecco, however, rejected this 
 arrangement at once, on the ground that he had not 
 sufficient courage to commit so great an act of sacri- 
 lege in a church. This was one of the causes of the 
 failure of the enterprise. There was no time to lose, 
 and there was no other course than to leave the busi- 
 ness of assassinating Lorenzo to Antonio da Volterra 
 and the priest Stefano, both equally incapable and 
 
 5
 
 6Q FLORENCE. 
 
 spiritless men. This decision once arrived at, the 
 moment of the elevation of the Host was fixed on 
 as the si^ial. 
 
 After the death of the Medici the Archbishop and 
 Poggio were to occupy the palace, where the Signoria, 
 either of their own free-will or by force, were ex- 
 pected to give in their adherence to the conspirators. 
 The hour has arrived ; Ave are in the temple with 
 the thronging multitude. The divine service has 
 commenced, but Giuliano is not here. Francesco and 
 Bernardo, who are to assassinate him, go to his house 
 in search of him. How deeply must their murderous 
 intention have smik into their minds Avhen they coidd 
 go and seek out their victim in his own palace, and 
 bring him to the place of execution ! It is even said that 
 Francesco, feigning symptoms of the greatest aifec- 
 tion, felt his enemy in order to make sure that he did 
 not wear a coat of mail. At the church they took up 
 their positions on the right and left of Giuliano, and 
 when the moment arrived Bandini, Avith one vigorous 
 blow, ran him through the breast. The victim only 
 made a few steps forward, and then fell dead. Fran- 
 cesco threw himself on the body, and striking blindly 
 and madly, inflicted on himself a deep wound. From 
 the other side Antonio and Stefano attacked Lorenzo. 
 They only succeeded, however, in inflicting a slight 
 wound in the neck. He defended himself with vigor, 
 assisted by those who surrounded him. Bandini, 
 however, with his knife stained with Giuliano's blood,
 
 THE MEDICI. G7 
 
 then turned his weapon against Lorenzo, and finding 
 Francesco Nori, a creature of the Medici, in liis way, 
 felled him Avith one blow. On this the partisans of 
 the Medici surrounded Lorenzo and hurried him into 
 the sacristy, when Poligiano closed the bronze doors. 
 As it was thought probable that Stefano's blade had 
 been poisoned, a young man in the sacristy itself 
 offered to suck Lorenzo's wound. A general terror 
 and consternation prevailed in the church. As soon 
 as the news spread through the city, the citizens 
 came in arms to escort Lorenzo to his palace, avoid- 
 ing the route taken by those who were carrying his 
 brother's corpse. Salviati, however, accompanied by 
 a band of thirty, had already arrived to occupy the 
 palace, and, leaving most of his companions in the 
 antechamber, entered the hall where the Gonfaloniere 
 was sitting. But his expression and agitated manner 
 at once aroused the magistrate's suspicion, and the 
 latter, rushing from the hall, encountered Poggio, 
 whom he seized by the hair and put under arrest. 
 Those present protesting, their arms were taken 
 away, and all those who had accompanied Salviati 
 upstairs were either killed or thrown out of the Avin- 
 dows. The Archbishop, the two Salviati, and Poggio 
 were hung. The others, who had remained below, 
 had forced the guard and installed themselves in the 
 groimd-floor, so that the citizens who had congregated 
 at the sound of such an uproar could afford no aid to 
 the Signoria. Meanwhile Francesco de' Pazzi and
 
 68 FLORE^X^E. 
 
 Bandini had had time to consider matters, and seeing 
 the failure of tlie plot, the latter took to flight, 
 whilst the former was for making one last effort. 
 Wounded though he was, he jet mounted his horse 
 and tried to rally the people to him in the name of 
 liberty ; but the blood he had lost soon rendered him 
 incapable of action. He was compelled to lie down 
 on a couch, bidding Jacopo take his place. Aged 
 and feeble as the latter was, he mounted his horse to 
 make a last attempt, and entering the square, sum- 
 moned the people to his aid in the name of liberty — 
 a word that had long since become meaningless in 
 Florence. No one joined him, and the only answer 
 to his appeal was a shower of stones from the Signoria, 
 confined in the upper story of the palace. Jacopo 
 was now in despair, and seeing that the people were 
 opposed to him, that Lorenzo was alive, Francesco 
 wounded, and the attempt hopelessly frustrated, he 
 tried to save his own life. Followed by a few men, 
 he escaped from Florence in the direction of the 
 Romagna. 
 
 Meanwhile the Avhole town had flown to arms. 
 The old palace was soon retaken, and nearly all the 
 conspirators were captured or put to death. Fran- 
 cesco was dragged naked from his bed, and hung by 
 the feet alongside the Archbishop. The only one of 
 the Pazzi whose life was spared — and that through 
 the intercession of his wife — was Guglielmo, the 
 brother-in-law of Lorenzo. Rinato, who had re-
 
 THE MEDICI. 09 
 
 fused to join in the conspiracy^ had withdrawn to his 
 villa, hut while attempting to escape in disguise was 
 discovered and hrought back. Jacopo was arrested 
 when crossing the Apennines Ly some of the inhabit- 
 ants of those parts, who, despite liis prayers, refused 
 to kill him, but conducted him back to Florence, 
 ^^•here he was condemned to death in company with 
 Rinato. Four days later his body was taken from 
 the family vault in which it had been buried and 
 thrown into a ditch outside the city walls ; from thence 
 it was disinterred afresh, dragged through the city, 
 and thrown into the Arno. 
 
 He was a man of vicious habits, but his charitable 
 deeds had made him very popular. On the Saturday 
 before the conspiracy he paid all his debts, settled his 
 accounts, and took care that no claim should be left 
 outstanding. Montesecco Avas beheaded, and Napo- 
 leone Francesci only escaped the same fate by flight. 
 Bandini never halted till he had crossed the frontier 
 into the Turkish states, but the Sultan handed him 
 over to the Florentines, who put him to death in the 
 folloAving year. Guglielmo de' Pazzi was banished, 
 and his cousins imprisoned for life in the tower of 
 Volterra. When all the conspirators had been tried 
 the obsequies of Giuliano were celebrated with great 
 pomp. He left a natural son named Giulio, for whom, 
 as Pope Clement VH., the highest honors and the 
 deepest calamities were in store. 
 
 To perpetuate the recollection of this event Botti-
 
 70 FLORENCE. 
 
 celli was commissioned to paint the effigies of all the 
 conspirators upon the fagade of the palace of the 
 Podesta^ now called the Bargello, which faces on Via 
 Ghibellina^ just as the enemies of Cosimo the Elder, 
 grandfather of Lorenzo and GiulianOj had been repre- 
 sented there by Andrea del Castagno, hmig by their 
 feet, a circumstance to which the painter owed his 
 nickname of ^^ Andrea degli Impiccati " (Andrea of 
 the hanged men). This extraordinary painting, which 
 would be of priceless value now, was destroyed in 
 the course of the many restorations of the Bargello. 
 Orsini, a skilful modeller in wax, made, with the help 
 of Ycrrocchio, three life-size figures, representing 
 Lorenzo defending himself against his assassins, but 
 they, too, have disappeared. 
 
 We possess, however, a medallion by that gifted 
 artist Antonio Pollaiulo, representing on one side the 
 murder of Giuliano, with the choir of Santa Maria del 
 Fiore at the moment of the elevation of the Host, and 
 the profile of the victim with his name, JvLiANVS 
 Medices, and the inscription LvCTVS Pvblicvs, while 
 on the reverse is the same choir, and in the fore- 
 ground Lorenzo escaping from the daggers of the 
 assassins, and above the profile of Lorenzo, with his 
 name, Lavrentivs Medices, and the inscription 
 
 SaLVS P\T5LICA. 
 
 This is the more interesting historically as show- 
 ing what, in the time of Cosimo the Elder and Lorenzo, 
 was the shape of the original choir built by Arnolfo.
 
 Staircase in the Courtyard of the Bargello or Palazzo 
 del Podesta.
 
 .•K^CT'LajaMfc. 
 
 ^ 

 
 THE MEDICI. 71 
 
 THE THREE SONS OF LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT 
 AND THE RETURN OF THE MEDICI. 
 
 PiETRO Giovanni Giuliano II. 
 
 (1471-1503). (1475-1521). (1478-151G). 
 
 Having consolidated his fortune hy attention to 
 agriculture, Lorenzo left his son Pietro in a very 
 comfortable position, but the latter soon embarked 
 upon a career of pleasure and took little interest in 
 the affairs of State. At the same time he was rather 
 despotic in his views, and attempted to govern inde- 
 pendently of the Signoria. 
 
 The death of Lorenzo had placed Ludovico Sforza, 
 uncle of the nominally reigning Duke of ^lilan, in a 
 very precarious position ; he accordingly invited King 
 Charles VIII. of France to interfere in Italian affairs, 
 and the latter, entering Lombardy with upwards of 
 thirty thousand soldiers, advanced upon the Tuscan 
 frontier. Pietro de' Medici, remembering the bril- 
 liant part played by his grandfather under similar cir- 
 cumstances, imagined that he could achieve a like 
 success, and accordingly, without consulting the Sig- 
 noria, set forth, a self-appointed ambassador, to the 
 French camp. Charles received him with much 
 courtesy, but asked for some guarantee of his good 
 ffiith, v.diereupon the weak-minded Pietro actuallv 
 ceded to him the fortresses of Sarzana, Sarzanello, 
 Pietra Santa, Leghorn, Librafatta, and Pisa. 
 
 Great was the indignation in Florence when this 
 ignoble transaction became known. The Signoria
 
 7:^ FLORENCE. 
 
 made no attempt to disguise tlieir displeasure, while 
 the people assembled beneath the balconies of the 
 Medici Palace uttering loud complaints and threats. 
 An accredited embassy, headed hy Savonarola^ was 
 at once dispatched to Charles's camp, but even the 
 eloquence of the fiery monk could not avail to imdo 
 the mischief. On their return to Florence Piero 
 Capponi induced the people to rise in revolt against 
 the Medician tyranny. Pietro took flight, going first 
 to Bologna, where Bentivoglio accorded him a very 
 cool Avelcome, and from thence to Venice, where, his 
 reception being likewise far from friendly, he deemed 
 it safer to withdraw for a time at least, from society 
 and lead as retired a life as possible. 
 
 On the 17th of Xovember, 1494, the King entered 
 Florence and took up his residence in the Medician 
 palace. Negotiations were now opened, but Charles 
 found his haughty demands resisted with so much 
 spirit and determination by Capponi and Savonarola 
 that he judged it more prudent to modify them. An 
 agreement was finally reached by which Florence 
 undertook to pay a fine of 120,000 gold florins, 
 50,000 to be paid at once and the remaining 70,000 
 at an early date ; and shortly afterwards the King 
 withdrew with his forces. 
 
 It Avas upon this occasion that the Medici Palace 
 was first sacked, the splendid collections formed by 
 Cosimo, and added to by Piero and Lorenzo, being 
 either destroved or stolen.
 
 THE MEDICI. 73 
 
 After the departure of the French, Florence busied 
 herself m establishing a new government, which, 
 under the advice of Savonarola, took the form of a great 
 comicil, composed of a thousand or more citizens. 
 
 The years that followed were stormy ones ; the 
 city was torn by factions, the rival parties only unit- 
 ing in a common desire to regain possession of Pisa. 
 In 1497 Pietro de' Medici made an unsuccessful at- 
 tempt to enter the city with an armed following. He 
 subsequently took service under Louis XIL, and was 
 dro^\med by the upsetting of a boat loaded with artil- 
 lery on the river Garigliano, together with some of 
 the King's suite. He was only thirty-two years of age, 
 and his wretched existence and miserable end are in 
 striking contrast with the life and death of his father. 
 
 By the year 1502 affairs had reached such a pass 
 in Florence that it was felt by all that some change 
 was imperatively demanded, and in August of that 
 year Pietro Soderini was appointed to the office of 
 Gonfaloniere for life instead of two months, the usual 
 term, his unblemished character and the fact of his 
 having no children to awaken ambitious designs in 
 his breast, being the reasons adduced for bestowmg 
 this important office upon him. 
 
 But that warlike Pontiff, Julius II., had other viev.s 
 for Florence, and exasperated at the manner in which 
 the Republic had Avithheld any active assistance in 
 his war Avith the French, and her refusal to depose 
 Soderini and reinstate the Medici, he now determined
 
 74 FLOEENCE. 
 
 to accomplish his ends by force. On the 21st of 
 August, 1512, the alarming news reached Florence 
 that the Viceroy Raymond de Cordova was advanc- 
 ing with a large army, and accompanied by the 
 Medici. On the 29th he took Prato by assaidt, and 
 there was a renewal of all the horrors of Brescia. 
 News of this disaster reached Florence in the middle 
 of the night. Soderini fled, an act that has been 
 stigmatized by Machiavelli in four well-known lines. 
 Ambassadors were dispatched to treat with the Vice- 
 roy and Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, and an agree- 
 ment was entered into that Florence should pay a 
 hundred and forty thousand ducats and admit the 
 Medici ^^ as private citizens " — an airy subterfuge 
 that probably deceived no one. By the middle of 
 September Giuliano had assumed the conduct of 
 affairs with as much assurance as though the right to 
 govern were hereditary and Florence a fief of the 
 Medici family, though he so far kept up an appear- 
 ance of popular government as to go through the 
 form of consulting the Balia, a council formed of 
 forty-eight citizens, almost all of them creatures or 
 clients of his own. 
 
 On the death of Julius II. Giovanni de' Medici 
 w^s elected Pope under the title of Leo X., and 
 Giuliano removed to Rome, where he was made Gon- 
 faloniere of the Church and Captain-General of the 
 Papal forces, leaving his nephew^ Lorenzo, son of 
 Pietro, to govern Florence.
 
 THE MEDICI. 75 
 
 Giuliano de' Medici had married, a year before liis 
 death, PhiHberta, the sister of PhiUbert and Charles, 
 Dukes of Savoy, but he left no issue by her, though 
 he Avas known to have had one illegitimate son, Car- 
 dinal Hippolytus, of whom several portraits by Titian 
 are still extant. 
 
 Giuliano had received from Francois I. the ducliy 
 of Nemours, which at his death reverted to the French 
 crown. He was not an unworthy representative of 
 the Medici as regarded cidtivation and intellect, and 
 when in exile at the Court of Urbino he availed him- 
 self of the opportunity to establish an intimacy with 
 the brilliant residents in the Montefeltro capital. The 
 celebrated Cardinal Bembo introduces him as one of 
 the speakers in his dialogues on the idiom of Tus- 
 cany. He died of fever, only seven-and-twenty 
 years of age, on the 17th of May, 1516, in the abbey 
 of the canons of Fiesole, which was built by his an- 
 cestor, and to which he asked to be carried when 
 taken ill. His remains rest in the new sacristy of 
 San Lorenzo, and he has been immortalized in mar- 
 ble by one of Michael Angelo's greatest works. 
 
 LOKEXZO 11., DUKE OF URBIXO. 
 
 (1492-1519.) 
 
 Pietro, drowned, as mentioned above, in the Garig- 
 hano, had married Alfonsina di Roberto Orsini, and 
 left a son named Lorenzo, who is known in history 
 by the title of Duke of Urbino, but he, like his uncle
 
 76 FLOEENCE. 
 
 Giullano and most of the Medici family, died very 
 yomig, being only seven-and-twenty. It has already 
 been said that Giovanni, brother of Pietro, and a son, 
 like him, of Lorenzo the ]Magnificent, had been elected 
 Pope with the title of Leo X., and it was he who car- 
 ried the cultivated tastes and the splendor of his family 
 to Pome, and who gave his name to the century in 
 which he lived, as his ancestors had in their day done 
 in Tuscany. While he strengthened the influence of 
 his family at Florence, Leo X. made Rome the centre 
 of Italian politics. Having seized the duchy of L"r- 
 bino, he invested the sovereignty of it in his nephew 
 Lorenzo by a Papal Bidl. This nephew Avas not de- 
 ficient in courage nor in spii'it, but his overweening 
 pride and arrogance had excited the ill-will of the 
 Florentines, while his claim to the throne Avhich had 
 been given him was from the outlet disputed by Fran- 
 cesco della Rovere, the rightfid prince. 
 
 He died young, leaving by his wife, Madeleine Jean 
 de la Tour, daughter of the Count of Auvergne and of 
 Boulogne-in-Picardy, no male heir, but a daughter, 
 the sole legitimate descendant besides the Pope, of 
 the elder branch of the Medici, who became Queen 
 of France. This was Catherine de' Medici, wife of 
 Henri 11. and mother of three French kings and of a 
 Queen of Spain. 
 
 The death of Lorenzo without a male heir led to a 
 great revolution in the history of Florence. The 
 elder branch of the Medici was practically extinct.
 
 THE MEDICI. 77 
 
 the two other branches were very jealous of each 
 other, and all the ambitious projects which Leo 
 X. had formed for liis family seemed destined to be 
 brought to nought. There remained, however, three 
 illegitimate ]\Iedici of the branch of Cosimo the Elder. 
 First there was Giidio, the natural son of Giuliano 
 murdered in tlie Pazzi conspiracy ; then Hippolytus, 
 natural son of Giuliano, Due de Nemours ; and Alex- 
 ander, who was a son either of Lorenzo II. or of 
 Giulio. 
 
 All three were destined to be famous, and they 
 might all have claimed the succession, for Ave know 
 that illegitimacy was not regarded in the fifteenth or 
 sixteenth century as a bar to a throne. The first, 
 Giulio, became Pope Clement VII. ; the second, Hip- 
 polytus, rose to the purple ; and Alexander was the 
 first Duke of Florence. 
 
 It is singular that Michael Angelo should have im- 
 mortalized by his genius the two least distinguished 
 of the Medici, for while the graves of Lorenzo the 
 Magnificent and Cosimo the Elder are merely covered 
 with slabs upon which their names are graven, the 
 Dukes of Urbino and Nemours sleep their last sleep 
 in tombs erected by the great artist. 
 
 CAEDIXAL niPPOLYTUS. 
 (1511-153.5.) 
 
 Giulio, Cardinal de^ Medici, when he became 
 Clement VII., instead of attempting to transfer
 
 78 FLORENCE. 
 
 power from one branch of the Medici to the other, 
 and to exchide the natural sons, followed the exam- 
 ple of John de' Medici (Leo X.), and as he had more 
 faith in the ability of Hippolytus than in that of the 
 others, he selected him to rule Florence, appointing 
 Silvio Passerini, Cardinal de Cortona, to govern for 
 him during his minority. Passerini failed to please 
 the friends and enemies of the Medici alike. This 
 was the period when the French king, on bad terms 
 with Charles V., claimed the inheritance of the duchy 
 of Milan. Rome was threatened by Charles V., and 
 then invaded and sacked by the Constable of Bour- 
 bon, Clement YII. being imprisoned in his own castle 
 of St. Angelo. On the 17th of May, 1527, the Flor- 
 entines expelled the Medici for the third time, all 
 their property being wrecked and destroyed. A 
 brief period of liberty ensued for Florence, but with 
 a fresh turn of events Clement made peace with his 
 late enemies and a league was formed to reduce Flor- 
 ence and enforce the return of the Medici. The city 
 was fortified by Michael Angelo, and held out for 
 nearly a year against the imperial army under the 
 Prince of Orange, being finally forced to capitulate 
 through the treason of Malatesta. Hippolytus, see- 
 ing that Alexander was to be preferred before him- 
 self, made an attempt to forestall him and gain pos- 
 session of Florence, but his plan Avas frustrated, and 
 he was induced to return to Rome. He did not live 
 long enough to profit much by the return of his family
 
 THE MEDICI. 79 
 
 to pOAver, for he died when only four-and-twenty, and 
 it was surmised that Duke Alexander had a hand in 
 his death. Benedetto Varolii gives the following 
 kindly description of him : ^' He was handsome and 
 pleasant-looking, very well informed, full of grace 
 and virtue, and affable to all men. He took more 
 after the generous and benevolent disposition of Leo 
 X. than after the avaricious and narrow-minded 
 Clement VH. He liked to gather round him men 
 distinguished in art, literature, and war, and he 
 treated them very liberally. Plaving come into an 
 income of four thousand ducats, he made a present 
 of it to Francesco Maria Nolza, a noble of ]\Iodena, 
 who was very devoted to literature and a great lin- 
 guist.'^ He was scarcely fitted to be a cardinal, but 
 when it was known that Alexander had been selected 
 to assume power he made up his mind to follow the 
 traditions of Leo X., and sustained the splendor of 
 his uncle. He formed a suite, clad in brilliant armor, 
 of Turks, Arabians, Tartars, and Indians, and got up 
 jousts and tournaments. He had been a cardinal for 
 three years when, after the Turks had made a raid 
 up to the walls of Vienna, he was sent as legate to 
 the Emperor of Germany. He made his entry into 
 Vienna with all the pomp of royalty, and an escort 
 of eight thousand horsemen, and it was upon this 
 occasion that he donned a military costume, and qow- 
 tinned to wear it after his return home. It was after 
 this that Charles V. had an interview with the Pope
 
 80 FLOKENCE. 
 
 at Bologna, bringing a Hungarian escort witli him. 
 Titian was then at Bologna, and painted a portrait of 
 the Emperor. He also painted two portraits of Hip- 
 polytus, who formed part of the Pope's suite, one in 
 a Hungarian costume, and the other in that of an 
 Italian warrior with the delicately wrought cuirass. 
 Hippolytus headed the party in opposition to Duke 
 Alexander, and resented so openly the accession to 
 power of one whom he regarded as his rival that 
 when he died at Itri in 1535 it was generally be- 
 lieved that he had met with foul play. 
 
 ALEXANDEK DE' MEDICI, 
 
 FIRST DUKE OF FLORENCE. 
 
 (1510-1537.) 
 
 This brings us to the capture of Florence, which, 
 bravely defended by the citizens, had been betrayed 
 by Malatesta Baglione. Feruccio, the last hope of 
 the Republic, had fallen, and a treaty Avas made with 
 Gonzaga, the able captain who had succeeded the 
 Prince of Orange in command of the Imperial troops. 
 The conditions of the treaty were as follows : '^ A 
 regular government to be established within a period 
 of four months, it being always understood that liberty 
 was to be preserved ; the Medici to return, together 
 with all who had been exiled in their cause ; Florence 
 to pay a ransom of 80,000 gold crowns." 
 
 Here, again, a pretence w^as made of respecting the 
 legal independence of the Florentines. The partisans
 
 THE MEDICI. 81 
 
 of Clement VII. insisted upon the formation of a coun- 
 cil of twelve citizens, and recognizing in Alexander, 
 son of Lorenzo of Urbino, ^^ high moral qualities, and 
 recognizing, too^ all the good done bv his family," he 
 was made a member of the Balia, though a special 
 clause excluded him from the supreme power. The 
 Emperor, who had determined to substitute a mon- 
 archical for a popular form of government, would not 
 agree to this, and he had Alexander, to Avhom he in- 
 tended to marry his daughter, proclaimed chief of the 
 State, with the title of Duke, with remainder to his 
 heirs male in the direct line. 
 
 The celebrated bell, ^^ Martinella," in the ducal 
 palace, which for two centuries had called the citizens 
 to arms in defence of their liberties, sounded the knell 
 of the Republic on the 26th of July, 1531, when 
 Alexander entered the city amid the acclamations of 
 his adherents. 
 
 Even this did not satisfy Clement VII., who was 
 anxious that his nephew's authority should extend 
 throughout Tuscany, and the reformers of the State 
 which his orders and will had created changed the 
 basis of government, suppressing both the Signoria 
 and the (ionfaloniere, who was the representative of 
 the people. All traces of communal liberties were y 
 destroyed, and Tuscany, together with Florence, be- 
 came for once and all a monarchy. 
 
 Alexander was a man of considerable abilities, with 
 the instincts of a statesman, a ready tongue, and a 
 
 6
 
 82 FLOREXCE. 
 
 good education. He was, however, as we know from 
 the historians of his time, very dissipated in his habits; 
 but for all that Tuscany might have been very happy 
 under his rule if it had not been that the younger 
 branch of the Medici were conspiring against what 
 thev deemed a usurpation. Alexander had only been 
 live years on the throne when, on the 6tli of January, 
 1536, Lorenzo, his cousin, a descendant of the rival 
 branch, who had become his adviser as well as his 
 companion in debauchery, inveigled him to come and 
 see him about some love intrigue, and murdered him 
 in his bed. 
 
 Duke Alexander had married Margaret of Austria, 
 the natural daughter of Charles V., and though he 
 had no children by her, he had adopted a boy and a 
 girl — Giulio and Giulia. He was the last Medici of 
 the elder branch, and then came the turn of the 
 younger branch, which was first represented in power 
 by Cosimo I. 
 
 THE YOUNGER BRANXH OF THE MEDICI. 
 
 JOHN DE' MEDICI, SURNAMED OF ''tHE BLACK BAXD," 
 
 The first of the ]\Iedici, Giovanni de Bicci, had left 
 two sons, Cosimo surnamed the Elder, and Lorenzo, 
 who were the founders of the family. Having given 
 above the history of Cosimo's branch, I may resume 
 that of the younger branch, which was called to power 
 in the person of Cosimo L, after tlie murder of 
 Alexander I., Duke of Florence. Lorenzo, brother
 
 THE MEDICI. 83 
 
 of Cosimo, was the father of Piero-Francesco (1431- 
 1477), who was also assassinated ; and Francesco 
 left two sons, Lorenzo and John, and each of these 
 two in turn had a son. Lorenzo's son bore the name 
 of Lorenzo-Francesco, and his brother's that of John, 
 the latter being the celebrated '^ John of the Black 
 Band," who is the first notable character of the 
 younger branch. 
 
 John deserves a biography, not less for his own 
 individual merits than for the fact that he became 
 the progenitor of princes — his son Cosimo becoming 
 Cosimo L, Lord of Florence, and later on assuming 
 the title of Grand DidvC of Tuscany, founder of the 
 second branch of this dynasty. Though at baptism 
 he received the name of Lodovico, he is known to 
 history under the name of John, later on to become 
 the famous captain so beloved bv his troops. 
 
 His mother was Catherine Sforza, daughter of the 
 famous Galeazo, Duke of Milan. His fiither died 
 young, and the widow, cherishing his memory, re- 
 solved that in name at least her husband should live 
 again in the person of her son. This warrior of the 
 future experienced the very pecidiar fortune of being 
 brought up, till he became a young man, in female 
 garb ; his mother, in fact, surrounded by the snares 
 and temptations of the ^ledici, entertained many fears 
 for the life of her son and lieir, and took the precau- 
 tion of withdrawing him from the dangers of the world 
 by immuring him in a convent. This young lady,
 
 8-4 FLOEEXCE. 
 
 as she was supposed to be, naturally protested against 
 the costume she was forced to adopt, and her dreams 
 were of nothing but battles ; she was always organiz- 
 ing sieges and assaults, and gave great promise of 
 immortalizing the name of the Medici. John made 
 liis debut in arms under Leo X. in Lombardy. 
 
 He soon gained the titles of '^ Invincible " and the 
 ^^ Great Devil." The Republic sorely needed a valiant 
 arm, and he Avas made captain. When the league 
 was organized, he assumed the command in Lom- 
 bardy, and passed, on the advice of Clement YIL, 
 into the service of Francis I. One day, near Borgo- 
 forte, whilst commanding his troops, he received a 
 wound from a crossbow just below the knee, within 
 an inch or so of the wound he had received a short 
 time before at the ever-memorable battle of Pavia. 
 The greatest hopes had been entertained concerning 
 him, but death claimed him in his twenty-ninth year, 
 cut off, like so many of the Medici, in the flower of 
 life. He was a keen warrior, and of the most extra- 
 ordinary personal valor ; in every skirmish he was 
 eager to hazard his life, never allowing any one else 
 to be beforehand where danger threatened. Till his 
 time cavalry had always decided the fate of battles, 
 and the Italian infantry, which was quite eclipsed by 
 the Spanish foot-soldiers, considered at that time the 
 finest in the world, occupied a very secondary position. 
 John, however, had trained it to such a pitch that it 
 became invincible, as the Spaniards ever found, and
 
 THE MEDICI. 85 
 
 he inspired his troops with feelings which might 
 almost be termed fanatical. In the day of battle, 
 and when the time arrived for distribution of booty, 
 he ever left them the material advantages, and con- 
 tented himself with the glory. He died at ^lantua ; 
 on the day of his death, his troops, clothed in black, 
 took for their ensign the fmieral flag ; and so posterity 
 has known him under the name of ^' John of the Black 
 Band."* He had married one of the Salviati, by 
 whom he had a son, who afterwards became Grand 
 Duke of Tuscany under the name of Cosimo I. 
 
 COSIMO I. 
 
 FIRST GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY. 
 (1519-1574.) 
 
 Cosimo was only seven years old at his father's 
 death, and his youth was a very troubled one. Pope 
 Clement VII., a Medici of the elder branch, looked 
 upon him with suspicion as a competitor for the throne 
 likely to press forward his claims to the detriment of 
 the natural sons of the branch protected by the pontifi- 
 cal court. But his mother, Maria di Jacopo Salviati 
 — a woman as full of prudence as she was of energy — 
 watched over him with jealous care, sending him first 
 to Venice with his tutor, and concealing him at her 
 villa of Cafaggiolo or Trebbio, whence she brought 
 
 * " Le Bande Nere," His troops were so called on account 
 of their black armor.
 
 86 FLORENCE. 
 
 him back to Tuscany. Xow and again she would 
 spend several months with him in some secluded part 
 of Italy, in the hope that the fact of his existence 
 would be forgotten. Young Cosimo in time became 
 as intelligent as his mother, and when Did^e Alex- 
 ander was selected by the Balia to assume the reins 
 of government, he unhesitatingly did him fealty, and 
 took the position of an ordinary subject. 
 
 On the 6th of January, 1536, the Duke was mur- 
 dered by Lorenzino, Avho, according to the treaty 
 made bv the Balia Avith the Pope and the Emperor, 
 shoidd have succeeded him, as being his nearest rela- 
 tive ; but the magisterial council declared him to be 
 unfit, and elected Cosimo in his stead. 
 
 From the very first the position of Cosimo was a 
 most difficult one. Threatened by Bologna on the 
 one side, and Rome on the other; with the exiles 
 (backed even, secretly, by Pope Paid himself) plotting 
 from without, and a large portion of the citizens dis- 
 affected, the outlook in the beginning of the year 1537 
 Avas a gloomy one. Hostile factions Avere as implacable 
 as CA^er, and the Strozzi Avere recruiting soldiers and 
 hoping to profit by the disturbances AA'hich they Avere 
 fomenting. Cosimo, hoAveA'er, kept a cool head, and 
 learning in July that the exiles had entered Tuscany 
 at the head of an armed force, he sent Vitelh to meet 
 them. In the battle that ensued Cosimo gained a 
 complete triumpli, the enemy Avas routed, and Vitelli 
 returned to Florence Avith his A^ctorious troops and a
 
 THE MEDICI. 87 
 
 number of illustrious captives. Many of the latter 
 were executed, and Fili])po Strozzi having died in 
 prison, either bv his own hand or Cosimo's orders, 
 the Duke remained in undisputed power. 
 
 Cosimo was not merely Duke of Florence, for he 
 had subjugated the whole of Tuscany ; and in order 
 to consolidate his power and secure it from future 
 attacks, he fortified nearlv all the towns and streno^th- 
 ened the existing strongholds. The fortresses of San 
 Martino at Mugello and of Terra del Sole date from 
 his time. He gave many proofs of his courage and 
 ability, and having captured Siena on St. Stephen's 
 (the pope and martyr) day, he instituted an order of 
 chivalry, and Avhile conciliating the Court of Rome 
 by his determined destruction of the Turkish ves- 
 sels which infested the coast, he gained the favor of 
 the nobles by conferring upon them this illustrious 
 order. 
 
 His position tluis consolidated, Cosimo I. was at 
 leisure to foster the civilization of his subjects and 
 the development of the arts, which flourished best in 
 time of peace. He was very fond of literature, and 
 studied almost dally the works of Tacitus, two of his 
 first enterprises being the restoration of the Universi- 
 ties of Pisa and Siena. He established and endowed 
 the Academy of Florence, and that of La Crusca 
 which was already in existence he enlarged and en- 
 riched. It was during his reign that the art of print- 
 ing was brought into general use at Florence, and he
 
 88 FLOKENCE. 
 
 had in his own pahice a printing press, from which 
 were turned out nearly all the works of Torrentino, 
 so celebrated in the history of Florentine typography. 
 He was something of a chemist, too, and is believed 
 to have been among the seekers for the philosopher's 
 stone, but he made several practical discoveries in 
 his laboratory, including certain secrets for cutting 
 precious stones and for dissolving metals by the use 
 of oxides and herbs. In this he was only following 
 the example of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who has 
 been erroneously described as the restorer of the 
 glyptic art in Italy. The Jubinal collection in Paris 
 contains a very beautifid box of tools with the ]\Iedici 
 arms, made beyond question in the first half of the 
 sixteenth century, which was evidently used by 
 Cosimo in his various experiments. It appears that 
 he was very fond of experimenting on porphyry so as 
 to make it soft enough for the chisels, and that for 
 this purpose he steeped his tools in the juice of cer- 
 tain herbs. He confided his secret to Francesco 
 Ferucci, alias Cecco del Tadda, who carved the 
 porphyry statue of Justice which crowns the column 
 on the Piazza della Santa Trinita. Cosimo was an 
 mifailing patron of the artists who devoted their atten- 
 tion to the scidpture of marbles of different colors, in 
 which the contrast of color brought the work into 
 special relief. Francesco Ferucci carved for him 
 four medallion figures, which are still to be seen in 
 the Uffizi Gallery, and Benvenuto Cellini, avIio did
 
 THE MEDICI. 89 
 
 a great deal of work for liiin, used porphyry for the 
 handsome bust after the antique in whieh the features 
 of the Grand Duke are preserved to us. This was 
 not, unfortunately, the greatest epoch in Florentine 
 history. Art was already beginning to decay, and 
 with the exception of Giovanni da Bologna and Cel- 
 lini, it had no better representatives than Baccio 
 BandineUi, Tribolo, Ammanati, and Yincenzio Danti. 
 Donatello, Benedetto da Maiano, Desiderio, and Mino 
 had been dead for more than a century, and Yasari 
 was the most prominent cf the architects, but the 
 epoch was none the less a remarkable one, being, so 
 to speak, the last flicker of the flame which had cast 
 so vivid a lio'ht over the whole of Italv. 
 
 It was Cosimo I., or rather his Avife, who purchased 
 from the Pitti family the celebrated palace, now the 
 property of the Crown, in which has been formed the 
 world-renowned gallery of pictures. 
 
 In order to connect the palace with the Uffizi Gal- 
 lery, which he had just had built by Yasari for the 
 tribunals and civil courts, Cosimo asked the author 
 of the ^' Yite " to erect a corridor, carried over the 
 arcades of the Ponte Yecchio. He also connected 
 the Uffizi Gallery with the old palace in which he 
 resided, and it was at his request that Ammanati 
 erected the singular fountain at the corner of the 
 ducal palace, for which Benvenuto Cellini made a 
 tender. Ammanati was a really great artist, as will 
 be seen when we come to treat of Florentine sculp-
 
 90 FLORENCE. 
 
 tare, and it was lie who built the Ponte alia Trinita; 
 which has such a fine span over the Arno. 
 
 Cosimo, sustaining the traditions of his family, 
 went far towards making a new city of Florence. 
 Buontalenti, Giovanni da Bologna, Montorsoli, Re- 
 ligiosa Serrita, Vincenzio Danti, Tribolo, Jacopo da 
 Pontormo, Angiolo Bronzino, Zucchero, and Gio- 
 vanni Strado were in his employ, and decorated the 
 palaces and monuments which he built. To him 
 Florence owes the Boboli Gardens, and many of her 
 piazzas, bridges, fountains, and statues, and his name 
 is engraved on many a commemorative stone in the 
 principal streets. 
 
 Science and literature were still held in honor, and 
 although the greatest Italian names had disappeared, 
 the memory of them still remained. Cosimo com- 
 pleted the Libreria Laurentiana, commenced by 
 Michael Angelo in the cloisters of San Lorenzo at 
 the request of Pope Clement VII., but never com- 
 pleted. He turned his attention also to agriculture, 
 and endeavored to reclaim the tracts of waste and 
 barren land around Pisa. He was a patron of botany, 
 and appointed to the professorship of Pisa one Luke 
 Ghini, whom he instructed to form a botanical garden 
 at Boboli. Then, again, in order to facilitate legal 
 proceedings, which were unduly lengthened by the 
 absence of any carefid record of previous cases, he 
 instituted the " Archivio Generale," in which deeds, 
 classified by the names of the families to whom they
 
 THE MEDICI. 91 
 
 belonged, and of their notaries, were deposited, so as 
 to prevent any disputes as to the rights of succession. 
 Cosimo was very partial to pomp of everv kind, 
 including jousts and tilting matches, and after tlie 
 capture of Siena the first thing he did was to form a 
 mounted troop of a hundred nobles, selected from 
 among the most proficient in riding, fencing, danc- 
 ing, and tilting. He did the same at Florence, and 
 his reign Avitnessed a revival of the splendid Triumphs 
 organized by Lorenzo the Magnificent. There was 
 not, perhaps, so much delicacy of outline and concep- 
 tion, but these Triumphs, representations of wliich 
 are preserved to us in prints and engravings which 
 would form a library of themselves, Avere conducted 
 upon an even more lavish scale. Moreover, as to all 
 these qualities he added that of a legislator, it is not 
 too much to say that Florence and Tuscanv, if they 
 surrendered their liberties, secured througli the 
 strength and authority of Cosimo a peaceful and 
 assured protectorate. He acted with the full con- 
 sciousness of his power, building churches, combat- 
 ing the heresy which was then beginning to spread 
 in Germany, joining forces with Rome against the 
 Turk, and receiving from Pope Pius V. the title of 
 Grand Duke, Avith the purple and the diadem. 
 Charles V. sent him the Golden Fleece, but history 
 says that the honor Avas bestoAved more upon the 
 wealthy jMedici aa'Iio had lent him money than upon 
 the sovereign ruler of Florence.
 
 92 FLOREXCE. 
 
 Cosimo was a politician and legislator of no little 
 talent^ but it is well known now that most historians 
 have kept back the truth as to the depravity of his 
 private life. History has recorded his public acts, 
 and by glossing over his crimes and vices has made 
 him famous, but it is only too true that in a fit of 
 passion he slew his tAvo sons, Don Garcia and Car- 
 dinal Giovanni. Their mother, the Duchess Elean- 
 ora, was so horror-stricken that she died, and it was 
 given out at Florence that the putrid fever, then prev- 
 alent at Pisa, had carried off all three of them. It 
 is supposed, too, that Cosimo I. is responsible for the 
 murder of Sforza Almini, a gentleman of Venice, who 
 had spoken of him as the author of these crimes. 
 
 The first wife of the first Grand Duke was Elean- 
 ora of Toledo, the daughter of Don Pedro of Toledo, 
 Viceroy of Naples, by whom he had seven sons and 
 three daughters. After he had been the indirect 
 cause of their mother's death, he married Cammilla 
 Martelli, the daughter of an illustrious Florentine 
 house, whom he had seduced, and by whom he had 
 had an illegitimate daughter, Virginia, afterwards the 
 wife of Don Csesar of Este. It was at the injunction 
 of Pius v., who had received from Cosimo a confes- 
 sion of all these crimes, that he contracted this second 
 marriage ; but his wife, though she appeared at Court, 
 never took the title of Grand Duchess. Cosimo died 
 on the 21st of April, 1574, of malignant fever at his 
 country house, Costello, and besides his bust by Cel-
 
 THE MEDICI. 93 
 
 lini, we liave an equestrian statue of him by Gio- 
 vanni (la Bologna, erected twenty years after his 
 death, on the Grand Ducal Square. The pedestal is 
 adorned with several bas-reliefs representing episodes 
 in his history. There are also many portraits of him, 
 mostly by Bronzino, among them a panel picture in 
 the gallery of Princess Matilda Bonafaste, in which 
 he is surrounded by his sons. 
 
 FRA>XESCO I. 
 
 (1541-1587.) 
 
 Called upon to succeed Cosimo I., Francesco, the 
 eldest son, had undergone a ten years' apprenticeship 
 to government under liis father, and Avas therefore 
 ripe for the exercise of power. He possessed many 
 high qualities, being of a pacific disposition, devoted 
 to art, and enough of a builder to leave his mark upon 
 Florence. During his reign flourished Bernardo 
 Buontalenti and Giovanni da Bologna, the last great 
 artists of the Renaissance period, and he was him- ^ 
 self an adept in the art of stone engraving, which 
 was very much developed and improved at Florence 
 about this time. 
 
 At the end of the sixteenth century Florence was 
 at peace, and Francesco I. built the Pratolino at a 
 cost of 782,000 gold crowns, giving free course to 
 his fondness for gardens, fountains, and summer- 
 houses. It was Francesco who founded the Uffizi 
 Galleries, which contain so many masterpieces of
 
 94 FLOEEXCE. 
 
 painting and sculpture. The varied imagination of 
 Giovanni de Bologna was allowed full scope in the 
 decoration of the Boboli Gardens, and it was at this 
 date that were carved the Giant representing the 
 Apennines which stands in the Pratolino, and the 
 famous Sabine group under the Loggia of the Lanzi. 
 
 Francesco married, in 1565, Joanna of Austria, 
 daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand and sister of 
 the Emperor Maximilian, by Avhom he had three 
 daughters and a son, Philip, all of whom died except- 
 ing Mary, who, by her marriage with Henry IV., be- 
 came Queen of France. 
 
 The salient feature in the private life of Francesco 
 was his passion for the famous Bianca Capello, who 
 eventually became Grand Duchess of Tuscany. 
 Francesco has been represented as sensuous and 
 ferocious, but it seems to me that his defect was 
 rather weakness of character, and when he found 
 that Florence was at peace he left the conduct of 
 affairs to his ministers, concentrating his attention on 
 pleasure and art. He was a very well-read man, too, 
 giving his patronage to printing and literature, liis 
 '^ correspondence with Aldo Manucio and Ulysses Al- 
 drovandri, the great printer, being still extant. 
 
 Very strange is the episode of Bianca Capello, 
 who, eloping at night from her father's house, event- 
 ually finds her way to the Court and becomes Grand 
 Duchess. The story has been told in every book 
 upon Venice, but there are some incidents in it re-
 
 Portrait of Bianca Cappello. 
 Bronzino,
 
 THE MEDICI. 95 
 
 lating to Florence which will be worth narrating here. 
 Earth elemi Capello, a patrician, was the fother by his 
 wife, — one of the Morosini family, — of a daughter 
 named Bianca, born in l.")48. Barthelemi, having 
 lost his first wife, remarried, and his second wife, 
 Lucrezia Grimani, who was very young, bestowed 
 little care on Bianca. The latter from her balcony 
 one day espied a young gallant, Pietro de Zenobio 
 Bonaventuri, who was looking at her with evident 
 admiration. He often came to the window, and from 
 exchanging signs they got to exchanging letters, and 
 at last she agreed to meet him. As he was only on 
 a visit to Venice from Florence, Bianca fled with him 
 (28th November, 1563) to the latter city, where they 
 were married, and it was during her husband's life- 
 time that Bianca, who had acquired great notoriety 
 by her elopement, made the acquaintance of the 
 Grand Duke Francesco. The husband shut his eyes 
 to their intimacy, and was given a post in the grand 
 ducal household ; and as he himself led a somewhat 
 irregular life, an opportunity was taken of inveigling 
 him into an ambusli, which residted in his death. 
 There is no positive proof that Francesco had any 
 share in the crime ; but at all events the coincidence 
 is suspicious, for Joanna of Austria Avas dead, and 
 there was no longer any obstacle to his imion with 
 Bianca, a widow. Francesco asked the Senate of 
 Venice to give her to him in marriage, and they were 
 so anxious to secure the friendship of the Grand
 
 96 FLORENCE. 
 
 Duke of Tuscany that they readily assented, though 
 her name had been erased from the Libro d' Oro. 
 
 The marriage fetes of Bianca Capello created a 
 great sensation, and they are described in a pamphlet 
 which has been lent to me by the heirs of the late 
 M. Firmin-Didot, and several engravings from which 
 have been reproduced. The Silver Wedding of the 
 Emperor of Austria, the anniversary of which was 
 celebrated at Vienna with great pomp under the 
 superintendence of Makart the painter, gives us some 
 idea of what these pageants were like, but during the 
 Italian Renaissance they had an intensity and a 
 piquancy not to be met Avith anywhere else. When 
 Lucretia Borgia entered Rome she was followed by 
 two hundred ladies on horseback^ magnificently 
 dressed, and each accompanied by the cavalier of her 
 choice. Lorenzo wrote, just before one of his Tri- 
 umphsj to the Pope asking for the loan of two ele- 
 phants, which he wanted to introduce into the pro- 
 cession, and the Pope, as he had not any of these 
 animals, sent him two leopards and a panther. 
 
 The fetes to celebrate the marriage of Bianca 
 Capello were among the most splendid ever given, 
 and though others may have been more sumptuous 
 in after-times, they did not possess the same stamp 
 of elegance which was peculiar to the age when ar- 
 tistic taste reached its zenith in Italy. Each of the 
 principal groups in this pageant was a masterpiece. 
 Bianca's car was drawn by lions, but to all the others
 
 THE MEDICI. 97 
 
 were harnessed horses dressed up in skins of Avild 
 animals^ or so disguised as to resemble griffins and 
 iniicorns ; or buffaloes covered with elephants' skins. 
 Naked men and women had their bodies painted with 
 gold, in order that they might represent the deities 
 of Olympus 5 and all Florence was mad with excite- 
 ment in greeting a prince to whose defects they were 
 ready to close their eyes. 
 
 The husband and Avife were only united for seven 
 years, and they both died on the 19th of October, 
 1587, at an interval of only a few hours, in their 
 villa at Poggio Caiano. It was always supposed that 
 they had both been poisoned, but Litta, a very trust- 
 worthy historian, in his ^^ Genealogies of ItaHan Fam- 
 ilies,'' puts these suspicions into Avords. His version 
 is that Bianca intended to poison her brother-in-law, 
 and that her husband accidentally partook of the tart 
 which she had prepared, and that she, when the truth 
 dawned upon her, poisoned herself in despair. He 
 adds that when Cardinal ]\[edicl, for whom the tart 
 was intended, came in, and learnt what had taken 
 })lace, he put his back against the door and would not 
 let any one enter until he was assured that lius])and 
 and wife had both breathed their last. 
 
 A document, however, which goes far towards ex- 
 onerating Bianca of this charge is a letter from Vit- 
 torio Soderini to Silvio Piccolomini, in which he says, 
 " The two bodies were opened before burial, and 
 Baccio Baldini and Leopoldo da Barga assured me 
 
 7
 
 98 FLORENCE. 
 
 that in both cases there were the same signs of corrup- 
 tion in the liver and lungs. Bianca Capello had 
 been dropsical for more than t\YO years, and a large 
 quantity of water was taken from her body. The 
 common people beheved that both had died of poison, 
 but these stories are all untruCj and those who are the 
 most likely to know think that they died a natural 
 death." 
 
 It is said that the body of Bianca was buried in the 
 paupers' grave at San Lorenzo, instead of in the tomb 
 of the Grand Dukes, while the remains of Francesco 
 I. were laid beside those of his first wife, Joanna of 
 Austria ; but some assert that Bianca too was pri- 
 vately interred with her husband. Leaving, as has 
 been said, only one daughter, Marie de' Medici, the 
 future Queen of France, Francesco was succeeded 
 by his brother Ferdinand. There are several por- 
 traits of Bianca both at Venice and Florence, the 
 best being those in the Pitti Palace. 
 
 FEEDIXAND I. 
 
 (1551-1C09.) 
 
 The son of Cosimo I. and Eleanora of Toledo, who 
 succeeded Francesco L, found Tuscany too small for 
 him, and this prince, aa^io had the instincts of a con- 
 queror, was the first of his family since the fifteenth 
 century who endeavored to make his influence felt 
 beyond the frontiers of Italy. 
 
 There are two distinct phases in the career of
 
 THE MEDICI. 99 
 
 Ferdlnanrl. Brought up for the Church, he was made 
 a cardinal, and lived in a monastery at Rome, Avith 
 all the pomp that became one of his family. 
 
 Resolute and haughty, he was more feared than 
 liked at the Vatican, though he had tact enougli to 
 exercise a considerable influence over the Sacred 
 College, and it is even said that in questions of the 
 first importance his opinions carried as much weight 
 as those of the Pontiff himself. While wearing the 
 purple, his undertakings were necessarily of a peace- 
 ful character, and he concentrated his attention upon 
 what we now call ^^ Missions." Combining, in the 
 true spirit of a Medici, a zeal for intellectual research 
 with his religious propaganda, he fostered the study 
 of the Oriental languages, setting up at his own cost » 
 a printing-press in Oriental characters, and organiz- 
 ing foreign missions to which he attached young stu- 
 dents, who came back to Rome and founded a college 
 in which they taught Arabic, Sanscrit, and Hindu- 
 stani. He also had translations made of philosophical, 
 medical and mathematical treatises from the Arabic, 
 and distributed them in all directions. Fond of dis- 
 play, amid all his peaceful occupations he followed 
 the example of his ancestor, Cardinal Hippolvtus, 
 and had a large escort of cavalry. The Pope on one 
 occasion having threatened to imprison him in San 
 Angelo, Cardinal Medici took the bull by the horns, 
 and came to seek audience of the Pope with a cuirass 
 under his robe, and when the Pontiff angrilv declared
 
 100 FLOKENCE. 
 
 that it was in his power to deprive him of the hat 
 which symbohzed the dignity of Cardinal, Medici 
 replied that if he lost his hat he should substitute for 
 it the iron crown. 
 
 Having succeeded his brother as Grand Duke, he 
 began by according a liberal patronage to art and 
 f^ literature, encouraging such men as Ammirato and 
 Gabriel Chiabrera, building the Ferdinand College at 
 Pisa, and that singular chapel within a church (the 
 Medici Chapel in San Lorenzo), which is so profusely 
 decorated Avith marbles and precious stones, but which 
 testilies rather to lavish expenditure than to refined 
 taste. If this chapel had been built a century earlier, 
 when Brunelleschi, Bramante, Albcrti, Michelozzo, 
 and Michael Angelo were alive, it might have been 
 the most magnificent in the world, erected as it was 
 close beside the Sagrestia Nuova, where the twin 
 figures of " Day " and '''' Night,'' of ^' Dawn " and 
 " Twilight," kept watch over the tombs of Lorenzo 
 and Julian. 
 
 Though Ferdinand I. has had the credit for the 
 building of this chapel, it was not the work of a single 
 reign, but at the same time it should be added that 
 there is no doubt as to his having helped the archi- 
 tect, Matteo Kigretti, to draw the plans. Francesco 
 I., however, had conceived the idea of a Pantheon of 
 this kind, and later on the members of the Medici 
 family were buried one under the high altar, 
 another in the old vestry, a third in the new chapel,
 
 THE MEDICI. 101 
 
 and so forth. In this connection a singular story, 
 too well authenticated to be passed lightly over, is 
 current. It is said that the Emir Facardino, who 
 claimed descent from Godfrey de Bouillon, and who, 
 full of hatred for the Ottomans, had gone to Italy, 
 and been received by the Medici, had persuaded 
 them that it Avould be easy to lay hands upon the 
 tomb of our Saviour and bring it to Florence, where 
 a temple worthy of Christianity might be built to 
 receive it. Ferdinand accordingly constructed a 
 sepulchre in the Chapel of the Princes, and when 
 the design fell through the sepulchre was, perforce, 
 converted into a Pantheon for the Medici family. 
 
 I repeat this, though perhaps it is without founda- 
 tion ; but still the reader of Giovannio Mariti's " His- 
 tory of Facardino" (Livorno, 1787) will perceive that 
 he places some amount of credence in it. The only 
 objection against it is that the journey of the Emir 
 to Florence dates from 1604. However, be this as 
 it may, the chapel was built, and that, too, at a cost 
 of twenty-two million crowns ; and when one sees it, 
 it is easy to understand that there was nothing exor- 
 bitant in the price. Its solid grandeur is very im- 
 posing, Avhilst the actual materials used are of the 
 most precious description ; it is, in fact, one mass of 
 gold, marble, and solid stone. From the floor to the 
 cupola the distance is sixty yards, and there is a 
 marked disproportion between the statues of the last 
 of the Medici, the work of John of Bologna and
 
 102 FLOEENCE. 
 
 Tacca, wliicli stand iii the niches^ and tliis extra- 
 ordinary monument. Beneath the floor is a crypt 
 containing the coffins in which the bodies of the vari- 
 ous meniLers of the Medici family repose. Magnifi- 
 cent equestrian statues were often erected at Florence 
 at this periodj one of the finest being that which 
 Ferdinand, who had a great taste for sculpture, raised 
 beside the fountain of the Ammanati in the square of 
 the old Palace to the memory of his father, Cosimo I. 
 
 His own statue, which is that of an equestrian cast 
 in bronze by Tacca, is a magnificent work of art, 
 and stands in the square of the Annunciation. It 
 was erected by his son, Ferdinand II. Pisa and Leg- 
 horn are indebted to him for many of their monu- 
 ments. At Florence he continued that work of 
 adornment which his father and brother had com- 
 menced. His external policy was marked by a cer- 
 tain spirit of adventure, for this was the time when 
 so many incursions were made by the Turks and 
 African corsairs, who, crossing the Adriatic, bom- 
 barded the towns on the coast, Otranto for instance, 
 which was destroyed, and has never recovered from 
 the blow inflicted on it by the Porte. 
 
 Charles V. took his fleet to Algiers, Bona, and the 
 coast of Morocco, the chevaliers of the order of St. 
 Stephen, instituted by Cosimo L, taking part in this 
 attack against the infidels. Ferdinand fitted out a 
 number of cruisers, and from pure love of glory sailed 
 with his fleet for Bona, his enterprise receiving the
 
 THE MEDICI. 103 
 
 support of the Pope. He won several victories at 
 sea, and many portraits of him are extant in naval 
 unifurm. He distinguished himself on land, also, by 
 sending troops to the Danube in order to relieve the 
 Emperor, who was being harassed by the Turks. A 
 careful inspection of the scutcheon at the base of his 
 statue on the Piazza Annunziata shows that he had 
 altered the '^ Imprese " of the Medici of the elder 
 branch, and adopted the swarm of bees and the motto, 
 ^'Majestate tantum." The most striking allusion to 
 this part of his career is to be seen at Leghorn, where 
 he took ship, and where still stands a marble statue 
 representing him in military uniform, with three 
 Turkish slaves in chains at the base. This statue is 
 by Tacca, the greatest sculptor in Florence dm-iug 
 the seventeenth century. 
 
 Ferdinand cannot be charged with excessive pride, 
 nor with any such blood-guiltiness as tarnishes the 
 memory of several of his ancestors. He died at the 
 age of tifty-eight, on the 7th of February, 1609, and 
 was succeeded by Cosimo, the only son born of his 
 marriage with Christine of Lorraine. 
 
 COSIMO II. 
 (1590-1621.) 
 
 The son of Ferdinand was very delicate, cared more 
 for the arts of peace than for military enterprise, and 
 was fond of poetry, music, theatrical and equestrian 
 spectacles. Jousts and tournaments were held almost
 
 104 FLORENCE. 
 
 daily, and the literary men of the day were constantly 
 inventing entertainments, which were carried out 
 by painters and skilled workmen. Upon one occa- 
 sion a large square was converted into an inland sea, 
 over which ships floated to represent the capture of 
 Bona and the landing of the troops. A record of all 
 this is to be found in the concetti of the time, which, 
 however, are so exaggerated that it is difficult to dis- 
 tinguish between what is true and what is false. 
 These later artists had not so much genius as their 
 predecessors, and though their love of art was equally 
 profound, they seem to have lost something of the 
 spirit of manliness, and their touch something of its 
 firmness. Their mincing and effeminate method was 
 very different from the mascidine and austere lines 
 with which their ancestors were content ; and, with its 
 complicated and contorted designs, led to the creation 
 of the singular school which afterwards made disciples 
 everywhere. The death of Giovanni da Bologna 
 left Tacca the sole representative of the great sculp- 
 tors, while architecture was represented by Giulio 
 Pasigi, and painting by Cigoli, Passignani, Christoforo 
 Allori, and Rosselli. The sun was fast setting, and 
 another twenty years bring us to the decadence of 
 art in Florence. 
 
 Cosimo II., however, had the honor of befriending 
 Galileo ; he recalled him from Padua and appointed 
 him ^^ philosopher and mathematician extraordinary," 
 in return for which his name has been handed down
 
 THE MEDICI. 105 
 
 to posterity in the dedications of a number of the 
 great astronomer's works, the latter likewise giving 
 the title of " the Medici stars " to the four satellites 
 of Jupiter discovered by- him wliilc sweeping with 
 his telescope the azure of the Florentine sky. 
 
 His reign was short, but not inglorious ; succeed- 
 ing to the throne in 1609, he died in 1621, leaving 
 by his wife, Maria Maddalena of Austria, a son, Fer- 
 dinand, who was only ten years of age at the time of 
 his father's death. 
 
 FEKDINAND 11. 
 
 (1611-1670.) 
 
 Tuscany was thus governed by a regency, and 
 though the time was past when a revolution Avas to 
 be apprehended, the economic effects of this ten years^ 
 minority were very unfovorable. Christine of Lor- 
 raine, the grandmother of the young i)rince, was still 
 alive, and she acted as co-regent with his mother. 
 Badly advised, and too proud to sacrifice their own 
 ideas, the effect of their ten years' rule was to im- 
 poverish the State for a very long time. They took 
 upon themselves to carry on the grain trade of Siena, 
 and by their unskilful administration ruined the whole 
 province. They were liberal to prodigality, and the 
 result was that the country became so impoverished 
 that pawmshops were opened in Florence for the iirst 
 time. In the meanwhile the young prince was on his 
 travels. After a stav in Rome he went to Prague, and
 
 106 FLORENCE. 
 
 thence all through Germany. In 1628, havmg at- 
 tamed his majority, he returned to Florence, and 
 commenced his rule. 
 
 He married Vittoria della Rovere, and the early 
 years of his reign were very peaceful, though they 
 were darkened by a visitation of the plague, Avhich 
 had not appeared in Tuscany for several centuries. 
 The young sovereign displayed great courage in 
 helping to stamp out this terrible scourge ; but he 
 Avas not animated by any martial spirit, and on the 
 death of the Duke of Urbino, in 1631, he incurred 
 the displeasure of his subjects by his half-hearted 
 opposition to the claims which the Court of Rome 
 advanced. 
 
 He was, however, compelled to give his aid when 
 his brother-in-law, Farnese, marched his forces 
 through Tuscany in order to recover Castro and 
 Ronciglione, Avhich had been unlawfidly seized by 
 the Pope. After so many years of improvident ad- 
 ministration, Tuscany was not very Avell prepared for 
 a heavy military expenditure, and Ferdinand 11. lost 
 what little popularity he had gained during the epi- 
 demic by the increase of taxation which was ren- 
 dered necessary. He enjoyed a high moral credit 
 abroad, and the House of ]\Iedici had acquired a 
 prominent place in what we should now caU ^^ the 
 European Concert," by the mere fact of having given 
 two queens to France, in the persons of Catherine, 
 wife of Henry II., and Marie, Avife of Henry IV.
 
 THE MEDICI. 107 
 
 Very moderate in his views, and animated by a 
 religious spirit which never degenerated into fanati- 
 cism, Ferdinand acted as intermediary between Alex- 
 ander VII. and Louis XIII., and was instrumental 
 in the signature of the Treaty of Pisa, which prob- 
 ably prevented the recurrence of the cruel inva- 
 sions of preceding centuries. His reign may be re- 
 garded as the close of a period not inglorious in art, 
 for Pietro Tacca was still alive, painting Avas repre- 
 sented by Giovanni da San Giovanni and Pietro de 
 Cortona, while Stefano della Bella, a gifted designer, 
 composed the fetes and the public rejoicings which 
 were still in vogue. Ferdinand also devoted much 
 attention to the embellishment of towns, and to the 
 improvement of the seaports, notably of Leghorn, 
 and he made a determined effort to suppress the cor- 
 sairs of Tunis. 
 
 The name of Ferdinand is, however, most honor- 
 ably associated with that of Galileo, whom he seems 
 to have befriended as far as lay in his power. 
 
 The great astronomer having been accused to Pope 
 Urban VIII. a member of the Barberini family, was 
 summoned, when seventy years of age, to appear be- 
 fore the tribunal of the Inquisition, upon the charge 
 of having maintained a theory contrary to that of the 
 Church. The Tuscan Court followed the progress of 
 the trial with keen interest, but in the end Galileo 
 had to be given up. After sixteen days of imprison- 
 ment he was allowed to live in his own house and
 
 108 FLORENCE. 
 
 drive about the city. But fifty days later he was 
 again arrested, and this time informed that unless he 
 abjured his errors he would be sentenced to imprison- 
 ment for life. It was then, according to a story which 
 seems to be as baseless as it is well known, that the 
 illustrious Galileo knelt in submission in the church 
 of Santa Maria Sopra Minerya, concluding his forced 
 recantation with the words so often quoted ^' Fur se 
 muoreP 
 
 He was subsequently permitted to reside in the 
 Medici Palace on the Trinita di Monte, and later to 
 remoye to Siena, where he remained for seyeral 
 months in the Palace of the Archbishop. 
 
 Ferdinand II. finally procured permission for him 
 to return to Florence, where he passed the eight re- 
 maining years of his life in peace. 
 
 The epoch was undoubtedly an intellectual one, for 
 Ferdinand's natural bent Avas literary, and he had 
 also acquired some celebrity as a chemist. There is 
 another of the Medici family, howeyer, who must not 
 be passed oyer without notice, and this is Cardinal 
 Leopold, who made himself fjimous by his loye of 
 study, and his patronage of all those who had distin- 
 guished themselyes in science, literature, and art. 
 This sufficed, in a country like Florence, to giye a 
 great impulse to intellectual pursuits. The loye of 
 natural science had already been manifested by the 
 earlier Medici, to whom we owe many yaluable dis- 
 coveries, and the sojourn of Galileo had stimulated
 
 Galileo^s Tower,
 
 THE MEDICI. 109 
 
 the zeal of those who were studying physics and 
 mathematics^ for he founded a school, and left behind 
 him pupils such as Niccolo Aggiunti, Evangelista 
 Torricelli, and Vincenzio Viviani. 
 
 This movement received the support of Ferdinand, 
 and of his brother the Cardinal, the latter of whom 
 founded the celebrated Cimento Academy, which be- 
 came such a focus of intellectual splendor. The light 
 was about to be extinguished, but there was a final 
 flicker, and those who lived in Florence then might 
 have seen a grand duke working in his laboratory, 
 with the aid of his brother, a prince of tlie Church, 
 and of Yiviani, at experiments made to see Avhether 
 mercury could not be rendered malleable. 
 
 Ferdinand undoubtedly made some usefid discover- 
 ies, and he deserves the credit of bringing out several 
 useful publications, and of assisting men Avhose re- 
 searches were likely to be of service to the cause of 
 science. It was at the gatherings in the grand ducal 
 palace that the foundation of the Cimento Academy 
 was decided upon ; its career was short, though bril- 
 liant. The first meeting was held on the lOtli of 
 June, 1657, the assembly taking for their crest a re- 
 tort and three crucibles, with the motto, '^ Provando 
 Riprovando." The meetings were held at the Pitti 
 Palace, and the members, only nine in all, were the 
 Grand Duke, Cardinal Leo})old, the brothers Paolo 
 and Candido del Buono, Alessandro Mascili, Vincen- 
 zio Viviani, Francesco Rede, a celebrated patrician
 
 110 FLORENCE. 
 
 of Ai'ezzo of ^Yhom we have a fine bronze medallion, 
 Antonio Uliva, Giovanni Alfonso Borelli^ Count Carlo 
 Renaldini, and Count Lorenzo ]\Iagalotti, who acted 
 as secretary. But these nine academicians, Avho, 
 patronized by the Grand Duke, held their sittings at 
 the palace, could command plenty of money, and by 
 means of secretaries who were salaried by the Grand 
 Didie, they carried on a correspondence all over Tus- 
 cany, and kept the lamp of learning alight. In 1666 
 were published ^' Essays in Natural Experiments,'^ 
 dedicated by Cardinal Leopold to the Grand Duke 
 Ferdinand. 
 
 The intention was excellent, but these savants 
 could not agree, and that jealousy which is too often 
 inseparable from intellectual superiority led to so 
 much discord that Borelli, one of the most brilliant 
 of the academicians, withdrew from the Court, and 
 even from Tuscany, taking with him Uliva and Ren- 
 aldini. The Cimento lived only ten years. 
 
 It mav be said of Ferdinand II. that on the whole 
 he was a great man, and among his claims to celebrity 
 are his presents to the Uffizi Museum, his gifts to it 
 including several pictures Avhich he had inherited 
 from the Delia Rovere family, such as Titian's cele- 
 brated Venus in the tribune-room. His brother the 
 Cardinal, who had a great love for the antique, bought 
 the famous ''' Hermaphrodite," the ^^ Etruscan Chi- 
 mera," and the beautiful bronze idol, all of which are 
 in the Uffizi collection.
 
 THE MEDICI. Ill 
 
 COSIMO III. 
 
 (1G42-1723.) 
 
 Brought up at the Court of Ferdinand 11.^ Cosimo 
 III. was educated in a good school, but, endowed 
 though he was with good natural gifts and qualities, 
 which might have made a distinguished man of him, 
 he did not employ them aright. He inherited from 
 his mother a certain tendency to asceticism, and he is 
 perhaps the only Medici who was anything of a fa- 
 natic. 
 
 It has been said that the journey Avhich he made 
 through Europe during his father's lifetime was more 
 like a holiday tour than the travels of a young prince 
 eager to see and learn. He was accompanied by 
 Count Maggalotti of the Cimento, but the companion- 
 ship of that learned man was not so profitable to him 
 as it should have been. 
 
 The life-long ambition of Cosimo III. was to play 
 a leading part among the sovereigns of Europe, but 
 he had neither the talent nor the energy for it. Pie 
 was fond of distinctions, titles, and the pomp of the 
 Court, and to shed fresh lustre upon his throne he 
 would have made any sacrifice. As the Emperor of 
 Germany was pressed for money, Cosimo, by a loan 
 which was never repaid, obtained from him the right 
 to substitute the prefix of '^ Royal" for that of '^Most 
 Serene " Highness. Fh^rence at this period Avas the 
 foreigner's paradise, for Cosimo was always ready to
 
 112 FLOEEXCE. 
 
 receive them with great splendor^ in the hope of get- 
 ting a great name for himself abroad. He was very 
 generous, and made smuptuous presents to his minis- 
 ters and to other sovereigns. 
 
 The Court of Rome profited largely by his liberal- 
 ity, and he gave so much to the Jesuits and mission- 
 aries that he was more than once embarrassed for 
 money with which to pay his own troops. Large 
 sums were also spent on religious buildings. Struck 
 by the fact that several of the religious congregations 
 had lost the austerity for which they were formerly 
 noted, Cosimo sent to Spain for some Franciscan fathers 
 from St. Peter of Alcantara to found two monasteries 
 in which the discipline should be stricter. From the 
 French Trappists he also got several brothers, who 
 formed the nucleus of the Trappist monastery of 
 Buonsollazzo on the Mugello. He attended divine 
 service three times a day, and took much to heart 
 the religious lukewarmness of the Florentines, who 
 cared more for the externals of worship than for the 
 ideal which is the aim of the pious. 
 
 He pensioned and assisted many authors of relig- 
 ious books ; and Giuseppe Brochi, who wrote a life 
 of Florentine saints and good men, being unable to 
 canonize him, includes him in the list of '^ Venerables." 
 
 In spite of these tendencies, Cosimo HI. did not 
 practise the Christian virtues of resignation and tol- 
 erance. An Italian by birth, with no admixture of 
 foreign blood, seeing that his mother was a Princess
 
 THE MEDICI. 113 
 
 of UrbinOy he would have liked to substitute for the 
 pleasures and dissipations so dear to the grand ducal 
 Court the austere gravity of Spain. 
 
 Cosimo had married during his father's lifetime 
 Louise Marguerite, daughter of Gaston d'Orleans, 
 brother of Louis XIV. of France, and by her he had 
 two sons, Ferdinand and John Gaston, and one daugh- 
 ter, Anna ]\Iaria Louisa, who married William, Elector 
 and Count Palatine. This daughter, at her husband's 
 death, returned to Florence, Avhere she died in 1743, 
 being the last representative of her celebrated house. 
 Louise of Orleans entertained, however, the most bit- 
 ter feeling of dislike towards her husband, and never 
 rested until she succeeded in getting back to France, 
 Avhere she took up her residence in the Convent of 
 Montmartre, but spent a great deal of her time at 
 Court. There are several portraits of her taken in 
 the religious garb, with the convent and heights of 
 Montmartre in the background. The memoirs of the 
 seventeenth century are full of details of visits paid 
 to this abbess of royal blood, who, with her dowry 
 and an allowance of forty thousand gold croAvns guar- 
 anteed by the Court, was enabled to keep up no little 
 state. 
 
 Cosimo, as soon as he Avas separated from his wife, 
 thought about marrying his son Ferdinand, and when 
 he was five-and-twenty he obtained for him the hand 
 of Violante Beatria, daughter of Duke Ferdinand of 
 Bavaria. The marriage was an unhappy one, and 
 
 8
 
 114 FLOKENCE. 
 
 ended in an immediate separation, Ferdinand lead- 
 ing a very dissolute life and dying in 1713. The 
 other son, John Gaston, whom his father did not like, 
 had been sent away from home, and was married to 
 a German princess, the daughter of Philip of Neu- 
 burg, who was the heiress of her father's principality. 
 He lived in Bohemia on the property belonging to his 
 wife, a very singular woman, who made his existence 
 so intolerable that he left her in Germany and went 
 to live elsewhere. This completed the ruin of the 
 house of Medici, and did away with all hope of an 
 heir being born to the throne. 
 
 Cosimo, however, had a brother in the Church, 
 whom he induced to put off his rank as cardinal and 
 marry, in the hope of perpetuating the dynasty. At 
 the age of five-and-forty he married Eleanora Gon- 
 zaga, the daughter of the Duke de Guastalla, but he 
 died two years afterwards, leaving no issue, and so 
 all the plans of Cosimo came to nought. 
 
 It cannot be said that his reign was altogether an 
 inglorious one. Cardinal Leopold survived his nephew 
 two years, and if the Cimento Academy was broken 
 up, there remained in existence a society devoted to 
 art, science, and literature ; physics, medicine, nat- 
 ural history, and botany were still flourishing ; and 
 though Cosimo had other things to attend to besides 
 the encouragement of intellectual progress, he did not 
 allow them to interfere with it. Francesco Redi, 
 Averani, Gualtieri, Piero Antonio Micheli, and Giam-
 
 THE MEDICI. 115 
 
 battista Xelli belong to this epoch. The kboratory 
 and the astronomical observatory of the Pitti Palace 
 were still in full working order, purchases were made 
 of instruments such as the Brugens telescope at 
 Dresden, the first pneumatic machine was brought 
 from Leyden, and experiments as to the action of the 
 sun's rays upon gems and hard stones were carried 
 out. The prince provided out of his private purse a 
 pension for Micheli, whom he looked upon as the first 
 botanist of the day. 
 
 Then, again, the Apatisti, a purely literary society, 
 was founded in the room of the Cimento, and the 
 study of languages, poetry, and eloquence was brought 
 into fashion again by Benedetto Averani, the two Sal- 
 vini, Menzini, Filicaia, Canon Mozzi, Govi, Father 
 Politi, and Lami, to mention only the most celebrated. 
 The fine arts Avere to all intents and purposes dead, 
 earnest as were the efforts made to revive them. 
 Cosimo III. had made over to the Uffizi Gallery all 
 the masterpieces derived from the Delia Rovere in- 
 heritance, and all that Cardinal Leopold had collected 
 in the Pitti Palace became national property, this be- 
 ing the time when the gallery of antiquities acquired 
 that priceless treasure, the Venus de' Medici, brought 
 from Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, with many other statues 
 and objects of price. 
 
 Cosimo III. was deficient in greatness of soul and 
 generosity. He was vindictive, not to say cruel j and 
 it is said that having found out that the great geom-
 
 116 FLORENCE. 
 
 eter, Lorenzo Lorenzinij the author of the '^ Exerci- 
 tatio Geometrica/' kept up a correspondence with the 
 Grand Duchess Louise d' Orleans Avhen she was living 
 in Paris, he kept him twenty years in a dungeon in 
 the tower of Volterra. He was short-sighted enough 
 and intolerant enough to refuse permission to the 
 Huguenots who were driven from France by the re- 
 vocation of the Edict of Xantes to settle in the marshes 
 outside Pisa, and thus was lost an opportunity for re- 
 claiming them and for founding a prosperous colony, 
 as in England, Holland, and Brandenburg. 
 
 John Gaston, his son, and the last of the family, 
 succeeded him in 1723. 
 
 JOHN GASTON. 
 
 (1G71-1737.) 
 
 While heir-presumptive the last of the Medici 
 showed great intelligence, and much was to be ex- 
 pected from him. He was kind, generous, very fond 
 of study, and in other respects richly endowed by 
 nature. Always associating with men of learning 
 and great attainments, he studied many branches of 
 literature, among his most intimate friends being 
 Benedetto Brasciani, Giuseppe Averani, Enrico 
 Koris, Lorenzini, Father Salvini, and Magliabecchi, 
 the founder of the Uffizi library. He spoke Ger- 
 man, French, Spanish, and English, and was a mas- 
 ter of several dead languages. Fond of bodily ex- 
 ercises, he was a fine horseman and a practised tilter j
 
 THE MEDICI. 117 
 
 and he was also a good musician and an accomplished 
 draughtsman. 
 
 This is the stuff of which a good sovereign is made, 
 but his father, avIio had no great affection for him, 
 styled him "the learned doctor of the Medici family.'' 
 The coldness which had always been shown him in 
 his youth kept liiiti away from Florence, and his mar- 
 riage with the daughter of Philip of Neuburg so 
 changed his character and tastes that those of his 
 compatriots who came to see him could not recognize 
 in him the brilliant young prince who had been the 
 hope of the Tuscan crown. He gradually lapsed into 
 habits of indolence and vice, and his Court fell be- 
 neath the influence of abject creatures, in whose 
 society he lost all sense of the responsibilities of his 
 rank and station. 
 
 Having left his wife in Bohemia and returned to 
 Florence, where he received an allowance in keep- 
 ing with his rank, he did not attempt to maintain 
 appearances or to stand on etiquette, becoming a tool 
 in the hands of his valet, Giidiano Dami. This was 
 his mode of life when he was called on to succeed his 
 father, and he made no change, allowing his favorite 
 to govern him. He was good-natured, but it was the 
 good-nature of indolence rather than of temperament; 
 and he remained shut up in his palace, where he 
 passed his time in sensual indulgence. 
 
 Holding entirely aloof from affairs of State, his 
 subjects did not even know him by sight ; and those
 
 118 FLOKENCK 
 
 who wished to have an audience of him were obUged 
 to suborn his valet. During the fourteen years of 
 his reign he was not present more than two or three 
 times at the Ministerial Council. This being the case, 
 the head of each administration was supreme in his 
 own department, and, strange to say, the affairs of 
 Florence were not any the worse managed during 
 this period. 
 
 As John Gaston^s habits and pleasures were inex- 
 pensive, the royal treasury began to fill very rapidly. 
 In one of his lucid intervals this prince insisted upon 
 a reduction of the public debt and of the taxation 
 Avhich fell so heavily upon the people. Upon another 
 occasion, prompted by good advice, and perhaps in 
 some measure by his early instincts, he determined 
 to employ the surplus arising from his disuse of the 
 etiquette and ceremonial which were formerly main- 
 tained, in enriching the public collections with valu- 
 able jewels, pictures, statuary, and works of art of 
 every description. His sister, Anna Maria, the widow 
 of the Elector, after her return to Florence in 1717, 
 also gave all her pictures of the Flemish school to the 
 Uffizi Museum, and by her will, dated April 5, 1739, 
 she bequeathed all the statues, pictures, and curiosi- 
 ties which belonged to her as sole and legitimate 
 heiress of the Medici family, to Florence, having 
 previously made a special agreement (October 31, 
 1737) to this effect. 
 
 Gaston also founded several almshouses for the
 
 THE MEDICI. 119 
 
 poor^ and gave away money very freely, so tliat if 
 his reign was not a very brilliant one, it may at least 
 be said that he possessed some of the qualities which 
 one expects to find in a prince. He was a queer 
 mixture of virtue and vice, but at his death the peo- 
 ple remembered only his goodness and the generous 
 use which he made of the money that might have 
 been spent upon pomp and show. 
 
 His death occurred on the 9th of July, 1737, and 
 was followed soon after by that of his sister, the 
 grand ducal throne falling to the Lorraine branch of 
 the Hapsburgs. The last of the Medici was dead, 
 and the family which during three centuries had 
 given Tuscany so many great politicians and a few 
 crowned monsters, was extinct. The first of them 
 were the most illustrious, giving to their century the 
 title of " The Age of the ]\[edici." It may be said 
 of them that they crushed liberty and churned power 
 as a right ; but at all events they did much to com- 
 pensate for their usurpation. The great period of 
 Florentine history is over, and the narrative might 
 even have stopped short at the death of Michael 
 Angelo, but it was as well t(.) follow to its decline the 
 Medici family. 
 
 The eighteenth century is almost a part of con- 
 temporary history, and during this time Florence 
 enjoyed comparative prosperity under the Lorraine 
 dynasty, though the days of bold initiative were over. 
 No fresh monument was added to the list, but much
 
 120 FLOEENCE. 
 
 was done in the way of embellishment and improve- 
 ment. The muse had folded her wings, and the love 
 of ease militated against the birth of any new genius. 
 The Florentine people preserved, however, their 
 respect for the past, and were not incapable of admir- 
 ing the capi d'opere on the Piazza della Signoria. 
 In relating, as I have done, the story of Florence 
 from the first of the IMedici down to John Gaston, we 
 get a general knowledge of how the city came to 
 hold so high a place in history. Much might be said 
 about modern Florence as well, but this is not the 
 place for such a study, dealing as I am with the art 
 of past ages. Before considering which, however, I 
 will endeavor to show how it was that Florence be- 
 came the cradle of the Renaissance.
 
 THE RENAISSANCE. 121 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE RENAISSANCE. 
 
 It is often asked how it came to pass that Florence, 
 rather than any other Italian city, enjoyed the dis- 
 tinction of reviving in Europe the cidtivation of 
 thought, of inspiring it with a sense of the beautiful, 
 of giving the signal for progress in every branch 
 of human knowledge, and of maintaining for so long 
 a period the supremacy over all the other cities in the 
 peninsula. In other words, what, it is asked, were 
 the causes and origin of the Renaissance ? 
 
 It is no easy matter to analyze very accurately so 
 vast and complex a movement ; for if, on the one 
 hand, there is something logical and natural in this 
 wonderfid development, the country in which it took 
 place must have possessed certain precious gifts which 
 seconded it, and there must have been in tlie soil 
 which gave birth to it a fertility which contributed 
 to the abundance of the harvest. Study and economy 
 were not the only factors ; there was a certain amount 
 of intuition and good fortune which defies analysis. 
 The mildness of the climate, the charm of the atmos- 
 phere, the native grace with which surrounding 
 objects are enveloped, and an admixture of elegance
 
 122 FLORENCE. 
 
 and attractiveness, all told in favor of the movement 
 The co-efficients are manifold ; some direct and per- 
 manent ; others indirect, remote and fleeting. 
 
 It will be my endeavor to explain them briefly in 
 the course of a rapid review of the intellectual and 
 artistic movements. 
 
 In his interesting book on the Renaissance, Burck- 
 hardt, in the chapter entitled '^ The Renaissance of 
 Antiquity," says, '^ The social conditions of the time 
 Avould have sufficed of themselves, without the aid of 
 antiquity, to have raised the Italian nation to a cer- 
 tain degree of maturity, just as it is certain that most 
 of the substantial innovations then introduced into 
 public life would have taken place without the same 
 aid." 
 
 If this assertion were correct — and I venture to 
 take exception to it, especiaUy as regards literature 
 and art — we should have to eliminate one of the 
 causes hitherto considered as among the most power- 
 ful, and to regard the elaboration of this great work 
 as due solely to Florentine genius and the political 
 and social conditions of the time. It is only fair to 
 add, however, that Burckhardt acknowledges that 
 antiquity gave to literature and art a coloring aU 
 their own, which may easily be traced in form, if not 
 in substance. 
 
 The renovation, it must be said, made itself mani- 
 fest in all directions. Not only was there a return 
 to inteUectual culture, inspired by the discovery of
 
 THE RENAISSANCE. 123 
 
 ancient works of literature and philosophy^ but it 
 seems as if the lost sense of plastic beauty had been 
 recovered at the same time. 
 
 The constant struggle for independence, for the 
 liberty of association which was the most powerful 
 lever in the might of Florence, for the political au- 
 tonomy of the city, and for the possession of com- 
 munal rights, kept all the citizens interested in public 
 affairs, compelling high and low alike to put forth a 
 certain amount of activity, intellectual as Avell as 
 physical, and impressing them with a sense of per- 
 sonal responsibility. From an early age each citizen 
 of Florence belonged to some group and became the 
 soldier of an idea, being liable to be summoned at 
 a moment's notice to the defence of his banner and 
 of the disregarded rights of his corporation. 
 
 All this tended to create originality and indepen- 
 dence of character, and to excite a spirit of indi- 
 vidualism. The power of a democracy, manifold as 
 are its dangers, has this good side — that it does not 
 impose a common yoke on all, and does not put any 
 other limit on individual ambition than that of the 
 individual's capacities and energy. Upon the other 
 hand, there was an apparent incompatibility between 
 the constant political agitation which prevailed during 
 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the 
 germinating of fruitful ideas and the development of 
 a nascent civilization. Tliis is a point to which I 
 shall often have occasion to refer, though it is per-
 
 124 FLORENCE. 
 
 haps impossible to define the precise causes of it. 
 How was it that the Renaissance succeeded in taking 
 root amid these constant struggles, instead of being 
 choked at its birth ? How came it that while Pisa, 
 Siena, and Perugia were being deluged with blood, 
 artists and thinkers were able to work in peace I 
 
 Kot only in Florence, but throughout Italy — in 
 Venice Avith its Senate and Grand Council, in Milan 
 with the Sforzas, in Mantua Avith the Gonzagas, in 
 Ferrara Avith the Estes, in Urbino Avith the Monte- 
 feltros, in Rimini Avith ^Malatesta, in Naples AAith 
 Robert and Alfonso, and at the Vatican AA'ith the 
 Popes — AA^as this phenomenon manifested ; and AA'hile 
 neighboring states AA-ere at Avar AA'ith one another, 
 poets, painters, and philosophers folloAved their peace- 
 ful pursuits, and CA'en tyrants, as thej Avere called, 
 did not disdain to compete for the laurel crown. 
 
 The true reason of it all lies in the fact that Italy 
 did not liaA'e to make the same effort as the other 
 nations of Europe to escape from the state of 
 torpor into AAdiich all had sunk in the Middle Ages. 
 It Avould be no difficult matter to AA'rite a history of 
 the five or six centuries AA'hich followed the iuA^asion 
 of the Barbarians ; but this period, dark as it AA^as 
 throughout the rest of Europe, Avas not AA'ithout its 
 glory for Italy. The monuments Avith AA'hich Rome 
 had coA'ered the land Avere still standing : she still 
 existed, like a fire of AA-hich the smouldering embers 
 alone remain, and Avhich no sa\'age incursions could
 
 THE REXAISSA^X'E. 125 
 
 quite extinguish. All her triumphal arches, baths, 
 votive columns, pantheons, amphitheatres, and tem- 
 ples still raised their heads, though entwined with 
 creepers, which gave a new and additional beauty to 
 these old ruins, showing how great must once have 
 been that grandeur, the remembrance of which comes 
 powerfully back to us in every moment of quiet re- 
 flection. It Avas the connecting link between Italy 
 of the past and new Italy. The grandeur of the past 
 coidd but raise hopes for the splendor of the future. 
 Greece, Avhicli had been subdued and then exacted 
 vengeance by imposing her intellectual yoke on her 
 fierce conqueror, was something more than a mere 
 geographical expression, a vague ideal, a land of 
 sentiment, in which at one period human thought had 
 enshrined itself. It was for the Italians a living real- 
 ity, a friendly and neighboring land, which they could 
 see far away on the horizon of the Adriatic sloping 
 shorewards with its pale blue hills. Each day ships 
 arrived from the Hellespont, their sails full in the 
 breeze and edged with red, recalling in shape and 
 color the ships of antiquity. The South of Italy was 
 down to a recent period known as Magna Griccia, and 
 colonized by those who had come from the opposite 
 shore, and there flourished in Calabria and other parts 
 of Sicily a civilization of which traces are to be found 
 everyAvhere. If Christianity had proscribed every- 
 thing which recalled paganism, the traditions at least 
 remained, and every day further traces of civilization
 
 126 FLORENCE. 
 
 were discovered in proportion as this cliosen race was 
 found to have established itself in the most remote vil- 
 lages. These two influences — the Latin and the Greek 
 — had conjointly saved Italy from total ruin from an 
 intellectual point of view ; and the Florentines were 
 more open than any of their neighbors to the influ- 
 ences of culture for the most industrious and gifted 
 of the colonies founded in the peninsula before the 
 Romans, had left upon the soil of that country evi- 
 dent traces of their existence, not to speak of art 
 monuments which are even still worthy to be com- 
 pared with those of Greece or of Florence in the fif- 
 teenth century. 
 
 When Italy had been conquered, Theodoric, 
 Charlemagne, and Lothaire did not fail to encourage 
 intellectual progress and anything Avhich made for 
 civilization. In the eighth century was promulgated 
 Lothairc's edict, in Avhich, following the traditions of 
 Charlemagne, he provided for the formation of schools 
 at Pavia, Ivr^ea, Cremona, Turin, Florence, Termo, 
 and Vincenza ; and there was spiritual light even in 
 the darkness of the tenth and eleventh centuries. 
 The monks of the Abbey of Monte Cassino furthered 
 this development of learning by copying Aristotle, 
 Demosthenes, Cicero, Horace, Virgil, and Lucretius ; 
 and throughout the whole of Southern Italy the Latin 
 poets were read in the Roman amphitheatres, while 
 in the Forum of Trajan men of letters woidd read 
 extracts from the classic authors to the Senate, who
 
 THE REXAISSA>XE. 127 
 
 conferred on the most successful competitor a floral 
 crown and a cloth of gold. The Latin tongue, which 
 was in itself a means of civilization, being as it were 
 the key to the lofty conceptions and writings of the 
 ancient authors, was in pretty general use during the 
 first part of the Renaissance, and sermons were 
 preached in Latin in many of the Tuscan churches. 
 Nor 'was respect for ancient literature the monopoly 
 of a sect or of a religious body ; it was an article of 
 popular faith. A proof of this is given us at Mantua, 
 where tlie statue of Virgil was decorated with flowers, 
 like the altar of a god ; and at Brindisi, where the poet's 
 house was shown to strangers Avith legitimate pride. 
 Dante, in the thirteenth century, acknowledged Vir- 
 gil as his master in the line — 
 
 "Tu se'lo mio maestro e lo mio autore ;" 
 
 and he also did much to extend the knowledge of 
 Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucanus, and of the great- 
 est Greek writers of their day. 
 
 But the influence of Rome was predominant over 
 Dante, and he regarded the inhabitants as his ances- 
 tors, '' the Roman people being," to use his own ex- 
 pression, ^^ the first-born of the Italian family." 
 
 The Latin tongue had never been lost, though it 
 had been corrupted by the admixture of barbarisms. 
 Two men of genius, Petrarch and Boccaccio, endeav- 
 ored to revive the Greek language, and their efforts 
 were not altogether in vain. Petrarch jealously pre-
 
 128 FLORENCE. 
 
 sers^ecT a MS. of Sophocles in the origmal Greek, 
 Avhich he coiild not reacl^ and it seemed to him as if 
 the letters^ of which he was miable to miderstand the 
 meaning, emitted rays of light full of fascination. 
 It had been given him by Leonce Pilate, a pupil 
 of Bernardo Barlaam, a Calabrian monk sent to 
 Avignon as an ambassador to the Pope, and who 
 Avas one of the promoters of the study of Greek in 
 the AVest. 
 
 Boccaccio, more fortunate than Petrarch, was able 
 to read the Iliad in the original with the help of a 
 Latin translation, and having in 1360 received Leonce 
 Pilate into his house, he induced the Signoria to es- 
 tablish a public professorship for him to explain the 
 Iliad, the Odyssey, and sixteen of Plato's Dialogues. 
 
 This is a date to be remembered, for the secret of 
 the superiority of Florence in the plastic arts is cer- 
 tainly to be found in the study she gave to the an- 
 cient monuments, while her intellectual superiority is 
 not less certainly due to the discovery and diffusion 
 of the MSS. of ancient writers. The manifestation 
 of the genius of Dante, though he expressed himself 
 in the vulgar tongue, was in a measure brought about 
 by these influences seemingly so remote. 
 
 It may naturally be asked how it came to pass that 
 while in the reign of Augustus Greek was spoken at 
 Rome, even by women who prided themselves on 
 their intellectual superiority, that language fell into 
 disuse, and was soon unknown to all save a select
 
 THE RENAISSANCE. 129 
 
 few. Tlic influence of Greek pliilosopliy and litera- 
 ture in Italy continued to increase under the Anto- 
 nines ; Marcus Aurelius wrote liis '^ Maxims " in 
 Greekj and two centuries later the Emperor Julian 
 used it in preference to his own language in his de- 
 fence of Polytheism. 
 
 The heaviest blow to Greek influence in the West 
 was dealt by Christianity previous to the Barbarian 
 invasion. The superb temples built in honor of the 
 three thousand divinities, '' among whom there was 
 not a single atheist/' and the charm of the writings 
 of the great heathen authors, testified too strongly to 
 the unquestionable superiority of ancient genius to 
 be left intact. Temples were destroyed, images were 
 broken, the gods were proscribed 5 and the intellectual 
 level of society had sunk so low that no one rose to 
 protest against this destruction of monuments of art 
 and of Greek literature. The imagination reels at 
 the thought of these holocausts ofl*ered up on the altar 
 of the true God, the more so as it was not the out- 
 come of sudden violence, as when the Arabs invaded 
 Asia, but a methodical system not less f^itai in its re- 
 sults. A few elevated minds may have risen supe- 
 rior to pi'cjudice, and found the ])ractice of the new 
 creed not incompatible Avitli an adniiratictn for ^Eschy- 
 lus, Sophocles, Euri})ides, Xenophon, Aristotle, and 
 Plato ; but St. Jerome himself, though he did not 
 commit their writings to the flames, would not read 
 them. The work of destruction was completed by 
 
 9
 
 130 FLOEENCK 
 
 the official and infallible judgment of the Holy See, 
 for in the Council held at Carthage all prelates were 
 forbidden to read the heathen writers^ and from that 
 time aU intellectual relation betvreen Greeks and 
 Latins was at an end, tlie Greek tongue, in which so 
 many immortal works had been written, soon becom- 
 ing unintelligible. 
 
 The transfer of the Roman Empire to Constanti- 
 nople was followed by the Barbarian inyasion of Italy ; 
 but Greek literature found a temporary home at 
 Rayenna, on the shores of the Adriatic, the last 
 refuge of the poAyer of the Roman Emperors, from 
 Theodoric, King of the Goths, whose intellectual 
 qualities were for aboye those of his followers. 
 
 A few of the successors of St. Peter also extended 
 their patronage to Greek Hterature, and a hundred 
 years after Theodoric's day the Roman schools which 
 had been closed during tlie inyasion were reopened. 
 The Church, howeyer, still regarded the language and 
 literature of Greece as tending to heresy, and the 
 Latin tongue, which alone was taught, had become 
 too corrupted by Bar])arian idioms for the study of 
 its literature to be general. 
 
 While the West was thus relapsing into darkness, it 
 is interesting to see how far the East had preserved the 
 precious patrimony handed doAvn to it. 
 
 In the fourth century of our era the separation 
 took place, and Constantinople became the scene of 
 religious rpiarrels and heresies^ the Greeks imitating
 
 THE RENAISSANCE. 131 
 
 the conduct of Christian bishops, and destroying in 
 their turn the manuscripts of Menandcr, Diphikis, 
 Apollodorus, Philemon, Alexis, Sappho, Corinna, 
 Anacreon, Mimnermus, Bion, Alcman, and iUca^us, 
 in the interests of religion. There remained a few 
 historians of talent, commentators, geographers, and 
 doctors, but not a single poet of note, and the deca- 
 dence of literature followed close upon the political 
 collapse. 
 
 A similar scourge to that which brought about the 
 downfall of civilization in the West was about to com- 
 plete the Avork of destruction in Greece. In the 
 twelfth century the Arabs took possession of all the 
 Greek colonies in Asia and Africa, and their invasion 
 led gradually to the suppression of the Greek tongue, 
 the use of which was confined to Greece strictly so 
 called. 
 
 It Avas not, however, the Caliph Omar who burned 
 the library of the Ptolemys, for this had already been 
 done by the soldiers of Caesar, and the Serapeum, 
 which had escaped when Alexandria was captured by 
 the Roman general, was sacked by Theodosius. It 
 may even be argued that, setting aside the substitu- 
 tion of the Koran for the Bible, and the suppression 
 of the Greek tongue, the Arabs under Haroun-cl- 
 Raschid played a civiHzing part. But there was 
 worse to come; and when the Ottoman Turks, hav- 
 ing vanquished the Arabs in Asia, advanced upon 
 Europe and threatened even to dislodge the Greek
 
 132 FLOKENCE. 
 
 language from the islands in which it had found a last 
 refuge, it was Christianity which came to the rescue. 
 In order to atone for the destruction of the ancient 
 authors, it brought to the West the writings of the 
 Church Fathers, and Greek became the liturgical 
 tongue of the Eastern Church. AVhen the whole 
 territory had fallen beneath the yoke of the Mussid- 
 mans, the West became a refuge for those exiles, who 
 may tridy be called the real initiators of the Eenais- 
 sance. 
 
 Before the capture of Constantinople, which dis- 
 persed the last of the Greek savants, the Byzantine 
 emperors, threatened by the Turks, endeavored to 
 make friends in the Latin world, and to bring about 
 a conciliation of the Churches. In a Council held at 
 Vienna in 1311, anxious to create a bond of union 
 between the two Churches, the Bishops ordered that 
 Latin should be taught in a certain number of Italian 
 towns. Upon the other hand, the monks of the order 
 of St. Basilius, who were established in Calabria, em- 
 ployed Greek in their liturgy, and were much in- 
 terested in effecting the reconciliation of the Eastern 
 and Western Churches, while they were among the 
 most hearty promoters of the study of Greek. 
 
 The Calabrian monk, Bernardo Barlaam of Semi- 
 nara, who acted as teacher to Petrarch, had been one 
 of the intermediaries between the two Churches, and 
 this explains his presence at the Papal Court at Avig- 
 non. The lirst pubHc chair of Greek was founded
 
 THE 11E^^AISSA>'CE. 133 
 
 by his pnpll Pilate at Florence in 1360, at wliich 
 time, as we find from Petrarch's letters, there were 
 not ten people in Italy who could read Homer, even 
 in the Latin translation. 
 
 Soon after this ]\Ianuel Chrysoloras came to seek 
 the succor of Italy against the Turks, and was per- 
 suaded to occupy the chair left vacant by Pilate. He 
 lectured at jMilan, Paris, and Rome ; wrote a Greek 
 grammar ; and having found in Palla Strozzi (1372- 
 1462) a liberal patron, who would help him to pro- 
 pagate his ideas, got from Constantinople as many 
 Greek manuscripts as he could, and revealed to the 
 West the works of Plato and Plutarch, the politics 
 of Aristotle, and the geography of Ptolemy. 
 
 It was Florence that gave the first impulse to the 
 study of Greek by the creation of the chair occupied 
 by Pilate in 1360, and from that date the progress 
 was very rapid. Guarini of Verona succeeded Chrys- 
 oloras, and when Cosimo the Elder had driven Strozzi 
 into exile, he continued to encourage the study of 
 Greek. Leonardo Bruni Aretino, another pupil of 
 Chrysoloras, translated Aristotle's "Ethics," the "Dis- 
 courses" of jEschines, and the "First Punic War" 
 of Polybius, Avhile Kiccolo (1363-1437) created a new 
 science — that of philological criticism. The Floren- 
 tines were not content with possessing the mere texts, 
 but did their best to have them in their primitive ac- 
 curacy and to make the most out of them. Thus we 
 reach the zenith of the movement, brought about by
 
 134 FLORENCE. 
 
 the presence of the iHcany Greeks who came to attend 
 the Council at Florence^ and afterwards by the emi- 
 gration Avhich folloAved on the capture of Constanti- 
 nople by the Turks. George of Trebizond, Theo- 
 doras Gaza, Argyropulos, Gemistes Pletho, and 
 Aurispa (who himself brought back to Florence, from 
 his journey in the East, 232 Greek manuscripts), 
 preceded IVIarcilio Ficino and the Academy of Plato, 
 which held its meetings in the Careggi Gardens under 
 the presidency of Lorenzo the Magnificent and Poli- 
 tian. 
 
 Before showing how Florence carried all Italy Avith 
 her, and giving an idea of what the movement was 
 in Florence itself Avhen that city reached its apogee 
 under Lorenzo, we must cast a look backwards at 
 the parallel influences Avhich had their place in the 
 composition of Florentine genius. It is necessary to 
 mark also how the vulgar tongue was slowly evolved; 
 composed like a bouquet of flowers of the choicest 
 and most appropriate expressions from the various 
 dialects of Italy, and forming the new language in 
 which Dante, in the thirteenth century, wrote his 
 immortal poem. 
 
 The constitution of an exarchate at Eavenna, 
 which lasted until the eighth century, caused Byzan- 
 tine influences to predominate throughout Tuscany ; 
 and though it is difficult to say precisely how far they 
 prevailed in literature, Ave have the clearest evidence 
 of their existence in the plastic arts. In the baptis-
 
 THE KENAISSANCE. 135 
 
 tery of S<an Giovanni, one of the most ancient mon- 
 nmcnts of Florence, the ornamentation of the ceiling 
 Ls unmistakably Greek, reminding one of the mosaics 
 in the tomb of Galla Placidia at Ravenna and the 
 beautiful mosaics of San Vitale, where the Empress 
 Theodora, painted like a courtesan, and the Emperor 
 Justinian, are represented in the midst of an Oriental 
 Court, composed of eunuchs, Nubians, and Persians. 
 It was Cimabue, the first leader of the Florentine 
 school, who shook off the yoke of Byzantine influ- 
 ences, and brought the artists of his day back to the 
 study of nature. 
 
 In sculpture Niccolo Pisano and other natives of 
 Pisa led the way, though it is only just to add that 
 they took their inspiration from national art, and 
 learned much from the sarcophagi of Pisa, which had 
 been carved two centuries before the Christian era 
 by the Roman sculptors of whom Strabo wrote in 
 such eidogistic terms. 
 
 The art and the science of the Arabs, their un- 
 rivalled taste, and their thorough though limited work- 
 manship, also exercised an unquestionable influence 
 on the movement. Masters of Italy from the ninth 
 to the eleventh century, they could not fail to impress 
 something of their style and characteristics — their love 
 of color, their liking for rich materials and complex 
 decoration — upon those with whom they were in 
 constant communication at all the ports of the Medi- 
 terranean.
 
 136 FLOKENCE. 
 
 The Arabs were especially fond of richly chased 
 armor^ delicately Avrought jewels, brilliant enamels, 
 embossed leathers, and elaborately caparisoned horses ; 
 and, accustomed to camp life, they were wont, even 
 in times of peace, to trace the images of Avar; thus the 
 jousts and tournaments for which Italy became fa- 
 mous derived much of their splendor from the im- 
 itation, conscious or unconscious, of these Arab pag- 
 eants. 
 
 The House of Swabia, when it had claimed the 
 throne of the Eoman Caisars, never exercised more 
 than a nominal and intermittent authority over Italy, 
 and its genius differed so fundamentally from that of 
 the Tuscans that the traces which it left behind it 
 were very faint. Personal energy of character, how- 
 ever, has always had great influence in Italy, and the 
 remarkable cultivation of Frederick Barbarossa's de- 
 scendant, Frederick II., had a Avide-spreading effect. 
 His reign Avas the prologue of the Renaissance, and 
 he probably had something to do Avith the tendency 
 shoAvn by the Florentines to shake off all religious 
 influence in the Avork of civilization. He leaned to 
 the side of the Arabs rather than of the Eomans, and 
 this sufficed to raise an accusation of atheism against 
 him. He founded the University of Naples in 1224, 
 spoke Italian, French, Greek, and Arabic, Avas a poet 
 and a dandy, and AA-as so exempt from prejudice that 
 he admitted Arabs, hoAvever poor, to his Court if they 
 Avere distinguished in literature or science. His
 
 THE KENAISS ANCE. 137 
 
 secretary was a Mussulman, his doctor a Spanish 
 Jew, and his metaphysician an Enghshman, jMiehael 
 Scotus. The spirit of tolerance Avhich he displayed 
 is one of the distinctive marks of the Eenaissance, 
 and this was why the movement was held in suspic- 
 ion by a few extreme sectaries. 
 
 The Xormans, who had gained possession of j\Iagna 
 Grsecia, driving out the Byzantines and Saracens, 
 capturing Messina, Catania, and Palermo, and found- 
 ing dynasties in Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, siding 
 at one time with the Pope and at another Avith the 
 Emperor, were beyond doubt a valiant race ; but 
 they were less apt to receive than to impress upon 
 others any intellectual influence. The singular monu- 
 ments which they have left at Lucera, Canosa, and 
 Venosa do no more than attest to the reality of the con- 
 quests made by Roger, Robert Guiscard, the sons of 
 Tancred of Hauteville, and the heroes of " Jerusalem 
 Delivered," and it is evident, when one examines the 
 shape and character of these works of art, that those 
 who reared them Avere dominated by the influence of 
 what they had seen among the Arabs whom they had 
 been combating in the East. The Normans made 
 no attempt to alter the course of the civilization, 
 higher than their own, Avhich they found in these 
 provinces, and it must be said to their credit that 
 they left the holders of the soil in possession of their 
 legal rights, the two races living side by side in per- 
 fect peace ; so much so, that when they were sue-
 
 138 FLOEENCK 
 
 ceeded by Frederick II. the Arab civilization was 
 found intact. 
 
 The troubadours, driven from France bv the cru- 
 sade against the iUbigenses, also had some influence 
 upon the genius not only of Italy, but of Florence. 
 This is proved by the frequent imitations of their 
 works, and the language of Florence teemed with 
 expressions and idioms borrowed from the tongue of 
 Provence. 
 
 Three sovereigns of Southern Italy wrote poems 
 ill that tonguCj and the troubadours also inculcated 
 upon the Italians a chivalrous regard for the female 
 sex, and that predilection for fine-drawn arguments 
 which later degenerated into the Concetti. 
 
 These are the main influences and the various 
 causes which brought about the Renaissance, and 
 apart from them all the rest is due to the peculiar 
 genius of Florence, to the national temperament, and 
 to circumstances of race and politics. Much might 
 be said, too, of the gradual formation of the vulgar 
 tongue, and of its employment as the universal vehicle 
 of thought throughout Italy wdien it came to be used 
 by Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and the many other 
 great writers who preceded Machiavelli, Guicciardini, 
 and the learned men who discussed antiquity with 
 Cosimo and Lorenzo beneath the wide-spreading trees 
 of Careggi.
 
 ILLUSTKIOUS FLORENTINES. 139 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 
 
 I MUST now, turning aside from the Renaissance 
 movement, say something about the men who con- 
 tributed the most towards its development, not only 
 in Florence and throughout Tuscany, but at Rome as 
 well, whither many of them were summoned by the 
 popes in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
 
 I will only speak of those who Avere born in Flor- 
 ence itself, though to many who were natives of other 
 parts of Italy that city was a second home. Upon 
 the other hand, it will be seen that a native of Tus- 
 cany, Leonardo da Vinci, Avho takes rank Avitli Dante 
 and Michael Angclo, was almost a stranger in his own 
 country, which possesses none of his greatest works, 
 and he is even claimed as one of their own by another 
 school. The name of those men of genius, exclusive 
 of the artists, who gave Florence her unrivalled posi- 
 tion, is Legion, beginning with Dante and ending 
 with Galileo. The most illustrious Avere Petrarch, 
 Boccaccio, ^Lnrcilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, 
 Machiavelli, Brunelleschi, Politian, Alberti, Savona- 
 rola — that is to say, historians, poets, artists, and 
 philosophers — Avhile inferior to them in talent, but
 
 140 FLORENCE. 
 
 still worthy of mention as having taken part in the 
 great movement of the time, are Coluccio Salutati, 
 Passavanti, Giovanni Villani, Franco Sacchetti, Bon- 
 accorso Pitti, Poggio Bracciolini, Agnolo Pandolfini, 
 Traversari, Alamanni, Benivieni, Burchiello, Rinuc- 
 cini, Acciaiuoli, Panormita, Pulci, Cristoforo Landino, 
 Guicciardini, and the grand secretaries of the Repub- 
 lic, Leonardo Brmii and Carlo Marsuppini. I will 
 endeavor to describe the special characteristics and 
 individual part played by each one of these in the 
 mighty movement of his age. 
 
 The most illustrious thinkers and writers of the 
 fifteenth century remain, so to speak, unknown, so 
 far as their fleshly representation goes, for very few 
 portraits were painted in those days. The beautiful 
 but stern face of Dante was, however, handed down 
 to posterity by Giotto in a fresco unfortunately so 
 dimmed by age and blurred by an inartistic restora- 
 tion that the features are very indistinct. There is 
 a fresco of Pico della IMirandola as a child by Luini ; 
 and Alberti, who was the friend of many of the medal- 
 lionists, lives in the likeness of him by Matteo da 
 Pasti ; in another at Rimini, over the tomb of Sigis- 
 mund Malatesta ; and in two bronzes, one presented 
 to the Louvre Gallery by His de la Salle, and the 
 other in the Dreyfus Collection. 
 
 The great medallionists of the fifteenth century 
 have transmitted to us the features of Cosimo the 
 Elder^ Lorenzo, and of several other members of the
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 141 
 
 Medici family, and there are still extant some very 
 perfect busts by Benedetto da Majano^ Mino da Fie- 
 sole, Desiderio da Settignano, and Benvenuto Cellini. 
 But from contemporary art in the strict sense of the 
 term, from which one would prefer to have the por- 
 traits of all these cclcbritiesj there is bnt little to be 
 derived. The lifteenth century cannot, as I have 
 said, boast of any portrait painters except Piero 
 della Francesca and Pollaiolo ; though fifty years 
 afterwards, when the art of printing, recently dis- 
 covered, favored the spread of learning, a few artists 
 illustrated the biographies which were published. 
 The sixteenth century gives us a wider choice of 
 subjects, the Pitti and Uffizi Palaces containing 
 many pictures by contemporary masters, those by 
 Bronzino being almost entirely confined to the Medici 
 family ; while a careful search of the principal collec- 
 tions, museums, and libraries in Europe reveals like- 
 nesses of the most celebrated masters and artists of 
 the day. 
 
 DANTE. 
 (12G5-132L) 
 
 Dante, as is well known, died in exile, and the 
 monument afterwards erected to him by the people 
 of Florence in the Pantheon of Santa Croce does not 
 contain his bones j while the tomb at Ravenna in 
 which he is buried Avas only built after his death by a 
 Venetian, the proveditore of Ravenna, as an homage 
 to the greatest of Italian poets. Cacciaguida, whose
 
 142 FLOIlE^XE. 
 
 name is recorded in the history of Tuscany as hav- 
 ing taken part in the Crusade of 11-1:7, had a son 
 Alighieri, and he in 1265 became the father of the 
 future author of the '^ Divine Comedy." 
 
 An ancient custom prevailed in Florence of cele- 
 brating the coming of May every year — a subject 
 treated by many of the miniature painters of the 
 time, under the title of " Primavera." On May-day 
 the whole city kept holiday. The maidens, arrayed 
 in white and with the ^May blossoms in their hands, 
 formed long processions and danced on the sprouting 
 grass, the young men joining in the pastime ; and 
 while the first day of summer was dedicated to the 
 Virgin, the return of fine Aveather and the budding 
 of the flowers was celebrated after the ancient rites. 
 It was on a May-day that Alighieri took his son to 
 the house of a neighbor, Folco de Portinari, who had 
 invited all the children of his friends. Here it was 
 that he met Beatrice, then only nine years of age, 
 gay and beautiful in her childish fashion, and he re- 
 ceived her image into his heart with so much affec- 
 tion that it never again departed from him. Eigh- 
 teen years afterwards he wrote the '^ Vita Xuova," 
 and Beatrice had died in the flower of youth. FiJl 
 of melancholy, oppressed by persecution, and sur- 
 rounded by enemies, he collected his thoughts about 
 him to record the recollections of the beautifid vision 
 in which she appeared to him ^^ clothed in noble crim- 
 son," simple, candid, and gentle. He tells us how to
 
 House of Dante.
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 143 
 
 look at lier made a man pure and good^ and tliis 
 youthful passion shed its influence upon his whole 
 future life. 
 
 Dante lost his father in childhood. He studied under 
 the celebrated Brunetto Latini, the secretary of the 
 commune and the author of the ^' Tesoro '^ and the 
 ^* Tesoretto.'' At eighteen the poetic instinct awoke 
 in him^ and later he wrote that strange love-dream of 
 which Beatrice was the heroine. He related his 
 dream to several of the master-poets of the day, 
 some of them, such as Guide Cavalcanti and Cino da 
 Pistoia, replying to him in kindly and encouraging 
 terms, while one or two, including Dante da ^Majano, 
 treated him as moon-struck, and advised him to take 
 a dose of hellebore. 
 
 From 1283 to 1289 Dante wrote almost inces- 
 santly, conscious of his own powers, and having 
 already, we are told, conceived the plan of the work 
 which was to immortalize his name. But he Avas 
 oppressed by melancholy, often retiring into the con- 
 vent of the Benedictines, and meditating, to all ap- 
 pearance, the assumj)tion of holy orders. Political 
 disturbances, however, called him back to practical 
 life, and as this was a time when it was necessary for 
 a man to side Avith one or other of tlio contendinjr 
 factions, he enrolled himself beneath the banner of 
 the Guelphs, and in 1289 was present at the battle 
 of Campaldino and the victory of Arezzo. 
 
 Veri de Cerchi, the ca})tain of the Florentine horse,
 
 144 FLORENCE. 
 
 before the engagement became general^ decided that 
 twelve picked men should attack the enemy^ and as 
 those who took part in this attack were almost cer- 
 tain to fall^ he named first himself^ then his son^ and 
 then his two nephews, calling upon '"' those who love 
 their country to come forward and prove it by mak- 
 ing up the required number." A hundred and fifty 
 men volunteered, and among these Avas Dante. 
 
 Upon the 9th of June, 1290, Dante, then five-and- 
 twenty, received the tidings of the death of Beatrice. 
 The thought of her had sustained him in life ; she Avas 
 his pole-star and hope ; but though the blow was a 
 terrible one, he bore it in silence, only giving expres- 
 sion to it six months afterwards in the canzone, 
 ^' Anima mia che non ten' vai f " As his heart did 
 not, much to his surprise, cease to beat, he devoted 
 himself to the study of philosophy and theology, mak- 
 ing himself familiar with the Greek and Latin authors, 
 and for the next two years we know that he was en- 
 grossed in literary labors to the exclusion of politics. 
 In 1292 he married Gemma dei Donati, to whom — 
 though strangely enough her name is never once 
 mentioned in his poems — he became very much at- 
 tached. In the year of his marriage he renewed his 
 connection with public afiairs, was elected to the Gov- 
 ernment Council as Prior in 1300, sent in the follow- 
 ing year on an embassy to Boniface VIII., and be- 
 coming involved in one of those revolutions which 
 favored now Guelph and now GhibelHne, incurred, in
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLOKEXTIXES. 145 
 
 the year 1302, the penahy of exile. Now began his 
 nineteen years of wandering through Italy, staying 
 first with Bartolommeo della Scala at Verona, then at 
 Padua, and then at Castelnuovo, where he acted as 
 mediator between Malespina and the Bishop of Luni. 
 It was then that he tasted the bitter bread of exile, 
 as he says ; but he did not suffer in silence, and it was 
 at this period that he wrote the '^ Convito " and the 
 discourses knoAA^n as the " Volgare Eloquio." Broken- 
 hearted, and yearning with love for Florence, his un- 
 grateful country, he cannot reconcile himself to the 
 thought of living away from her, and with a ming- 
 ling of hope and despair he Aveeps and almost im- 
 plores that he may be allowed to return. 
 
 It seemed at one time as if his prayer Avould be 
 heard, and he hoped to hasten its fuliilment by dedi- 
 cating one of his Avorks to the Emperor Henry VII. 
 
 In January, 1311, Robert, King of Naples, Avas 
 proclaimed King of Italy, but the Guelph cities 
 refused to recognize him, and Tuscany and the 
 Ivomagna joined in a league against him. The Florcn- 
 tln(;s allied themselves Avith Lodi, Cremona, Brescia, 
 ]\Iilan, Pavia, and Piacenza, and it took the King six 
 months to establish his jiower. He captured Piacenza, 
 Cremona, Brescia, and Pavia, handing them over to 
 governors, avIio shoAved them no mercy, and thou 
 proceeded to subjugate Tuscany. It Avas at this 
 critical period that Florence opened her gates to 
 most of the exiles, but the exchislijn of the leaders 
 
 10
 
 146 FLOKEXCE. 
 
 dashed all Dante's hopes to the ground. He was 
 then at the Court of the Polentas at Ravenna^ Avith 
 Guide Novello, as we know by the date of a canzone 
 on the death of the Emperor Henry VII.^ dedicated 
 to Guido. 
 
 In 1314 he was at Lucca, as the guest of Uguccione 
 della Faggiuola, and it was there that he forgot his 
 ideal passion in the arms of a lady named Gentucca. 
 
 It was an ancient custom that on the festival of St. 
 John certain criminals should receive their pardon, 
 offering themselves to the saint, candle in hand, and 
 paying a fine. A strenuous attempt was made to 
 induce Dante to end his exile in this way, but to the 
 foolish priest who conducted the negotiation he made 
 the indignant reply : 
 
 '^ Is this hoAV I am to be recalled to my comitry 
 after three lustres of exile ! Is this to be the recom- 
 pense of my innocence ? Is this the reward of my 
 continued labor and study ? Far from a man familiar 
 Avith philosophy be such base cowardice! This is not 
 how an exile should come back. Another way might 
 surely be found which Avould not derogate from my 
 fame. But if by this way only can I enter Florence, 
 never again shall I see it. And what then ! Shall 
 I not still see the sun and the stars, and ponder the 
 sweet truth, without first giving myself in ignominy 
 to the Florentine people I Xo ; I would not do it if 
 I were starving." 
 
 When he made this answer he was at the Court of
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLOKEXTIXES. 147 
 
 Uguccione, driven from which he found an asyhim 
 with Can Grande della Scala at Verona. This was 
 tlie most celebrated Court in all Italy, and it was the 
 refuge of artists and poets from all parts, for whom 
 Can Grande had built a spacious convent, with shady 
 gardens and cool cloisters. Over the door of each room 
 Can Grande had painted some symbol characteristic 
 of the inmate — military trophies for the condottieri 
 and captains ; a palm-branch, symbolic of hope, for 
 the exiles ; an olive-branch for the monks ; and a 
 ^Mercury and Pallas for the artists. Dante was glad 
 to take his place among them, and, with Gherardo di 
 Castello, became one of the most honored guests of 
 Can Grande, but the latter's unprincely mode of jest- 
 ing causing an estrangement, the poet went to Ra- 
 venna and settled at the Court of Guido Novello, 
 close to the Franciscan convent now called Forte 
 Braccio, in a house belonging to the Signore da 
 Polenta. He had with him his sons Giacomo and 
 Pietro, and his daughter Beatrice. Guido Kovello 
 was a friend and comforter to him during this bitter 
 period of exile, when he knew that the last chance 
 of revisiting his country had gone. Everv dav he 
 repaired to the convent of St. Francis, and it is 
 almost certain that towards the close of his life he 
 enrolled himself among the brethren of that order. 
 In 1321 he died, full of honors, at Pavenna, and the 
 lord of Polenta pronounced his funeral oration and 
 decked his tomb with a wreath of laurel. The mon-
 
 148 FLORENCE. 
 
 iiment at Santa Croce is, as I have said, merely 
 ercted to his memory, his bones lying at Ravenna, in 
 a tomb which was built in 1483, by order of Bembo, 
 the father of the cardinal of that name, the architect 
 being Pietro Lombardi, one of the greatest of Vene- 
 tian artists. The small facade is of a later date, 
 having only been built in 1780, by the architect 
 Morigia of Ravenna, under the direction of the 
 Cardinal-Legate Valenti Gonzaga. To this cursory 
 biography of a man whose genius seems almost 
 superhuman, and whose name is linked with that 
 of Homer in the memory of man, may be added 
 a few lines on his works. I am fain to confess that 
 after one-and-twenty journeys in different parts of 
 Italy I am still not familiar enough with the language 
 to be a good judge of the sublime expressions and 
 the depths of beauty which characterize the " Divina 
 Commedia." Yet even through the imperfect inter- 
 pretations of the best translators one can grasp the 
 lofty conceptions and the alternations of fierce passion 
 and tenderness which run through its stanzas. 
 
 Dante discloses himself to us in three different 
 aspects. At first he sings of the morning of life; 
 and, stricken with gentle melancholy at the sight of 
 Beatrice, he utters his amorous lay in sonnets and 
 cantos. At her death his spirit soars much higher, 
 and then it was that he wrote his great book entitled 
 '^ Delia Monarchia," a learned treatise on constitu- 
 tions, in which, with an admixture of social and theo-
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 149 
 
 logical science, lie discoursed on tlie origin of power 
 and of society. The poet of the ^' Rime " and the 
 ^' Vita Nuova," which are the most graceful, youthful 
 emanations from the tenderest soul and the greatest 
 genius of modern times, disappeared in the austere 
 thinker trying to define the limit between the power 
 of the Emperor and that of the Pope. 
 
 Until Dante's time the Italian, or vulgar tongue, as 
 it was called, was only used by the Tuscans for busi- 
 ness communications, and by common people ; but 
 the poet, by his use of the popular idiom, proved that 
 the loftiest ideas and the noblest thoughts could find 
 expression in it as well as in Latin. This was the 
 language in whicli he wrote the ^^Convito'^ as well 
 as the '^ Yolgari Eloquio." Sent as ambassador to 
 Rome, the Papal Court left an indelible impression 
 upon his mind, and it was at Rome that he wrote the 
 first stanzas of the " Divina Commedia,'' the recollec- 
 tions of his early youth brinjiinc; back the life-blood 
 to his heart, and evoking the radiant image of his 
 Beatrice. 
 
 While not attempting to bring into relief the infinite 
 depth and tenderness of this great work, I Avould 
 fain point out the methodical manner in which it is 
 written. Thus, all the characters are taken from 
 real life, though Dante intends them to be allegorical, 
 and the events in Avhich they take part express the 
 ideas by whicli they are actuated. The work is 
 divided into three parts — Hell, Purgatory, Paradise —
 
 150 FLORENCE. 
 
 each containing a mystical teaching, the purport of 
 which is explained by the poet himself in the letter 
 which he wrote to Can Grande della Scala^ dedicating 
 the work to him out of gratitude for his hospitality. 
 
 Upwards of three thousand commentators, begin- 
 ning with Boccaccio, Jacopo della Lena, and Grande- 
 nigo, have endeavored, with more or less success, to 
 expound the meaning of the poem ; but the most 
 trustworthy exposition is that of his son Jacopo, Avho 
 may be supposed to have known more about his 
 father's views than any one else. The best likeness 
 of him whom Guido da Polenta styles the " altissimo 
 poeta " is probably that in the dim frescoes of the 
 
 Bargello. 
 
 GIOVANNI VILLANI. 
 
 (1270-1348.) 
 
 The history of Florence may be said to have com- 
 menced with two Avriters, Dino Compagni and Gio- 
 vanni Villani, both born in the second half of the 
 thirteenth century. 
 
 Yillani was a merchant by profession, and, like 
 Dante and so many others, he went to Rome in the 
 year 1300, at the time of the indulgence Avhich had 
 been decreed by Boniface VIII. He was so im- 
 pressed by what he saw that he determined to Avrite 
 a book about his native city, and in the preface he 
 says that ^^ the city of Florence, the daughter and 
 handmaid of Rome, being destined for great fame, it 
 is meet to set forth all that relates to her origin, and
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLOREXTIXES. 151 
 
 thus, by the grace of Jesus Christ, in tliis year 1300, 
 I, safely returned from Rome, did begin to compile 
 this book in the fear of God, and of the blessed John, 
 my patron (saint). ^' 
 
 Viilani was the director of the mint (La Zecca) at 
 Florence, and he had three times been a member of 
 the Signoria, and five times ambassador to different 
 states. He had occupied all kinds of posts, having 
 had the superintendence of the erection of the ram- 
 j)arts of Florence, and having been selected to nego- 
 tiate peace between Florence and Pisa, and after- 
 wards between Lucca and his native city ; while, 
 Avhen fighting against the famous Castruccio, he Avas 
 made prisoner and detained as a hostage by Martino 
 della Scala. He was a partisan of the Guelphs and 
 a devoted son of the Church, though at the same time 
 an advocate for communal rights; but he was less suc- 
 cessful as a banker-merchant, his house, like those of 
 the Acciaiuoli, the Bonaccorsi, the Cocchi, and the 
 Corsini, having been involved in the disasters caused 
 by the failures of the Peruzzi and the Bardi. He 
 was completely ruined, and, in accordance with the 
 corporation laws then in force, underwent a long term 
 of imprisonment at Florence. 
 
 His chronicles throw no little light upon the eco- 
 nomic side of Florence during the fourteenth centurv, 
 and he may be described as the first of the political 
 economists, one passage in his works telling us of his 
 wish ^* to let posterity have some conception of the
 
 152 FLOKENCE. 
 
 wealth of tlie community, and of the causes which 
 led up to it, so that in future men of knowledge may 
 be able to increase the prosperity of Florence." He 
 died of the plague in 1348, and his brother Matteo, 
 an economist like himself, went on with his history.* 
 
 PASSAVANTI. 
 
 (1297-1357.) 
 
 " Specchio della Vera Penitenza " (^' Mirror of the 
 True Penitence") — such is the singular title of Jacopo 
 Passavanti's Avork, which became, from a philological 
 point of view, one of the most remarkable exemplars 
 of the Italian language. It has nothing to recom- 
 mend it in the way of imagination, for it is little more 
 than a compilation from the Fathers of the Church, 
 but it was no small achievement, in the hrst part of 
 the fourteenth century, to express in the scarcely 
 formed vulgar tongue the various shades of thought 
 in a style at once pure, elegant, and graceful. These 
 are the saving qualities of Passavanti's work. 
 
 He was of a noble Florentine family, and at the 
 age of twenty joined the Dominican order at Santa 
 Maria Novella, and soon gained a celebrity for learn- 
 ing and virtue. So high were the hopes entertained 
 of him that the fathers sent him, in accordance with 
 
 * Matteo also died of the plague in the year 1363, and the his- 
 tory was continued by his son Filippo, the precise date of whose 
 death is not known.
 
 The Great Cloister, Church of S. Maria Novella, 
 
 Fra Gicyvanni da Carpi.
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTIXES. 153 
 
 tlic custom of the day, to complete liis stiulles at the 
 University of Paris ; Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarcli 
 hcinf^ among the foreign celebrities ^vho sr)journed 
 there. Passavanti, on his return from Paris, taught 
 tlieology at Pisa, Siena, and Pome, and after attain- 
 ing to the highest dignities in his order, and becom- 
 ing in succession Vicar-General of Florence and 
 Bishop of Monte Cassino, he died on the 15th of 
 June, 1357. 
 
 He -was best knoAvn to the Florentines as Prior of 
 Santa Maria Kovella, and he it was who commissioned 
 ]\Icmmi and Gaddi to paint the famous frescoes in the 
 church of that monastery where his bones are laid. 
 An interesting quotation, as showing the place which 
 Passavanti's ^' Specchio " occupied in the literary his- 
 tory of the sixteenth century, is extracted from the 
 writings of the critics who were called in 1573 '41ie 
 deputies for the revision of Boccaccio's ^Decameron.''' 
 These remarks are as follow : ^' There was a certain 
 Jacopo, a brother of Santa Maria Novella, about ten 
 years Boccaccio's junior, who, in 1351, that is, about 
 the same time as the ' Decameron,' published a trea- 
 tise on 'Penitence' in the Latin tongue, which treatise 
 he translated himself, and partly recomposed, into the 
 vulgar tongue. His manner is very similar to that 
 of Boccaccio ; and though he does not seem to nuike 
 any attempt to be playful or amusing, the style is not 
 devoid of delicacy. The language, too, is, for the 
 time, pure, appropriate, sedate, and ornate, without
 
 154 FLOKEXCE. 
 
 being pretentious, and the work is unquestionably 
 calculated to charm those who read it." 
 
 Passavanti, like so many other authors, is no longer 
 read ; but it is astonishing to find how many of his 
 ideas have been appropriated by the most eminent 
 writers, and his ^' Specchio " is more amusing, in the 
 ordinary sense of the word, than the title would lead 
 one to infer. Most of the anecdotes with which it 
 abounds refer to events in Paris, and there is much 
 good-humor about the worthy monk, who urges upon 
 his readers an introspective examination of their con- 
 sciences. 
 
 PETEAKCPI. 
 (1304-1374.) 
 
 Yaucluse, to use Petrarch's own expression, is the 
 " Transalpine Parnassus " of the poet ; and the recol- 
 lection of him is still as vivid in the ancient ^^ county" 
 of Avignon as in his native Tuscany. He was born 
 at Arezzo, which, small as it is, has given birth to so 
 many men of genius, on the 20tli of July, 1304, and 
 he came into the world at a time Avhen his country 
 was torn by faction, and when several of her most 
 illustrious children were in exile. His father, who 
 held the appointment of Notary in the Florentine 
 Rolls Court, was a friend of Dante, and, proscribed 
 like the latter, took refuge at Pisa, where he sent his 
 son to study at the University. The death of Henry 
 VII., which put an end to the last hopes of the exiles 
 and inspired Dante with so splendid a canzone^ led to
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLOREXTIXES. 155 
 
 the final exile of Petrarch's father, who took up his 
 residence at Avignon with the Papal Court of Clem- 
 ent V. 
 
 While the University of ]\[ontpcllIer was already 
 celebrated, the south could boast at that time of those 
 Courts of Love at which the Provenyal poets met in 
 friendly rivalry. Petrarch's father looked upon the 
 study of law as the surest road to fortune for his son, 
 and it is said that finding him on one occasion ab- 
 sorbed in Cicero, he took the book and cast it into the 
 fire. Those who are predestined to be fiimous in let- 
 ters are not, however, to be thus deterred, and Pe- 
 trarch drank so deeply of the ancient writers that in 
 his '' Triumph of Fame " he calls Virgil, Cicero, and 
 Seneca '' the eyes of our language " (questi son gli 
 ocelli do la lingua nostra). 
 
 A brief sketch of his life will not come amiss be- 
 fore explaining by what strands he is connected with 
 the genius of Florence, and fixing his place in the 
 history of her literature : below Dante and above 
 Boccaccio. His father, adhering to his resolve to 
 make a lawyer of him, sent him from Montpellier, 
 where he had spent four years, to the University of 
 Bologna ; here he studied first under Giacomo Andrea, 
 and then under Cino da Pistoia. He was left an 
 orplian at twenty, and his fortune having been 
 squandered by his executors, he was obliged to re- 
 turn to Avignon, where he then gave himself up to 
 his favorite studies.
 
 156 FLOKENCE. 
 
 He was twenty-three when he made the acquamt- 
 ance of Colonna, Bishop of Lombez, whose affection 
 for him exercised a very great influence upon the 
 whole of his future career ; and it is at this period, 
 too, that began to dawn the passion Avhich directed 
 the course of his whole life, and inspired him with 
 the sonnets by which he is known to us. Petrarch 
 remains for posterity ^' the lover of Laura," and the 
 fountain of Vaucluse has become the shrine of this 
 affection, not less touching and ill-starred than that 
 inspired by Beatrice, but more real and more vivid. 
 It was under the influence of this stormy passion that 
 Petrarch made his way through the south of France to 
 Paris, Flanders, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, 
 exhaling in all directions his amorous burden, like a 
 bird stricken by a dart ; and scattering his verses by 
 the wayside. 
 
 Petrarch, however, was a citizen of the world, 
 and he was of too practical a turn of mind to isolate 
 himself in the ethereal Platonism which animates 
 some of his writings. Pope John XXII. was intent 
 Tipon restoring Rome to the Holy Sec, and Petrarch, 
 inflamed by the idea of a fresh crusade, wrote the 
 ode to the Bishop of Lombez which begins with the 
 splendid invocation, "■ O aspettata in ciel," and in 
 1335 he wrote some magnificent Latin verses on the 
 same subject to Pope Benedict XII. 
 
 But the image of Laura still haunted him, and he 
 could not bring himself to settle anywhere. Colonna,
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 157 
 
 having Lecomc a cardinal, induced liim to come to 
 Itonie, but lie soon returned to Avignon, and went to 
 reside in solitude at Vaucluse, leading a life of ascet- 
 icism, and devoting lilmsiJf wholly to the ideal figure 
 of her upon whom all his thoughts were fixed. It 
 was there that he wrote tliose sonnets and odes, whicli 
 soon made him famous throughout Italy, and worthy 
 to be compared with Dante himself. 
 
 In 1340 his name had become so celebrated that 
 the lioman Senate invited him to return to that city 
 and receive the honors of the Capitol, while the 
 Chancellor of the University of Paris, Avhich at that 
 time enjoyed a world-wide celebrity, off*ered him sim- 
 ilar honors on the banks of the Seine. 
 
 Petrarch repaired to Italy, first visiting Xaples, 
 where Eobert of Anjou, a friend of literature, was 
 surrounded by a Court composed of poets and men 
 of learning. It was at Naples that he became inti- 
 mate with Boccaccio, to whom he addressed such 
 touching letters instinct with friendliness. Upon the 
 8th of April, 1341, he went up to the Capitol, twelve 
 young Poman princes preceding him and reciting 
 some of his finest compositions. Having reached the 
 altar, he received the laurel wreath and the garlands 
 of flowers woven by patrician hands. When he had 
 received them, he laid them Avith reverence upon the 
 altar, as much as to intimate that he owed his success 
 to Divine favor, and after the ceremony was over he 
 returned to Avignon, without casting one look behind.
 
 158 FLORENCE. 
 
 The year following, as the Romans had commis- 
 sioned him to make kno^yn their wishes to the Holy 
 Father, Clement VI. appointed him Prior of Miglia- 
 rino, in the diocese of Pisa, and he intrusted him with 
 a mission 'at once confidential and perilous, to Naples, 
 where the Holy Father claimed the regency. But 
 the Princess Joan, a granddaughter of King Robert, 
 who has left behind her a yery bad reputation, would 
 not listen to his representations, and he returned to 
 Avignon, after a brief stay at Parma. He was, in 
 his retreat, still accessible to the influence of generous 
 ideas, and when Rienzi endeavored to restore the re- 
 public at Rome, Petrarch sent him his congratula- 
 tions, and did not allow even the assassination of Cardi- 
 nal Colonna to estrange him. But the phantom of a 
 restored republic faded away with the death of Ri- 
 enzi • and it was just about the same time that Laura 
 was stricken down by the plague of 1348, which 
 Boccaccio has depicted in such sinister colors. 
 
 The death of Laura, which inspired his most ten- 
 der sonnets and filled him Avith such lasting sorrow, 
 could not occupy his whole heart, and his duties as a 
 man and a citizen were not forgotten. After a short 
 visit to Louis Gonzaga at Mantua, in the country of 
 his beloved Virgil, he wrote a letter to Charles IV., 
 entreating him to restore peace to Florence : and in 
 1350 he Avas enabled to return there, spending some 
 time with Boccaccio, and visiting his native Arezzo, 
 where he had become a stranger. The plague drove
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 159 
 
 him from Florence, and in company with Boccaccio 
 he visited Venice. As one by one his friends died 
 and left hini more solitary, his life became more 
 austere and laborious. At Ferrara, Avhere he went 
 to see the Prince, he fell ill, and on getting better he 
 took up his residence at j\[ilan, Avhere he passed the 
 next nine years as the guest of the Visconti. In 
 1362 he settled at Padua, and in 1369 retired to the 
 little village of Arqua, where on the 18th of July, 
 1374, he was found seated in his library with his 
 forehead resting on a book. Death had overtaken 
 him in this attitude of study so typical of his whole 
 life. He was buried with great pomp, Francesco de 
 Carrara acting as chief mourner, while all the nobility 
 followed his coffin. He is buried in front of the door 
 of the church at Arqua, and by his will he bequeathed 
 all his valuable MS8. to the Repubhc of Venice, and 
 left a small sum to his friend Boccaccio. Petrarch 
 derived much of his inspiration from Dante, and there 
 is a very great resemblance between the " Pime " of 
 the former and the miscellaneous pieces from the hit- 
 ter's ^^Convito." In Petrarch's case his finest inspira- 
 tions, those which go straight to the heart and keep 
 the writer's name alive in future ages, are dictated by 
 his passion for Laura, and he derived from his studv 
 of the ancient authors a clearness of stvle and a 
 limpidity of thought Avhich were in favorable con- 
 trast with the mysticism and obscure allegories of 
 Dante. He assimilated the language, and was, in
 
 160 FLOEE^XE. 
 
 spite of a few solecisms, a faultless Latin writer, hav- 
 ing the fluency of Cicero, and writing prose like a 
 poet — with a wealth, that is to say, of imagery. He 
 Avas so well endowed, too, with the art of imitation 
 that his writings may easily be mistaken for those of 
 the poets at the end of the Empire, and in some in- 
 stances he goes so far as to copy the very ground- 
 work and method of certain Roman writers. His 
 '"'' Consolations ^' take one back entirely to antiquity, 
 and in bidding a friend bear up under adversity he 
 calls to his aid all the examples furnished by Roman 
 history. He was richly endowed, no doubt, in imag- 
 ination, but having been intimately mixed up in the 
 practical affairs of his day, he has derived all his illus- 
 trations from contemporary life, or from facts testified 
 to in the works of ancient authors. 
 
 Petrarch, in his wanderings, saAv France during 
 the fourteenth century in the hands of the enemy. 
 He resided at Avignon, Montpellier, Bologna, Paris, 
 Cologne, Xaples, Genoa, Rome, Parma, Florence, 
 Venice, Padua, Milan, and Prague. He was the 
 friend of kings, the guest and correspondent of popes, 
 and the pensioner of great nobles. He took part in 
 various political combinations, and his reveries ex- 
 tended over many fields. He was more a man of 
 letters than a devotee ; and though a canon, a bishop, 
 and a prior, he held such broad views on religion 
 that he was the friend of Boccaccio, whom he gently 
 chided, however, for the tone of his writings, exhort-
 
 ILLUSTKIOUS FLORENTINES. 161 
 
 iiig liim to be more guarded in his expressions. 
 When he Avrote on religious subjects he, like Marcilio 
 Ficino at a later date, referred for his facts to the 
 philosophers and rhetoricians, and quoted Cicero and 
 Seneca in preference to Holy Writ. He was impelled 
 by a longing for solitude to reside at Vaucluse and 
 Arqua ; but withal he was a man, and was moved by 
 human ambition, and though he bore his triumplis 
 wdth modesty, he was none the less eager in his pur- 
 suit of them. He Avas, in fact, more of a sage than 
 a saint. He was endowed with a certain breadth of 
 mind which prevented him from being held in bond- 
 age by the dreamy views of his age, and which kept 
 him free from the errors of astrology and the preju- 
 dices of the time. He had no mission as a poHtical 
 partisan like Dante, having broader views and being 
 less of a sectarian than the latter, and this enabled 
 him to look down upon the human mclce from the 
 observatorv to which he had ascended, and to Avatcli 
 the varying phases of the combat with disinterested 
 eyes. At Avhat he deemed the appropriate hour he 
 wrote letters in behalf of justice to pontiffs and to 
 emperors, speaking freely and impartially to the 
 rulers, spiritual and temporal. 
 
 Eager for knowledge and study, he grieved that 
 he could not read Homer in the Greek text, writing 
 to Sygeros, ^' Your Homer lies dumb by my side ; I 
 am deaf to his voice, but still the sight of him rejoices 
 me, and I often embrace him." 
 
 11
 
 162 FLOKENCE. 
 
 It has been asked whether the Laura who held so 
 large a place in the life of the poet was a fiction or a 
 living reality. She has been identified by some with 
 Laura de Xoves^ daughter of Audibert de Noves, and 
 she was already married when Petrarch saw her for 
 the first time in the church of St. Claire at Avignon. 
 He fell in love with her at first sight^ and for twenty 
 years preserved this passion in his heart as a fruitful 
 source of inspiration. He loved her as one loves at 
 twenty — with enthusiasm, candor, and chastity. He 
 was three-and-twenty the day he first met her, and 
 he had already assumed the priestly garb. As time 
 went on his passion became more ardent, but she 
 gave him no encouragement, and after an absence 
 he returned to Avignon only to experience the same 
 disappointment. Laura died of the plague in 1348, 
 and he bewailed her loss in verses which are more 
 profound, passionate, and truly beautiful than those 
 in which he extols " her serene eyes, her beautiful 
 angelic mouth, full of pearls, roses, and gentle words." 
 Some of the early ^^ Rime " are rather mincing, but 
 there is the accent of deep sorrow in the " Sonnets,'^ 
 notably in the splendid lines : 
 
 " Morta colei die mi facea parlare 
 E die si stava de' pensier mie' in dma." 
 
 In his despair he determined to abandon the world, 
 and he wrote upon the fly-leaf of his Virgil tlie oath 
 to fly from Babylon and to cut himself adrift from
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 163 
 
 all worldly ties. But, as M. Gliebart remarks in his 
 " Origines de la Renaissance/' " gifted writers like 
 Petrarch do well not to deprive the world of tlieir 
 eloquence, their irony, their sagacity, and the reso- 
 nant echo of their genius.'' 
 
 ACCIAIUOLI (NICCOLO). 
 
 (1310-1365.) 
 
 The name of this family, though it was not in- 
 digenous to Tuscany, is a very common one at Flor- 
 ence. One branch of it settled in that city during 
 the fourteenth century, and on the 12th of September, 
 1310, Niccolo, who was destined to be the glory of 
 his house, was born there. 
 
 His principal held of action was Xaples, Avhither 
 he had gone as tutor to the young Prince Louis of 
 Tarentum, son of Catherine of Valois, the widow of 
 Philip, Prince of Tarentum. 
 
 Faithful to his employers, he shared the vicissi- 
 tudes of the Court of Naples during the time of Queen 
 Joan L, whom he accompanied to Avignon, and wlien 
 Ijouis of Tarentum espoused her, Acciaiuoli had them 
 crowned at Naples, and was appointed by the Queen 
 Great Seneschal of the kingdom, this being the high- 
 est dignity to which he could aspire. 
 
 Driven from her Court l)y the King of Ilungarv, 
 wandering from place to place, and ever in danger 
 of some fresh disaster, the Queen was saved by 
 Niccolo, who presented himself to the Florentines,
 
 164 FLOREXCE. 
 
 and implored their help for the granddaughter of 
 King Robert of Naples, who had been their faithful 
 ally. 
 
 Endowed with great energy and matehless dex- 
 terity, he raised an army and coped with the condot- 
 tieri, who thought they had an easy prey. But the 
 resources of the Court were exhausted, and the army, 
 being kept waiting for its pay, went over to the 
 enemy. Acciaiuoli died in 1365, and his biography 
 was written by Matteo Palmieri, the Apostolic Secre- 
 tary. 
 
 BOCCACCIO. 
 (1313-1375.) 
 
 Boccaccio may be regarded as the first classical 
 prose writer of Italy, and to him belongs also the dis- 
 tinction of fully revealing to the Tuscan people by 
 his commentaries the genius of Dante. 
 
 I do not knoAV upon what ground Dandolo, the 
 author of the ^^ ^-Esthetic Guide to Florence," makes 
 his statement as to Paris having been the birthplace 
 of Boccaccio, for the generally accepted belief is that 
 he was born, as asserted in the Osservatore Fiorentino^ 
 at Certaldo in 1313.* His father was a merchant, 
 and it was against his wishes that his son embarked 
 upon a hterary career. Very well read in the ancient 
 authors, he gave his preference to the vulgar tongue, 
 and the first Italian author Avhom he read, and whose 
 
 * In "II Filocopo,'' Boccaccio writing of himself in the char- 
 acter of Caleone, mentions Paris as his birthplace.
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLOREXTIXES. 165 
 
 works he soon got to know by heart, was Dante. 
 From him he derived his highest and best inspira- 
 tions, inchiding the substance of the eloquent speech 
 which he delivered under the Duomo on the day that 
 he vented his malediction on Florence for having 
 closed her gates upon the most illustrious of her sons. 
 The speech is still extant, and well deserves the 
 reputation which it gained at the time. 
 
 lie happened to be at Naples at the time when 
 King Robert was receiving Petrarch with so much 
 pomp. He made the poet's acquaintance, and learnt 
 to admire and respect him, retaining until the day 
 of his death a filial regard for him. Boccaccio, in 
 his early days, was a thorough gallant, and having 
 fallen in love with the daughter of the King of Xaples, 
 he gave utterance to his passion in one of his great- 
 est works, ^^La Fiammetta,'^ on the title-page of 
 which he inscribed her name. He made but a brief 
 stay at Florence, whither he was summoned by his 
 fitlier during the reign of the mad Duke cf Athens, 
 returning at once to Naples, Avhere he enjoyed the 
 fivor of two queens, or of two daughters of queens, 
 whose literary tastes were very highly developed. 
 The death of his father brought him back to Tuscany, 
 and he made Florence his permanent residence. It 
 was there that he received Petrarch on his Avay to 
 the jubilee at Rome after a separation of twenty 
 years, and he set himself to recover for the exiled 
 poet his rights of citizenship and his paternal inherit-
 
 166 FLORENCE. 
 
 ance, which had been confiscated when his father, 
 like Dante, was driven into exile. Boccaccio suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining from the Signoria a decree restor- 
 ing this property to Petrarch. 
 
 There are two distinct individualities in Boccaccio, 
 and yet Frenchmen and many other foreigners per- 
 sist in estimating his character by the first part of 
 his life only, associating his name with all that is 
 sensuous and light. This may hold true of him while 
 he was at the Court of Naples, and while he was com- 
 posing amorous poetry in honor of his royal patroness; 
 but after the year 1360 he devoted himself to more 
 serious study, and followed in the wake of Accursi, 
 the great jurisconsult, seeking the companionship of 
 the learned Greek philosophers from Byzantium who 
 flocked to Florence, and even assuming the priestly 
 garb. This conversion was mainly the work of Pe- 
 trarch and of a Carthusian monk, and he might pos- 
 sibly have renounced writing altogether if it had not 
 been for a remarkable letter in which Petrarch dis- 
 suaded him from giving up the composition of poetry, 
 and urged him to use his pen to instil admiration for 
 the beautiful, useful, and good. 
 
 It is certain, at all events, that he led a contem- 
 plative life during the last few years of his existence, 
 devoting his whole thoughts to God, to the salvation 
 of his own soul, and to his books. The death of 
 Petrarch in 1374 affected him so deeply that he de- 
 clared that he slioidd not long survive him ; and, as
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTIXKS. 167 
 
 a matter of fact, lie died the following year. The 
 Avill of this once brilliant courtier was a model of 
 liiunhleness. He bequeathed to Bruna, the daughter 
 of his friend Ciango do Montemagno, " a wooden 
 bedstead, a feather-bed, a pair of good sheets, a small 
 taljle upon which he was wont to take his meals, two 
 table-cloths, two towels, and his monk's robe lined 
 with purple." He bequeathed two holy images to 
 the church of San Giacomo at Certaldo, where he 
 died, and all his manuscripts to Martino da Signa, on 
 condition that he allowed any one to take a copy of 
 them. This comprised the whole fortune of the 
 whilom favorite of the Court of Xaples. 
 
 His tomb is not at Santa Croce, where one would 
 expect to find it, between those of Dante and Machia- 
 velli, but at Certaldo, where he had spent the last 
 two years of his life. It has suffered many vicissi- 
 tudes, too, having first been moved to make room for 
 the organ, while in 1783, owing to a mistaken inter- 
 pretation of the Grand Duke Leopold's decree as to 
 burials inside of churches, the bones of the illustrious 
 writer were removed from the coffin and deposited 
 elsewhere. Filippo Villani has left a description of 
 him which tallies very closely with the bust at Cer- 
 taldo, and which, as we have every reason to believe, 
 is correct. According to this description, the lips 
 were half-parted Avith a smile ; he was stout, and had 
 a fresh complexion. The nose Avas rather flat, and 
 though he had no pretensions to manly beauty, there
 
 168 FLOEENCE. 
 
 was an air of good-liiimor upon his pleasant face. *It 
 is the likeness, in short, of the poet of the '' De- 
 cameron " rather than of the philosopher of later 
 years which the artist has left to us. 
 
 But a better insight into the character of a man is 
 to be gained from the private correspondence in which 
 he gives free expression to his thoughts ; and Avhen 
 Francis, the son-in-law of Petrarch, announced to 
 Boccaccio the latter's death, he wrote him a letter in 
 Latin which shows how accessible his heart Avas to 
 pity and veneration, and how deeply he was affected 
 by his friend's death. 
 
 ^^ My first impulse," he says, " was to come and 
 weep with you over our mutual loss, and say a last 
 farewell to our mutual father, but for the ten years 
 that I have been lecturing in public upon Dante's 
 ^ Commedia ' I have been afflicted with an infirmity 
 which, though not dangerous, to a great extent par- 
 alyzes my movements. When I received your letter 
 I wept all the night long, not out of sorrow for this 
 worthy man (for the virtues with which he Avas en- 
 dowed are a sure guarantee that he has entered into 
 eternal happiness with his God), but because his 
 death leaves me like a ship at sea without a pilot. 
 Amid the agitation of my soul I thought of your 
 anguish and of that of the worthy Tullia, your wife 
 and my sister. As a Florentine I envy Arqua, Avhich, 
 hitherto obscure, will now become famous in the world's 
 history. The traveller, as he sails along the Adriatic
 
 ILLUSTEIOUS FLOKENTINES. 169 
 
 on Lis way from the distant East, will look towards 
 the Eiigancan hills, and will say to his companions, 
 ^It is at the foot of those hills that rests Petrarch!' 
 Oh, unhappy country, which will not hold the ashes 
 of so illustrious a son ! Thou hast not deserved 
 this good fortune, for during his lifetime thou didst 
 nothing to attach him to thee. Perhaps thou wouldst 
 have done so had he been a Avorker of treason, and 
 sullied with crime, or devoured by ambition and 
 envy.'' A constant study of these favored epochs 
 of literature may possibly make one feel all the more 
 distaste for the foolish politics of the hour, and cause 
 one to undervalue one's own epoch ; but certain it is 
 that the mind dwells fondly upon the names of such 
 men as Dante, Boccaccio, Michael Angelo, and Dona- 
 tello, who were as lofty in character as in genius, and 
 the nobility of whose disposition pulsates through 
 their writings. 
 
 Boccaccio was the first writer of romance, prop- 
 erly so called ; the ^^ story " and the poem in octavo 
 in the vulgar tongue being his creation. To him we 
 owe ^^Ameto," "B Filostrato,'' "L'Amorosa vizione," 
 and ^' B Ninfale fiesolano," poetic compositions of his 
 youth, which have often been copied since, and which 
 have served as types of a school. Of these the 
 *' Fiammetta,'' written in 1344, is regarded as his 
 greatest work, while his ^' Life of Dante " was the 
 first biography of the poet of the ^' Divina Connne- 
 dia." He also wrote ^' The Genealogy of the Gods,"
 
 170 FLORE^XE. 
 
 ^^Illustrious Women," and ^'Illustrious Unfortunates/' 
 as well as a treatise upon mountains, forests, and 
 rivers. If we consider the period at which this was 
 Avritten, we see how much he was ahead of his age as 
 regards mythology, geography, literature, and phi- 
 lology. He was far advanced in years and near his 
 end when he began the commentaries on Dante and 
 the '^ Divina Commedia," and was accorded the priv- 
 ilege of occupying the pulpit of Santa Maria del 
 Fiore, the people of Florence flocking to the church 
 in crowds to hear the eloquent revelation of the 
 beauties of a work which, notwithstanding the com- 
 mentaries of Dante's own son, still remained obscure 
 for the multitude. 
 
 It was upon one of these memorable occasions that 
 he so fiercely stigmatized the crimes of the preceding 
 generations of Florentines, making the vaulted roof 
 of the Duomo ring with his indignant tirade : '^ Oh, 
 Florence ! what madness impelled you to drive out 
 the most glorious of your children, one the like of 
 whom no other city could ever hope to possess. 
 What greater victories, and triumphs, and supremacy 
 can you boast of? Your riches are uncertain, your 
 beauty fragile and fleeting, your elegancies idle and 
 frivolous ; it is only those people, who judge more of 
 appearance than reality, who can regard them as be- 
 ing glorious. Do you set great store by your mer- 
 chants and your goldsmiths, by the ancient lineage 
 and the celebrity of your great families ? Unnatural
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 171 
 
 mother that you arc, open your eyes and behold your 
 misdeeds, and may remorse and repentance lay hold 
 on you ! Your Dante, your son, died in exile, and it 
 was you who sent him into banishment. His remains 
 rest in foreign ground, and you Avill never see him 
 before the last day. He treated you with fiHal re- 
 spect, for he might have deprived you of his works, 
 as you did not treat him with due honor. Yet^ in 
 return for his inspired writings, you deprived him of 
 liis right of citizenship. He was banished forever, 
 and yet he remained a Florentine, preferring his na- 
 tive place to all the cities of Italy. Ask that his 
 bones may be surrendered to you ; pay this last mark 
 of respect to his mighty shade, and even if you do 
 not feel any remorse, take this step in order that the 
 burden of reproach may be less heavy upon you. 
 Ask that his ashes may be restored to you ; and 
 though I am certain that you Avill be refused, vou 
 Avill at least have shown that you are not altogether a 
 stranger to feelings of pity. But it is perhaps a vain 
 hope which I hold out to you, for the dead can neither 
 feel nor understand. Dante Avill not emerge from his 
 last resting-place at Ravenna, from that necropolis in 
 Avhich so many illustrious dead are buried ; and Ra- 
 venna, which knows the value set on her hospitalitv, 
 knows, also, the value of the treasure whicli she pos- 
 sesses. The whole miiverse keeps watch over the 
 remains of the greatest and most perfect genius ever 
 born^ and you, Florence, are left ftice to face with
 
 172 FLOKENCE. 
 
 your ingratitude, while it is this foreign city which in 
 future ages will reap the glory Avhich ought to have 
 been yours. '^ 
 
 The most popular of Boccaccio's works, the mas- 
 terpiece which is the heritage of every great writer, 
 and which becomes, so to speak, the peg to which his 
 celebrity is affixed, is the ^^ Decameron.'' As regards 
 imagination and style, it stands alone. It gives a 
 complete and lifelike picture of manners and customs 
 at Florence in the fourteenth century. It is an epit- 
 ome of Florentine habits, each class of society being 
 depicted with a master hand in its pursuits, its pas- 
 sions, its good qualities, its defects. It is a mirror in 
 which each class finds its own image reflected, and 
 though the work is of a licentious tendency, which 
 makes it unsuitable for the young, this is only an ac- 
 cessory feature. The ^^ Decameron " is a frame for 
 the display of contemporary pictures, and one of the 
 tales from it, the episode of Griselda, was selected by 
 Petrarch to translate into Latin. 
 
 COLUCCIO SALUTATI. 
 
 (1330-1-106.) 
 
 The h )nor of taking rank immediately after Dante, 
 Petrarch, and Boccaccio devolved upon Salutati, 
 whose mission it was to correct the texts of the 
 Greek and Latin authors, to form libraries and acad- 
 emies, and to see that the manuscripts tallied exactly 
 with the originals. He had the reputation of being
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 173 
 
 the most elegant Latin scliolar of his day, and as 
 Pope Urban V. was anxious to have him as ApostoHc 
 Secretary, he was compelled to take holy orders. 
 Being a widower at the time, he seemed likely to rise 
 to the highest dignities in the Church, but the Pope 
 having removed the Holy See to Avignon, Coluccio, 
 not feeling any decided vocation for a religious life, 
 threw off his priestly robes and remained in Italy, 
 where he soon contracted a second marriage. 
 
 As soon as it was known that he was free, several 
 sovereigns and princes invited him to come and re- 
 side at their Court, but though he had acted as Chan- 
 cellor of Perugia, and had gone thence to the Court 
 of Rome, he was unwilling to leave Florence, Avhere 
 he had accepted, in 1375, the post of Chancellor, 
 with the arduous task of conciliating the interests 
 and appeasing the cravings of Guelphs and Ghibel- 
 lines, and of the many Florentine families which 
 were at daggers drawn with each other. 
 
 For thirty years Salutati discharged these duties 
 with unquestioned authority, and he became the 
 model secretary of the Republic, after whom Gian- 
 ozzo Manetti, Leonardo Bruni, and Carlo Marsup})ini 
 shaped their conduct. The duty of corresponding 
 with crowned heads devolved upon him, and he was 
 equal to the task of u[)holding the interests of the 
 country, of forming alliances in the hour of danger, 
 and of averting perils of various kinds. 
 
 He occupied a very prominent place in Florentine
 
 174 FLORENCE. 
 
 politics during tlie fourteenth century, and he pos- 
 sessed sufficient influence to take the lead in very im- 
 portant negotiations, as -when at the time of the great 
 Papal schism he wrote to Innocent VII. urging him to 
 put an end to a scandal which threatened to be the ruin 
 of the Church. The celebrated John Galeas Vis- 
 conti, when ready to make war with Florence, de- 
 clared that he dreaded the arguments of Salutati 
 more than a great army. His manifestoes are abid- 
 ing proofs of his political genius, just as they are 
 masterpieces of literature and eloquence. 
 
 Politics, however, did not make him forget his 
 fondness for literature, as was shown when Giidiano 
 Sanseverino in the University of Bologna, and John 
 de San Miniato, a monk of the Camaldoli order, at 
 Florence, forbade their hearers to read the ancient 
 poets and the profane Avriters of antiquity. It was 
 in answer to them that he composed some Latin verses 
 which were so much admired that he received, as 
 Petrarch had done, the honors of a public demonstra- 
 tion. But before the laurel wreath could be placed 
 upon his brows he had passed away, in the seventy- 
 sixth year of his age, and from the account of his 
 funeral at Santa Maria Novella which has been handed 
 down to us, we learn that the ceremonial was the same 
 as that afterwards observed at the obsequies of Leon- 
 ardo Bruni and ]Marsuppini, the Gonfaloniere in office 
 mounting the platform upon which the coffin rested, 
 and placing upon the forehead of the defunct the
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLOKENTIXES. 175 
 
 laurel crown. His '^ Political Letters '' are regarded 
 as his greatest work, but little of what he wrote has 
 been published. The Latin poems which appear in 
 the third volume of the '^ Illustrious Italian Poets " 
 are well knoA\Ti, and his ^^ Political Letters " have 
 been edited in turn by Abbe Melius and Lami, but 
 they are far from being complete. 
 
 There is to be seen in the church of Fiesole the 
 tomb of a bishop named Salutati, who died in 14G6, 
 and who very possibly may have belonged to the 
 same family. This prelate, Avhose tomb is one of the 
 finest creations of Mine da Fiesole, was famous as a 
 jurisconsult, and he wrote several works on civil and 
 canon law. A great favorite of Pope Eugenius IV., 
 Kicholas V. continued to treat him with affection, and 
 made him Bishop of Fiesole in 1450. 
 
 Some writers have attributed this handsome mon- 
 ument, which is such a credit to the church within 
 wliicli it is erected, to the first of the Salutati, but 
 works of art possess the double merit of being beau- 
 tiful In tliemselves and of becoming, in course of time, 
 historical documents. The monument in cpiestlon is 
 signed and dated, so that there can be no question as 
 to its having been carved by Mino. 
 
 FRANCO SACCHETTI. 
 
 (133^5-1410.) 
 
 Eacy, and at times rather loose in liis stories, 
 Sacchetti is not gifted with the same inventive powers
 
 176 FLORENCE. 
 
 as Boccaccio, and he is more tlie reflex of others than 
 a type by himself. But he has plenty of spirit, and 
 it is evident that he shares Avith his readers the 
 amusement which he is trying to make them feel. 
 His "Tales " possess a considerable amount of interest 
 from the fact that Sacchetti, who was much mixed 
 up in the course of contemporary events, introduced 
 into his stories characters taken from real life, gather- 
 ing up anecdotes still fresh about Dante, Giotto, and 
 other men of note. He brings them vividly before 
 our eyes, and writers such as Yasari, Scipione Am- 
 mirato, and others still more celebrated, have been 
 glad to make use of information derived from his 
 writings. 
 
 He came of a very good family, having been a son 
 of Franco di Benci d'Uguccione. He was connected 
 with the Dante family, and was surnamcd the Good 
 {il Buono). His lirst literary efforts were in the 
 poetical line, and he was classed among the imitators 
 of Petrarch. He held public office at Faenza and 
 San Miniato, was Captain of thV. Florentine province 
 in the Romagna, Ambassador to Genoa, and Podesta 
 at Bibbiena. It is believed that he wrote his "Tales" 
 at Casentino. The copy which I have examined 
 contains about 258, and he is not particidar in the 
 choice of a subject, so long as it is an amusing one, 
 being racy to the verge of licentiousness. Some 
 fifteen of them, however, are of a different character, 
 the heroes being such men as Dante and Giotto, and
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 177 
 
 it is worthy of note that while several austere Avriters 
 are immoral in their lives, he, with all his light and 
 fanciful stories, is at bottom full of honesty and up- 
 rightness. 
 
 Sacchetti had three wives, all of illustrious descent; 
 the first being a Strozzi, the second a Gherardini, 
 and the third the daughter of Francesco di ser Santi 
 Bruni, and for six-and-tAventy years there was a 
 fourth lady who inspired his poems, and to whom he 
 dedicated his compositions. He had two sons ; one, 
 Philip, being a poet, while the other, Nicholas, was 
 Gonfaloniere of Justice in 1419. 
 
 There is much to admire about him, for he was at 
 once a patriot and a gentleman. His genial humor, 
 as well as the incidents he related concerning the 
 most noted men of his time, have kept his name 
 alive. His public career was a successful one, and 
 his writings are instinct with force and good-humor. 
 He died at the age of seventy -five, beloved by Ids 
 contemporaries, and his writings, extending- from 
 grave to gay, comprise Sermons, Letters, and a bur- 
 lesque poem (of Avhich a new edition was published 
 as recently as 1819) called ^' La Battaglia dclle Vec- 
 chie con Ic Giovane," the very title of which shows 
 how amusing it must have been in the hands of a 
 writer so gifted with humor. He Avas, little as he 
 may have imagined such to be the case, both an artist 
 and an historian. 
 
 12
 
 178 FLOEEXCE. 
 
 BONACCOKSO PITTI. 
 
 (1335-1425.) 
 
 Pitti is an ancestor of the great Pitti of tlic fifteenth 
 century, after whom the royal palace at Florence is 
 still named, and his reputation as a chronicler is well 
 deserved. He may, indeed, be d.escribed as one of 
 the originators in Italy of that form of literature, 
 Avhich, under the name of '' Memoirs," is so much ap- 
 preciated at the present time. 
 
 He belonged to the Neri and to the Pitti ; that is 
 to say, to a family which had always occupied a high 
 position in the State, and which, by means of the 
 wealth subsequently acquired in trade, became the 
 equal of princes and a rival of the Medici. 
 
 His life was one long romance, and his adventures 
 are comparable with those of Benvenuto Cellini, Casa- 
 nova, and the Chevalier Eon. He became a type for 
 the anecdotic history of the Florentines, and the real 
 value of the memoirs which he has left is that they 
 give us a realistic picture — making due allowance for 
 exaggeration — ol the life of a great number of Floren- 
 tines at the beginning of the fifteenth century. 
 
 Fond of gaming and duelling, a libertine, adven- 
 turous, very Avell read, crafty, skilful in trade, quite 
 capable of a serious demeanor when he pleased, full of 
 ambition, activity, and courage, and Avith an aptitude 
 for rising with the tide without allowing it to carry him 
 off his feet, he played the most opposite parts, and
 
 Pitti Palace.

 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 179 
 
 engaged in all kinds of business, while there was not 
 a country in Europe wdiich he did not visit at one 
 time or another. 
 
 He was one of those many Lombards who during 
 the fourteenth century went in quest of fortune all 
 over the world. They combined trade and gandjling, 
 speculation and politics, ever ready to induce the 
 public to make hazardous investments or to lend 
 them money at a high rate of interst. Rolling in 
 wealth one day, they lived like princes, while the 
 next they could not muster the money to pay their 
 hotel bill. Every now and then they returned to 
 their country and took part in the struggle of parties, 
 Avitli tlie result that they often rose to power if they 
 did not lose their live^ in the fray. Bonaccorso went 
 through all these adventures, and was famous for his 
 gallantries in Bavaria. He gained the friendship of 
 the Dukes of Orleans and Berri in Paris, when, in 
 company with Bernardo da Cino, another financial 
 adventurer of the same kidney, he Avent thither 
 from Avignon, where they had been endeavoring to 
 effect a reconciliation between the Anti-pope Bene- 
 dict XHI. and Boniface IX. This forms a singularly 
 interesting episode in his life, as he went through all 
 sorts of vicissitudes at play, and fought a duel with 
 Montluc. Nevertheless he succeeded in being looked 
 upon as a man of genuine importance by the Floren- 
 tines, who sent him to seek the alliance of the French 
 King against the Duke of Milan ; and in l-tlS his
 
 180 FLOEENCE. 
 
 son Liica was in a position to be a freeholder, and to 
 purchase the house and Land of the defunct Roberto 
 de Rossi for four hundred and fifty gold florins. 
 This is the site of the great Pitti Palace. 
 
 Towards the close of his life, tired, in all proba- 
 bility, of scouring the world, Bonaccorso settled down 
 at Pescia, Avhich is the last place referred to in his 
 memoirs, and it was there that he wrote the story of his 
 life from day to day, his dashing style reminding one, 
 as I have said, of Cellini and Casanova. He noted 
 down every detail, and mixed with the happiest effect 
 the anecdotes of his private life with the more im- 
 portant events of history. When the assassination 
 of the Duke of Orleans^ which was destined to exer- 
 cise so much influence upon the course of French 
 history, occurred (November 23^ 1^0")? l^is diary 
 contains the note : " I made a hundred gold florins 
 to-day by a bargain in wool." He was at that time 
 master of the horse to the Duke of Orleans. 
 
 In 1423 he was still captain at Castellaro in the 
 Romagna, and by his orders seven inhabitants at 
 Forli, who had schemed to open the gates of the city 
 to the Duke of Milan, were beheaded. 
 
 His memoirs were not published until 1720, three 
 centuries after he wrote them, the title being, ^^ Cro- 
 nica de Buonaccorso Pitti, con Annotazioni. Flor- 
 encCj 1720; in quarto."
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINRS. 181 
 
 AGNOLO TAXDOLFINL 
 
 (13G0-144G.) 
 
 Gifted with profound Avisdom, Pandolfini is tlie 
 type of the upriglit citizen who, so far from seeking 
 honors, has them forced upon him. He was a genial 
 writer and moralist, too, and his book, entitled " II 
 Govcrno della Famiglia," is one of the standard works 
 in Italy. Tirahosclii and Quinqueni, Avho are nearly 
 always trustworthy, do not speak of Pandolfini, doubt- 
 less because he Avas not a brilliant writer. But if he 
 did not distinguish himself by any great action, his 
 career was a useful and benevolent one. Born at 
 Florence in 1360, and the son of a merchant who had 
 made his fortune at Naples, he was, from an early 
 age, independent, and being a man of considerable 
 erudition and full of wisdom, he was twice elected to 
 the Signoria, in 1397 and 1408 ; and was three times 
 Gonfaloniere of Justice. 
 
 The Republic sent him on missions to ^Martin V., 
 the Emperor Sigismund, and King Ladislaus, from 
 the latter of whom he obtained the cession of the ter- 
 ritory of Cortona, as an indemnity for the losses sus- 
 tained during the Naples campaign. In 1414, 1420, 
 and 1431 he occupied the post of Gonfaloniere, and 
 he was invariably called upon to arbitrate between 
 his fellow-citizens in their ever-recurring intestine 
 quarrels. With the sagacity for which, as I have 
 said, he was famous, he had foreseen the disasters of
 
 182 FLOEENCE. 
 
 Liicca^ and had done all in his power to dissuade the 
 Balia from entering upon that war. He was the 
 friend of Cosimo the Elder, whose influence he con- 
 stantly seconded, and when the latter was exiled, his 
 protests brought about his recall. He was less suc- 
 cessful in regard to Palla Strozzi, who Avas a relative 
 of his wife's, and took his exile so much to heart that 
 he withdrew from public life. He led a very peace- 
 ful existence at his villa of Ponte a signa (or Ganga- 
 landi), universally respected, ever ready to show 
 hospitahty to great and small, receiving the visits of 
 sovereigns and pontiffs, and anticipating with a serene 
 conscience the approach of death. It was here that 
 he wrote his ^' II Governo della Famiglia," in lan- 
 guage as elevated as the ideas expressed in it. A 
 very lucid summary of this book, though only extend- 
 ing over fifteen pages, is due to the pen of Dandolo. 
 
 LEONARDO BRUNI AEETIXO. 
 
 (1369-1443.) 
 
 Leonardo Bruni, who is buried at Santa Croce, in 
 the splendid tomb erected at the cost of the Floren- 
 tine Republic by Bernardo Rossellino, was one of the 
 revivers of Greek and Latin literature in the fifteenth 
 century, and the sphere of his action was altogether 
 pacific. His only connection with politics was when 
 he was employed upon some conciliatory mission, or 
 in rendering homage to some foreign sovereign or the 
 chief of some neighbormg state. He was famous for
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 183 
 
 his learning and eloquence, and his character seems 
 to have stood as high as his learning. 
 
 Leonardo, born at Arezzo, Avas educated at Flor- 
 ence, just when the study of Greek was being brought 
 into vogue by the influence of the savants Avho had 
 come from Constantinople. He studied under Manuel 
 Chrysoloras, and through the influence of Poggio he 
 was appointed Apostolic Secretary to Pope Innocent 
 YII., who was inclined to think him too young when 
 he first saw him, though, on coming to cross-question 
 him, he recognized the young man's great abilities. 
 The successors of that pontiff" retained him in their 
 service, and he held the same post under Gregory 
 XII., Alexander V., and John XXIII. 
 
 The Republic of Florence, anxious to secure a cit- 
 izen of such merit, appointed him Chancellor, a post 
 which he retained until the time of his death. 
 
 When the Council of Constance deposed John 
 XXIIL, Leonardo, looked upon as a rebel, fled with 
 him on foot, incurring, during three days, dangers of 
 every kind and great privations. 
 
 Like this pontiff^, who died there and was interred 
 in the baptistery of San Giovanni, in a superb tomb 
 carved by Donatello, he found refuge at Florence, 
 and in 1415, while in peaceful retirement at Arezzo, 
 wrote the ^' History of Florence," a manuscript copy 
 of which is to be found in every Italian library. 
 This work produced a great sensation, and the Flor- 
 entine Government sent him the freedom of the city
 
 184 FLOREXCE. 
 
 and settled upon liim a pension, the reversion of which 
 was to go to liis children. It was then that he was 
 induced to accept the post of Chancellor, and he died 
 while in office, his conduct shedding an additional 
 lustre upon this dignified post. 
 
 He was a man of noble demeanor and tried probity, 
 his high character manifesting itself in every act of 
 his life. AU the foreigners who passed through Flor- 
 ence were anxious to make his acquaintance and pay 
 him their respects, while upon one occasion a learned 
 Spaniard, who had been presented to him, insisted 
 upon remaining on his knees all the time that the 
 audience lasted. He died suddenly in 1443, to the 
 deep regret, not of Florence alone, but of all Italy. 
 
 The Republic intrusted the celebrated Gianozzo 
 Manetti with the preparation of the funeral oration. 
 The coffin was placed upon a platform on the piazza 
 of Santa Croce, and Manetti laid a wreath upon the 
 brow of the dead man, upon whose breast had been 
 deposited a copy of his ^' History of Florence." 
 Bernardo RosseUino, who had been instructed to erect 
 the mausoleum, took this ceremony for his subject, 
 and left behind him a work which is justly regarded 
 as one of the most perfect ever shaped by human 
 hands. 
 
 His native Arezzo, jealous of Florence, was anxious 
 to rival her by rendering the last homage to his re- 
 mains, but Florence would not part Avith them. 
 
 His works are very numerous; consisting for the
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 185 
 
 most part of translations from Latin and Orock niami- 
 scripts and historical works, though lie also wrotf; 
 several biographies, including those of Dante and 
 Petrarch. The best account of this learned man, who 
 interests us all the more because his image is brought 
 so vividly before us by the chisel of Rossellini while 
 so many other men of the fifteenth century are mere 
 abstractions, is to be gained from the work of Abbe 
 Melius. 
 
 POGGIO BRACCIOLINL 
 
 (1380-14.39.) 
 
 Pogglo, born at Terranuova in the territory of 
 Florence in 1380, sometimes called Poggio Fioren- 
 tino, from having been a Chancellor of the Republic. 
 
 His early studies were made at Florence, from 
 which city he proceeded to Pome, where he was em- 
 ployed in the Papal Secretary's department, lie re- 
 mained there for half a century, continuously engaged 
 in profomid study and in the drawing up of Bulls and 
 Briefs. He was deep in the confidence of successive 
 popes, and employed upon missions of the most del- 
 icate nature. He was present at the Council of Con- 
 stance, and whenever IMartin V. and Eugenius IV. 
 made a journey on Church afFiiirs he formed one of 
 their suite. Poggio, in one of his letters, says that 
 he cannot remember having, during his fifty years' 
 service at the same Court^ remained a year in the 
 same town.
 
 186 FLORENCE. 
 
 His specialty as a savant was Latin, Greek, and 
 Hebrew, and he took advantage of his continued 
 travels to unearth forgotten manuscripts, thereby 
 rendering great service to literature. He travelled 
 through the whole of Germany and Switzerland, visit- 
 ing all the depositories of manuscripts, and often mak- 
 ing valuable discoveries. He was seventy-two years 
 of age when the Holy Father allowed him to go and 
 reside at Florence, the Kepublic having induced him 
 to accept the post of Chancellor. But he soon found 
 that the duties which it involved were beyond his 
 st:rength, and he retired from public life, writing at 
 his retreat in the suburbs his '^ History of Florence," 
 which embraces the events that occurred from 1350 
 to 1453. This work was in Latin, and it was his 
 son Giacomo Bracciolini Avho translated it into the 
 vulgar tongue. 
 
 The other literary achievements of Bracciolini are 
 his translation into Latin of Xenophon's '^Cyropsedia'^ 
 and of the first five books of Diodorus of Sicily. In 
 the philosophical line he has left a Avork entitled 
 ^^ Historia Convivialis," and several moral treatises, 
 including " Avarice, Nobility, the Wretchedness of 
 Human Affairs," and " The Misfortunes of Princes 
 and Vicissitudes of Fortune." Many of his Epistles 
 and Orations have also been preserved, and they are 
 all remarkable for the perfect Latin in which they are 
 couched. 
 
 Poggio was very severe upon the savants of his
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 187 
 
 age, and being jealous, irascible, and always inclined 
 to carp at others, he was constantly engaged in con- 
 troversies, which were carried on in a spirit of vio- 
 lence of which we can scarcely form an adequate 
 idea at the present time. It has been thought that 
 he was animated by some special dislike for Fran- 
 cesco Filelfo, about whom he wrote four pamphlets, 
 in which he accused him of all the evil deeds which 
 a human being could well conmiit, but these are not 
 so strong as the five pamphlets directed against 
 Lorenzo Valla, the Hellenist and Secretary of the 
 King of Naples, who translated the Iliad, and Herod- 
 otus and ^Esop. Guarino of Verona was not spared, 
 nor were the Bishop of Feltro, Jacopo Zeno, and the 
 Duke of Savoy. So bitter was he that he vented 
 his wrath upon communities, involving them all in 
 one common condemnation. He was very learned, 
 and had a European reputation, but for all that, hatred 
 is the distinguishing characteristic by which he is 
 known. 
 
 CARLO MARSUPPINL 
 
 (1399-1453.) 
 
 Carlo Marsuppini and Leonardo Bruni cannot well 
 be spoken of apart. They were contemporaries, both 
 had the same career and much the same intellectual 
 tendencies, and both had the good fortune to be 
 handed down to posterity in the work of men of genius. 
 
 While RosseUino has enshrined to us the features
 
 188 FLOKENCR 
 
 of Leonardo Brimi, Desiderio da Settignano has im- 
 mortalized the name of Carlo Marsuppini by the 
 monument in Santa CrocOj which is opposite that 
 erected to the former. 
 
 Gregory, the father of Carlo, Avas Governor of 
 Genoa nnder Charles YI. From Genoa he came to 
 Florence, where he acquired, in 1431, the rights of 
 citizenship. Carlo was intrusted to the care of John 
 of Ravenna, who encouraged him to study ancient 
 literature. He chose the scholastic career, and was 
 a candidate for the professorship of literature at the 
 University of Florence. This post having been given 
 to Filelfo, Carlo became his bitter enemy, and when 
 the former was banished from Florence in 1434, he 
 succeeded to the vacant post. 
 
 As his pupils comprised two nephews of Pope 
 Eugenius IV., the latter, in return, appointed him 
 Apostolic Secretary, and in 1444 he took the place 
 of Chancellor of the Florentine Republic left vacant 
 by the death of his compatriot, Leonardo Bruni. It 
 w^as in this quality that he presented an address to 
 the Emperor Frederick HI., when the latter passed 
 through Florence in 1452 ; the reply was made by 
 ^neas Sylvius, destined to become one of the most 
 famous of the popes, under the title of Pius II., and 
 who was at that time secretary to the Emperor. 
 ^neas Sylvius made an impromptu reply, and Mar- 
 suppini, Avho was expected to make a second speech 
 in answer to this, was at a loss what to say. This
 
 ILLUSTEIOUS FLORENTINES. 189 
 
 incident caused great excitement at the time, for 
 Marsuppini was oblig-ed to turn round to his neigh- 
 bor Manetti, and ask his assistance. His real abil- 
 ities do not appear, however, to have been called into 
 question, for the famous Matteo Palmieri was in- 
 structed to prepare a funeral oration, and to place a 
 wreath upon him after death, as had been done in the 
 case of his predecessor. 
 
 We have no direct proof of his ability, for he left 
 very few works behind him ; but Poggio, whose ex- 
 cellent judgment is beyond all doubt, introduces Mar- 
 suppini as one of the characters in his dialogue ^'De 
 Infelicitate,'' and both Flavio Biondo and Platina have 
 spoken in very eulogistic terms of him. 
 
 His best-known work was a translation in hexam- 
 eters of the singular poem attributed to Homer, 
 ^^The Batrachomyomachie,'' the first edition of which 
 was published in Parma in 1492. His letters, like 
 those of Leonardo Bruni, are highly interesting, for 
 he was in more or less frequent intercourse Avith the 
 most celebrated men of the day. i\Iany personal 
 details concerning him are to be found in the '^ Vos- 
 sian Letters " of Apostolo Zeno and in Vespasiano 
 Fiorentino. 
 
 Those two tombs of Leonardo Bruni and of ^liw- 
 suppini do honor to human genius, for Greek art 
 itself has produced nothing more perfect, and if the 
 names of the two men who are buried in them had 
 not been kept alive by the merit of their own works
 
 190 FLORENCE. 
 
 the sculptors who have carved their likenesses in 
 marble would have immortalized them. Carlo Mar- 
 suppini died at the age of iifty-four, and the funeral 
 oration pronounced by Palmieri is still extant. 
 
 His name, together with that of Gianozzo Manetti 
 and Leonardo Bruni, constantly recurs in the history 
 of the little courts of the Romagna and the Marches, 
 for he was continually being employed as an inter- 
 mediary between the Vatican and the princes who 
 were attached to the Holy See as Vicars of the 
 Church, such as the Estes, the Montefeltros, the 
 Malatestas, and even the Sforzas. 
 
 BRUXELLESCHI. 
 
 (1377-1446.) 
 
 As an architect Filippo di ser BruneUeschi deserves 
 a place apart among the artists of his day, for he un- 
 questionably comes first of the reformers avIio, in the 
 beginning of the fifteenth century, substituted in 
 place of Gothic architecture the ancient forms adapted 
 to modern requirements. But it need hardly be said 
 that so important a movement, destined to effect a 
 complete revolution in its way, could not be the work 
 of one man. A whole generation of thinkers and 
 artists concurred to carry it through when once the 
 idea Avas ^^ in the air," to use a modern phrase, and 
 when everything was tending towards its develop- 
 ment. Dante himself was one of the pioneers, and 
 Giotto, Orcagna, Arnolfo di Lapo, and John of Pisa
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 191 
 
 wore, almost unknown to themselves, travelling in the 
 same direetiun. Their style was more chaste than 
 that of tlieir predecessors ; they had a clearer percep- 
 tion of tlieir purpose and ideas, and having the cour- 
 age to be simple in their designs at a time when 
 the grotesque was still in fashion, they extricated, in 
 their architectural conceptions, the shape and the line 
 from among the mass of parasitical decoration which 
 concealed the trunk and the branches of the majestic 
 tree. 
 
 Brunelleschi still further accentuated the transition, 
 while Ghiberti, Masaccio, Donatello, Mino da Fiesole, 
 and Albert], following in the same track, completed 
 the transformation. The human countenance, still 
 enveloped in the conventional primness, which was 
 not without a grace of its own, gradually became 
 more animated, the figure lost its stiffness, the body 
 ceased to be motionless, and the eyes, hitherto closed 
 to the light, flashed with all the warmth of passion 
 and of life. The victory over marble was, in other 
 Avords, Avon. These innovators in architecture, after 
 having endeavored to adopt a middle course between 
 their aspirations and the respect which they felt for 
 their predecessors, eventually put their veto upon the 
 original style, and instead of allowing the cathedrals 
 to be enveloped in gloom, as they Avere in the ^Middle 
 Ages, Avhen sinister symbols and mysterious devices 
 Avere all the fashion, they let in floods of light 
 through their spacious porticos. The new style of
 
 192 FLORENCE. 
 
 architecture expressed at once strength, nobility, and 
 simplicity, a new system being created out of the ele- 
 ments of the old. 
 
 Simple, logical, and grand without effort, based 
 solely upon the laAV of propositions and the mutual 
 relation of different parts with each other, the new 
 architecture, though evidently inspired by antiquity, 
 had its individual grace and elegance, while its origi- 
 nality consisted in its being appropriated to the re- 
 quirements of the country without any concession 
 Avhich was not compatible Avith the climate, the nature 
 of the materials, and the customs of the time. Orna- 
 mentation occupied merely a secondary, almost an 
 accessory position, being only employed in the new 
 system to indicate the various members and the main 
 divisions. At no time, it may safely be asserted, 
 were the Avaters which issued from this source, and 
 Avhich gradually formed a torrent of genius spreading 
 throughout Italy, more pure and Avholesome than at 
 the fountain-head. Lombardi, Leopardi, Bramante, 
 and Fra Giocondo shoAved themselves to be gifted 
 Avith elegance in detail, as they AA'cre full of force and 
 grace in their conception. But they ncA^er recoA^ered 
 that chaste grandeur, characteristic of the beginning 
 of the fifteenth century, AA'hich so commands our ad- 
 miration as to prcA^ent our doing full justice to the six- 
 teenth century, rich as that also Avas in every branch 
 of intellectual industry. 
 
 It is interesting to trace the process AAhich led
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLOEENTIXES. 193 
 
 Brimcllcsclii, the successor of Giotto, Arnolfo di Lapo, 
 and Taddeo Gaddi, all devoted to Gothic art, to break 
 openly with these tendencies and to strike out in a 
 new direction, and this can best be done by describ- 
 ing briefly the circumstances of his life. He was 
 born at Florence in 1377, and the date is an import- 
 ant one to remember, for it marked the passing away 
 of the Middle Ages and the germ of the Renaissance. 
 He arrived at manhood as the fifteenth century, of 
 which he was destined to become one of the bright 
 lights, was just dawning. 
 
 When one-and-tAventy years of age Brunelleschi, 
 who had objected to following the profession of notary, 
 had already given striking proof of his capacity in 
 mechanical constructions of every kind, and all fur- 
 ther attempt to make him adopt any other career was 
 abandoned. He entered the Goldsmiths' College, and 
 was, like most great artists, enrolled among the adepts 
 of this profession. The goldsmitli's art was a very 
 good school of training, requiring as it did inventive 
 powers, elegance, a great dexterity of touch, and some 
 knowledge of all kinds of drawing; while the (piall- 
 lios of the designer are called forth in the general 
 composition, those of the sculptor in the execution of 
 the figures, and those of the painter in the harmoni- 
 zation of all the colored parts. 
 
 His earliest and most intimate friend was Donatello, 
 in whose society he passed all his youth, afterwards 
 making a long stay Avith him at Ivome, and travelling 
 
 13
 
 194 FLOKENCR 
 
 with him both at home and abroad. After having 
 executed several works of sculptm^e he made his 
 debut as an architect, and became engaged in various 
 undertakings in and around Florence. It was during 
 this first part of his life that he devoted his attention 
 to the science of perspective with sufficient detail to 
 be able to draw up all the rules, and make of them a 
 guide for the instruction of his pupils and friends. It 
 is even said that Masaccio derived his knowledge of 
 this art from Brunelleschi. He did not, however, 
 give up sculpture, and between the years 1398 and 
 1404 he carved that figure of Christ in Santa Maria 
 Novella, which has become famous as having given 
 rise to the misunderstanding between him and Dona- 
 teUo, whom he reproached with having given too ma- 
 terial an expression to the Divine countenance. 
 
 In the beginning of the century the celebrated 
 competition for the execution of the Baptistery gates 
 was opened, the competitors being Lorenzo Ghiberti, 
 Jacopo della Querela, Simone da Colle, Francesco di 
 Yaldambrina, and Xiccolo d'Arezzo. 
 
 There is a story told by Yasari, and it has never 
 been controverted, that Ghiberti and Brunelleschi 
 having been called upon to treat the same subject 
 (the Sacrifice of Abraham), the latter spontaneously 
 adjudged the prize to the former, a mark of generosity 
 very characteristic of him. It is quite certain that, 
 Avhethcr the story is true or not, Ghiberti was awarded 
 the prize, and that he carved the gates, but it is in-
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLOREXTINES. 195 
 
 teresting to compare the two designs in bronze, Avhich 
 may be seen in the Bargello. 
 
 It was after this competition that Brunelleschi went 
 to Rome with Donatello. On arriving there he with- 
 drew from all external affairs, and with the proceeds 
 of the sale of a small property at Scttignano devoted 
 himself to the study of her monuments. It is easy to 
 conceive what ancient Kome Avas like in 1405, and 
 with what transports of admiration it must have in- 
 spired two such artists as Brunelleschi and Donatello. 
 They seem to have lived in a continual fever, making 
 drawings, being present at all the excavations, and 
 conducting some on their own accomit ; spending 
 whole days among the ruins, measuring palaces, tem- 
 ples, and baths, and endeavoring to discover the secret 
 of their splendor. Brunelleschi gradually came to 
 comprehend the principle of each of the orders of ar- 
 chitecture employed by the architects of antiquity, 
 reasoning out the use of the various forms, and re- 
 storing those parts which had been destroyed by time. 
 Thus it was that he conceived the idea of discardino: 
 the contorted and complicated forms of the degener- 
 ate Gothic architecture of the day, and of adapting 
 to the requirements of his own times those which had 
 been employed by the ancients, though a man of so 
 much taste and imagination was naturally desirous to 
 make the various parts of his work harmonize, and 
 to combine the new forms which he was anxious to 
 employ with those adopted by his predecessors.
 
 196 FLOEENCE. 
 
 It was in the seclusion of the Eternal City that he 
 elaborated his plan for the completion of Santa Maria 
 del Fiore^ the Duomo of Florence^ which had been 
 left unfinished since the death of Arnolfo di Cambio. It 
 is quite certain that he had made a special study of 
 the vaulted roofs of Thermae and Pantheons, Avith the 
 firm intention of immortalizing his name by finishing 
 the cupola of Santa Maria. 
 
 Donatello having left him at Rome in order to carry 
 out the many works which he had undertaken at 
 Florence, Brunelleschi continued his studies with re- 
 doubled ardor, but having been attacked with fever, 
 he also left Eome and returned to his native city. 
 This Avas the time when the completion of the Duomo 
 was being pressed forward, but the task of bridging 
 over the immense space seemed an impossibility to 
 most of the architects and engineers who were called 
 in. The most ludicrous suggestions were made, and 
 after a general meeting of the committee, Brunelleschi, 
 thinking that his opinion was not received with suf- 
 ficient deference, went back to Rome. The commit- 
 tee, however, induced him to return and give them 
 the benefit of his advice. 
 
 His idea Avas that a competition should be opened 
 to artists of every nationality, each one making a 
 model, though he made no secret that his own plan 
 would be that of an arch in one span. A great many 
 of those Avho were present scoffed at the idea of such 
 a thing, but the competition was opened in accord-
 
 ILLUSTKIOUS FLOEEXTINES. 197 
 
 ancc with his advice, and his modcil, the existence of 
 which he had kept secret, was at last accepted. But 
 a few months afterwards, Lorenzo Ghiberti, who had 
 just obtained a great success by the execution of his 
 famous " Gate of Paradise," was appointed his assist- 
 ant, and Brunelleschi, Avho was much vexed at the 
 interference, and who knew that Ghiberti had no 
 aptitude for this description of work, resorted to a 
 very ingenious stratagem for getting rid of him. He 
 took to his bed, and pretended to be too ill to attend 
 to the work. Ghiberti was soon involved in hopeless 
 difficulties, and the committee compensating him for 
 what he had done, left Brunelleschi to finish the work 
 by himself. 
 
 This was the great achievement of his life, the one 
 which has immortalized his name, and which has un- 
 questionably exercised the greatest influence. Michael 
 Angclo, as he looked up at Santa Maria del Fiore be- 
 fore he commenced the dome of St. Peter's, is reported 
 to have exclaimed, " I will take you and project you 
 into the sky." 
 
 His suggestion was an octagonal cupola resting 
 upon a drum pierced with windows, which would 
 serve the double purpose of letting in plenty of Ught 
 and of lessening the weight. The artistic part of the 
 work, the arrangement, the architectural lines, and 
 the decorative combinations are equally interesting, 
 and when one has lived at Florence long enough to 
 go into the details of this work, one cannot but ad-
 
 198 FLORENCK 
 
 mire the grandeur of the Imes employed Ly Bruncl- 
 leschi, and the ingenious way in which he adapted to 
 a Gothic building the new style which he had intro- 
 duced. In order thoroughly to appreciate the grand 
 general effects obtained by the men of genius who 
 designed the curves of the Pantheon at Rome, of 
 Santa Maria del Fiore, and of St. Peter's, one must 
 contemplate on the horizon, from the heights of the 
 Pincio or of Fiesole, these bold constructions as 
 they stand out in the twilight, casting a bluish 
 shadow upon the golden background of the setting 
 sun. 
 
 Brunelleschi, being commissioned by the Pazzi 
 family to build a private chapel in Santa Croce, 
 erected a building which redounds very much to his 
 credit, for it is elegant in detail and full of grandeur 
 in its general effect. He employed the Corinthian 
 style, and with the aid of Luca della Robbia obtained 
 some A'ery novel effects by applying to the decoration 
 of the panels and ceilings the majolica ware discovered 
 by the latter, the result showing how much a man 
 of genius could make out of this art of glazed terra- 
 cotta. 
 
 The interior of the chapel, to the decoration of 
 which Luca della Robbia also contributed, is so vast 
 and imposing that in 1565 four thousand friars met 
 there, the privilege of using this chapel being ac- 
 corded to the chapter of Santa Croce by the Pazzi 
 family.
 
 Cloisters of S. Crocc, and Pazzi Chapel. 
 
 BrunelleschL
 
 ILLUSTEIOUS FLORENTINES. 109 
 
 Brunollesclii was also tlie arcliiti.'ct of the liand- 
 some portico in the Piazza dell' Annunziata whicli 
 forms the faeade of wliat in his day was called the 
 Ricovero dei Gettatclli (or Foundling Hospital). The 
 beauty and simplicity of these buildings, the sole 
 richness of which consists in their elegance of shape, 
 seeing that they are destined for such a humble pur- 
 pose, can only be fidly appreciated from the interior. 
 The hospital of the Innocents was begun in 1421, 
 the Council being stimulated to undertake the work 
 by an eloquent appeal from Leonardi Bruni. On the 
 24th of January, 1444, it was opened and the man- 
 agement placed in the hands of the Guild of Silk 
 Workers. 
 
 Filippo ]\raria Yisconti sent for Brunelleschi to 
 build him a fortress at Milan ; and he was afterwards 
 employed to erect the citadels of Vicopisano, Pisa, 
 and Pesaro. 
 
 The church of San Lorenzo at Florence, which 
 contains the tombs of the Medici, and was erected at 
 the expense of Giovanni d'Averardo and of Cosimo, 
 Father of his Country, is also his Avork. He had 
 proposed to erect the IMedici Palace upon a much 
 more sumptuous scale than was afterwards adopted, 
 but Cosimo deemed his plan too magniiicent, and 
 Brunelleschi, who had set his heart upon building for 
 the House of j\Iedici a palace of unparalleled splen- 
 dor, destroyed his model. He began for the Scolari 
 family the curious temple Dcgli Angeli, which was
 
 200 FLOKENCE. 
 
 never completed^ as the money whicli had been set 
 apart for it was spent on the Lucca war. 
 
 The Pitti Palace is also his work^ and as the family 
 for which he built had not the means of going on Avith 
 it^ Eleonora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence, v/ife of 
 Cosimo, purchased it, and spent an immense sum upon 
 its completion. It is a heavy building, and so many 
 changes have been made by successive architects 
 that it does not produce nearly the effect it should. 
 In 1549 the Pitti Palace became a royal residence, 
 and Ammanati added to it the handsome courtyard 
 upon which the three inner facades look. 
 
 The services of Brunelleschi Avere now in request 
 throughout the whole of Italy. In 1445 the ]\Iarquis 
 of Mantua wanted him for the Signoria, while Fran- 
 cesco Sforza Avas treating Avith liim for the fortifica- 
 tions of Pisa, and at about the same time he under- 
 took the building of the Barbadori Palace and the 
 Casa Giuntini at Florence. 
 
 BruneUeschi Avas the leading architect of the fif- 
 teenth century, and Avhen he died on the 16th of 
 April, 1446, he AA^as buried in Santa Maria del Fiore, 
 beneath that dome Avhich he raised to such a height 
 that from afar the traveller sees it as he approaches 
 the city. 
 
 Buggiano, a sculptor of no great renoAvn, carA^ed 
 the bust over his tomb, and the foUoAA'ing inscription, 
 composed by Marsuppini, shoAvs in Avhat esteem he 
 was held by his contemporaries :
 
 ILLUSTEIOUS FLOKENTIXES. 201 
 
 D. S. 
 "Quantum riiilippus arcliitectus arte Dicdakc valuerit ; cum 
 hujus celeberrimi templi mira testudo, tum i)lures machinae divino 
 ingenio ab eo adinventse documento esse possunt. Quapropter, 
 ob eximias sui animi dotes, singularesque virtutes ejus b. m. 
 Corpus XV kal. Maias anno MCCCCXLVI in hac liumo sup- 
 posita grata patria sepeliri jussit." 
 
 It cannot be said that as regards the number of 
 works executed, this great artist can compare with 
 many of his compatriots, for, witli the exception of 
 the Pazzi Chapel at Santa Croce, he never had an 
 opportunity of erecting a complete monument, and 
 even this chapel is only an annex to the great church. 
 But he was a forerunner, and so gifted with great 
 inventive powers that it is not perhaps too much to 
 describe him as the greatest man of his age in his 
 own domain. Alberti, of course, played a great part, 
 Leonardo da Vinci was a prodigy of genius, and 
 Michael Angelo knows no rival, but Brunelleschi 
 holds his own, and merits a prominent place in the 
 Pantheon of Florentine celebrities. His ashes are 
 not in Santa Croce, and it is meet that he should rest 
 in Santa IMaria del Fiore, the scene of his greatest 
 labors and triumphs. 
 
 LEO BATTISTA ALBERTI. 
 
 (1404-1472.) 
 
 Alberti did not contribute so much as Brunellesclii 
 to this renovation of the arts, but, like all those who
 
 202 FLORENCE. 
 
 propagate the ideas of others bj the pen, his influ- 
 ence was very considerable. Upon the one hand 
 there are the silent and secluded artists, whose prov- 
 ince it is to produce and to prove the reality of progress 
 by marching in advance of their contemporaries, 
 while, upon the other, there are the men of critical 
 mind who, more closely identified with the movement 
 of their time, while not idle themselves, draw conclu- 
 sions from the w^orks of others, and regulate the final 
 laws of the new art in which they have been the fore- 
 runners. Alberti belonged to this second category, 
 and while putting the principles of Brunelleschi into 
 practice, he brought them within the understanding 
 of the whole world, and did much to propagate the 
 new ideas. Leonardo da Vinci, Daniel Barbaro, Fra 
 Giocondo, and Francesco Colonna carried on the same 
 work, and to his well-known treatises, ^' De re ^di- 
 ficatoria," " De Pictura," and '^ De Componenda 
 Statua," added " The Commentaries on Vitruvius," 
 and that strange book entitled " The Dream of Poly- 
 philus, or Hypnerotomachia," which is such a curious 
 mixture of truth and fancy. 
 
 The effect produced by the construction of the 
 " Temple of the Malatestas " Avas very great, for it 
 was no slight achievement at that date to regulate the 
 laws and determine the tendency of architectural com- 
 positions, while it was an even more marked success, 
 at a time when a man of genius like Brunelleschi had 
 shaken ofi" the fetters of ancient usage and struck out
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 203 
 
 a line of liis own^ to confirm the value of these prin- 
 ciples by erecting a marble temple, all the architect- 
 ural elements in which, while borrowed from antiquity, 
 were modified and rejuvenated by the modern spirit. 
 A natural son of Lorenzo Alberti and of ^largherita 
 di Messer Piero Bcnini, Leo Battista expiated from 
 his birth the ardor with which his family had plunged 
 into a struggle against the Albizzi during the bloody 
 contests between the two factions of black and white 
 in the fourteenth century. Ilis fother and mother 
 were exiled to Genoa, where he was born in 1404, 
 and it Avas only in 1428 that, at the special request 
 of Pope Martin V., the interdict Avhicli had led to the 
 dispersion of this powerful family throughout Europe 
 was raised. There Avere several branches of the 
 family, Leo Battista belonging to that of Bernardo 
 di Xerozzo (1388), who married first a Pazzi, and 
 afterwards a Gualterio dei Bardi. The French Dukes 
 Albert de Luynes and Chaulnes are descended from 
 Caroccio di Lapo (1347), through Tommaso, born in 
 1409. Between the years 1408 and 1417 four of 
 the Alberti were interred at Paris in the Vieux 
 Augustins Church, and before the close of the cen- 
 tury more than seventy members of this fomily had 
 died in exile at Bruges, Yiviers, Paris, Montpellier, 
 Avignon, Genoa, Brescia, Mantua, Padua, Venice, 
 Frioul, the Romagna, London, Flanders, and even in 
 Cyprus, to which they were banished by a decree of 
 the Balia.
 
 204 FLORENCE. 
 
 The original text of the decree, or the ^^Provisioni," 
 is to be found in Passerini, and the tenor of it shows 
 how high party feeling ran. The first decree (1387) 
 orders that two leaders of the family shall be exiled 
 a hundred miles away from Florence, and debars all 
 the other members of the family from the privilege 
 of holding any magisterial office ; in 1393 they are 
 all made to suffer for a conspiracy which had been 
 hatched by one of them ; and in 1400 three of their 
 relatives are put to the question in order to extort 
 from them a confession of the latter's guilt, and then 
 executed, the Grand Council deciding that all the 
 Alberti, including those not yet born, shall be de- 
 prived of civic rights. In 1412 a reward of two 
 thousand gold florins (£1800) is promised to the per- 
 son who kills the four heads of the Alberti family at 
 Florence, and half that sum to the slayer of any one 
 Alberti, provided that he is not under eighteen years 
 of age. If the slayer is himself in banishment he is 
 to receive a full pardon, and if not, he is entitled to 
 ask for the pardon of any two friends 5 while, for the 
 remainder of his life, he is to enjoy the privilege of 
 carrying arms. All the Alberti property was con- 
 fiscated, and the chains which formed their blazon 
 were removed from the walls of the churches, chapels, 
 and palaces. 
 
 Such were the conditions under which Leo Battista 
 was born, far from the land of his ancestors and his 
 father's home. We cannot wonder, therefore, at the
 
 ILLUSTEIOUS FLOKEXTIXES. 205 
 
 tone of bitter suffering wliich pervades liis letter to 
 Brimellcsclii Avhen he speaks of Lis long exile, and 
 his soul being fortified in the school of adversity. 
 The All)izzi persecuted this family with unwearying 
 hatred until the Medici began to get the upper hand, 
 and it Avas not until 1428 that justice was done to one 
 of them, this act of tardy clemency being completed 
 in 1434 by Cosimo de' Medici, who reinstated all the 
 Albert! in their property and ancient dignities. 
 
 The education of Leo Battista was of course 
 affected by these circumstances, and he was trained 
 in the midst of difficulties and struggles. lie was 
 very proficient in all equestrian exercises, and Mura- 
 tori, in his " Rerum Italicarum Scriptores," repre- 
 sents him as being a great athlete at the Olympian 
 games. He completed his studies at Bologna, and 
 before he was twenty years old had published a Latin 
 comedy entitled ^' Philodoxeos," which he signed 
 ^' Lepidus Comicus.'' This device was so successful 
 that Manuccio, a century and a half afterwards 
 (1588), published it at Lucca as being by Plautus, 
 under the title of '^Lepidi Comici veteris Philodoxeos, 
 fabula ex antiquitate eruta." It should be added, 
 however, that a canon of Bamberg, Albert von Eyb, 
 declared the comedy to be of modern origin, and to 
 have been the work of Carlo Marsuppini. Poggio 
 Bracciolini was the confidant of Alberti in this mat- 
 ter, and many years afterwards he revealed the secret 
 to Lionel of Este. When Leo Battista was allowed
 
 206 FLORENCE. 
 
 to return to Florence in 1428 he had ah'eady proved 
 hmiself to be a man eager to ascertain and investigate 
 every subject of human interest, of a generous dis- 
 position, endowed with the most varied gifts, and a 
 worthy forerunner of Leonardo da Vinci. At first 
 engrossed in the study of the Law, he afterwards cul- 
 tivated the exact sciences, physics, and the art of 
 naval constructions, while with all this he practiced 
 medicine, and it was only after having given proof 
 of his proficiency in each of these branches that he 
 settled himself down to literature. He wrote in 
 Latin, but his Italian poems are still extant, and they 
 give a complete contradiction to those who, during 
 his day, asserted that he Avrote in Latin to conceal 
 the imperfections of his style in Italian. He intro- 
 duced the Latin metre into poetry, and it was con- 
 sidered very venturesome at that time to treat ele- 
 vated subjects in that language. Alberti woidd have 
 remained famous even if he had not written anything 
 more, for he had already acquired great celebrity as 
 a physicist and an astronomer. The Alberti boHde 
 (perfected a long time afterwards by Cook), used for 
 measuring the depth of the sea, was his invention, as 
 also w^ere the camera liickla and several instruments 
 which facilitated an exact observation of the stars. 
 
 It was, however, to architecture, which during the 
 Renaissance necessitated the knowledge and the prac- 
 tice of all the other arts, that he owed his greatest 
 celebrity, though he only took to it thoroughly after
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 207 
 
 he liatl gone through the muhifold career described 
 above. Deeply imbued Avith the love of antiquity, 
 and well versed in the Latin and Greek manuscripts, 
 Avith Yitruvius at his fingers^ ends, and an enthusias- 
 tic admirer of the monuments discovered in Greece 
 and Italy, he determined to familiarize himself with 
 the remains of the grand imperial epoch. Biondo da 
 Forli received him at Rome and presented liim to 
 Pope Nicholas V., and according to Palmieri and 
 Vasari he played a very important part in the execu- 
 tion of the ambitious projects of this pontiff, who did 
 more for the imperial city than any of his predeces- 
 sors. Up to that time Bernardo Itosselhno, the 
 Florentine architect, had been given the supreme 
 control over the works, but he was glad to attach 
 Albert! to him, and henceforward nothing was done 
 in Rome without their being consulted. Alberti was 
 created a prelate, and invested with benefices which 
 made him independent, and in 14-17 he received the 
 dignity of canon and the title of prelate of Borgo San 
 Lorenzo and of San Martino at Gangalandi. Pius II. 
 retained him at the Vatican, and made him Secretary 
 of the Apostolic Letters. 
 
 It was during this period, with the monuments of 
 antiquity before his eyes, and in the companionship 
 of Biondo da Forli, the author of ''Roma Instaurata," 
 and the real creator of archseology, that it occurred 
 to him that there Avas no reason why the classic forms 
 should not be combined with those imposed by mod-
 
 208 FLOEENCE. 
 
 crn necessities. Alberti was thoroughly engrossed in 
 this new architectural departure when Sigismund 
 Malatesta asked him to come to Rimini^ and confer 
 with him as to the building of a temple. He accepted 
 the invitation with the assent of the Pope, who was 
 indebted to Malatesta for the Avay in which he had led 
 the pontifical troops to victory; but, as he coidd not 
 remain long, he left as proto maestrOj or overseer, 
 Matteo da Pasti, of Verona, who was a pensioner of 
 Malatesta, and to whom we owe the excellent medal- 
 lions of Sigismund and Isotta. This shows how varied 
 were the gifts of most great artists during the fifteenth 
 century. There is nothing to shoAv that Alberti re- 
 turned to Rimini after the inauguration of the Tem- 
 ple in 1450, but he had made himself a very great 
 favorite with Sigismund, who desired that his medal- 
 lion should be placed opposite to his own above his 
 tomb. 
 
 The greatest works of Alberti, those which have 
 insured his celebrity, were executed after his first 
 visit to Rome. To begin with, he built St. Pancras 
 for Cosimo RuceUai, and he then designed the beau- 
 tifid facade of Santa Maria Novella. In conjunction 
 with Brunelleschi, who had been commissioned to 
 build the Foundling Hospital in the Piazza delP An- 
 nunziata, he decorated the interior of the church of 
 that name, preparing the designs for the tribune, the 
 chapel, and the cupolas. It was during this period 
 that he made his longest stay at Florence, living in
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 209 
 
 the intimacy of Lorenzo de' Medici, and making one 
 in those celebrated gatherings in the Camaldoli Avoods 
 with Ficino, Acciaiuoli, and Rinuccini. In addition 
 to Malatesta, Riicellai, and Lorenzo de' Medici ; Louis 
 Gonzaga Marquis of Mantua, furnished Albertl with 
 an opportunity of displaying his views in regard 
 to architecture, intrusting to him the erection in 
 that city of a basilica dedicated to St. Andrew, 
 where repose the remains of Andrea jVIantegna. Al- 
 bertl availed himself of it, and St. Andrew's, like the 
 Temple of Rimini, offers one of the earliest instances 
 of the revival of classic architecture. 
 
 The princes of the houses of Este, Montefeltro, 
 Gonzaga, Malatesta, and Medici, whose cause his 
 family had espoused with great ardor, were all anx- 
 ious to attach him to their service, but Nicholas V., 
 Pius II., and Slxtus IV. almost monopolized him, 
 more particularly the first-named pontiff, whose aim 
 it was to change the face of Rome. He had requested 
 him to erect fountains, squares, and oratories, and he 
 was also anxious to roof in the bridire of St. Anc^elo 
 so as to make a covered way to the Mole of Hadrian. 
 It is easy, therefore, to understand that Florence, 
 many as were the attractions she offered him after so 
 long an absence, failed to retain him, and he settled 
 definitely at Rome, where he died In the spring of 
 1472, as is proved by the remark of Matteo Palmlerl, 
 Apostolic Secretary to Slxtus lY., in his book ^* Do 
 Tcmporibus suls." His ashes, which were tempora- 
 ls
 
 210 FLORENCE. 
 
 rily deposited in the cliurch from which he took his 
 ecclesiastical title, were transferred to Florence and 
 placed in the family tomb. 
 
 Alberti had obtained an mirivalled position in his 
 own line, his social rank helping in some measure to 
 establish his fame. Moreover, all hmnanists occu- 
 pied a higher place in the intellectual hierarchy than 
 the ordinary artist, who was looked upon as a supe- 
 rior kind of mechanic. The whole history of Alberti 
 may be gleaned from the various works which he has 
 left behind him. In his ^^ Trattato della Famiglia" 
 he speaks with pride of his ancient lineage, and Ma- 
 chiavelli represents the Alberti as being '' more like 
 princes than private individuals. '^ The hatred of the 
 Albizzi seems to have knoAvn no abatement, and dur- 
 ing the greater part of his life Leo Battista never 
 went abroad without an escort of armed men lent him 
 by Cardinal Alberti. 
 
 As an artist his conceptions were grandiose and 
 noble, but in the details of ornamentation his style is 
 rather hard, and in endeavoring to reproduce Attic 
 elegance he occasionally mistakes meagreness for 
 grace. His favorite motive in ornamentation was 
 the palm copied from ancient tablets. 
 
 As a writer he was very erudite and capable of 
 great eloquence, notably in the passage upon the 
 tombs in his " De re jEdificatoria,'' Avhile in his pri- 
 vate correspondence his predominant characteristic 
 was affable simplicity. Angelo Politian pronounced
 
 ILLUSTKIOUS FLORENTINES. 211 
 
 his funeral oration, and Cristof(n'o Landino passed a 
 glowing eulogium upon him in his ^^ Commentary on 
 Dante." 
 
 The features of Alberti are preserved to us first in 
 the medallion bj Matteo da Pasti, which has on the 
 reverse a winged eye with the motto Quid tinUj sur- 
 rounded by a laurel wreath, and by the beautiful 
 plaquette in the Dreyfus Collection. A replica of 
 this })laquette, which was in the collection of the late 
 M. His de la Salle, is in the Italian Renaissance sculp- 
 ture-room at tlie Louvre, but it does not bear the 
 initials of Leo Battista, though the most competent 
 judges have been of opinion that it is his own handi- 
 Avork. 
 
 The church of San Francesco da Rimini contains a 
 third likeness of him, but this is only an enlarged re- 
 production of Matteo's medalhon. 
 
 MARCILIO FICINO. 
 
 (1433-U99.) 
 
 Marcilio Ficino was the son of a skilful surgeon at- 
 tached to the ^[cdici family, who, though a native of 
 Florence, had sent his son to the University of 
 Bologna, because medical studies were much more 
 advanced there than in any other city of the penin- 
 sula. 3Iarcilio occasionally came to see his father in 
 the Medici Palace, and having on one occasion been 
 presented to Cosimo the Elder, he had the good for- 
 tune to make a favorable impression by his modest
 
 212 FLORENCE. 
 
 demeanor and precocious erudition. Instead of de- 
 voting himself specially to the study of medicine, 
 like his father^ Marcilio developed a great fondness 
 for philosophy, and learnt by heart all the principal 
 authors. Cosimo, who was much pleased to find in 
 him a disciple of the philosophy to which he himself 
 was so warmly attached, kept him at Florence, gave 
 him a lodging in the palace, facilitated the continu- 
 ance of his study, and got his father to consent to his 
 change of profession. In 1456, when only twenty- 
 three years of age, he published "" The Platonician 
 Institutions," and Cosimo and Cristoforo Landino, 
 both very competent judges, admired the work, but 
 exhorted the writer not to read Plato in the Latin or 
 the vulgar tongue, but to study Greek profoundly 
 enough to be able to considt the original. The re- 
 sults of this study were the translation of '^ The Ori- 
 gin of the World," attributed to Mercurius Trisme- 
 gistus, and the "" Choral Hymns." We know from 
 Tiraboschi, and also from the private letters of Co- 
 simo, that ]\Iarcilio sang the hymns, accompanying 
 himself on the lyre. Cosimo soon became so attached 
 to his society that he gave him a small property near 
 Careggi, a town house, and a small collection of 
 Greek manuscripts beautifully ornamented with minia- 
 tures like those in the Laurentiana. 
 
 It was at this period that Cosimo was meditating 
 the formation of the Platonian Academy, referred to 
 in the chapter devoted to the Father of his Country,
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLOKENTINES. 213 
 
 and Marciiio, as has been said, was selected by him 
 to organize this assembly, which met beneath the 
 trees of Cosimo's garden at Careggi. 
 
 Piero de' Medici, at the death of Cosimo, showed 
 him great favor, causing his manuscripts to be copied, 
 advocating his views with great warmth, and arous- 
 ing general enthusiasm both for himself and his pro- 
 tege, by insisting upon his expounding his doctrines 
 from the pulpit. It was from Florence, as is pointed 
 out in the chapter on the Renaissance, that the study 
 of Plato and the observance of his doctrines were 
 spread throughout the whole of Italy, and even of 
 Europe, and the initial credit of this is due to Marcilio 
 Ficino, who was nominated by Lorenzo the Magnifi- 
 cent to a canonry in the cathedral of Florence, and 
 to two rich benefices. This gave a fresh direction 
 to his studies, and he turned his attention to theology, 
 his familiarity with Plato enabling him in his sermons 
 to draw from the writings of the Greek philosopher 
 arguments in favor of the divinity. In this connec- 
 tion his doctrines were not much else than heathen 
 as he drew a comparison between Socrates and Christ, 
 and found an explanation for all the mysteries of the 
 Catholic Faith in the works of Plato. His sermons 
 soon became famous, but they appealed more to the 
 intellect than to the heart, and were not, therefore, 
 much appreciated by the common people. 
 
 ]\Iarcilio Ficino's private character Avas without 
 blemish ; he was affable, simple-minded, and gener-
 
 214 FLORENCE. 
 
 ous, the few intimate friends in whose society he 
 spent most of his time being passionately devoted to 
 him, while the letters of Lorenzo to him breathe a 
 spirit of enthusiastic attachment. He had, however, 
 his moments of aberration, and it may be that towards 
 the close of his life the constant study of the Platonic 
 philosophy had in some measure aifected his intellect. 
 Thus, for instance, he Avas a fervent believer in the 
 supernatural, and according to an anecdote quoted by 
 Tiraboschi and his other biographers, believed in the 
 doctrine of metempsychosis. Arguing one day with 
 his disciple, Mercati, as to the immortality of the soid, 
 it Avas agreed that whichever of the two died first 
 should come and warn the other, and Mercati after- 
 wards declared that on the day of Ficino's death a 
 phantom horseman stopped at his door and exclaimed, 
 " Michael, Michael, what I told you is true." 
 
 The reputation of Marcilio Ficino extended as far 
 as Hungary, and the learned Matthias Corvinus 
 pressed him to come to his Court, while Sixtus IV. 
 WTote him an autograph letter, offering him a pension 
 and a residence at the Vatican ; but nothing would 
 induce him to leave Careggi, Avhere, for the matter 
 of that, he was very well off. 
 
 The works of Marcilio are very numerous, but 
 though they began to be published separately at 
 Florence in 1489, the first complete edition is dated 
 Venice, 1516, and that was put through the press 
 four times. The nomenclature of all these works
 
 The So-called ''Bella Simonetta/' 
 
 Sandro Botticelli,
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 215 
 
 would be very dry, and tliose who may care for full 
 particulars may bo referred to Tirabosclii and other 
 specialist writers. 
 
 BERNARDO PULCL 
 (1420-1491.) 
 
 Pulci descends from a family of poets, and Ber- 
 nardo, the eldest, was one of the ornaments of the 
 Court of Lorenzo the Magnificent, endearing himself 
 to the Medici by composing sonnets for them like a 
 poet laureate. His first elegy upon the death of 
 Cosimo the Elder won him the favor of Piero il Got- 
 toso, and at the death of Simonetta, the beautiful 
 mistress of Giuliano, whose portrait has been pre- 
 served to us by Sandro Botticelli, he wrote another 
 elegy which would give a high idea of the deceased 
 lady's qualities did we not know how ready Court 
 poets always are to say complimentary things. 
 
 Pulci translated into Italian verse Virgil's Bucolics, 
 and he has been credited with the poem ^^ Morgante," 
 which, however, was in reality written by his brother 
 Luigi. This work does not give a very favorable 
 idea of the prevailing morality; but it was read aloud 
 at the literary gatherings, which resembled those at 
 Careggi, and at which the pious Lucrezia Tornabuoni, 
 wife of Piero, presided. It is, however, written in 
 very chaste language, is full of interesting descrip- 
 tions, and, with its vivid and dashing style can- 
 not well fail to please. Bernardo Pulci had a wife,
 
 216 FLOEENCE. 
 
 Antonia^ who wrote several dramatic pieces of the 
 passion-play style, and the poet himself, at the close 
 of his life, was curator of the Academy of Pisa, his 
 connection with the history of literatm-e not being 
 traceable subsequent to 1494. 
 
 Besides Luigi, there Avas a younger brother named 
 Luca, who lived at the Court of Lorenzo, and who 
 has celebrated the great tournament of 1468, which 
 is the only guide we have to the character of these 
 splendid entertainments. He has left several other 
 Avorks, including the ^^ Giriifo," a tale of chivalry, and 
 " II Driade d' Amor," a pastoral poem in four cantos. 
 
 Bernardo was the most famous of the three brothers 
 at the time, but Luigi, as the author of '^ Morgante," 
 has achieved the most enduring fame. 
 
 DOMEXICO BURCHIELLO. 
 
 (139..-144S.) 
 
 Burchiello's name is often quoted by persons who 
 have never read any of his poems. He was a barber 
 by trade, and was doubtless one of those Avho helped 
 to found the Barbers' Salon in Italy, a sort of club 
 open to all the world, in Avhich the latest news and 
 gossip are retailed. A foreigner visiting Italy for 
 the first time will be struck by the countless number 
 of hairdressers' shops in which the modern Burchiello 
 is awaiting his customers, and in the evening people 
 meet there and converse, seated upon large sofas 
 which are placed round the room.
 
 ILLUSTKIOUS FLORENTINES. 217 
 
 Burchiello, a barber and tlie son of a barber, had 
 his shop, m tlie first years of the fifteenth century, 
 in tlie CaUmara quarter, near the old market. He 
 Avas so ready-witted and gay that his name became 
 as synonymous for good-humor and quickness of 
 repartee as that of Figaro did three hundred years 
 hiter. Courtiers and townspeople repaired to his 
 shop, and in the IMedici Gallery may be seen a pict- 
 ure representing the establishment divided into two 
 portions, in one of which customers Avere shaved, 
 while the other was reserved for the regular fre- 
 quenters, who chatted, or played, or recited verses 
 when Burchiello's tongue was not going. 
 
 He wrote sonnets which passed through eight edi- 
 tions in various countries before the fifteenth century 
 was over, though they are so fantastic and incompre- 
 hensible that it is difficult to understand what they 
 mean : for all the learned commentaries of Yarchi 
 and Dona, Dandolo has no hesitation in pronounc- 
 ing these sonnets to be unintelligible to those Avho do 
 not understand the fishwife's vocabulary. The only 
 thing to commend about them is that they are A'iva- 
 cious, and full of that iire which pleases the common 
 people. 
 
 SAVONAROLA. 
 (1J52-1498.) 
 
 Fra Girolamo Savonarola, monk of the Dominican 
 order, was born at Ferrai'a on the 21st of September, 
 1452, and, though not properly speaking a Floren-
 
 218 FLOEENCE. 
 
 tine, lie belongs to the history of that city, so promi- 
 nent a part did he play in the politics and intellectual 
 movement of his day. Witli the ardor of a Peter the 
 Hermit and the miabated fanaticism of a tribmie of 
 the people, which cost him his life, he sought to 
 weaken the influence of the Medici, and to maintain 
 the Republican form of Government in Florence. 
 He did not scruple to call upon the Pope to suppress 
 abuses, and even endeavored to put a check upon 
 his temporal power, and, like the austere reformer 
 that he was, set his face against the prevailing ideas 
 in regard to art and literature, considering them to 
 be infected with paganism, and denouncing them 
 from the pulpit on this ground. His eloquence, his 
 enthusiasm, and his fire, his sombre genius, his bound- 
 less courage, and the matchless audacity and coolness 
 which denoted an immovable conviction, made him 
 one of the most remarkable figures in the history of 
 Florence during the close of the fifteenth century, and 
 the flames which consumed his body have formed a 
 halo of martyrdom around his head, though there were 
 those Avho professed to regard him as an impostor. 
 
 His father's name was Mccolo, and his mother was 
 Elena Buonaccorsi, the family being of Mantuan 
 origin. Austere and serious as a child, there seemed 
 to be something in him which foretold a stormy 
 career. His earliest studies were theology and philos- 
 ophv, and his favorite author was St. Thomas Aquinas, 
 though he wrote a few poems in liis youth which are
 
 ILLUSTKIOUS FLOKEXTINES. 219 
 
 still extant. He liad his first vision at the age of 
 t\vo-and-twentyj Avhen it seemed to him^ one night, 
 that a cold rain had penetrated to his very bones, 
 and annihilated all the fermentation of youth, and 
 allayed for ever the longings of the flesh. After this 
 vision he went off to Bologna, without communicating 
 his intentions to any one, and assumed the robe of 
 a Dominican. He soon manifested his great gifts, 
 and his superiors gave him the chairs of dialectics 
 and metaphysics. He remained for seven years in 
 Bologna, going from thence to Florence, where he at 
 once took up his residence at San Marco, and made 
 his debut as a preacher in San Lorenzo during Lent. 
 He failed, however, to make any impression upon the 
 Florentines, who were formed in the school of Boc- 
 caccio and Marsuppini, and finding this to be the case, 
 he resolved to confine himself in future to expound- 
 ing Holy Writ. Having been sent by his superiors 
 to preach in Lombardy, he returned to Florence at 
 the request of Lorenzo the Magnificent, to whom 
 Pico della Mirandola had described him as being a 
 man of great promise, well versed in Holy Writ, and 
 deserving of the highest interest. 
 
 Li 1490 he commenced, in the church of San 
 Marco, a series of lectures upon the Apocalypse, and 
 basing his arguments upon the obscurity of this book, 
 he declared that it foretold the immediate ruin of 
 Florence, unless she reformed her ways. He called 
 upon the Church to regenerate herself, and upon her
 
 220 FLORENCE. 
 
 clergy to give up the licentious life whicli so many 
 of them led, threatening them with the Divine ven- 
 geance in the sentence engraved on the medallion : 
 '^ Gladius Domini super Terram, Ceto et Velociter." 
 His preaching created a feeling of terror throughout 
 FlorencCj but his threats of chastisement seemed to 
 fascinate the people, and as St. Mark's was too small 
 for the congregations which pressed to hear him, he 
 preached the following year in the Duomo. For 
 eight years he had the Avhole city at his feet, and 
 when he came down from the pulpit on his w^ay back 
 to the monastery of St. Mark he had to be protected 
 from the enthusiastic demonstrations of the ardent 
 and impressionable crowd. 
 
 It is difficult at this distance of time to form an 
 idea of what his eloquence was like, but it apparently 
 was marked rather by energy and natural inspiration 
 than by elevation of ideas and finish. As he Avent 
 straight to the hearts of the people, there must have 
 been a tinge of vulgarity which touched the instinct 
 of the masses, and a certain tone of tenderness which 
 had its effect upon the strongest, for upon one occa- 
 sion the whole congregation burst into sobs, beating 
 their breasts and manifesting their contrition in other 
 w\iys. Savonarola was an extemporary preacher, 
 but one of the congregation took down his sermons, 
 and manuscript copies of them were widely circulated 
 until the art of printing enabled them to be repro- 
 duced with a wealth of illustration.
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 221 
 
 In July, 1491, he became prior of St. Mark's. It 
 was a custom in the convent that on the election of a 
 new prior he should go and do homage to the civil 
 authority. As Lorenzo dc' Medici was an intimate 
 friend of Pico della Mirandola, who was the sworn 
 ally of Savonarola, it might be supposed that tlic lat- 
 ter would have conformed to the general usage ; but 
 instead of doing so he denounced the tyranny of Lo- 
 renzo, and accused him of undermining the liberties 
 of the people. Lorenzo had on a previous occasion 
 sent him a delegation composed of live or six citizens, 
 begging him not to excite still more a people which 
 had always been the sport of its own passions ; but 
 his answer to this was a fresh tirade, in which he an- 
 nounced the early death of the chief of the State. 
 The fulfilment of this, as of some of his other predic- 
 tions, gave additional force to his fervid declamations 
 and mystic utterances. In the life of Lorenzo the de- 
 tails of Savonarola's visit to him on his death-bed arc 
 given in full, and need not, therefore, be repeated 
 here. 
 
 With all his fanaticism Savonarola was a true pa- 
 triot, and on more than one occasion he proved his 
 devotion to Florence. When Charles VIII. was ad- 
 vancing on the city the Dominican monk went forth 
 to meet him, and adjured him so vehemently in the 
 name of God that the king was induced to adopt a 
 more conciliatory policy. The speech which Savo- 
 narola made is included in his '' Revelazioni.'' It is
 
 222 FLORENCE. 
 
 true that Charles and his army were only gotten rid 
 of through the fearless bearing of Piero Capponi corn- 
 Lined with Savonarola's influence and the payment 
 by the Republic of a large sum of money. 
 
 Savonarola was at one time very nearly being suc- 
 cessfid in his struggle against the Medici, for when 
 Piero, the son of Lorenzo, had been exiled, he sub- 
 mitted to the Signoria the new form of government 
 which, according to his views, would insure the su- 
 premacy of the people. It Avas at his instance that 
 the first popular parliament was convoked in the 
 Palazzo Vecchio, but, as I have shown in a previous 
 chapter, it did not last long. 
 
 The political purpose which he Avas pursuing did 
 not cause him to slacken his crusade against the 
 Papacy. His constant theme was simony, the disso- 
 lute conduct of the clergy, the scandalous habits of 
 the prelates, the cardinals, and the Pope himself, and 
 the general looseness of ecclesiastical morals and dis- 
 cipline. The occupant of the Papal throne at that 
 time was the infamous Alexander VI., the father of 
 Csesar Borgia, of the Duke of Candia, who was mur- 
 dered by his own brother, and of Lucrezia Borgia ; 
 and as he felt these accusations to be true, and dreaded 
 their effect when launched from the second city in 
 Italy, he summoned the Dominican monk to Rome in 
 order to reprimand him for his doctrines. Savonarola 
 was able to excuse himself on the ground of ill-health 
 from coming to Rome, and was as a matter of fact
 
 ILLUSTEIOUS FLORENTINES. 223 
 
 obliged to renounce preaching and work of all kinds, 
 and remain for some time in seclusion at San ^Marco. 
 
 But his silence did not last long, and when he 
 again ascended the pulpit he spoke with even greater 
 vehemence against the Pope, writing to all the sov- 
 ereigns of Europe, and asking them to convoke a 
 General Council for the deposition of the Pontiff, as 
 guilty of crimes which he undertook to prove. 
 
 Alexander VI. offered him a cardinal's hat on con- 
 dition that he would change the tenor of his dis- 
 courses. Savonarola, however, treated the proposal 
 with scorn, and made it the subject of a sermon in 
 order to prove the charges of venality in connection 
 Avith ecclesiastical offices Avhich he had been preferring 
 against the Court of Rome. 
 
 The city, however, was divided into two camps, 
 upon the one side being the adherents of the Medici, 
 who were the natural enemies of Savonarola, and who 
 were styled the Arrahinii, while on the other were 
 his partisans, known as the Viagnoni, The most 
 fanatical of the latter Avere Fra Domenico da Pescia 
 and Fra Silvestro jMaruffi, the first named (if wliom 
 succeeded Savonarola in the pulpit about 149(3, and 
 commenced a crusade against all kinds of profane 
 objects, such as books, statuary, drawings, paintings, 
 miniatures, jewelry, dress, musical instruments, and 
 perfumes. The people of Florence Avere possessed 
 of a frenzy, and condemned to the flames evervthing 
 which was susceptible of exciting Avorldly thoughts,
 
 224 FLOEENCE. 
 
 or which was used for the adornment of the person. 
 There Avas a wild outburst of fanaticism^ and^ Avith a 
 blind fury reminding us of the Iconoclasts, priceless 
 works of art were destroyed in that year, when for 
 the first time the tolerance for which Italy had always 
 been conspicuous was forgotten. It is strange to note 
 that in the fifteenth century, under the rule of the 
 Medici, books and works of art should have been con- 
 signed to the flames. 
 
 In Italy the Renaissance had never been in actual 
 opposition to Christianity, for the revelation of the 
 antique world to modern society did not come into 
 collision witli the great tradition of the Christian re- 
 ligion, which had constituted the strength of Italy. 
 It was possible to venerate Plato, and even to keep a 
 lamp burning before his bust as before an altar, Avith- 
 out undermining the Catholic faith, as is proved by 
 the many pious foundations of the day, and by the 
 great liberality of the Avealthy in employing the most 
 famous artists to build churches and chapels. 
 
 A band of children Avas at tliis time formed by Fra 
 Domenico, and dressed in A\'hite, the emblem of purity, 
 they Avent round to the A\"irious houses and collected 
 the objects Avhich Avere anathema. This lasted 
 throughout the carniA^al, and on ShroA^e Tuesday they 
 Avere made into a gigantic bonfire on the Piazza della 
 Signoria, Fra Domenico assembling the children in 
 Santa Maria del Fiore, Avhere he celebrated mass, and 
 going Avith them from thence to San Marco, the boys
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 225 
 
 carrying red crosses in their hands, and wearing 
 wreaths of olive-branches. In the flames which arose 
 from the Piazza were consumed manuscripts of 
 Boccaccio and Petrarch, priceless works of sculpture 
 and of painting, and specimens of the goldsmith's craft, 
 never so perfect as at Florence in the fifteenth century. 
 
 Burlamachi says that in 1498 the enthusiasm was 
 so great that the ceremony had to be repeated, and 
 that the procession of neophytes was headed by Savo- 
 narola himself, crucifix in hand. Burlamachi adds 
 that, "" Having reached the Piazza, they found the 
 bonfire larger than before, among the articles in the 
 holocaust being antique female busts of great beauty 
 — busts of the beautiful Bencina, Lena Morella, Bina, 
 ]\Iaria do Lenzi, by the greatest scidptors. There 
 w^as a bust of Petrarch, adorned wdth gold and minia- 
 tures, which was worth fifty gold crowns, and a watch 
 was kept over the bonfire to see that nothing was re- 
 moved. When the procession arrived it drew up in 
 a circle around the pyramid, which was sprinkled 
 with holy water, amid the singing of hymns. Then 
 came the captains of districts, who set fire to the bon- 
 fire to the sound of bells, trumpets, and other instru- 
 ments of nuisic, and amid the joyful exclamations of 
 the people, who chanted the ' Te Deum.' " 
 
 About 1407^^ The Triumph of the Cross " made 
 its appearance, the greatest of his writings, and in 
 the latter part of the same year Savonarola openly 
 defied the Papal excommunication. A Franciscan 
 
 15
 
 226 FLORENCE. 
 
 named Francesco da Piiglia was at the head of the 
 party which regarded Savonarola and Fra Domenico 
 as heretics, and as the latter had the fanaticism to de- 
 clare from the pulpit of St. Mark that the flames 
 would have no hold on him or his master, the Fran- 
 ciscan took up the challenge. 
 
 A whole host of priests, women and children were 
 so convinced that the fire would not burn Savonarola 
 or his disciple that they were ready to follow them 
 through the flames, when, on the 7th of April, 1498, 
 the Aveird experiment was tried on the square in front 
 of the Palazzo Yecchio. First came Fra Francesco 
 da Puglia, foUowed by the monks of his order, with- 
 out any show or ornaments, and then followed Savo- 
 narola himself, and the Dominicans in fifll ecclesiasti- 
 cal dress, and carrying the Host. 
 
 A long discussion arose as to whether the condi- 
 tions were equal — whether the Dominicans ought not 
 to wear the same plain robe as the Franciscans, and 
 whether the Host Avhich they carried with them might 
 not afford them miraculous protection. While the 
 argument was being carried on heavy rain fell and 
 extinguished the flames ; and this incident, which 
 made the people suspect that they had been duped 
 by two impostors, so discredited Savonarola that on 
 the following Sunday the Arrabbiatij under the frivo- 
 lous pretext of a disturbance which had occurred in 
 another part of the city, attacked the convent of St. 
 Mark, took it by assault, and dragged Savonarola and
 
 Cloister of Monastery of S. Marco,
 
 ILLUSTPvIOUS FLORENTINES. 227 
 
 his two followers — Fra Domenico and Fra Silvestro 
 — to prison. 
 
 When once Savonarola was arrested there was no 
 lack of accusations against liim. lie had already 
 been excommunicated^ and he was now charged with 
 having preached without having the Divine revela- 
 tion, and of having attempted to assemble a council 
 for the reform of the Church without the authority 
 of the Pope. The General of the Dominican order 
 himself, Giovacchino Turriano, of Venice, and Mon- 
 signor Francesco Ramolino, afterwards ]3ishop of 
 Sorrento, were commissioned to represent the Pontiff 
 before the tribunal, which was composed of priests 
 and monks. The result of the trial Avas a foregone 
 conclusion, and Savonarola and his two associates 
 were sentenced to be hanged and burnt on the Piazza 
 della Signoria. 
 
 The execution took place on the 23d of ^lay, 1498, 
 which was Ascension Eve, and a curious picture of 
 the sinister ceremonial is still extant. A tribune more 
 than six feet high had been erected on the Piazza, 
 where the Ammanati fountain had not yet been placed, 
 in front of the ducal palace, and it was from there 
 that the eight magistrates witnessed the execution. 
 This tribune Avas connected with the stake by a sort 
 of raised platform on trestles, and the condemned men 
 were led up to it, and had the insignia of their order 
 stripped from them before being led to the stake. 
 
 After being hung they were burnt to ashes, and
 
 228 FLOKENCE. 
 
 the fact that they had not uttered a word of repent- 
 ance made a great impression upon the multitude. 
 Savonarola was executed last. When he was brought 
 to the ladder he cast a long gaze at the crowd ; and 
 it is said that Avhen his body was cast in the flames 
 the heat caused the right hand to move so that it 
 seemed to be raised^ as if in the act of benediction. 
 
 He was only five-and-forty at the time of his death, 
 and he soon came to be regarded as a martyr, even 
 by the Church ; so much so, that when ten years later 
 Raphael was painting the Stance at the Vatican, he 
 included among the doctors in the ^' Dispute on the 
 Sacrament " the man Avhom the reigning Pope's pre- 
 decessor had caused to be burnt as a heretic. At 
 Florence his image was preserved as that of a prophet 
 and a saint, and in most pictures he is represented 
 with the halo of glory around his head. The most 
 trivial articles which had belonged to him Avere re- 
 garded as relics, and his memory is so venerated that 
 at the beginning of the present century, more than 
 three hundred years after his death, people came on 
 the anniversary of his execution to deposit flowers on 
 the spot where the stake had been erected. 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF SAVOXAROLA. HIS TENDENCIES. HIS IN- 
 FLUENCE UPON LITERATURE AND ART. THE MEETINGS 
 IN THE MONASTERY OF SAN MARCO. 
 
 Such is the true history of Savonarola, and it only 
 remains to consider what were his real tendencies, 
 and what was the end he had in view. He was one
 
 ILLUSTEIOUS FLORENTINES. 229 
 
 of the most remarkable men of liis time, and he has 
 left an indelible impression upon the monastery of 
 San Marco, Avhich, though now deserted, preserves 
 its air of monastic repose, and which is associated 
 with the name of another famous monk, Fra Angelico. 
 
 While living in the seclusion of his convent the 
 fame of his sermons brought him many illustrious 
 visitors, and he received them in his humble cell, one 
 of the first being Pico della Mirandola, the friend of 
 the Medici, who entertained a high feeling of admira- 
 tion for the sturdy monk. Then came Benivieni ; 
 Politian, so much attached to the antiquity which 
 Savonarola held in abhorrence ; Marco Finiguerra, 
 the engraver; Bandini; the famous Sandro Botticelli; 
 Lorenzo di Credi ; and two of the Della Robbia 
 family who had taken holy orders. 
 
 The f[ivorite subject Avith Savonarola was the 
 deleterious influence of paganism, which he ascribed 
 to the study of the ancient authors. His idea Avas 
 to extend the influence of religion to all human facul- 
 ties and to all their outcome, and as he saw paganism 
 gradually asserting itself in every branch of literature 
 and art, he commenced an ardent crusade against it. 
 The study of the Bible was his dominant passion, and 
 he asserted that it contained everything that was 
 necessary for the development of humanity. I have 
 said above that in his earlier commentaries upon the 
 Apocalypse he predicted in vague terms the French 
 invasion and the disasters of Italy, and when this
 
 230 FLOKENCE. 
 
 prediction was realized the enthusiasm to hear him 
 knew no bomids, the mountaineers coming down from 
 the Apennines and sleeping under the walls of the 
 city, so as to be sure of getting places to hear him 
 the next day. The cloister of St. Mark being too 
 smallj it was in the Duomo, which woidd have ac- 
 commodated all the population of Florence, that he 
 thundered forth against the lukewarm {tie/idi), and 
 endeavored to inspire them with his own ardent faith. 
 His eloquence was not without its effect, for there 
 Avas a considerable change made in the habits of the 
 people, and a reaction set in against the simonies and 
 loose discipline of the clergy. Savonarola urged that 
 TibulluSj Ovid, Catullus, and all the philosophy of 
 Aristotle should be proscribed, and he reminded the 
 partisans of classic study of the schisms which had 
 resulted in the disruption of the Empire and the entry 
 of the Turks into Constantinople. His action was 
 not confined to literature, for in politics he had con- 
 tributed to the convocation of the first Florentine 
 parliament, and in regard to domestic reform his prin- 
 cipal tenets were, like those of J. J. Eousseau three 
 hundred years later, the advantages of a natural edu- 
 cation, of physical and moral education by the father 
 and the mother, and of mothers nursing their infants 
 themselves. 
 
 In regard to art, there can be no doubt that he was 
 most successful in introducing a new order of things. 
 Up to 1480 most of the subjects treated by painters
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 231 
 
 were taken from antiquity or inspired by it, and we 
 have only to read contemporary works or examine 
 pictures and statues to see wliat a larii;e place is held 
 by ancient fable and the mythology of (j recce and of 
 Rome. Savonarola reproached the IMedici with hav- 
 ing encouraged this movement and favored Natural- 
 ism, Avliich is a word one would hardly expect to find 
 used in the fifteenth century. Henceforward we find 
 Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Pietro della Francesca, and 
 other painters representing the beautiful women of 
 the day as Madonnas and saints, and this was un- 
 doubtedly due in some measure to the precepts of 
 Savonarola. He denounced to the people the orgies 
 of sensualism Avhich Avere depicted in the frescoes, 
 sculptures, and other decorations of the palaces, pav- 
 ing the way by his seven years of preaching for the 
 holocausts in which so many matchless works of art 
 were devoured. 
 
 The personal influence of Savonarola over certain 
 artists has been demonstrated by historians of the 
 time. Sandro Botticelli, for instance, was so affected 
 by the repeated attacks of the Dominican monk that 
 he abandoned painting for a time, and shut himself 
 up in a monastery, though Lorenzo de' Medici after- 
 wards induced him to return to his art. Lorenzo di 
 Credi, orthodox though he was in his conceptions and 
 his works, was as deeply affected as Botticelli, and 
 passed the last years of his life in the convent of 
 Santa Maria Novella. The great Fra Bartolonnueo,
 
 232 FLOEENCE. 
 
 who combined the style of the most inspired masters 
 with a profound faith, did not toucli a brush for four 
 years after tlie execution of Savonarola. Cronaca, 
 the chronicler of the street and the studio, who set 
 more store by his fluent pen and his eloquence than 
 by his artistic gifts, could not sleep after he had heard 
 several sermons, and was lost in admiration for the 
 preacher. Giovanni della Corniole, a great cameo 
 worker, spent a long time upon the production of a 
 splendid portrait of Savonarola, which was placed in 
 the Medici collection. Even Michael Angelo, austere 
 and proud as he was, felt in some measure the great 
 reformer's influence, for though he was only a child 
 when Savonarola thundered forth his denunciations 
 of the modern Babylon, they made such an impres- 
 sion upon him that he could repeat extracts from 
 them years afterwards. 
 
 A certain school regarded Savonarola as an icono- 
 clast, an accusation of which Yillari has endeavored 
 to clear him, as in his biography of the Dominican 
 monk he asserts that the holocausts which I have 
 described were only portraits of courtesans and books 
 Avith obscene illustrations, and, to prove that he was 
 not an enemy of letters, points out that he asked the 
 Chapter of San Marco for permission to purchase the 
 library of Lorenzo de' Medici, which was eventually 
 known as the Laurentiana. Be this as it may, Savon- 
 arola, by prohibiting the study of the nude, which is 
 the ever-fresh source of the beautiful in art, and by
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 233 
 
 maintaining the princi})lc of Christian as opposod to 
 pagan art, brouglit about a complete revohitir)n, and 
 put an end to tlie strange combats of Polhiinolo, to 
 the compositions taken from tlie Latin and Greek 
 authors, to the strange allegories of Botticelli and 
 Benozzo Gozzoli, and to the beautiful groups of 
 statuary ■which one might suppose to be extracted 
 from the quarries of Pares, and wrought by the 
 pupils of Praxiteles. 
 
 It will readily be understood that this fanaticism, 
 excellent as were the motives which gave rise to it, 
 called forth the hostility of the Court of Rome, whose 
 power it tended to undermine. The sack of San 
 Marco was the first tangible act of hostility on the 
 part of the Arrahhiati against the Piagnoiii, as the fol- 
 lowers of Savonarola were called, and that must have 
 been a memorable scene when the Dominicans, suc- 
 cumbing under superior forces, were overwhelmed 
 ])y their assailants in the church which was red with 
 blood, and marched to their doom singing and prais- 
 ing God. One cannot visit that now peaceful retreat, 
 which the recollection of Savonarola, Fra Domenico, 
 and Fra Angelico renders so famous, without being 
 reminded of all this ; and the cell of Savonarola, in 
 which are preserved the portraits of Cosimo the Elder, 
 of Benivieni, and of Savonarola himself, the manu- 
 scripts, the chair, the furniture, and the sacerdotal 
 ornaments of the great monk, is assuredly one of the 
 most interesting historical spots in Florence. In it we
 
 234 FLOKENCE. 
 
 have, so to speak, the records of history proved by 
 facts, but for Avhich they might be regarded as mere 
 legends. 
 
 From this time forth rehgious subjects were invari- 
 ably selected for painting and sculpture, and through- 
 out Italy artists were at work upon portraits of Christ, 
 the Virgin, the angels and prophets, and upon Bible 
 scenes, until such men of genius as Titian and Gior- 
 gione discarded this conventional rule, and selected 
 their subjects from the Greek mythology or the 
 domain of pure fancy. Nowhere was the influence 
 of Savonarola more profoundly felt than in the fine- 
 arts, as his utterances had made a deeper impression 
 upon artists than upon any other class. 
 
 THE BENIVIEXI. 
 
 (1453-1542.) 
 
 Jerome Benivieni, though the youngest, was the 
 most celebrated of the family, all the members of 
 which were admitted to the intimacy of Lorenzo the 
 Magnificent, and, as members of his Academy, were 
 the friends and colleagues of Ficino, Politian, and Pico 
 della Mirandola. Domenico, the eldest of the brothers, 
 though gifted with great knowledge as a philosopher, 
 was above all things a theologian, so much so that he 
 was surnamed '' II Scotino," or the little Scot, after 
 the gifted Michael Scotus of Great Britain. Professor 
 of Dialectics in the University of Pisa, and after- 
 wards Director of the hospital of Pescia, he was ap-
 
 Fra Girolamo Savonarola.
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLOEENTINES. 235 
 
 pointed by Lorenzo a canon of the basilica of San 
 Lorenzo, and lie always remained a fast friend of 
 Savonarola. 
 
 Antony, the second brother, was both a man of 
 letters and a doctor, as was often the case in the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, notably with the 
 brothers Ficino. He has left some technical works 
 behind him, including a curious treatise on medicine, 
 and his name disappears at the beginning of the six- 
 teenth century. 
 
 Jerome, the youngest of the three brothers, was 
 born about 1453, and wrote a good deal of poetry, 
 belonging to the Academy of Plato, and publishing 
 verses on ^^ Platonic Love " in Italian. An intimate 
 friend of all the most gifted men of his time, he was 
 the inseparable companion of Pico della Mirandola, 
 who showed his confidence in Jerome by making him 
 his almoner for the distribution of the moneys which 
 he gave to the poor, and of the dowries for young girls 
 Avho were reported to be worthy of this favor. 
 
 Pico has written a commentary on Jerome Beni- 
 vieni as a preface to his '^ Love Sonnets," and he was 
 so attached to him in life that he would not be sepa- 
 rated from him in death, and Avas buried in the same 
 tomb at San Marco. 
 
 Like his brother Domenico, he was a firm believer 
 in Savonarola, and besides the defence which he 
 wrote of the monk, he translated his works from 
 Latin into the vulgar tongue.
 
 236 FLOEENCR 
 
 ANGELO POLITIAN. 
 
 (1454-1494.) 
 
 Politian, whose name is synonymous with deep 
 learning, and who exercised a considerable influence 
 over his generation, was born on the 14th of July, 
 1454, at Monte Pulciano, a small to^^m in Tuscany 
 celebrated for its excellent Avine. His proper name, 
 as would appear from a degree of doctor, the certifi- 
 cate of which is still preserved at Florence, was 
 Ambrogini, the name by which he is familiarly known 
 being derived from his place of birth. 
 
 Cristoforo Landino taught him Latin, and Androni- 
 cus, of Thessalonica, Greek ; in philosophy he Avas 
 the most brilliant of Marcilio Ficino's pupils, and as 
 he was anxious to master the doctrines 'of Aristotle 
 as opposed to those of Plato, he studied his writings 
 under Argyropulos. His earliest work was a transla- 
 tion of Homer into Latin verse j but this did not 
 bring him into any great notice, and the first success 
 which he obtained was by writing some Stanze for 
 the tournament got up by Giuliano de' Medici. It is 
 scarcely credible that he should have written these 
 verses, AA'hich were soon on everybody's lips, at the 
 age of fourteen or fifteen, and it has been argued 
 that the tournament Avas held not in 1468, but in 
 1473. 
 
 The death of Giidiano was a great bloAv for Politian, 
 who wrote in Latin an accomit of the Pazzi conspir-
 
 ILLUSTKIOUS FLORENTINES. 237 
 
 acy ; but Lorenzo intrusted to liim the education of 
 his two sons, Pictro and Giovanni, the latter of Avhom 
 became Pope, under the title of Leo X. 
 
 When nine-and-twenty years of age, at a time 
 when Florence was a centre of study for all Italy, 
 Pohtian was called to the chair of Latin and Greek 
 literature, and his lectures were thronged, for he was 
 as eloquent as he was learned. As Lorenzo had sent 
 him to Rome in charge of his son Pietro, who Avas 
 received Avith great pomp by Innocent VIII. , that 
 pontiff requested Politian to translate Herodianus 
 into Latin, and recompensed him with a gift of two 
 hundred gold crowns. Politian, however, was above 
 taking this present, for he had a private fortune of 
 his own, and had been given a priory and a canonry 
 in the metropolitan church of Florence, besides which, 
 he lived at the expense of Lorenzo. He had formed 
 a close intimacy with Pico della Mirandola, who had 
 renounced his social position in order to devote his 
 whole time to literature ; and these two friends, to- 
 gether with Giovanni Lascaris and a few others, 
 formed themselves into a select literary group. Lo- 
 renzo placed the celebrated Lanrcntiana library at 
 their disposal ; and it was from this period that dates 
 the publication of the Miscellancce^ in which ancient 
 literature received so high a meed of praise. 
 
 The teaching of Politian acquired so much celeb- 
 rity that students from all parts of the Avorld came to 
 take lessons from him ; two or three of them after-
 
 238 FLORENCE. 
 
 wards became professors in the Universities of Ox- 
 ford and Oporto, and by the influence of John Tex- 
 eira, Chancellor of the kingdom of Portugal, he was 
 appointed historiographist to King John II., and in- 
 structed to Avrite the annals of Portuguese conquest 
 in the colonies. It was while preparing this great 
 work that he died, before reaching the age of forty. 
 
 The most infamous calumnies were propagated as 
 to the cause of his death, and a writer of some weight, 
 Paolo Giovio, has not scrupled to adopt them as true. 
 Other writers have reproduced his statements, but it 
 is more pleasant to believe the assertions of those 
 who attribute his premature death to grief at the 
 death of his patron, Lorenzo, and the disasters which 
 overtook his family. Pietro do' Medici, his pupil, had 
 been driven from Florence, and the fortunes of the 
 Medici were trembling to their base, when the poet 
 took up his lyre to sing the plaintive melody ^' Mono- 
 dia in Laurentium Medicii," in which he poured out 
 his own grief and extolled the virtues of his lost pro- 
 tector. Bembo has cleared him of the calumnies to 
 which Paolo Giovio gave currency, and Dandolo, who 
 has already been referred to as the author of ^^ Flor- 
 ence Down to the Fall of the Republic," has contrib- 
 uted to the same end by the discovery of a document 
 written by the Dominican monk Ubaldino, who was 
 charged by Savonarola to conduct his funeral in the 
 convent of San Marco, where he had so often dis- 
 coursed. In this document; which is entitled '^ Ru-
 
 ILLUSTKIOUS FLOREXTINES. 239 
 
 bertus Ubaldinus de Galliano Dominicanai familiie 
 monachus, de obitu ct sepultura domini Angeli Poli- 
 tiani," it is said that Politian died like a good Chris- 
 tiaiij and there is an allusion to the grief which he 
 felt at the decease of Lorenzo and Pico della Miran- 
 dola. The fierce disputes between the writers of that 
 day go far to explain these cruel insinuations, as has 
 already been seen in the case of Filelfo and Poggio. 
 Politian's bitterest enemy was one Giorgio Merula, of 
 Alexandria, a professor at the University of ]\[ilan. 
 When the MlsceUanecG were published Merula found 
 that they contained several ideas of his own, and 
 opinions contrary to his as well, and he accordingly 
 wrote a strong pamphlet, Avhich, though not printed, 
 was distributed throughout Florence. To this Poli- 
 tian replied with another pamphlet, in which he spoke 
 of his adversary, under the pseudonym of ]\[abilius, 
 in very cutting terms. The feud, however, was ulti- 
 mately healed, and Merula became a warm friend of 
 Politian before his death. 
 
 The influence of Politian upon his contemporaries 
 was very great, his chief speciality, des})itc the halo 
 of poesy which the pubhcation of the Stance had cast 
 around him, being his intimate knowledge of the 
 Latin and Greek authors. He wrote very little in the 
 vulgar tongue, and with the exception of the Stauzc^ 
 the only known works by him in Italian are a Can- 
 zone, which is transcribed in Crescimbeni's History 
 of Literature, and a beautiful poem called ^^ Orfeo."
 
 240 FLOKENCE. 
 
 He was without a rival in Greek, and wrote com- 
 mentaries on most of the chissic authors, his other 
 works comprising Elegies, Epigrams, Miscellanies, a 
 version of Herodianus, a eulogy of Homer, and twelve 
 letters containing some valuable information about 
 the literary history of the last half of the fifteenth 
 century. He made a careful collation of most of the 
 ancient manuscripts in the Laurent 'mnctj and prepared 
 the " Greek Paraphrase '' of the '^ Institutes " of Jus- 
 tinian ; the celebrated ^^ Pandects " manuscript, Avhich 
 is preserved at Florence, furnishing him with much 
 valuable information. Although a canon of the 
 Church, he did not concern himself much about 
 theology, and he is regarded as the real founder of 
 the Italian Theatre, as he was the first to write dia- 
 logue for his characters. The works of Politian were 
 first published by Aldo in 1498, and the best life of 
 him is the biography published at Bergamo in 1747 
 by Sarassi, as a preface to his edition of the StanzCj 
 though another good biography was published at 
 Leipsic in 1736 by Mencken. Erasmus proclaimed 
 him to be '' a miracle of nature," but the miracle was 
 so calumniated by the author of ^^ Florentine Anec- 
 dotes," and by Vossius, on the faith of Paolo Giovio, 
 that we have to fall back upon original docmnents, 
 and upon the letters of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and 
 of other contemporaries, to clear his memory. The 
 evidence of Abbe Mehus, in his '^ Preface to the Life 
 of Ambrose Camaldoli," alone suffices to show that
 
 ILLUSTEIOUS FLOKENTIXES. 241 
 
 Politian (lied a nobler deatli than liis detractors averred. 
 He says, "Messire Angelo Politian, attacked by a 
 violent fever, died after an illness of fourteen days, 
 and, unfortunate even after death, malevolence Avould 
 have it that he expired in a delirium caused by his 
 passions. It is hard to believe that one so versed in 
 Greek and Latin, in history, in antiquity, in dialectics, 
 and in philosophy, had not more command over him- 
 self. It should be added that Pietro de' Medici, his 
 pu})il, had opened negotiations Avith the Pope for 
 making him a cardinal just at the time that he Avas 
 banished, that the death of Lorenzo was a great blow 
 to him, and that he was involved in the same hostility 
 which led to the expulsion of Pietro. '^ 
 
 PICO DELLA MIRAXDOLA. 
 
 (14G3-1494.) 
 
 Whenever an illustration of youthful precocity was 
 sought by any writer at the close of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, the name of Pico della Mirandola, the young 
 noble who abandoned his social position to devote 
 himself to study, and who on one occasion offered to 
 carry on a discussion upon every branch of human 
 knowledge, at once occurred to him, and this name 
 has become renowned, not only in Italy, but through- 
 out Europe. 
 
 Giovanni Pico della ^lirandola was the third son of 
 Giovanni Francesco, signer of ]\[irandola and Concor- 
 dia. Ilis mother was almost as famous as he was, 
 
 16
 
 242 FLOEENCE. 
 
 and one of the greatest artists of the day represents, 
 in a well-known work, young Giovanni in his mother's 
 arms, as if to typify her tender care for an infant who 
 gave so much promise, even from his cradle, of the 
 knowledge which was to make him one of the won- 
 ders of his age. When only ten years old he made a 
 speech in public^ and read some of his own poetry. 
 AVhen he had mastered Avith surprising facility the 
 instruction given him at home, he was sent to Bologna, 
 where he studied philosophy and theology. Wealthy 
 and independent, he determined to visit aU the great- 
 est universities in Europe, and instead of listening to 
 the lectures of the most eminent professors, he was 
 able to embarrass them by his questions, and argue 
 successfully Avith them. 
 
 Unfortunately for his fame, the study of the Syrian, 
 the Arabian, and the Chaldean languages led him to 
 indulge in vague and speculative views, and in the 
 unprofitable examination of the Cabala. He had 
 formed a library of the Cabala, the catalogue of which, 
 published by Gaffarel, is still extant. 
 
 He Avas not one of those modest scholars who love 
 science for its own sake, and Nature, while lavishing 
 her gifts upon him, had endoAved him Avith a feeling 
 of pride Avhich impelled him to air those gifts before 
 the Avorld. Thus it Avas that in 14G8 Pico della ]\Ii- 
 randola, then in the plenitude of his faculties, arrived 
 at the Court of Innocent VHI. Avith a list of nine hun- 
 dred propositions, ^^ De omni re scibiH," AAdiich he un-
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 243 
 
 dertook to sustain in public debate against all the 
 savants who chose to enter the field. As he was very 
 wealthy he further declared his willingness to defray 
 the expenses of all those who would make the journev. 
 The list of propositions has been preserved, and it 
 has been Avell remarked that the learning of anv one 
 who answered tlieni all woidd not amount to very 
 much. 
 
 The immediate result of this challenge was to raise 
 up enemies for him among those whom he attempted 
 to outshine, and thirteen of his propositions were de- 
 nounced as being tainted with heresy. lie, of course, 
 had his answer ready, and his first argument was to 
 prove that these very propositions had been sanc- 
 tioned by theologians whose orthodoxy was unim- 
 peachable. He turned the laugh against his accusers, 
 who had made the blunder of representing the Cabala 
 as a man who had spoken evil of Jesus Christ. In- 
 nocent YIII., however, condemned the propositions, 
 and Pico left Rome for France, where he was held in 
 great esteem. He was again denounced during his ab- 
 sence, and the Pope summoned him to appear before 
 his tribunal j but though he did so, and had no diffi- 
 cidty in clearing himself, the mortification fur him 
 Avas very great. 
 
 This was the close of his public career, and having 
 abandoned his titles and property in favor of his 
 nephews, he lived in the intimacy of learned men at 
 the Court of his friend Lorenzo the Magnificent, being
 
 244 FLOKENCE. 
 
 very regular in his attendance at the Academy of 
 PlatOy where Marcilio Ficino and Politian bore him 
 company. He died in the prime of youth, at the age 
 of thirty-one, having been preceded to the tomb only 
 two months before by Politian. Charles VIII. entered 
 Florence on the very day of his death, and the French 
 King, who had received him at the Court of Paris, 
 hearing of his serious illness, sent two of his physicians 
 to him, but he had breathed his last before they could 
 arrive. He died in the true foith of a Christian, be- 
 queathing all his fortune to his servitors and to the 
 poor of Florence. 
 
 His works comprised a poem upon the creation of 
 the universe, in which he attempts to conciliate the 
 Bible with the doctrines of Plato — a favorite theme 
 in the fifteenth century ; a scholastic treatise entitled 
 '•^ De Ente et Uno," eight volumes of ^^ Letters," a 
 commentary upon ^^ Platonic Love," a harangue upon 
 ^^ The Dignity of Man," several pieces of poetry, and 
 twelve books denouncing judicial astrology, the last 
 named being looked upon as the most important of 
 his many compositions. The only work of his in the 
 vulgar tongue was his commentary of his friend 
 Benivieni's ^' Platonic Love." 
 
 Pico della Mirandola, prodigy of learning as he was, 
 and one of the most popidar men of his age, did not 
 as a writer make any great contribution to the sum 
 of human knowledge, and his science was Platonic, 
 and professed with a view to effect.
 
 ILLUSTKIOUS FLORENTI^"ES. 245 
 
 MACHIAVELLI. 
 
 (14G9-1527.) 
 
 NIccolo Machiavelli was born at Florence in May, 
 1469^ Lis father, who was a judge, being called Ber- 
 nardo, while the name of his mother was Bartolomea 
 di Stefano Nelli. It was believed at one time that he 
 was descended from a noble family which had given 
 several marquises to Tuscany ; but the truth is that 
 his father, though well Ijorn and moderately rich, was 
 not of noble descent. He was a native of Yal di Pisa, 
 and his property was at Montespertoli. These fiicts 
 concerning the great political writer who has acquired 
 a proverbial reputation for astuteness and perfidy are 
 derived from Passerini and Pietro Fanfani. 
 
 It may be assumed that IMachiavelli made a pro- 
 found study of Latin and the Italian classics. At the 
 age of five-and-tAventy he was employed in the 
 Government office which conducted the business relat- 
 ing to embassies and Avar, while four years later — in 
 1498 — a decree of the Grand Council raised him to 
 the rank of Second Chancellor. He had scarcely 
 entered upon these new duties than he was promoted 
 to be Secretary to the Council of Ten, and so able 
 was his conduct of affairs that he held the post for 
 fifteen years, though the ordinary tenure was only for 
 a month. 
 
 In 1499 he undertook the first of a series of em- 
 bassies, and in the hands of the Government of Flor-
 
 246 FLOKENCE. 
 
 ence appeared to be a docile and supple instrument. 
 But while Macliiavelli seemed to be only expressing 
 the vicAvs of those by whom he was commissioned, 
 he had been skilful enough to dictate the resolutions 
 of those who sent him. The first important mission 
 which he undertook was to King Louis XII. of France 
 in 1500. In the following year he returned to fill his 
 duties as Second Chancellor, though not for long at a 
 time, as we find him first at Pistoia, then at Pisa, 
 then at Siena, and then at Arezzo. In 1502 he ac- 
 companied Cuesar Borgia to Imola, and then through- 
 out the Romagna and Umbria, Avhen that Prince was 
 engaged in reducing the rebel lords, Vitellozzo Vitelli, 
 Oliveretto da Fermo, Pagolo, and the Duke de Gra- 
 vina Orsini. It was during these different embassies, 
 more military than diplomatic, that Macliiavelli, con- 
 stantly engaged in sieges, assaults, fortifications, and 
 battles, directed his brilliant faculties to the study of 
 war and the practical side of a military profession. 
 
 But a higher mission awaited him, and the soldier 
 was soon merged in the diplomatist. At the death of 
 Alexander VL, Florence took a deep interest in the 
 election of a new pope, and was very anxious to im- 
 pose her candidate upon the Sacred College. Car- 
 dinal Francesco Soderini was sent from Volterra to 
 Rome, Macliiavelli accompanying him as far as Val di 
 Arno, and then proceeding on his own account to the 
 conclave, in which he played a very important part. 
 
 In 1505 he was intrusted with the realization of
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 247 
 
 an idea wliicli lie had long been advocating, and 
 Avliicli was destined to bring about a complete revolu- 
 tion in the constitution of Italian States. His plan 
 Avas to substitute for the mercenary forces, upon the 
 fidelity of which little reliance could be placed, and 
 wliltl), animated by no patriotic sentiments, often 
 turned tail and fled, a national army composed solely 
 of citizens. 
 
 In 1503, at a meeting of the Council, he urged the 
 people to form an army, and contributed to the ex- 
 penses of their equipment, and in 1506 he proposed 
 the creation of a special magistracy, which was to 
 form companies of soldiers, superintend their drilling 
 and instruction, and take care that they were readv 
 to march at inunediate notice. This was his greatest 
 work, and he was the moving spirit in the new mag- 
 istracy, obtaining from the Council of Ten their sanc- 
 tion to the measures which he deemed necessary, 
 and never relaxing in his efforts until he felt that the 
 change had taken firm root. Mercenary armies were 
 suppressed for good, and to Machiavelli is due the 
 credit of substituting for them those national forces 
 which are still the idtinia ratio of civilized societies. 
 The superiority of infantry over cavalry was another 
 favorite theory of Machiavelli, Avhose views in regard 
 to warfare have been embodied by Algarotti in a 
 work entitled *^ The Military Science of the Floren- 
 tine Secretary," and dedicated to Prince Henry of 
 Prussia.
 
 248 FLOKENCE. 
 
 In 1506, while still busily engaged in his work of 
 military organization, he was obliged to return to 
 Rome and accompany Julius II. to Imola when the 
 latter was attempting to subjugate Bologna. In 
 1507 he went to supervise the recruiting of foot- 
 soldiers at Val di Tcvere, Valdichiana, Chianti, and 
 the valleys of the Elsa and the Cecina, and in the 
 course of the same year he was sent as a delegate to 
 Piombino and Siena. 
 
 At the end of 1507 he was sent to meet the Em- 
 peror Maximilian, who was about to enter Italy on 
 his way to receive the imperial crown from the 
 Pontiff, and as Florence had to provide a subsidy, 
 Machiavelli was sent to settle the matter. He was 
 six months on this mission, and he found time to 
 write the " Ritratti delle cose d'Alemagna," the 
 ^^Eapporto delle cose della Magna," and the ^'Discorso 
 sopra I'lmperatore." There is no need to enumerate 
 all the diplomatic missions upon which he was em- 
 ployed, for rarely has a public man been so constantly 
 occupied, but amidst all this he seemed to be more 
 specially engrossed by military affairs, and may, 
 indeed, be regarded as the War Minister of the Re- 
 public, with all the practical knovrledge and more 
 than the deliberative ability of a great commander. 
 The long and arduous struggle with Pisa gave him 
 an opportunity of displaying his talents, and it may 
 be said that the measures adopted to capture the city 
 were suggested by him.
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 249 
 
 These almost permanent duties did not prevent 
 him from rendering stiJl greater services, and tlie 
 post of Ambassador to tlic Court of France l)eiiig 
 vacant, lie filled it for a short time in 1510, taking 
 up his residence first at Lyons, and afterwards at 
 Blois and Tours. 
 
 Tlie fjill of the Gonfaloniere Soderini Avhich took 
 place upon the 30th of August 1512, during his ab- 
 sence, was very prejudicial to him, for after the change 
 of Government which followed he was deprived of his 
 post both as Chancellor and Secretary of the Ten. 
 A decree was even passed ordering him not to leave 
 the place of residence assigned to him, and he was 
 forbidden to attend the Signoria for a twelvemonth. 
 Mixed up in a conspiracy against the ]\[edici in 1513, 
 he was imprisoned in the Bargello, and even put to 
 the question, but Leo X., delighted at his election 
 to the throne of St. Peter, had him set at liberty. 
 There can be no doubt that he was tortured, but he 
 met his punishment with the stoic courage of the men 
 of old, and left behind him a curious sonnet written 
 at the very time. 
 
 While his body was still crushed and bruised, he 
 repaired to his humble villa near San Casciano, and 
 there devoted himself to study, leading a peasant's 
 life, playing bowls and backgammon with his ni'igh- 
 bors, and showing great affability in his relations 
 with them. His political career seemed to be over, 
 and he worked very hard, writing for the Academy
 
 250 FLOEENCE. 
 
 of the Ruccellai Gardens, the ^^ Prmclpc '^ (1^'>13), 
 ^^ Discourses on the First Book of Livy " (1516- 
 1519), the '^Dialogue upon Language/' and the 
 ^^Seven Books of the Art of War" (1520). The ^^Life 
 of Castruccio " was Avritten at Lucca about the end 
 of the same year. Under the princedom of the 
 Medici he again returned into favor, but though he 
 was employed upon several diplomatic missions he 
 did not hold any permanent post, and it was imder 
 these circumstances that he came to write the ^^ Storie 
 Florentine," and the two comedies, Manclragola and 
 Cliziaj which were composed for representation before 
 Leo X. Andrea del Sarto and Aristotle de San Gallo 
 imdertook the scenic arrangements, and the audience 
 comprised cardinals and other dignitaries of the Vati- 
 can. Francesco Guicciardini, the great historian and 
 the Governor of the Eomagna, had these comedies 
 represented at Bologna during the carnival of 1526, 
 and the Venetians also were anxious to witness the 
 performance of them. 
 
 Pope Clement VII., in 1526, called him back to 
 activity by intrusting him with the inspection of the 
 fortifications of Florence, the Pontiff foreseeing the 
 possibility of the city having to sustain a siege j and 
 Machiavelli having, with a number of military engi- 
 neers, taken counsel as to the best measures to be 
 adopted, made his report to the Pope. 
 
 The whole of that year was spent by him in nego- 
 tiations with Guicciardini and the proveditore of
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTIXES. 251 
 
 Venice at Cremona. He thus escaped the tumult 
 caused by the conspiracy of the 26th of April, and 
 went upon Guicciardini's behalf to Doria and Genoa 
 in quest of a galley and some reinforcements. From 
 Genoa he went to Leghorn, in the company of 
 the Marchioness of ^Mantua, and he died at Florence 
 on the 23d of June, 1527. 
 
 A letter from his son proves that Machiavelli died 
 a poor man, and no wonder that he did, for his life 
 was full of vicissitudes. While holding office, he 
 spent his salary freely, and when he fell from power 
 he did nothing to increase his fortune. In whatever 
 light he is looked at, he is a genius, though a French 
 writer has written a phrase which the Italians take 
 in very bad part : " The misfortunes of Italy arose 
 solely from the fact that she was capable of producing 
 the Principe." There can be no doubt but that Machia- 
 velli inculcated the odious maxim as to the end justi- 
 fying the means, but it is equally certain that Avith 
 him it was dictated by conviction rather than by per- 
 versity. He was a great patriot beyond all question, to 
 say nothing of his being an incomparable artist and a 
 gifted writer who has the true historical sense, and who 
 has left political portraits Avhich a Tacitus would not 
 disown. 
 
 FRANCESCO GUICCIARDINL 
 (1483-1540.) 
 
 Francesco Guicciardini is the classic historian of 
 Florence during the Medici a.i^e, and whatever
 
 252 FLOEENCE. 
 
 be tliouglit of Ills work, as a well-informed contem- 
 porary and a Avriter of calm and moderate judgment 
 he occupies a prominent place among the Florentine 
 celebrities of his time. 
 
 He was born in Florence on March 6, 1483, his 
 parents being Piero and Simona Gianfigliazzi, and he 
 came of a noble and illustrious family. ^larcilio 
 Ficino stood sponsor for him, and after a studious 
 career as a boy, he was sent by his father, at the age 
 of twenty, to Ferrara, in order that he might be kept 
 out of the political quarrels which were constantly 
 occurring in his native town. From the University 
 of Ferrara he went to that of Padua, and after study- 
 ing law there he returned to Florence, and Avas ap- 
 pointed in October, 1505, to a professorship. He 
 did not devote his whole time to the law, in which he 
 soon acquired no little celebrity, though he made a 
 briUiant debut at the bar and secured plenty of prac- 
 tice. It was upon the 14th of January, 1507, that 
 he was affianced to Maria di Alamanno Salviati. 
 His influence was so great that in the course of this 
 same year the corporation of merchants appointed 
 him consul, but he could not accept the post, as the 
 law required that the holder of it must be thirty 
 years of age. Hencefor\\^ard, corporations, societies, 
 charities, and religious communities sought his advice, 
 but an unexpected event suddenly caused him to 
 transfer his attention from civil to political affairs. 
 This occurred during the Holy Alliance between
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 253 
 
 the Pope, the King of Aragon, England, the Swiss, 
 and the Venetians, Julius II. being very anxious that 
 the Florentines, Avho ^Ycre on friendly terms with 
 Louis XII. of France, should join it. The Floren- 
 tines were much embarrassed what to do, for they 
 did not wish to offend either Louis XII. or the King 
 of Aragon. Eventually it was resolved to send an 
 embassy to King Ferdinand at Burgos, and Guicciar- 
 dini was selected on the 17th of October, 1511. 
 Upon the 19th of January following he started on 
 his mission, his natural hesitation being overcome by 
 his father, who pointed out to him what a great dis- 
 tinction it was for him to be employed in such a 
 capacity at his age. 
 
 The year 1513 was marked by the grave events 
 which followed the fall of the French in Italy after 
 the victory of Ravenna, ten times more costly than 
 a defeat, and on the 2d of September the Medici 
 re-entered Florence in triumph. The Florentine Re- 
 public ceased to exist, and the only ambassador whose 
 post was a permanent one was Jacopo Salviati, the 
 resident Minister at the Vatican. Guicciardini asked 
 to be recalled, and it was while w^aiting permission to 
 demand a farewell audience of the King that he in- 
 dited his "' Ricordi autobiografici." 
 
 In October, 1513, he left Burgos for Florence, 
 where he arrived on the 5th of January following, 
 and in August of that year he was appointed one of 
 the eight members of the Balia. His father had died
 
 254 FLORENCE. 
 
 in the meanwhile^ and the sad news was brought to 
 him at Piacenza. After being for some time under 
 suspicion, and having been refused all part in public 
 affairs by Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, he 
 succeeded in so completely allaying all distrust, that 
 the latter, when starting on his campaign in Lom- 
 bardy, appointed Guicciardini a member of the Coun- 
 cil of Signori who were to act as regents during his 
 two months' absence. 
 
 From this time forth he spent his whole life in the 
 service of the Government, and in 1515 he was sent 
 to Cortona out of compliment to Leo X., who stopped 
 there on his way to meet Francois L, King of France, 
 at Bologna. After this mission was over he was ap- 
 pointed Consistorial Advocate, and then Governor of 
 Modena and Reggio, whence he was sent to Parma, 
 and made Commissary General of the Papal army. 
 During the war between Francois I. and Charles V., 
 Guicciardini Avas employed to relieve the Milan exiles 
 and to raise an army corps for the recovery of the 
 duchy. An opportunity was afforded him of showing 
 his abilities as a soldier, for the brother of IMarshal 
 Lautrec, who commanded the French, having tried 
 to take Reggio by surprise, he forestalled the attack, 
 and recalling Guide Rangone, who had been sent 
 with his troops to Modena, frustrated the plan. 
 
 The two pontiffs who succeeded Leo X. confirmed 
 him in his appointments, and Clement VII. made him 
 President of the Romagna and Lieutenant-General
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 255 
 
 of the Pontifical army, with authority over tlic Duke 
 of Urbiiio himself. 
 
 The entrance of the Constabk; do Bourbon into 
 Rome, and the sack of the city by hi.s troops, re- 
 garded as the greatest humiHation since the barbaric 
 invasion, brought Guicciardini into disgrace, for Pope 
 Clement VII., who was a prisoner in the mole of 
 Hadrian, reproached him for not having staved off 
 defeat. He accordingly withdrew into complete se- 
 clusion at Finocchieto, and wrote a Dialogue in which 
 he confessed his errors and came to the conclusion 
 that '' human prudence is blind, and that avc are in 
 God's hands." 
 
 His disgrace was not of long duration. The Peace 
 of Barcelona, signed by Clement VII. and Charles 
 v., gave peace to Italy at the expense of Florence. 
 Guicciardini was made Governor of Bologna, and at 
 the Pope's death he took service under the ^Medici, 
 urging Duke Alexander to crush the democratic ele- 
 ment in the city. The dagger of Lorenzino, how- 
 ever, brought that prince's career to an early close, 
 and the younger branch came to power with Cosimo 
 I. (Julcclanliiil, Avliosc amljition grew bv Avhat it led 
 on, attempted to obtain a mastery over the young 
 prince, but the latter, wily, like most of his race, 
 availed himself of Guicciardini's advice to get rid of 
 his enemies, and then cast him aside as a useless and 
 possibly dangerous instrument. 
 
 Guicciardini withdrew in humiliation to his ^illa at
 
 256 FLOKENCE. 
 
 Arcetri, and it was there that he wrote his ^^ History . 
 of Italy," dying, a year aftenvards at the age of 
 fifty-seven (May 27, 1540). 
 
 This history is his greatest work, and though the 
 merits of it have been appraised in very different 
 terms, M. Thiers, in his ^^ History of the Consulate 
 and the Empire," says of him that ^^ he has related 
 the events of his day, nearly all of which came under 
 his own observation, with such a graphic pen, and 
 with such profound judgment, that his history de- 
 serves a place among the most enduring monuments 
 of human genius." 
 
 There are, however, many imi)erfections in his 
 works, for if he is superior to MachiavelK as regards 
 profundity of judgment and elocpience, he is inferior 
 to him as regards the arrangement and style of writ- 
 ing. Like MachiavelK, he has left ^' Discourses on 
 the First Decade of Livy," and he also Avrote ^' Dis- 
 courses upon the Changes and Keforms of the Gov- 
 ernments of Florence," in which he displayed political 
 sagacity of the highest kind. 
 
 His CarteggiOj or collection of correspondence dur- 
 ing his mission to Spain, his govemorshi}^ of Modena, 
 Parma, and Eeggio, and his presidency of the Ro- 
 magna; is remarkable for the profundity of judgment 
 to which it testifies. He was Republican in theory, 
 and to judge by his writings possessed a filial affec- 
 tion for Florence that caused his heart to bleed for 
 her while she Avas in the hands of the stranger. He
 
 ILLUSTEIOUS FLORENTINES. 257 
 
 cordially detested the priesthood and its influence^ but 
 hy a singular anomaly he was the friend of princes 
 and tyrants, and while denouncing the priests as im- 
 postors, he was the willing servitor of pontiffs. His 
 political conduct was at total variance with his doc- 
 trines, and we must infer that he was consumed by 
 ambition and the love of power. One of his dreams 
 was an Italian federation under the supremacy of 
 Florence, and ^Machiavelli, Avith his keen insight into 
 the future, had also antici^^ated the now realized unity 
 of the Peninsula. Francesco Guicciardini left no chil- 
 dren, but he had a brother — Lodovico — who settled at 
 Antwerp, where he married and had a son, also named 
 Lodovico, who wrote the history of the Xetherlands. 
 This Lodovico died in 1589, and his works, written 
 in Italian, have been translated into German, Flem- 
 ish, and French, among them being a " Description 
 of the Xetherlands," and '^ Commentaries upon the 
 Events of Europe, and of the Netherlands in Particu- 
 lar, from 1529 to 1560.'' He had not the keen vision 
 of his uncle, but his works arc regarded as standard 
 ones by the Dutch. 
 
 GALILEO. 
 
 (15G1-1G4L) 
 
 Vincenzo Galilei and Julia Ammanati of Pistoja in 
 Tuscany, were the parents of Galileo Galilei, who was 
 born at Pisa on the 15th of February, 1564. Ilis 
 introduction to science was through poeti'y, music, 
 
 17
 
 258 FLORENCR 
 
 and the plastic arts, but when he had once begun to 
 study science he regarded the fine arts as no more 
 than a relaxation from arduous labor. His father 
 being anxious that he shoidd become a doctor, he ma- 
 triculated at the University of Pisa in 1581, and at- 
 tended the medical lectures of Andrea Cesalpino, but 
 having been accidentally led to study mathematics he 
 acquired such proficiency in that science that in 1589 
 he was appointed professor at Pisa. Private misun- 
 derstandings induced him, however, to remove to 
 Padua, where during eighteen years he filled the 
 chair of astronomical sciences. Florence, in the 
 meanwhile, was very anxious to secure his services, 
 and Cosimo II. appointed him his philosopher and 
 mathematician, supplying him with ample means for 
 devoting himself to the speculative inquiries and 
 costly experiments which his researches necessitated. 
 His astronomical studies involved him in persecu- 
 tion and sufi'ering, for in propagating the system of 
 Copernicus the theologians accused him of teaching 
 doctrines opposed to the Bible, and a Florentine monk 
 hurled against him from the pulpit the passage from 
 the Acts of the Apostles, '^ Ye men of Galilee, why 
 stand ye gazing up into heaven ?" The noise of all 
 this travelled from Florence to Rome, and the Grand 
 Duke, Avho was obliged to show defer(ince to the 
 Vatican, advised Galileo to appear before the Inquisi- 
 tion and defend himself against such a false accusa- 
 tion. He arrived at Rome in 1615, but in spite of
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 259 
 
 the aLility with whicli he argued that his doctrines 
 were orthodox, he made no impression upon the tri- 
 bunal; which had made up its mind to condemn liim. 
 He was, however, allowed to go free upon condition 
 that he did not teach the doctrine of Copernicus, and 
 it was subsequent to this that he wrote his "" Dia- 
 logues," and submitted them to the censorship of the 
 Vatican, obtaining the official sanction and printing 
 them in 1632. 
 
 After an interval of seventeen years, from the time 
 when Cardinal Bellarmino, in the name of the Pon- 
 tiff, had forbidden him to propagate his doctrines, he 
 Avas again summoned to appear before the Inquisition. 
 He was not treated as an ordinary prisoner, and the 
 Grand Duke, full of solicitude for his welfare, did all 
 that he could to shield him from the possible conse- 
 quences of the dreaded summons. He was lodged at 
 first with the procurator-fiscal of the Holy Office, and 
 then he was allowed to reside at the house of the Flor- 
 entine ambassador, while at last he Avas permitted to 
 go about the city upon parole. The trial lasted two 
 months, and it ended in a retractation, followed by a 
 sentence of imprisonment in the dungeons of the In- 
 quisition. Urban VIII., however, commuted the 
 punishment, and allowed him to live first at the Villa 
 Medici, afterwards in the archbishop's palace at Siena, 
 and finally in his own villa at Arcetri, near Florence. 
 In 1637 he became blind, but he continued to give 
 lessons to the many devoted students of science whom
 
 260 FLORENCE. 
 
 he had gathered around him, seated on the terrace of 
 the villa where he had spent so many nights watching 
 the heavens. Fully resigned to his lot, and venerated 
 as much for his misfortunes as for his genius, he re- 
 ceived frequent visits from Cardinal Leopold and the 
 Grand Duke Ferdinand. Pie died on tlie 18th of 
 January, 1G41, aged seventy-seven, and his body was 
 interred with great pomp in Santa Croce, the monu- 
 ment erected to his memory being close to that of 
 Michael Angelo. He was the inventor of the micro- 
 scope, the thermometer, the sector, and the small 
 hydi'ostatic balance. It has been denied that he in- 
 vented the telescope, but in my previous work, 
 ^^ Venice," I have given the official report of the sit- 
 ting of the Senate at which he made the experiments 
 for which he received a pension from the Eepublic, 
 already much indebted to him for his seventeen years^ 
 professorship at the University of Padua. The proba- 
 bility is, however, that he merely made a practical 
 application of an invention due to Jacobus Mebius, an 
 inhabitant of Holland, adapting the glasses made by 
 the latter to tubes which enabled him to make astro- 
 nomical observations. He also invented the pendu- 
 lum, and in a letter to Lorenzo Redi, still extant, he 
 explained how it might be adapted to clocks. His 
 labors in the domain of astronomical science were 
 almost boundless. He brought into clear relief the 
 system of gravitation, explained the formation of the 
 Milky Way, discovered the stars which accompany
 
 Gali'eo ( School of Sustermans;,
 
 ILLUSTKIOUS FLORENTINES. 261 
 
 Saturn^ and having ascertained the existence of satel- 
 lites to Jupiter, named them "Medici stars/^ and 
 made a careful calculation of their periods. He Avas 
 the first to discover the unevenness of the moon's 
 surface, its diameter, and the great altitude of its 
 mountains. He also pointed out the spots on the smi, 
 and explained the character of them. 
 
 In physical science his researches were also very 
 extensive, and he proved that a mote of straw and a 
 piece of lead fall at an equal rate when the air is rare- 
 fied. The pneumatic machine Avas invented to prove 
 this law of nature, and the demonstration Avas most 
 convincing. He laid doAvn the laAv as to the accelera- 
 tion of Aveighty substances, and reduced to fixed and 
 certain principles their descent along inclined planes. 
 He devoted a great deal of time also to hydrostatics 
 and to hydraulics, though the only treatise Avhich he 
 Avrotc about them is that comprised in some corres- 
 pondence concerning the OA^erfloAV of the river Bisen- 
 tio, near Florence. 
 
 In the course of a recent debate in the French 
 Chamber of Deputies it Avas alleged that Galileo had 
 never been persecuted, but Signer Domenico Berti 
 has published an official report of his trial, Avith the 
 documents preserved in the State archives at Rome. 
 
 After his first summons to Bome Galileo, as I said 
 above, Avrote the " Dialogue upon the two principal 
 Systems of the World," those of Ftolemy and Coper- 
 nicus, and this takes the form of a conversation in
 
 262 FLORENCE. 
 
 Avliicli defunct personages, including one Salviati, a 
 Florentine friend of Galileo's, discuss tlieir own doc- 
 trines and those of tlieir opponents, the conclusion 
 (evidently dictated by fear of the Inquisition, which 
 had acquitted him with a severe w^arning) being that 
 it Avas best not to pronounce definitely as to the sys- 
 tem of the Avorld. 
 
 Three copies of the ^^ Dialogues," which were 
 printed at Florence, found their way to Rome, and 
 being brought to the notice of Urban VIIL, that pon- 
 tiff manifested great displeasure, and summoned 
 Galileo to appear a second time in Rome ; failing 
 Avhich, ^^ a doctor and a commissioner of the Holy 
 Office would repair to Florence at his expense, have 
 him arrested, and brought to Rome in chains.'' There 
 can be no doubt that Galileo's courage gave way, and 
 on Jime 22, 1633, he read his recantation in the 
 church of Sta Maria Sopra Minerva. Three out of the 
 ten judges, including the Pope's own nephew, ab- 
 stained from signing the sentence, which, moreover, 
 never received the Papal ratification. 
 
 The following is an authentic translation of the in- 
 structions for his trial : — ^^ Galileo must be interro- 
 gated as to his intentions, under threat of torture ac 
 si SKsfinuerify be made to abjure at a plenary sitting 
 of the Holy Office doctrines strongly tainted with 
 heresy, condemned to a term of imprisonment at the 
 pleasure of the Holy Congregation, and enjoined 
 never at any futiu'e time, either by word or by writ-
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS FLORENTINES. 208 
 
 iiig, to say anytliing about tlio motion (»f tlic c.irtli 
 and the fixity of tlio sun, under pain of frcsli punisli- 
 ment." It should be added tliat, notwithstanding all 
 that has been written by Signor Bcrti, M. ]\reziL'res, 
 and others, we have no certain proof as to whether 
 or not Galileo was put to the torture ; and M. Jules 
 Loiseleur has recently argued, with much show of 
 plausibility, that he was not. The words ac si sus- 
 tinucrit may be used in either sense, for while one 
 side applies them to the torture itself {'' if he can bear 
 it," argues Signer Berti), the partisans of Urban 
 VIII. interpret them as meaning " if he persists." 
 
 The conclusion of the judgment runs: "And as it 
 appeared to us that you had not spoken the Avliole 
 truth, we, knowing your intention, have deemed it 
 meet to make a rigorous examination of von {rigor- 
 osiim examen tui), in which you have replied prop- 
 erly, leaving out of the question those things which 
 you have confessed and those Avhich have been de- 
 duced against you above relative to the said inten- 
 tion." 
 
 M. Loiseleur says that Galileo had not the stuff of 
 a martyr in him, and that in all his answers he shows 
 a spirit of ready submission. If so we must suppose 
 that the famous exclamation, " E pur si muove," is 
 only a legend ; but whether we take the side oi' the 
 Church or that of science, it is painful to think that 
 this old man, whose life had been spent in the search 
 after truth, should, wdien his frame was too weak to
 
 264 FLOKENCE. 
 
 endure physical torture^ have undergone such moral 
 torture as to repudiate the doctrines in which he had 
 placed a lifelong faith. 
 
 OTTAVIO KIXUCCIXI. 
 
 (1550-1G21.) 
 
 Ottavio bore a name which had already been made 
 famous by Filippo Alamanno Rinuccini, who was one 
 of the earliest academicians of the Ruccellai Gardens, 
 and he claims the distinction of being one of the earliest 
 composers of the recitative of the modern opera, or 
 lyric poem. The name opera was not given until 
 later, but in 1580, at the festivals to celebrate the 
 marriage of Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 
 with Princess Christine of Lorraine, he Avrote the 
 verses for five musical interludes, the subject being 
 the victory of Apollo over the Python. In order to 
 connect the various musical parts, composers went 
 back to the melopoea of the ancients, and the name 
 of " recital " is still given to it in Italy. 
 
 He made a further step forward in the " Pastoral 
 of Daplmr^^^ which was represented in the Corsi 
 Palace before the leading members of Florence 
 society. He next wrote Eioydice, which he himself 
 styled a ^^ Tragedia per Musica," and this opera was 
 given with great pomp and splendor at the marriage 
 rejoicings of Henri IV. and Maria de' Medici. 
 
 Ottavio owed much to the patronage of this prin- 
 cess, who induced him to come to the French Court j
 
 ILLUSTEIOUS FLORENTINES. 265 
 
 but Ids new mode ef life was so distasteful to him 
 that he soon returned to Florenee, where, in 1008, 
 lie wrote Ariadne at Naxos for the weddinj^ of Gon- 
 zaga, Prince of Mantua, and the Infante ^largaret of 
 Savoy. 
 
 The form of these poems is perfect, and the verses 
 go very well to music, while there is more passion 
 and life in them than in the somewhat artificial com- 
 positions of Quinault. 
 
 Besides these lengthy works, Rinuccini composed 
 some very clever Anacreontic odes in the Concetti 
 style, and he was much appreciated in the best society 
 of Florence for his ever-ready wit. 
 
 He was collecting his works, with the intention of 
 dedicating them to Louis XIII. of France, at the time 
 of his death, and his son, Piero Francesco, completed 
 the task. 
 
 This brings to a close the list of the men who con- 
 tributed the most to the propagation of the new ideas: 
 for the seventeenth century belongs to the modern 
 era, Avhich cannot be treated of here. Moreover, the 
 supremacy of Florence declined after the sixteenth 
 century ; and in the next chapter I shall speak of the 
 art to which that supremacy was due.
 
 266 FLOKENCE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ETRUSCAN ART. 
 
 Long before giving to the world the spectacle of 
 the splendid development of art and civilization which 
 I have endeavored to describe, Tuscany had been in 
 these respects a very favored land. 
 
 More than a thousand years before our era the soil 
 of Tuscany was occupied by the Etruscans, a mys- 
 terious people whose origin has never been clearly 
 ascertained by the historian or the archaeologist. 
 Whether, as has been variously argued, Greek, 
 Phoinician, German, Iberian, or Celtic, the race 
 which peopled Etruria, and settled between the Tiber 
 and the Arno in the tenth century B.C., showed a 
 special instinct for art, and left upon all the objects 
 of its creation so ori^'inal a mark that its stvle is the 
 easiest to identify of all those which the archaeologists 
 have exhumed. 
 
 Mommsen, Niebuhr, and Ottfried Muller have each 
 given their views, accepted by some and rejected by 
 others j Michelet says that the ^^ genius of history is 
 dumb," and Sir George Cornewall Lewis comes to the 
 somewhat sweeping conclusion that ^^ all the search- 
 ing investigations of modern savants as to the primi-
 
 ETRUSCAN ART. 267 
 
 tive liistoiy of the Pelasgi, the Siculi, the Tliyrrlif-n- 
 ians, the Aborigines, the Latins, and other natl(jnal 
 races are as devoid of any solid foundation as the 
 study of judicial astrology, the discovery of the phi- 
 losopher's stone, or the elixir of life." 
 
 Be this as it may, Etruria ^y[^s the cradle of Italian 
 art, and a work on the art and civilization of that 
 country Avhich goes back to the earliest times would not 
 be complete without some notice of the first Etruscan 
 monuments. These are believed to date from tlie 
 close of the tenth century B.C., and the many speci- 
 mens of them which are to be seen in the different 
 museums have all the conventionality of Egyptian art, 
 a circumstance Avhich may perhaps be accounted for 
 by the trade Avhich Etruria carried on with the East. 
 
 Etruscan art, however, was personal, so to speak, 
 while that of Egypt, on the contrary, was immutable, 
 and subject to certain rites, religious prescriptions, 
 mathematical laws, and immovable canons. The 
 Etruscan sought to imitate nature, while the Egyp- 
 tian covered the human anatomy with an inanimate 
 surface of porphyry or granite which gave no clue 
 to the life beneath. The Etruscan was at infinite 
 pains to reproduce the muscles, the veins, the ar- 
 rangement of the hair, and the folds of the loose 
 draperies. 
 
 There are fcAv large monuments left in Etruria, 
 especially of the first period, though souie walls of 
 colossal proportions like those at Eiesule, and lofty
 
 268 FLORENCE. 
 
 gates like those of Perugia — one of the best-pre- 
 served monuments in Italy — may still be seen^ be- 
 longing to a period in which Greek influence is very- 
 visible. The first Etruscan style lasted until the 
 third century of Rome^ after which it underwent a 
 modification and became the Tuscan style, contem- 
 porary with that of ^gina and Greece, while, five 
 centuries after the foundation of Rome, Greek art 
 had acquired so complete a monopoly that it was to 
 be traced in all Etruscan constructions of the time. 
 One of the most important Etruscan towns, Veii, 
 succumbed in the year 396 B.C. to Rome, and in 283 
 B.C. the battle of Vadimo brought about the complete 
 subjugation of the Etruscan nation by Rome. The 
 superposition of these two civilizations may be seen 
 close to Florence, at Fiesole, on the slope of the 
 mountain upon which the Roman amphitheatre is 
 built, for hard by this building, with its classic lines, is 
 the colossal Etruscan wall, which seems strong enough 
 to prop up the mountain, and whose enormous layers, 
 placed one upon another without mortar, with the 
 edges as square as if it had been built yesterday, tell 
 us of this people whose origin has remained an enigma 
 for scholars of every age. 
 
 Etruscan art j)roduced vases, mirrors, jewels, 
 statues of great size and beautiful style, and scarce 
 as they now are, great numbers of sarcophagi, disci, 
 arms, etc., and tables engraved with inscriptions ; 
 and an astonishing number of grotesques are fomid
 
 ETRUSCAN ART. 269 
 
 in the excavations, and are exhibited in the various 
 museums of Europe under the names of " Obesi,'^ 
 and '^ Pingues Etrusci." The Etruscans excelkd in 
 bronze work, and tliere can be no more admiraljle 
 specimen of it than the '' Chimsera '^ in the Uffizi 
 Gallery, with an inscription upon its foot. Tlie ^' She- 
 Wolf" in the Capitol at Rome also shows a complete 
 knowledge of the structure of those animals. Perkins, 
 in his work on ^^ Tuscan Sculptors," attributes this 
 proficiency of the Etruscans to their habit of oftering 
 sacrifices, and of seeing animals immolated by the 
 augurs. 
 
 It seems incj-edible that we should not have one of 
 those triumphal bronze statues, which Avcre so numer- 
 ous that after the capture of Yolsinii the Romans 
 carried off two thousand. Some of them were of 
 gigantic size, and a fragment shown by M. Eugene 
 Piot in the retrospective exhibition at Paris in 1878 
 is believed to belong to what we may call the Etrusco- 
 Greek period. 
 
 The Vatican Museum is very rich in objects be- 
 longing to this period, and though the Uffizi Gallery 
 has not so many, it contains in addition to the 
 "Chimsera," the "Orator" (Arringatorc), which is 
 the most perfect specimen of its kind. The excava- 
 tions commenced in the sixteenth century, and carried 
 on with varying ardor ever since, have brought to 
 light riches now dispersed throughout Europe, and 
 the supply is still far from being exhausted. The
 
 270 FLORENCE. 
 
 towns of Coreto, Chiusi, Toscanelkj Volterra, Yeii, 
 Coere, Castel d'Asso, Norchia, Viilci, Bomarzo, Fie- 
 sole, and Perugia have helped more than any others 
 by the excavations made in them, to make us under- 
 stand the different phases of this civilization. The 
 first style denotes a tendency to imitate nature which 
 may be regarded as the dawn of art, since, in re- 
 producing what they saw, the Etruscans took only 
 the main lines. Simplifying the shapes, the outUnes 
 of figures, the draperies, and the anatomy of men or 
 animals, they gave a really lofty tone to their 
 creations. 
 
 The second manner still reveals their want of sci- 
 ence, for in their anxiety to express action and motion 
 these primitive artists overdid it, thus hurting the 
 effect. Those writers wdio have examined with care 
 specimens of Etruscan painting and sculpture ascribe 
 the first style to the influence of Egyptian art, while 
 the second has much in common with the art of the 
 island of ^gina. Long before the time of our modern 
 archa3ologists and the scholars of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, Strabo, who had travelled in Egypt and Etruria, 
 observed these points of similitude, varied, however, 
 by the special characteristics which confer upon the ar- 
 tists of Etruria their unquestionable originality. The 
 Etruscans excelled, moreover, in giving to the objects 
 which they reproduced their natural color. Admir- 
 able proofs of this may be seen in many of the mu- 
 semns.
 
 ETRUSCAN ART. 271 
 
 The Greeks^ Avhen in the year 212 B.C. they in- 
 vaded Italy after the capture of Syracuse, found the 
 people of Etruria readily accessible to their ideas iu 
 regard to art, and Greek influence is apparent in the 
 works of the ^gina period. From this resulted a 
 new and more perfect, but less original style, and the 
 national element soon disappeared altogether. 
 
 It is from this Etrusco-Greek period that date the 
 masterpieces in the Gregorian Museum, the Vatican, 
 and most of those in the Uffizi, including the bronze 
 ^'Cestus" in the Kirchcr Museum. 
 
 Skilful in the manipulation of metals, in the cast- 
 ing of bronze armor, in die-sinking, or in the carv- 
 ing of applied figures upon metals or stuffs, Etruscan 
 artists supplied nations more advanced than their 
 own in civilization, with their works, which were 
 highly appreciated even at Athens. There is one- 
 point which has never been cleared up — how it was 
 that after becoming the purveyors of nations wealthy 
 enough to indulge in all the refinements of luxury, 
 the Etruscan artists, instead of applying their talents 
 to the production of every kind of plastic work, such 
 as armor, marbles, elegant furniture and jewellery, 
 multiplied by some industrial method innumerable 
 specimens of the same object or the same jewel, 
 creating a specialist for each of these departments. 
 Thus was first brought into existence what we now 
 call " art applied to industry," resulting in the pro- 
 duction of objects less perfect in taste, but neverthe-
 
 272 FLORENCE. 
 
 less imbued with that delicacy of conception common 
 to all the Avorks of art in those days. The foreign 
 influences which are to be traced in Etruscan art are 
 not mere vague resemblances of shape or aspect, for 
 live centuries before Christ, and two hundred and five 
 years after the foundation of Rome, the Etruscans 
 coined gold and silver money after the model of the 
 coins current in Attica and Asia Minor, while a cen- 
 tury before, when in constant communication with 
 the inhabitants of Cumse, the Samians, and the Rho- 
 dians of Campania, the strange spectacle is to be Avit- 
 nessed (as may be easily seen from an examination 
 of their objects of art) of a whole nation, devoid of 
 any heroic traditions of its own, borrowing those of 
 other peoples, and representing them in her pictures 
 and sculptures. This adoption of foreign myths 
 caused great embarrassment during long centuries to 
 the students of Etruscan lore, who did not, while the 
 science of archaeology was still in its infancy, know 
 what to make of finding an episode in the AVar of 
 the Seven Chiefs, or in the Fall of Troy, in the 
 work of an Etruscan artist. 
 
 What gives art so important a place in the history 
 of civilization, and causes it to have such a hold upon 
 the popidar imagination, is, that it is almost insepa- 
 rable from history. If Herodotus, writing a century 
 before the foundation of Rome, is to be believed, the 
 Greeks knew nothing of Italy, but soon afterwards 
 Sicily was colonized by Greeks, Naxos being the first
 
 ETRUSCAN ART. 273 
 
 Greek settlement in the island. The influence of 
 Greece gradually extended, but Etruria retained her 
 special characteristics until she became fused in the 
 Roman Empire. Then a fresh civilization engrafted 
 itself upon the older one, as Ave have seen in the case 
 of Fiesole, Perugia, and other towns. 
 
 While Rome had to fight for her own independence 
 and existence, art was confined to the turning of the 
 potter's wheel, or to making a basket out of the osiers 
 by the riverside. As Cicero says, '' Art Avas left to 
 the strangers, in order that their bondage might sit 
 lighter upon them." The Temple of the Gods was 
 not yet built ; but as the instinct of man impelled 
 him to offer sacrifice to the tutelary divinities, he 
 sought out a spot devoted to prayer to which he 
 might repair only for devotional purposes. The 
 Etruscans taught those Avho were about to become 
 their masters and eliminate their nationality alto- 
 gether, how to build the cdJa of a temple, and to re- 
 place their rustic dwellings, roofed with green boughs, 
 by those Avater-tight houses Avhich ultimately became 
 the palace and the villa. The Etruscan artist taught 
 his conqueror, Avho had no idea of Avhat architecture 
 meant, the graces of the full arch, and the expres- 
 sion " Tuscan architecture " became a familiar one in 
 Rome, pre Availing there until the Greek colonists of 
 Sicily introduced their purely Greek decoration in the 
 Temple of Ceres (496 B.C.). 
 
 I do not propose to trace the development of the 
 18
 
 274 FLOEEXCE. 
 
 Roman civilization, which followed that of Etruria, 
 modified, it is true, by the Greek influence, but sud- 
 denly cut short by the conquest. I merely Avished 
 to indicate the origins of Tuscan art, leaving others 
 to decide whether there is any secret analogy between 
 this art, which passed away in the year 280 B.C., and 
 that which came into existence at Florence fifteen 
 centuries later. Rivers between their sources and 
 their mouths often run underground and escape from 
 our notice, but we know where to look for their 
 origins. In the same way we may perhaps discover 
 in the Florentine genius of Donatello a hidden analogy 
 with Etruscan art, refined by a new civihzation. It 
 is certain, in any event, that Greek art left an in- 
 delible impress upon Tuscany, and after the terrible 
 Barbarian invasion in the first centuries of Christi- 
 anity, and after the darkness of the Middle Ages, it 
 was once more Greek influence which brought about 
 that Renaissance which had its centre and highest 
 personification in Florence. 
 
 AVhenEtruria was conquered, Etruscan art, already 
 modified by the introduction of Greek art, lost its 
 individuality, and it was not until more than ten cen- 
 turies had elapsed that the various arts for which Italy 
 Avas famous Avere again to be seen in their natiA^e places, 
 brought to life by the men Avho Avere the forerunners 
 of the Renaissance. In order to trace these different 
 artists, to observe the course of events, and to imder- 
 stand hoAV those ancient times are connected Avith our
 
 Dancing: Boys. 
 
 Donatelto.
 
 ETKUSCAX ART. 275 
 
 modern age atliwart tlie first centuries of the Chris- 
 tian era and those of the Middle Ages, down to about 
 1200, we must go from Tuscany to Rome, in turn the 
 political centre of the Republic, the residence of the 
 emperors, and the seat of the Papal power. A brief 
 summary of the principal personages will make the 
 transition clear, and show the affiliations of the great 
 artists who brought about the Renaissance. 
 
 Many reasons militated against the creation of a 
 national school at Rome, for the national genius of 
 the Romans did not impel them to the cultivation of 
 art, and, caring more for war, politics, and legislation, 
 they even passed laws forbidding the representation 
 of the human figure. For a period of a hundred and 
 fifty years religion was altogether spiritual, but King 
 Numa, who had legislated in this matter, accorded his 
 protection to the foreign colony of Greek and Etrus- 
 can artists ; and corporations of goldsmiths, and of 
 workers in bronze, terra-cotta, etc., were formed. The 
 elder Tarquin, wishing to erect a temple to Jupiter 
 Capitolinus, infringed the laws of Xuma, and intrusted 
 the execution of the statue to Vidcanius, an artist of 
 Veii. Then followed five centuries of stagnation, in 
 the course of which it would be difficult to mention 
 the name of a single Roman sculptor as gifted as 
 Mamurius Vetturius, whom Numa employed to make 
 the eleven copies of tlie "' Ancyle," or sacred shield, 
 which fell from heaven during the pestilence.* 
 * See note on the lily as the emblem of Florence, p. 12.
 
 276 FLORENCE. 
 
 It was the Roman conquests which favored the 
 development of the arts of statuary and painting, 
 the vanquished imposing their tastes upon the vic- 
 tors. The great Roman commanders, Marcelhis, 
 Quintus Fabius, Scipio Africanus, Titus Flaminius, 
 Lucius Paulus, and Mummius, brought back to Rome 
 the trophies taken in Sicily, Macedonia, and Cam- 
 pania, and when Corinth fell into the hands of the 
 Romans they secured art treasures which served as 
 models for their own artists. 
 
 The love of art gradually became more general, 
 and each citizen was anxious to have in his house 
 likenesses of himself, of his ancestors, and of his 
 gods, and as the native painters and sculptors were 
 neither numerous enough nor clever enough, artists 
 from Greece found ample employment. In course of 
 time wealthy amateurs gave an additional stimulus to 
 art by their liberal purchases of pictures, statues, and 
 stone engravings *, and as the demand creates the 
 supply, there also came into existence plenty of 
 clever forgers who imitated the names of successful 
 artists on the pedestal of a statue or in the corner of 
 a fresco. 
 
 This was the epoch of Terentius Varro ; of the 
 refined LucuUus ; of Yerres, whom Cicero denounced 
 in such scathing terms ; of Agrippa, who in the course 
 of one year provided Rome with a hundred fountains 
 surrounded by statues ; and of ^milius Scaurus, who 
 constructed a theatre for the celebration of public
 
 ETRUSCAN ART. 277 
 
 games which was ornamented with three thousand mar- 
 ble statues. Julius Caesar was very fond of bronzes, 
 marbles, and stone carvings ; Mecsenas has lent his 
 name to the patrons of art in all ages and in all coun- 
 tries ; Pompej was an indefatigable collector of stone 
 carvings ; and the taste for these things became gen- 
 eral throughout Italy. 
 
 The Rome of the Caesars did much for art, and the 
 age of Augustus rivals that of Pericles. The monu- 
 ments of that period, many of Avhicli still survive, 
 bear the double impress of grandeur and elegance, 
 and testify to the genius of their creators. There is 
 a vast difference, hoAvever, between the Greeks and 
 the Romans, for while the former represent the 
 supreme type of beauty and give a stamp of distinc- 
 tion to all they touch, the latter, though their 
 works are massive and imposing, lack grace in the 
 details. When the heaviness which is characteristic 
 of their style disappears, we may be sure that a Greek 
 has had a hand in the work. 
 
 The whole of this period was a brilliant one, and 
 traces of it are still visible not only in Rome itself, 
 but throughout Italy, and even along the coast of the 
 Adriatic and the banks of the Danube. Roman art, 
 coming into existence with the first of the emperors, 
 died with the last of them, while each successive ruler 
 left upon it the impress of his own personal tastes. 
 Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero blended Greek and Roman 
 art by the importation of the great works of Olympia
 
 278 FLORENCE. 
 
 and the five liimdred statues taken from tlie Temple 
 of Apollo at Delphi ; and Titus employed Greek artists 
 for the bas-reliefs of his triumphal arch. 
 
 The column of Trajan, erected to commemorate 
 his victory over the Daci, affords an irrefutable proof 
 of the genius of Roman artists, for the style of this 
 monument is clear, concise, and free from any nebu- 
 lous allegories. If this Roman school had lasted 
 there can be no doubt that the genius of the people 
 would have developed distinct national characteristics 
 devoid of all foreign influences, which would have 
 been transmitted down to our own day with no other 
 changes save those brought about by historical cir- 
 cumstances ; but a nation which rules the world must 
 inevitably be affected in some way by the peoples 
 whom it has subjugated, and the genius of Rome 
 bears the constant impress of the influence of the 
 East. 
 
 The Emperor Hadrian, who was a passionate ad- 
 mirer of Greece and Egypt, and who brought to Rome 
 a great number of Greek artists, prided himself upon 
 being at once architect, sculptor, and painter, and 
 was very jealous of all rivals. He was succeeded 
 by Antoninus, who cared but little for art, and 
 then came Marcus Aurelius, of whom there still exists 
 an equestrian statue Avhicli is a very good S2')ecimen 
 of the Roman school, though it Avas executed by an 
 artist of Greek nationality. 
 
 Roman art, which had reached its zenith under
 
 ETEUSCAN ART. 279 
 
 Trajan, began to decline under Cumniodus, and it is 
 interesting to follow this decadence in tlie colmini 
 erected hy the latter to ^larcus Aureliiis, — whicli is 
 a rude imitation of the Trajan Column, — in the arch 
 of Septimius Severus, and in that of Constantine, 
 the sculptures of which date from the time of Trajan. 
 Constantine consummated the ruin of Roman art, and 
 when he transferred the capital of the Empire to 
 Byzantium he took with him all the greatest artists 
 of the dav, their departure, as Winckelman observes, 
 leaving what had until then been the capital of the 
 world a very desert.
 
 280 FLOKENCR 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 CHRISTIAN ART. 
 
 With the development of the new truths which 
 folloAved the birth of Christ, Christian art came into 
 being, but from a natural and even superstitious aver- 
 sion for heathen mythology, it avoided anything 
 which symbolized those myths, and this abhorrence 
 of the productions of ancient art led to the destruc- 
 tion of an immense number of priceless works. The 
 statues of the gods were broken in pieces ; the im- 
 ages, the bas-reliefs, the temples, the friezes, and 
 the marble tablets, with their historical inscriptions, 
 were destroyed ; and the worshippers of the new 
 God were eager to sweep away all vestiges of those 
 deities whom their ancestors had adored. 
 
 After the birth of Christ the arts of painting and 
 sculpture stood still, and at the beginning of the 
 fourth century were no more advanced than they had 
 been twelve hundred years before. Palm-branches, 
 hearts, triangles, fishes, and monograms were en- 
 graved upon the tombs of the catacombs, and the 
 efforts to represent the Divine form in painting were 
 ludicrously primitive. Not imtil an emperor had 
 been converted to Christianity was any improvement
 
 CHRISTIAN ART. 281 
 
 noticeable, and when a Christian died at Rome he was 
 frequently buried in a sarcophagus which had been 
 made hundreds of years before. 
 
 The sarcophagus, in fact, was the connecting-link 
 between ancient and modern art, and in the begin- 
 ning of the fifteenth century we find a Medici taking 
 an ancient sarcophagus for the interment of one of 
 his relatives, and having the family arms carved upon 
 it. For a long time the ecclesiastical ordinances pre- 
 vented the development of sculpture and painting, 
 and up to the sixth century a very strict supervision 
 was exercised over the choice of subjects. 
 
 In the sixth century, when the recollection of the 
 idols had grown faint, the fathers of the Church per- 
 mitted three of the mysteries of the Passion to be 
 represented, while eighty years later permission was 
 given to illustrate all the others. 
 
 The history of art during the six centuries between 
 the fifth and the eleventh may be read upon the re- 
 ligious monuments. The great crusade preached by 
 the Emperor Leo of Isaura and Constantino Copro- 
 nymos against the worship of images (Iconology, 
 72G-754) led to a mighty immigration of artists into 
 the West, where, however, Byzantine art was already 
 firmly established, and where its influences were not 
 thrown off until the end of the thirteenth century. 
 This period is termed the Italian-Byzantine, or 
 Romanesque. In the meanwhile all Europe was 
 passing through the terrors of the year 1000, when,
 
 989 
 
 FLOKENCE. 
 
 according to predictions universally believed, tlie 
 world was to come to an end. All art, and even busi- 
 ness, was suspended, but when the time passed, and 
 the prophecy was proved to be groundless, the peo- 
 ple, in their gratitude to heaven, erected churches in 
 all directions, thus giving a fresh impulse to sculpture 
 and painting. 
 
 In future there was no line of separation between 
 the architect and the sculptor, and for two hundred 
 years there is no record of any name among the 
 hosts of artists who worked at the porches, the pil- 
 larSj the naves, and arches of the great cathedrals. 
 The sculptor was regarded as a mere stone-cutter. 
 
 The distinctive mark of this period was the carv- 
 ing of diabolic and grotesque figures, in which were 
 blended an expression of faith and simplicity recalling 
 the primitive age of art. Even at this comparatively 
 late period the artists who executed these great 
 works evidently carried out fundamental laws laid 
 down by a higher authority. 
 
 Pisa affords a boundless field of study as to the 
 transition from pagan to Christian art. Beneath the 
 spacious porticos of its Campo Santo we see sarcoph- 
 agi dating from the period when Pisa was one of 
 the most important colonies of Imperial Rome, Avhile 
 there are others which have been brought there from 
 the East, from Sicily, and from Calabria, and which 
 date from the Middle Ages. In the eleventh and 
 twelfth centuries the people of Pisa, Avhile building
 
 CHRISTIAN ART. 283 
 
 the Duomo and Leaning Tower, Avliicli attract so many 
 visitors to their city, used for the decoration of the 
 exterior these sarcophagi, the sculptures of which, 
 much as they admired them, they were unable to 
 copy. The highest honor they could pay any great 
 personage at his death was to bury him in one of 
 them, and the Countess Beatrice mother of the famous 
 Countess Matilda, and Pope Gregory YIII., who died 
 at Pisa in 1187, are interred in two of these ancient 
 tombs. Charlemagne himself is buried in a Roman 
 sarcophagus representing the interment of Proserpine, 
 and St. Andreo rests in that which formerly con- 
 tained the body of Tiberius Julius Valerianus, whose 
 ashes were scattered to the winds by the Barbarians. 
 
 The sarcophagus, therefore, may be said to connect 
 the past with the present — to have brought about the 
 regeneration of sculpture ; and when Niccolo Pisano's 
 attention was struck by the subjects Avhich ornamented 
 them, and when he compared the movement, the life, 
 and the anatomical science of the ancient scidptors 
 with the qualities of the stone-cutters employed in 
 the construction of the Duomo, he made a determined 
 and successful effort to shake off the trammels of By- 
 zantine stiffness and the narrow principles of the early 
 Christian period, thereby emancipating Italian art, and 
 founding. that school which was destined to regenerate 
 the whole artistic Avorld. 
 
 Pisano, who played as prominent a part in sculp- 
 ture as Giotto and Dante afterwards did in painting
 
 284 FLORENCE. 
 
 and literature, was a Tuscan, so that the art which 
 had its origin in Etruria was born again in a city of 
 the Pelasgi, within a few miles of Florence and an- 
 cient Fiesole.
 
 ARCHITECTUKE. 285 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 It is difficult to separate the study of the develop- 
 ment of art among a people, from their political and 
 social history, for in attempting to do so one would 
 fail to grasp the significance of the successive evolu- 
 tions, as may be clearly seen by simply comparing 
 the historical facts and social events with the out- 
 ward form of some monument, which is the expres- 
 sion of a particular society or period. 
 
 Having thus given a rapid glance at the transfor- 
 mations of art in Etruria, so as to see what were the 
 antecedents of Tuscany, we have now reached the 
 dawn of Gothic art (improperly so called), remark- 
 able for the unanimity with which all the workers are 
 obedient to the dictates of a master spirit who him- 
 self remains anonymous for us, inspired by the one 
 thought of glorifying Him in whose honor the temple 
 is built. 
 
 "We are upon the eve of the desperate struggle 
 which rent Italy for nearly two centuries ; upon the 
 one hand the Pope, and upon the other the Emperor, 
 each regarding the Peninsula as his domain, and 
 each representing an opposite principle. During this
 
 286 FLORENCE. 
 
 continuous conflict civil and military architecture came 
 into existence^ their respective forms revealing in a 
 striking manner the troublous circumstances out of 
 which they were evolved. 
 
 The most ancient monuments of Florence — those 
 which are characteristic of the thirteenth century, 
 and retain a certain unity, despite the modifica- 
 tions wdiich time has effected — are the Baptistery 
 of San Giovanni, the churches of Santa Croce and 
 Santa Maria del Fiore^ the Bargello, and the Palazzo 
 Vecchio. 
 
 Though Tuscany gave the signal for the move- 
 ment which brought about the regeneration of art, 
 the first important work was carried out, not at Flor- 
 ence itself, but at Pisa, where the Duomo, erected by 
 Buschetto, though composed in part from antique frag- 
 ments of the most various kinds, none the less re- 
 vealed, in its conception and shape, new tendencies 
 and aspirations. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that Italy at no time be- 
 came wholly subservient to the taste for Gothic archi- 
 tecture. With the examples and recollections of 
 ancient art before her eyes, she adhered to the rules 
 which the architects of an earlier age had laid down, 
 and looked upon the Gothic system as one of parasitic 
 ornamentation which had been grafted on to the main 
 body of her own architecture. 
 
 It has been remarked with truth that the cathedral 
 of Milan and the upper church of St. Francis of Assisi —
 
 Basilica of S. Miniato.
 
 ARCHITECTUEE. 287 
 
 the onlj strictly Gothic churches in Italy — were built 
 by Germans, Neither those of Siena, Arezzo, and 
 Orvicto, nor any of the Florentine churches can, near 
 as they may come to it, be spoken of as Gothic, so 
 many are the differences in design and shape. In the 
 order of civil architecture the granting of the munic- 
 ipal franchise and the communal power brought 
 about a new style, of which Florence possesses one 
 of the most remarkable specimens. 
 
 But before considering this point, some reference 
 must be made to 
 
 THE BASILICA OF SAN MIXIATO. 
 
 The basilica of San Miniato, one of the most ven- 
 erable monuments in Florence, embedded in the for- 
 tress built by San Marino, is of great architectural 
 interest, besides being an ornament to the city of 
 Florence, of which a splendid view may be had from 
 the heights of Miniato al Monte, the ancient ^^ King's 
 ]\Iountain," which legend says derived its name from 
 an Armenian prince. 
 
 There was formerly an oratory dedicated to St. 
 Peter there, built, as is supposed, in the third cen- 
 tury of our era, and this oratory having fallen into 
 ruins in the year 1013, the Emperor lienr}-. Queen 
 Cunegonde — who was aftewards canonized — and Hil- 
 debrand. Bishop of Florence, built the basilica in its 
 present shape. While the building was in progress 
 the body of San Miniato was found at the spot where
 
 288 FLORENCE. 
 
 the Porta Santa^ to the left of the fagade, now stands, 
 and was interred beneath the high allar. 
 
 In Italjj as in other countries, there is always some 
 annex for the dignitaries and staff of a basilica, who 
 form a small colony gathered around the mother 
 establishment. In 1295 Andrea de Mozzi, Bishop of 
 Florence, built as his episcopal residence the large 
 crenellated palace which adjoins the church on the 
 southern side. Eicasoli, the successor of Mozzi in 
 the see, added a vast dormitory, the campanile of 
 which falling down in 1499, was rebuilt in 1518 by 
 Baccio d'Agnola. It was on this side that JMichael 
 Angelo, transformed for the nonce into a military 
 engineer, constructed his bastion for the defence of 
 the city, and placed those batteries which finally 
 averted the enemy's fire and saved the tower. 
 
 The noble outlines of this basilica recall those 
 of the primitive churches, from Avhich, however, 
 it differs very much in respect to the style of 
 its ornamentation. The system of incrusting the 
 facades of buildings with marbles of different colors, 
 Avhich, next to the massive Avails of the Palazzo 
 Vecchio, and the solid substructures of the Strozzi 
 and Eiccardi Palaces, is the most salient feature of 
 the Florentine school, had its origin in the necessity of 
 using in building and ornament the materials which 
 lay ready to hand. The neighborhood of Florence 
 is rich in quarries of different colored marbles, so that 
 the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, the proud cam-
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 289 
 
 panilc of Giotto, the Baptistery, Santa ]\[arla Novella, 
 and the faeades of the other principal buildings in 
 Florence naturally contain incrustations of variously 
 colored marbles, arranged according to the fancy of 
 each architect. Additions were made to 8an Miniate 
 in each succeeding century, a scidptor adding a group 
 of statuary and a painter designing some brilliant 
 cartoon ; but as all of them were men of genius, the 
 homogeneousness of the great basilica was not im- 
 paired. 
 
 The interior, in every respect worthy of the ex- 
 terior, is an admirable type of the ancient Latin 
 basilica with its nave and aisles and three great 
 arches spanning the nave and choir. The altar and 
 chapel of the crucifix are very well placed for deco- 
 rative effect between two grand marble staircases 
 leading up to the tribune and choir. This picturesque 
 chapel was built by Michelozzo Michclozzi for Piero 
 de' Medici, who deposited in it a crucifix supposed to 
 be endowed with miraculous power, which is now in 
 the church of Santa Trinita. The most striking 
 feature is the crypt reached by a short flight of stairs, 
 the vaulted roof being borne up by thirty-six marble 
 columns. In the centre of this crypt, now used as a 
 place of burial, is an altar beneath which repose the 
 remains of San Miniato. Keascending the stair- 
 case, the attention is caught by the singular arrange- 
 ment of the bays which light this part of the edifice. 
 The architect, in order to heighten the solemn aspect 
 
 19
 
 290 FLORENCE. 
 
 of this spot^ employed for the wmdows a transparent 
 marble which filters the smi's rajs and gives them a 
 golden tinge. The walls of the choir are covered 
 with traces of decoration of a very ancient period^ 
 executed, no doubt, by Greeks who Avere contem- 
 poraries of Turrita and Taffi. The beautiful sacristy- 
 is of the fourteenth century, and it was constructed 
 by Nerozzo, of the Alberti family, the pictures which 
 it contains representing episodes in the life of St. 
 Francis, being attributed to Spinello Aretino. 
 
 The fifteenth century did much for San Miniato, as 
 it was then that Piero de' Medici erected the chapel 
 of the crucifix, and that Bishop Alvaro dedicated the 
 chapel where are deposited the remains of Jacopo da 
 Portogallo, a cardinal who died in Florence at the 
 early age of nine-and-twenty. The tomb, like the 
 chapel itself, is the work of Bernardo Gambcrelli^ sur- 
 named Rossellino (see chapter on Sculpture), who ar- 
 ranged with Luca della Robbia for the ornamentation, 
 and the effect produced by the combination of his 
 marble incrustations Avith the terra-cottas of the latter 
 is very pleasing. The tomb is the main feature in 
 this chapel, and it may be regarded as only inferior 
 to the two splendid mausoleums of Santa Croce, the 
 heavv looped curtains which fall from the top of the 
 arch on either side of a roundel being the sole 
 defect. 
 
 The church of San Miniato is not only remarkable 
 for its architectural beauty, but it lends an additional
 
 AKCIIITECTURE. 291 
 
 cliarm to Florence, the vicAV of It from the banks of 
 the Arno at the extremity of the Cascine being very 
 fine. The contrast between the wooded scenery of 
 the park and tlie mountain covered with ancient 
 buildings is most striking, and from afar the traveller 
 approaching Florence beholds above the battlements 
 of the e[)isc()})al palace the declivities of Monte Mi- 
 niate sloping gently down towards the town. A wide 
 piazza with terraces, containing among other statues 
 a bronze copy of Michael Angelo's David, is reached 
 by the beautiful Viale dei Colli ; and farther on, 
 half hidden in the verdure, is the quiet little church 
 of the ^' Reformed Franciscans " of 8an Salvador al 
 ]\[onte, which ^Michael Angelo called the '' Bella \i\- 
 lanella." 
 
 Florence is paying dearly now for the days of tri- 
 umph Avliich lasted so many centuries ; but the aspect 
 of the city, with its domes, its towers, its overshadow- 
 ing mountains, its rushing river, its Cascine, and its 
 innumerable statues, remains as impressive as ever. 
 A debt of gratitude is due to those who, in attempt- 
 ing to embellish her when she became the capital of 
 New Italy, adhered as closely as possible to the prin- 
 ciples of art laid down by the Florentines of the Re- 
 naissance, endeavoring, with true artistic sense, to 
 establish a harmony between the natural aspect of 
 Florence and the outlines of its monuments.
 
 292 FLORENCE. 
 
 THE AECIIITECT ARNOLFO DI CAMBIO. 
 (1240-1310.) 
 Both arcliitect and sculptor, Arnolfo di CamLio, 
 better known in the history of art as Arnolfo di Lapo 
 (because it was for a long time supposed that he was 
 the son of one Lapo), is perhaps the Florentine artist 
 whose work was in its original form the most import- 
 ant, though the many modifications made by succeed- 
 ing generations have somewhat altered its character- 
 istics. Ascending the eminence upon which San 
 Miniato stands, the various monuments erected by 
 this forerunner of Tuscan architecture are all dis- 
 closed to the gaze — Santa Maria del Fiore, the Pa- 
 lazzo Vecchio, Santa Croce, Or San Michele, and the 
 very walls which formed the ramparts of the city in 
 the thirteenth century. Greater artists followed in 
 his track, and made alterations in accordance with 
 the ideas of their own time, but many of them adopted 
 his plans and carried them out more or less in their 
 entirety. Arnolfo was born in 1240* at CoUe di 
 Yaldelsa, and he began his studies in the studio 
 of Xiccolo Pisano, the father of Tuscan scidpture, 
 where he had as a fellow-student John of Pisa. 
 
 It was not until 1274, when he was thirty-four 
 years of age, that he had an opportunity of showing 
 what he could do on his own accoimt. He had spent 
 
 ^ With regard to dates, I have been guided by the most recent 
 publications, which differ in many instances from those of Vasari, 
 Cicognara, and other art historians.
 
 AKCHITECTUPvE. 293 
 
 some time at the Court of Charles of Anjou at Naples, 
 and when the magistrates of Perugia, Avho had com- 
 missioned Niccolo Pisano to erect the beautiful foun- 
 tain which stands on the square of that city, were 
 anxious to procure him an assistant, it was to that 
 prince that they applied for the services of Arnolfo. 
 The correspondence which passed is still extant, and 
 Adamo Rossi, the learned hbrarian, has recently dis- 
 covered documents which prove that he received a 
 sum of ten sols a day for his services, though his 
 name does not appear in conjunction Avith those of 
 Kiccolo, his son John, and Master Posso. 
 
 From Perugia he went to Orvieto, Avhere he carved 
 the tomb of Cardinal William de Braye, a very im- 
 portant monument in the history of art. It is in the 
 Gothic style, and is held to be one of the best pieces 
 of sculpture of the period. This is the only Avork 
 which we know for a certainty to be his, though the 
 Gothic tabernacle at St. Paul's extra muros bears his 
 name in the inscription, and that of a companion 
 simply called Piero. The tomb of Boniface VIIL, in 
 the crypt of St. Peter's, the altar of St. Boniface, and 
 the tomb of Pope Honorius III., formerly at Santa 
 Maria Maggiore, are attributed to him by Vasari, but 
 other writers, whose information is more trustworthy, 
 say that Toriti and one of the Cosmati executed the 
 last-named work — a statement which, fr(^m my own 
 observations during a recent visit to Rome, I venture 
 to confirm.
 
 294 FLOEENCE. 
 
 Arnolfo, as he advanced in age, abandoned sculp't 
 ture for architecture, and the full measure of his genius 
 is to be seen in Santa Croce, the Palazzo Yecchio, and 
 Santa Maria del Fiore. 
 
 The Palazzo Vecchio was begun in 1299, by order 
 of the Priors who stood in need of an official residence. 
 It has often been stated that Arnolfo used designs for 
 this building prepared many years before by Lapo ; 
 which simply means that he may have gotten the 
 idea for it from the Castle of the Conti di Poppi 
 erected by the latter at Casentino. It has been said, 
 too, that Arnolfo was compelled to place his building 
 upon the left side of the square, so as not to occupy 
 the site upon which the house of the Uberti, destroyed 
 upon the day that they were driven from Florence by 
 the fury of the people, had formerly stood. What- 
 ever truth there may be in these legends, it is beyond 
 all doubt that the architect Avas instructed to include 
 within the walls of the palace the '^ Foraboschi," or 
 ^' Delia Vacca " Tower, as it was more familiarly 
 called. This tower, which w^as then only twenty-nine 
 metres in height, Arnolfo raised to three hundred and 
 thirty feet, widening it above the point at Avhich it 
 shot up from the new building, so as to bring it into 
 proportion with the ])alace itself. 
 
 The various embellishments and clianges made by 
 different generations in this monument make it im- 
 possible to form an idea as to its appearance in the 
 fourteenth century, when the Signoria held its sittings
 
 ARCHITECTUKE. 295 
 
 tlicrc, l)nt tlie appearance of tlic faeado, apart fiMiii 
 tlic sliape of the windows and tlie removal of the 
 bars, must be mucli Avhat it was then. Tlicrc is 
 something fierce and stern about the aspect of this 
 part of the buikling, in keeping with the spirit of the 
 time. The rugged strength of the hjwer part of the 
 edifice, and the way in wliich the few windows near 
 the ground are protected by soHd iron bars, like the 
 barbicans of a fort, tell of the stormy times during 
 which it was in turn the refuge of tyrants and of the 
 popular Government which expelled them, in the 
 belfry hung the great bell called '^ La Vacca," which 
 summoned the corporations to arms, headed by their 
 district captains ; the battlements symbolized the idea 
 of defence 5 and between the brackets of each was the 
 scutcheon of a difterent city made subject to Flor- 
 ence. The whole of this fii9ade is symbolic, and it 
 forms, so to speak, a preface to the history of the 
 mcditeval struggles of Florence. 
 
 The Piazza della Signoria itself sums up the annals 
 of this history as well as a page of Machiavelli. 
 Standing in front of the palace we have on our right 
 the Loggia dei Lanzi and the UffizI, and to the left 
 the splendid Ammanati Fountain, crowned by the 
 genius of John of Ijologna ; the equestrian statue of 
 Cosimo I. ; and the Uguccione Palace, which was for 
 a long time ascribed to Raphael. The Palazzo Vec- 
 chio is raised a few steps above the level of the square ; 
 the platform before the entrance, added in 1349, was
 
 29G FLORENCE. 
 
 called the ringluera. It Avas from here that the Slg- 
 noria addressed the people^ and that, when war had 
 been declared, the commanders and the rude condot- 
 tieri whose services were purchased \>j the Italian 
 republics received their investitures. It was from the 
 Ringliiera, too, that the important decisions arrived 
 at in the name of the people of Florence were pro- 
 claimed. The northern angle is still marked by the 
 famous " Marzocco," or lion, sculptured by Donatello, 
 with the fleur-de-lis scutcheon between his paws.* 
 The colossal group of Baccio Bandinelli stands at the 
 other extremity. This tribune was destroyed in 
 1812. 
 
 The '' David " of Michael Angelo stood on the left 
 of the entrance, but it Avas placed under cover by the 
 present Government, and a copy erected in the 
 Piazza approached by the Yiale dei Colli, one of the 
 ncAV 2:»romenades laid out at the time that Florence 
 was the capital of Italy. The door of the Palazzo 
 Vecchio is very remarkable. BetAveen the tAvo lions 
 in stone is a slab inscribed Avith the monogram of 
 Christ and an inscription, Avliich formerly read, 
 ^^ Jesus Christus, Rex Florentini Populi. S. P. De- 
 creto Electus " (Jesus Christ, King of the Florentine 
 people. Elected by Decree), but AAdiich Avas changed 
 by Cosimo I. to '^ Rex Regum et Dominus Dominan- 
 tium." 
 
 Clement VIL, of the Medici family, Avas threaten- 
 
 * This is a bronze copy ; the original is in the Bargello.
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 297 
 
 ing the liberty of Florence, and XIcolo Capponi, who 
 was at that time Gonfaloniere, laid before the 8ig- 
 noria at the Palazzo Vecchio a strange proposition, 
 which, in his opinion, would preserve the inde})endence 
 of the city. Jesus Christ Avas to be elected King of 
 Florence, and llis authority the Pope himself would 
 not dare to call in question. The Council of the 
 Thousand voted this singular expedient by a small 
 majority, and the inscription was placed on the facade 
 of the Palazzo Vecchio. 
 
 The present aspect of the building gives no idea 
 of what it was like in the time of Dante and of the 
 struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines, for it was 
 partly rebuilt as far back as the fifteenth century. 
 There was always, however, a marked contrast be- 
 tween the rudeness of the exterior and the elaborate 
 decoration of the interior. The inner courtyard, 
 built by Arnolfo di Lapo, was altered, with the ex- 
 quisite taste wdiicli is as much admired now as it was 
 four hundred years ago, by Michelozzo Michelozzi in 
 1434, the decorations being completed in 1565 for the 
 marriage of Francesco de' Medici and Jane of Austria 
 by the execution of those frescoes, which it was thought 
 would remind the young princess of her native land. 
 In the centre is an exquisite fountain by Tadda, 
 adorned with an animated, laughing boy playing with 
 a dolphin, the work of Yerrocchio, deservedly famous 
 in the history of sculpture, and testifying to the sup- 
 ple talent of the master, who was also the sculptor of
 
 298 FLOEENCE. 
 
 the bronze statue of Colleoni on the Piazza San Gio- 
 vanni e San Paolo at Venice. 
 
 It is always pleasant to find inscriptions npon the 
 stones of a monument, as it prevents any possible 
 confusion between men and things. Michelozzi, for 
 instance, decorated the '^ Cortile " in 1434, and yet 
 the embellishments executed at the marriage of Fran- 
 cesco in 1565 are often attributed to him. It is evi- 
 dent that this was not the work of one man, and the 
 inscription beneath the portico of the Palazzo Vec- 
 chio gives the names of the sculptors even of the 
 friezes and the foliage : Stephen Vittori da Monte 
 Sansovino, Marco da Faenza, and Francesco Salviati. 
 The beautiful stuccoes which ornament the columns 
 are by Peter Paul Minocci of Forli, Leonardo Ric- 
 ciarelli of Volterra, Sebastian Tadda of Fiesole, and 
 Leonardo Marignolli. The frescoes of towns, though 
 they were restored in 1812, are almost entirely 
 effaced; they were by Sebastian of Verona, John 
 Lombardi of Venice, and Caesar Baglioni. The in- 
 terior of the Palazzo Vecchio, now used for municipal 
 purposes, contains some fine relics of the fifteenth and 
 sixteenth centuries, some splendid frescoes of which 
 the public knows little, a fine collection of wall-paint- 
 ings by Bronzino, and a beautifully decorated chapel 
 of St. Bernard. 
 
 The large hall, in which the Council composed of a 
 thousand citizens was to meet, was built by the desire 
 of Savonarola, and has since been used, four centuries
 
 Palazzo Vccchio» 
 
 Arnolfo di Cambio,
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 299 
 
 later, for the sittings of the modern Italian Parlia- 
 ment. The architect was Simone PoUaiuolo, sur- 
 namecl ^' II Cronaca," celebrated for his construction 
 of the splendid Corinthian cornice of the Strozzi 
 Palace. Cosimo de' Medici, when he transferred his 
 residence from the Medici to the Yecchio Palace, in- 
 structed Baccio Bandinelli to alter this hall, and as the 
 latter did not feel himself equal to the task, he called 
 in the assistance of Vasari, who raised the roof more 
 than twenty feet and decorated the ceiling. It is 
 curious to note that twice in his life Vasari — who, as 
 a painter, was only inferior to the great artists whose 
 biographies he has written — should, like ^lichael An- 
 gelo and Carracci, have had the opportunity of cover- 
 ing the greatest areas of painting ever executed in 
 Italy. He painted here thirty-nine compositions, the 
 smallest of which is six yards in length, selecting his 
 subjects from the history of Florence and of other 
 cities of Tuscany, as Arezzo, Cortone, Monte Pul- 
 ciano, Borgo San Sepolcro, Trebbiano, Volterra, San 
 Gemignano, Chianti, Certaldo, and Fiesole. Romagna 
 is alluded to with Castrocaro and the river Savio ; 
 while Casentino, Scarperia, Pistoia, Prato, Pescia, 
 and Valdarno are represented either in allegory or 
 by some incident of local history. 
 
 There is some ingeniousness in the arrangement 
 of the trapezes which remained to be decorated at the 
 corner of the Piazza San Firenze, where the Palazzo 
 Vecchio abuts upon it. This was the part added by
 
 300 FLOKENCE. 
 
 Cosimo I., and Vasari, having cut out a large square 
 divided into several panels for the execution of his 
 regular compositions, suddenly found himself face to 
 face with a triangle very difficult to ornament. He 
 solved the dilemma by means of a corridor separated 
 from the large hall, and with a play of perspective 
 and an appropriate decoration made this part into a 
 sort of antechamber. It was here that he painted 
 the portraits of his associates, Bernardo di Mona 
 Mattoa, mason and contractor of the Avorks 5 Battista 
 Botticello, who had the mouldings and frameworks to 
 attend to ; and the gilder, Stephen Yeltroni de Monte 
 Sansovino. Marco da Faenza, a painter of consider- 
 able repute at the time, is believed to have assisted 
 Yasari, who chilled in the help of a great many young 
 students (garzoni). Another inscription, very de- 
 tailed in its particidars, gives their names in full, and 
 does justice to the humblest of them. 
 
 Proceeding from the Sala del Cinquecento to the 
 Sala d' Udienza, one goes through a beautiful mar- 
 ble door by Benedetto da Maiano, the style of which 
 does not harmonize with the rest of the room, having 
 been brought from the Medici Palace, to Avhich it be- 
 longed. There still remains to be seen the chapel of 
 San Bernardo, beautifully painted in fresco by Ridolfo 
 Ghirlandajo, but it has lost much of its beauty by 
 having been fitted up for the use of the municipality. 
 The present Council Room, decorated with a series 
 of beautiful frescoes by Bronzino, which are skilfully
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 301 
 
 distributed over the whole of its siirfoce, has pre- 
 served a grandeur and unity not often found in build- 
 ings converted to modern uses ; but it is distressing 
 to see rooms so associated with the history of Flor- 
 ence partitioned off and degraded into municipal 
 offices. Their destruction can only bo a question 
 of time^ and it is to be regretted that walls so bound 
 np with the ancient history of Tuscany have not been 
 saved from this last indignity. 
 
 THE LOGGIA DEL BIGALLO. 
 
 No one can pass by the corner of the Corso Adi- 
 mari without having his attention arrested by the 
 delicately carved arcades of the Bigallo, formerly a 
 simple oratory of the Misericordia, and now an orphan 
 asylum. This beautiful building is the work of Ki- 
 colo Pisano^ one of the greatest men of the thirteenth 
 century, whose career will be found detailed at length 
 in the chapter on Florentine Sculpture.* 
 
 Before the erection of this monument, the site 
 upon which the Bigallo stands was occupied by 
 the tower in which the dead were deposited for 
 eighteen hours before burial. It was the tallest 
 building in Florence, being 230 feet high, and 
 in the course of one of the struggles for which Flor- 
 
 ^ Although Vasari attributes it to Nicolo Pisano its date shows 
 it to belong to a much later jieriod. It is probably the work of 
 Andrea Orcagna, 1308 ?-136S. See Horner's Walks in Florence 
 and Its Enrvirons.
 
 302 FLOEEXCE. 
 
 ence was notorious^ the GhibcUincs liad it pulled 
 do^\ai ; according to the tradition instructing the 
 architect who was employed to demolish it to ar- 
 range so that as it fell it would crush the Baptistery 
 of San Giovanni, which was used as a meeting-place 
 by the Guelphs ; but whether this story is true or not, 
 the Baptistery escaped destruction. 
 
 The Bigallo consists of two open arches, forming 
 an angle with the street, and a small porch leading 
 to a sanctuary closed by iron gates. The design 
 of the arches is exquisite, the mouldings and decora- 
 tions are in admirable taste, and on the walls may 
 still be traced, though dimmed by time, the outlines 
 of frescoes, sometimes attributed to Gaddi, but really 
 the work of some artist of the fifteenth century. 
 
 Three statues of the Virgin and two saints decorate 
 the exterior, while over the altar of the chapel is a 
 life-size statue of the Virgin and Child between two 
 angels with Jewish turbans on their heads, formerly 
 believed to be by Pisano, though documents recently 
 brought to light by Cicognara prove that they were 
 executed by Alberto Arnoldi of Florence about 1360. 
 A predella by Ghirlandajo and numerous other fres- 
 coes complete the decoration of this exquisite little 
 building, which successive restorations have not de- 
 prived of its leading characteristics, and which de- 
 rives not a little of its attraction from its position at the 
 corner of the piazza where stand the Baptistery, the 
 Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore, and the Campanile.
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 308 
 
 SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE. 
 
 The document ^vhicli registered the decision of the 
 municipality of Florence to erect the cathedral church 
 in 1294 is of historical interest, as testifying to the 
 generous spirit of the Florentine people. Its tenor is 
 as follows :* 
 
 " Believing that all the acts and undertakings of a 
 people which prides itself upon being of illustrious 
 origin should bear the impress of grandeur and sa- 
 gacity, we command Arnolfo, director of the public 
 works of our commune, to prepare a model or draw- 
 ing for the building which is to be erected in place 
 of the church of Santa Reparata. He is bidden to 
 display a magnificence which human power and skill 
 can never surpass. AVhatever a Government under- 
 takes should correspond with the generous impulses 
 of the citizens whom it represents, and this point the 
 architect employed to build our cathedral must bear 
 in mind." 
 
 The name is evidently meant as an allusion to the 
 lily in the city arms. The ceremony of laying the 
 first stone took place on the 8th of September, 1298, 
 Pope Boniface VIII. being represented by his legate, 
 Cardinal Pietro Valeriano. Arnolfo's design was a 
 Latin cross with a nave and side-aisles opening into 
 each other by four pointed arches. In the centre of 
 
 * An inscription on the wall of the Duorao itself seems to 
 indicate that this date given by Villani is incorrect and should 
 be 1298.
 
 304 FLORE^X'E. 
 
 the space, under the dome, was the choir, with an 
 octagonal enclosure and an altar, and in each of the 
 small recesses there was a rectangular chapel. 
 
 Arnolfo died in 1310, when the building had not 
 got Leyond the capitals upon Avhich the roof was to 
 rest, and in 1332 Giotto was appointed to carry on 
 the work which for two hundred years was under 
 the supervision of the greatest architects of the day. 
 
 To Giotto we owe the beautiful addition to the 
 cathedral known throughout the world as the Campa- 
 nile, which was built in 1334 on the foundations of 
 the little church of San Zenobio. It is nearly 280 
 feet high, or about 30 feet less than Giotto had de- 
 signed, as the spire, like that of St. Mark at Venice, 
 with which he had intended to finish it, was not built 
 by Taddeo Gaddi, who succeeded him. The Campa- 
 nile is divided into six sections, the first two, which 
 can easily be seen from the ground, being decorated 
 with bas-reliefs executed by Giotto himself, Andrea 
 Pisano, and Luca della Robbia. There is no little 
 analogy of sentiment between these bas-reliefs and 
 those of the famous fountain at Perugia. Above these 
 tAvo divisions are niches for statues, among those 
 placed in them being the four Evangelists, by Dona- 
 tello, and on the principal southern facade four proph- 
 ets, three by Andrea Pisano, and the fourth by Tom- 
 masso di Stefano, surnamed Giottino. Upon the 
 eastern and northern sides of the tower are saints and 
 patriarchs by Donatcllo, Nicolo di Piero of Arezzo,
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 305 
 
 Luca (Ic'lla liobbia, and Xanni di Bartolo. One of 
 the Evangelists mentioned above is the celebrated 
 "Zuccone," the 'Mjald" 8t. ^Matthew of Donatelln, a 
 work Avhich he esteemed so highly that he was more 
 than once heard^ while engaged upon the statue, ad- 
 juring it to speak ; Avhile, by way of emphasizing a 
 statement, he would say, '^ By the faith I have in my 
 Zuccone." 
 
 Charles V., when he entered Florence after the 
 siege, is reported to have said that the Campanile 
 " ought to have a case made for it, so that it might 
 be shown as one Avould a jewel." In the belfry, 
 which commands a splendid view of the city, there 
 are seven bells, the largest — cast in 1705 to re})lace 
 one which had got cracked — weighing nearly eight 
 tons. 
 
 The most illustrious of Giotto's successors was 
 Filippo Brunelleschi, who, as has been described in 
 a previous chapter, began the superb cupola in 1421. 
 This was his Diagnum opuSj exceeding in boldness of 
 design and harmony of detail all other Avorks of mod- 
 ern art. The cupola, as is generally known, is double, 
 the inner wall being s[)h('rlcal, so that between it and 
 the outer one there is nxim for the staircases, brac- 
 ings, and chains Avhicli help to make the woi*k more 
 durable. ]\rK'liael Angelo took this as his model uhcn 
 constructing the dome of St. Peter's at Rome, and 
 Leo Battista Alberti for his unfinished temple at Ri- 
 mini. It was not completed until lifteen years after 
 
 20
 
 306 FLORENCE. 
 
 Brimellesclii's death, Andrea del Verroccliio, the 
 sculptor of the Medici tomb in the old sacristy, de- 
 signing and executing the ball, and Giovanni di Bar- 
 tolo the scroll on which the cross rests. The church 
 contains several monuments, including those of Giotto, 
 erected by Benedetto da Maiano by order of Lorenzo 
 the Magnificent, and of the celebrated organist An- 
 tonio Squarcialupi, who was a favorite of Lorenzo, 
 and Avhose epitaph was composed by his patron. 
 Aldobrandino Ottobuoni has his sarcophagus near the 
 8ervi door, and it is believed that Poggio is also buried 
 here. 
 
 The walls are somewhat bare, but the build- 
 ing contains many works of the highest order by 
 Donatello, Michelozzi, Ghiberti, Delia Robbia, San- 
 sovino, Bandinelli, and Andrea del Castagno. It 
 was near the Servi door that Domenico di Michelino 
 painted in 1465 the portrait of Dante which Avas 
 ordered by the Opera del Duomo as a tardy tribute 
 to his memory. Dante is represented in a red toga, 
 crowned with laurel, holding in one hand his poem, 
 while with the other he points to the Inferno. The 
 inscription states that the execution of this fresco was 
 suggested by Maestro Antonio, of the order of Fran- 
 ciscans, who had given public readings and explana- 
 tions of the Divine Comedy in the Cathedral. 
 
 In this wonderful building, so closely associated 
 with the history of Florence, was enacted the opening 
 chapter of the Pazzi conspiracy, and it was in the
 
 ARCHITECTUKE. 307 
 
 sacristy that Lorenzo took refuge after the death of 
 GiuHano. The medallion of Pollaiuolo (sec chapter 
 on Giuliano de' Medici) shows what was tlie appear- 
 ance of the octagonal choir then standing beneath 
 the dome. The facade of Santa Maria del Fiore was 
 completed in 1887 from designs by De Fabris. 
 
 THE BAPTISTERY OF SAX GIOVANNI. 
 
 This is the most ancient building in Florence, for 
 if not of pagan origin it certainly dates from the 
 earhest ages of Christianity. It was coated with 
 marble of different colors by Arnolfo di Cambio in 
 1293, while in the sixteenth century Agnolo Gaddi 
 designed the lantern 5 but long before Arnolfo's time 
 it had been employed as a Christian place of worship, 
 being used as a cathedral up to 1128, when it was 
 converted into a baptistery. 
 
 This building contains three gates, which have no 
 parallel in the world. The oldest is that on the south- 
 ern side, upon which Pisano spent twenty-two years 
 of his life, a most beautiful work representing, in 
 twenty compartments, the life of St. John the Bap- 
 tist. Tlie frieze which runs round it was commenced 
 nearly a century afterwards by Ghibcrti, and Pol- 
 laiuolo had much to do with its com[)letion. 
 
 The northern gates are by Ghibcrti, and, like those 
 of Pisano, are divided into twenty compartments, the 
 subject being the life of Christ. The bronze door-posts 
 are delicately carved with flowers, fruit, and animals.
 
 308 FLORENCE. 
 
 These gates were first placed on tlie eastern side, but 
 in 1452 were removed to make room for Gliiberti's 
 still finer work. 
 
 On the third fayadc, that which faces the Duomo, 
 is the Porta del Paradiso, so named by Michael An- 
 gelo, who declared that this gate was worthy to be 
 the entrance into Paradise. Ghiberti divided each 
 panel into five parts, taking the following as his sub- 
 jects, after suggestions made by Leonardo Bruni 
 Aretino: (1) Creation of Adam and Eve; (2) Cain and 
 Abel ; (3) Noah ; (4) Abraham and Isaac ; (5) Jacob 
 and Esau ; (6) Joseph in Egypt ; (7) Moses on Mount 
 Sinai ; (8) The Capture of Jericho 5 (9) David Slay- 
 ing Goliath ; (10) The Queen of Sheba and Solomon. 
 
 The frieze contains statuettes of the prophets and 
 prophetesses and portrait-busts of men and women 
 still alive, including Ghiberti himself and his father ; 
 while the frame-posts, with their masses of vegetation 
 and flora wrought in bronze, are admirable for their 
 truth to nature. Bronze groups representing the 
 " Decapitation of St. John the Baptist," by Danti, and 
 the ^^ Baptism of our Lord," by Andrea Sansovino, 
 surmount two of the gates, which were at one time 
 heavily gilded, though few traces of this are now 
 visible. 
 
 The Baptistery, empty as it appears to the eye 
 upon first entering it, is replete with beautiful monu- 
 ments, a description of which would fill a good-sized 
 volume. It is built, as I have already said, upon an
 
 ARCHITECTUEE. 309 
 
 octagonal plan. The altar, which formerly stood 
 beneath the cupola, has been removed. On the 24th 
 of June every year the magnificent rctablo in mas- 
 sive silver, Avhicli is preserved among the treasures 
 in the Opera del Duomo, is displayed in the Bap- 
 tistery. The silver alone weighs 325 lbs., includ- 
 ing two centre pieces, two side pieces, and a silver 
 crucifix with two statuettes seven feet high and 
 w^eighing 141 lbs., the group being completed by two 
 statues of Peace in engine-turned silver. ]\Iany ar- 
 tists were employed upon the making of it. Fin- 
 iguerra, Pollaiuolo, Clone, jMichelozzi, Verrocchio, 
 and Cennini made the lower parts and the bas-reliefs 
 of the front, while the cross, executed in 1456, is by 
 Betto di Francesco, and the base of it by Milano di 
 Domcnico Dei and Antonio Pollaiuolo. 
 
 The interior of the cupola of San Giovanni is or- 
 namented with some of the oldest specimens of mosaic 
 decoration in Florence, these Byzantine artists being 
 the first, after Murano and Altino, to exercise their 
 craft in Italy, and being succeeded by Jacopo da 
 Turita, Andrea Tafi, and Gaddo Gaddi. 
 
 In the biography of Cosimo the Elder I have 
 alluded to the handsome tomb of Baldassare Cossa 
 (Pope John XXIII., deposed at the time of the Coun- 
 cil of Constance), which was reared in the Baptistery 
 by Donatello. The Holy of Holies is relatively 
 modern, having been erected at the expense of the 
 CTuild of the '^ Calimala/^ as the men who gave the
 
 310 FLORENCE. 
 
 finishing touch to the woollen stuffs manufiictured 
 abroad were called. The baptismal font, in a build- 
 ing specially used for christening, would, as a matter 
 of course, be intrusted to artists of great repute, and 
 that at San Giovanni is attributed to Andrea Pisano. 
 Upon each face is represented one of the Baptisms 
 most famous in the history of the Catholic religion, 
 an inscription beneath explaining each episode ; but 
 this font is unfortunately so much in the background 
 that it escapes the notice of many visitors. 
 
 Donatello carved the wooden statue of the Mag- 
 dalen which occupies one of the niches, the thin 
 emaciated face being typical of the artist's partiality 
 for reproducing in their smallest details the physical 
 defects of his subject. With regard to the other 
 features of interest in the Baptistery, they will be 
 found noticed in their proper place — the mosaics of 
 Andrea Tali in the chapter on Painting, and the bas- 
 reliefs of Ghiberti in that on sculpture, while the 
 works of Donatello and Pisano have already been 
 dealt with. The exterior aspect of the Baptistery 
 does not give one the idea of a building restored in 
 the thirteenth, but rather in the fifteenth century. 
 
 THE PONTE YECCHIO. 
 
 Until the close of 1080 the Ponte Vecchio was 
 built of wood, the heavy masses of timber, though 
 offering no steady resistance to the stream, dividing 
 the muddy course of the waters into a thousand small
 
 Ponte Vccchio*

 
 ARCHITECTURE. 311 
 
 currents, and breaking its force. But in 1177 oc- 
 curred one of those inundations which were so fre- 
 quent that traces of them may still be seen on the 
 walls of the quays. These inundations were one of 
 the curses of Florence, and tliough the evil has been 
 to a certain extent cured by the construction of mas- 
 sive quays, they still occur in the direction of the 
 Cascine. An attempt was accordingly made in the 
 twelfth century to obviate this inconvenience by the 
 construction of a stone bridge. This, in turn, was 
 carried away in 1333, and Taddeo Gaddi, who had 
 already made a name for himself by his architectural 
 skill, was employed to build a bridge capable of re- 
 sisting the highest floods. The present bridge was 
 therefore erected in 1345, being 330 feet long by 4-1: 
 wide. With the double object of obtaining an income 
 for the city and of introducing a novel feature, shops 
 were built on the two pathways, which were IG feet 
 wide, and these were let to the butchers of Florence, 
 thus realizing the Eastern plan of concentrating the 
 meat trade of a town in one place. This arrange- 
 ment lasted from 1422 until 1593, but in the latter 
 year, under Cosimo I., the ^^ Capitani di Parte," who 
 had the supervision of the streets and highways, 
 ordered that all the goldsmiths and jcAvellers should 
 take the place of the butchers, and in a few months 
 the Ponte Vecchio became the wealthiest and most 
 crowded thoroughfare of Florence. In order to avoid 
 shutting out a view of the stream and interfering with
 
 312 FLORENCE. 
 
 the perspective, an open space had been reserved in 
 the centre, and when the Palazzo Vecchio and the 
 Ufiizi were connected with the Pitti Palace by means 
 of the large covered way carried over the bridge, 
 this space was left intact so as to afford a view of the 
 eminence of San Miniato upon one side, of the wind- 
 ings of the stream on the other, and of the Cascine 
 shrubberies and the mountains upon the horizon. 
 
 The first bridge above was built in 1235 by Messer 
 Rubaconte, a Milanese of the Casa Mandella, then 
 Podesta of Florence, and is called Alle Grazie. The 
 first bridge of Santa Trinita, afterwards replaced by 
 the beautiful one which we owe to the genius of Am- 
 manati, was built by Messer Lamberto Frescobaldi, 
 and the bridge Alia Carraja was begun in 1218 by 
 one Lapo. The great flood of 1333 carried all of 
 them away, and this disaster is recorded upon a stone 
 which bears the following inscription : 
 
 '* Del Trentatre dopo rmille Tracento, 
 II Ponte Cadde per diluvio d'Acque 
 Poi dodici anni, come al comun piacque, 
 Eifatto fu con questo adornamento." 
 
 SAXTA CROCK 
 
 Built by Arnolfo, then fifty-four years of age, by 
 order of the Friars of St. Francis, this venerable 
 temple was raised upon the piazza called Santa Croce, 
 where formerly stood a small church belonging to the 
 order of Franciscan monks. They had resolved to
 
 AKCHITECTUKE. 313 
 
 embcllitili and enlarge tlicir cliurcli, and (Jardinal 
 Matteo D'Acqiiasparta, general of the Franciscan 
 Order, proclaimed an indulgence to all contributors 
 towards the uiiflertaklng. The church was far 
 enough advanced in 1320 for services to be held in 
 it, though the fa9ade was then, as until a very recent 
 period it remained, a plain brick wall, without facing 
 or any other ornament. Santa Croce was not sin- 
 gidar in this respect, for San Lorenzo and many other 
 Florentine churches have never been decorated ex- 
 ternally. 
 
 In 14-1:2 Cardinal Bessarion, the founder of St. 
 Mark's Library at Venice, was delegated to perform 
 the ceremony of consecration. Donatello and Ghi- 
 bcrti, incomplete as was the fagade, executed some 
 statues and a stained-glass window for it, but it is 
 only within the last few years that the city of Flor- 
 ence completed the work, leaving untouched the 
 grand piazza which had been the scene of so many 
 fetes and intestine quarrels, and upon wliich is now 
 erected a statue to Dante.* 
 
 The interior is striking from its vast size, the 
 church being built in the shape of a Latin cross, with 
 nave, aisles, and transepts, each of the seven pointed 
 arches being supported on an octagonal column. Op- 
 posite the front entrance is the high altar, while all 
 
 * The fa9ade of Santa Croce was completed in 1863. The ex- 
 pense having been principally born by Mr. Francis Sloane, an 
 Enfrlislimau.
 
 314 FLORENCE. 
 
 around the walls and between the side altars — erected 
 in 1557 by Vasari by order of Cosimo I. — are the 
 monuments of the illustrious dead. First of all on 
 the left there is Domenico Sestini, a celebrated nu- 
 mismatist, whose bust was carved by Pozzetti. While 
 in the first chapel on the right is the tomb of Michael 
 Angelo, who died at Rome on the 17th of February, 
 1564 ; the monument was designed by Vasari, the 
 bust was executed by Battista Lorenzo. Two con- 
 temporary sculptors, Valerie Cioli and Giovanni 
 Dell'Opera, did the allegories of Sculpture and Archi- 
 tecture, the frescoes around the monument being by 
 Battista Naldini. A nobler tomb might well have 
 been raised to the memory of Michael Angelo. The 
 body was deposited in the church on the 12th of 
 March, 1564, and lay in state, for the people of Flor- 
 ence to come and pay him the last tribute of respect. 
 
 The next tomb is only commemorative, for it does 
 not contain the ashes of Dante, in whose honor it was 
 erected in 1829 by Ricci, as a tardy homage on the 
 part of Florence to one who suffered so much for her 
 sake in life. 
 
 After Dante comes Victor Alfieri, whose name has 
 been borne with distinction by his descendants. This 
 monument was erected by Canova in 1807. Com- 
 pared with the monuments of the fifteenth century 
 and of the Renaissance, which are to be seen in such 
 splendid profusion in Florence, these tombs seem so 
 inferior that it is impossible not to wonder how the
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 315 
 
 decadence was brought about. It is not at Florence 
 alone that this feeling manifests itself j for at Venice, 
 in the splendid temple of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei 
 Frari, beside the tombs of doges and condottieri of 
 the fifteenth century there stands that wretched 
 monument upon which the great name of Titian has 
 been traced. This is evidently the result of an in- 
 evitable law to which humanity is subject. Genius 
 comes into the world, grows, spreads, and covers the 
 earth with its shadow : then slowly the sap runs back 
 from the verdant trunk, the tree yields less luscious 
 fruit and flowers not so fair, until at last the branches 
 wither and the tree dies. 
 
 Close beside Alfieri is buried ]\Iachiavelli, his tomb, 
 like so many of the others, being of modern erection, 
 and consequently less beautiful than if it had been 
 the work of a sculptor who had studied in the school 
 of Ghiberti or Donatello. By the side of iVlachiavelli 
 rests Luigi Lanzi, a name less generally known, 
 though celebrated in his time as an historiographer 
 of painting, or an art critic as we should now call 
 him. His friend, Chevalier Ornofrio Boni, prepared 
 the design for his tomb, which was executed at pub- 
 lic cost. The pulpit — a fine specimen of fifteenth- 
 century sculpture, carved by Benedetto da Maiano at 
 the cost of Pietro Mellini, who presented it to the 
 church — is well worth close inspection ; and close by, 
 between the tombs of Lanzi and Leonardo Bruni, is 
 a group in freestone, representing the Annunciation,
 
 316 FLOEENCE. 
 
 This was one of the first of Donatello's works^ and 
 gave an earnest of his future genius. 
 
 The tonlb of Leonardo Bruni Aretino is one of the 
 five or six greatest works of this nature which ever 
 left the sculptor's hands ; it has been used as a model 
 by the sculptors of all the tombs in Santa Maria del 
 Popolo at Rome. Bom in 1369, Leonardo died at 
 Florence in 1443 ; he was a man of letters, a savant, 
 and an adroit diplomatist, though his favorite study 
 was the law, his reputation as a jurisconsult being of 
 the highest. For a long time, however, he was so 
 attached to literature that he abandoned politics for 
 it J was a thorough Greek scholar and a decided parti- 
 san of the doctrines of Aristotle. He had served as 
 Apostolic Secretary under four popes, and when John 
 XXIII. was driven into exile he followed him from 
 Constance. The Papal bulls of the early part of the 
 fifteenth century, noted for the excellence of their 
 Latin, were drawn up by him. It was not until to- 
 wards the end of his life that he could be induced to 
 abandon his post at the Vatican and come to live at 
 Florence, where he fulfilled several very difficult mis- 
 sions, and died Chancellor of the Republic. He was 
 eulogized in the most extravagant terms by his con- 
 temporaries, and his epitaph records that "the Muses, 
 when they learnt the death of Leonardo, could not re- 
 strain their tears, and were dumb." He left behind 
 him a History of Florence from its foundation mitil 
 1404, and this work seems to have been highly ap-
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 317 
 
 predated at the time, for there are manuscripts of it 
 in nearly every important library throughout Italy. 
 The monument to Leonardo Bruni is the highest ex- 
 pression of sculptural art, combining all the taste of 
 ancient Greece with the grace, the power, the calm, 
 the supreme harmony, and the perfection which genius 
 alone confers, its tranrpul and subdued beauty com- 
 paring favorably with the theatrical effect and garish 
 splendor of the monuments in St. John Lateran and 
 St. Peter's at Rome. The superb mausoleums of 
 Leopardi and of the Lombardi at Venice are, perhaps, 
 equally beautiful ; but I am inclined to give the 
 preference to the work of Bernardo Rossellini. He 
 became acquainted with Leonardo Bruni at the Papal 
 Court, where he, as well as Leo Battista Alberti, was 
 a director of the pontifical works. The IMadonna let 
 into the upper part of the monument is by Andrea 
 Yerocchio. 
 
 Close by the tomb of Bruni is that of P. A. Micheli, 
 a celebrated botanist, who died at the age of fifty in 
 1737 ; and the last monument on this side of the nave 
 before reaching the transept is that of Leopoldo Xo- 
 bili, who died at Florence in 1833. These are but 
 second-rate works compared with those which precede 
 them, but the names of the artists have been kept 
 alive, Leopoldo Veneziani having prepared the de- 
 signs, and Francesco Pozzi carved the bas-reliefs, in 
 which the genius of science is seen lifting the veil of 
 nature, which is being held up by the allegorical
 
 318 FLORENCE. 
 
 figure of Tuscany. Not for from these is the mauso- 
 leum which Bartolini, one of the best modern sculp- 
 tors in Florence, erected to the memory of Leo Bat- 
 tista Alberti, who as writer, architect, sculptor, and 
 medallionist, was one of the leading men of his day 
 (1404-1472). His death attracted but little notice, 
 and he was buried without pomp at Rome, and no 
 tomb was raised to his memory. 
 
 The mausoleums against the opposite wall of the 
 main nave are those of the Senator Giovanni Vincen- 
 zio Alberti ; of Antonio Cocchi, an antiquary, who 
 died in 1773 ; and of Carlo ^larsuppini, Secretary of 
 the Republic, who died in 1453. 
 
 This last-named mausoleum is one of the most 
 beautiful of the works fashioned by human hands, and 
 it is by the creation of monuments like this that 
 Florence has taken rank immediately after Athens in 
 regard to intellectual culture. 
 
 There are some artists, just as there are some poets, 
 who, dying at an age when life seems to be opening 
 joyously before them, leave behind them an impres- 
 sion of tender melancholy which may even be traced 
 in their works. Desiderio da Settignano, the author 
 of the tomb of Carlo Marsuppini, who died at the age 
 of five-and-thirty, was one of these. He was born in 
 1428, and his father, Bartolomeo di Francesco, a 
 stone-cutter at Settignano, was a friend of Raphael's 
 father, who, in his ^' Cronaca Rimata," refers to the 
 boy as " II bravo Desider si dolce e bello," these two
 
 ARCHITECTUKE. 319 
 
 adjoctivcs seeming to imply that lie was a handsome 
 youth. Of the work itself it is difficult to give an 
 adequate description, the dead body reposing upon 
 the sarcophagus, and the angelic faces of the two 
 children on either side, striking one, as it were, dumb 
 Avith admiration. Tliis monument has not the over- 
 awing effect of the Sistine Chapel ; it is not pompous 
 and theatrical, like the Lateran chapels ; nor is it 
 merely elegant, noble, and exquisite^ like those of 
 Leopardi or Lombardi ; but there is something more 
 human and more tender about it 5 so much so, that 
 after a long study of the painters and sculptors of the 
 fifteenth century, one is liable not to do full justice to 
 their successors who brought about a revolution in 
 art, and gave expression to new ideas. If the great 
 sculptor Donatello had left no other work scored to 
 his credit save his pupil Desiderio, his name would 
 still be gratefully remembered. 
 
 Carlo ]\rarsup})ini, to whom this monument was 
 erected, has already been referred to as the Secretary 
 of the Republic, and one of the most illustrious of 
 Florentine citizens. The son of a distinguished juris- 
 consult; who is himself buried by the side of his son, 
 he was the pupil of Giovanni of Ravenna, and of 
 Emanuel Chrysoloras a man of profound learning, 
 ^^•ho derived great pleasure in teaching Greek to the 
 young men of Ravenna. The father of Carlo, who 
 had been for a short time Governor of Genoa, was 
 likewise secretary to Charles VI. of France, and the
 
 320 FLOEENCE. 
 
 son was also employed in the public service, liis first 
 mission being to accompany Cosimo de' Medici to 
 Parma : tlience lie passed into the service of Pope 
 Eugenius IV., and then he came to Florence and 
 acted as secretary to the Republic. He several times 
 represented the city as ambassador, and at his death 
 the people honored his memory by one of the grand 
 funeral ceremonies then in vogue. Upon the 24th 
 of April, 1453, the body was placed upon a state bed, 
 robed in silk, around which streamed banners from 
 the Pope, the King of France, the towns of Florence 
 and Arezzo, and each of the communities and asso- 
 ciations of the city. Matteo Palmieri, one of the 
 most learned men of the day, placed a laurel wreath 
 upon his brow and pronounced a funeral eulogy. 
 
 After the tomb of the Secretary comes that of one 
 less illustrious, Angiolo Tavanti, secretary to the Em- 
 peror Francis, husband of Marie Therese, who died 
 in 1782. This monument is by Spinazzi, who also 
 carved that erected to Giovanni Lami, who, though 
 noAV somewhat forgotten, rendered no little service to 
 Florentine literature by his many classical publica- 
 tions. Lami was born in 1008 and died in 1770. 
 
 In visiting Santa Croce it is impossible not to feel 
 how erroneous are the views often held as to the ex- 
 act place which will be allotted in the roll of history 
 to the men of the day. Many of the names in this 
 Pantheon are almost unknown, the tomb next to that 
 of Galileo containing the dust of Mulazzi-Sigiiorini;
 
 Cloisters of S. Croce. 
 
 Arnolfo di Cambio.
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 321 
 
 who has never been heard of out of Italy. Another 
 unavoidable reflection is that the talent of the sculp- 
 tor is rarely in proportion to that of the man whose 
 memory he is about to perpetuate. ]Machiavclli was 
 commemorated by two obscure sculptors like Foggini 
 and Ticcati, and Michael Angelo by Battista Lorenzi. 
 What has the world not lost by the refusal of Michael 
 Angelo's offer to erect a tomb to Dante when the city 
 of Florence was about to ask Eavenna to restore his 
 remains to her ! 
 
 Among the less illustrious persons whose tombs are 
 to be seen in Santa Croce may be mentioned the 
 Countess of Albany, w^hose monument is by Luigi 
 Giovannozzi and Emilio Santarelli, Raddi the botanist, 
 John Catrick, Princess Charlotte Bonaparte, Joseph 
 8alvetti, Raphael Morghen, Bcttino Ricasoli, the 
 architect Alexander Galilei, the Countess Zamo'iska, 
 and the Castellani. 
 
 It would be superfluous to describe all the ]\arts of 
 this vast monument, Avhich, interesting in itself, con- 
 tains numerous works of art in the way of pictures, 
 bas-reliefs, and frescoes, by Taddeo Gaddi, Stamina, 
 Mainardi, and even Ci lotto. 
 
 The convent annexed to Santa Croce was also 
 built by Arnolfo. It was originally occupied by the 
 Franciscan monks, and it was here that, from 1284 
 to 1782, the Inquisition held its sittings. The notori- 
 ous Frenchman, Gaulthier de Brienne, Duke of 
 Athens, who for a brief period ruled Florence as Cap- 
 
 21
 
 322 FLORENCR 
 
 tain of the People, selected this monastery as his resi- 
 dence in June, 1342, but having in September of the 
 same year succeeded in getting himself elected ruler 
 of Florence for life, he removed to the Palazzo Vec- 
 chio. His reign, however, was of only brief duration, 
 for the year following he was expelled by the people. 
 
 St. Bernard of Siena ; the celebrated Felix Peretti, 
 the monk who cast away his crutches, exclaiming, 
 " Ego sum Fapa ; " the mighty Sixtus Quintus ; and 
 Pope Clement XIV. were all monks of Santa Croce. 
 
 The cloister is also very interesting, for although 
 the form of decoration has been altered by successive 
 generations, the primitive design has been preserved. 
 Among the dead buried in it are the Alamanni, Fran- 
 cesco Pazzi, and Gastone dclla Torre Patriarch of 
 Aquileia and Bishop of ^lilan, who died at Florence 
 on the 8th of April, 1317, from the effects of a fall 
 from his horse. 
 
 THE CHAPEL OF THE PAZZI. 
 
 At the end of the cloister of Santa Croce is the 
 Chapel of the Pazzi, built in l-tlO by the powerful 
 family of that name, who intrusted the work to Filippo 
 Brunelleschi. By permission of the family, this chapel 
 was used as a chapter-house for the monks of Santa 
 Croce, and in 1566 four thousand of them assembled 
 there to hear the regulations for the establishment of 
 the Inquisition. The chapel of the Pazzi is one of 
 the sanctuaries of Italian art, having a purity of taste
 
 AKCHITECTUKE. 323 
 
 peculiar to Florence, and is as perfect a specimen as 
 could be desired of the new architecture which Bru- 
 nelleschi introduced at the dawn of the Renaissance. 
 
 When an architect of authority and genius can en- 
 force strict discipline on his fellow-workers he obtains 
 complete harmony both in general effect and in de- 
 tail. This was the case with Brunelleschi's work, and 
 Luca della Robbia^ who was one of his assistants, not 
 only brought into play his abilities as a sculptor, but 
 improved the general effect by the rich friezes with 
 which he ornamented the interior. There are such 
 a vast number of works by his brothers and the artists 
 of his school that his ovm. achievements are apt to be 
 overlooked, but the chapel of the Pazzi contains 
 specimens of his art of which he might well be proud. 
 The Four Evangelists life-size in glazed terra-cotta, 
 the heads of the Twelve Apostles on the upper part 
 of the Avails, and a frieze composed of a host of angels' 
 heads and scutcheons, form a charming whole, per- 
 fect in form, rich in appearance, and of a coloring 
 both endurino; and brilliant. Another interesting 
 feature, from an architectural point of view, is the 
 use of terra-cotta in the decoration of the ceiling, and 
 of the cupola in the portico of the chapel. 
 
 The building was commenced by Andrea Pazzi, and 
 at his death the work was carried on by his son Fran- 
 cesco, who is buried in the convent. Apart from the 
 architectural work, the Pazzi employed the most 
 famous artists of the day for the decoration of the
 
 324 FLOKENCE. 
 
 altars. Many of the heads and figures of the angels 
 are by Donatello. 
 
 In the work of Francesco Bocchi, revised by Cmelli, 
 and published in the seventeenth century under the 
 title of ^^ Le Bellezze della Citta di Firenze," it is 
 stated that Galileo is buried at the foot of an altar in 
 the Medici chapel ; and as the author says that, at 
 the time of his writing, the tomb Avas still in the same 
 place, it must be assumed either that the monument 
 in Santa Croce is only commemorative, or that his 
 remains have been removed there since.* 
 
 THE BAEGELLO. 
 
 Formerly known as the Palazzo del Podesta, this 
 palace, now transformed into a National Museum, was 
 also erected by Arnolfo, and is a very fine specimen 
 of thirteenth-century architecture. 
 
 In September, 1250, there was a popular rising 
 against the Ghibellines. As a matter of course, there 
 was a complete change of government, the first '^Cap- 
 tain of the People '^ was appointed, and the office con- 
 ferred upon Hubert of Lucca, who had under him 
 twelve elders (Anziani). Arnolfo di Cambio Avas re- 
 
 * On the death of Galileo the feeling of the clergy against him 
 was so strong that they would not permit him to he buried within 
 the church ; his remains were, therefore, left neglected in a spot 
 to the right of the altar in the chapel of the Novitiate of the 
 Medici until 1757, when they were removed, and, in accordance 
 with his own dying request, deposited beside the body of his 
 favorite pupil, Yiviani, in the nave of the church.
 
 ARCHITECTUKE. 325 
 
 quested to build a palace for their accommodation, 
 and the site selected was that of a church attached to 
 the neighboring monastery of the Badia, now so cele- 
 brated for its venerable appearance, and for the 
 beautiful works by ]\Iino da Fiesole which it contains. 
 It Avould be difficult to describe what the Bargello 
 was like in the thirteenth century, for its form was 
 changed in 1345 by Agnolo Gaddi.* It was first 
 called the Palazzo del Commune, and afterwards the 
 Palace of the Podesta, being styled the Bargello when 
 it was used as a residence for the Chief of Police, who 
 bore that title. 
 
 Now a National Museum, and restored with a care- 
 ful regard to its original aspect, it presents a very 
 imposing appearance, and is, without exception, the 
 best preserved of all the ancient monuments in Flor- 
 ence. The scutcheons of the various Podestas and 
 of the ordinary members of council, let into the walls 
 give a very characteristic appearance to the orna- 
 mentation. This was a general usage at the time, 
 and many interesting specimens of this description of 
 decoration, now fallen into disuse, are to be seen at 
 the Town Hall of Fiesole and in the little village at 
 which so many travellers halt to visit the famous 
 " Certosa," beyond the gates of Florence. 
 
 Another singular usage — though it was dictated by 
 
 * This statement, for which Vasari is responsible, is disputed, 
 it being asserted by some authorities that Neri di Fiorovarti was 
 the architect of the present building.
 
 326 FLORENCE. 
 
 a sentiment of quite an opposite kind — was that of 
 representing, on the walls of the Bargello, frescoes 
 of traitors and rebels, and in 1345 Giottino Avas em- 
 ployed to paint the featm^es of the Duke of Athens 
 after his downfall, though, unfortunately for us, this 
 fresco is now almost entirely obliterated. 
 
 The walls of the Bargello chapel were well kno\ATi 
 to be covered with paintings by Giotto, which, when 
 the building Avas converted into a prison, Avere con- 
 cealed beneath a coat of whitewash, and only brought 
 to light again in 1840, portraits of Dante, Brmietto, 
 Latini, and Charles of Valois being discovered among 
 them. During the fourteenth century the prisoners 
 condemned to death were executed in the court-yard 
 of the Bargello, and this contributed to give the place 
 a sinister name. But art now reigns supreme Avithin 
 its Avails, and the great names of Donatello, Verroc- 
 chio, Michael Angelo, Maiano, Desiderio, Brunelleschi, 
 Ghiberti, and the brothers Delia Robbia, have obliter- 
 ated the recollection of the gloom in Avhich the palace 
 Avas once iuA^olved. 
 
 AKDEEA OECAGNA. 
 
 (1308-1376.) 
 
 A large place in the history of Florentine ai*t is 
 that held by Andrea Arcagnuolo, surnamed Clone, 
 because he Avas the son of Matteo Clone, who Avas 
 himself an unriA^alled goldsmith in his day, and to 
 whom Ave OAve part of a work matchless in its Avay^
 
 AKCHITECTURE. 327 
 
 viz.^ tlie famous silver altar treasured up in the 
 " Opera del Duomo." 
 
 Orcagna was born in 1308, and tlie date of his 
 death is given by some authorities as 13G8, and by 
 others as 1376. lie was goldsinith, architect, painter, 
 sculptor, and even poet, combining, like so many of 
 his compatriots in the fourteenth and two following 
 centuries, manifold gifts. As a goldsmith he worked 
 under the direction of his father, and he received les- 
 sons in painting from his eldest brother, Bernardi. 
 He soon gave up the goldsmith's trade for fresco 
 painting, and there is reason to believe that his great- 
 est paintings were done while he was between five- 
 and-twenty and five-and-thirty. His brother Ber- 
 nardi, many of whose works are ascribed to Andrea, 
 painted the two large frescoes of Hell and Heaven in 
 Santa Maria Novella, though he was assisted in them 
 by his brother. He showed so much talent in easel- 
 painting — the London National Gallery has a line 
 specimen of his pictures in the " Coronation of the 
 Virgin " — that he was employed to decorate the walls 
 of the Campo Santo at Pisa. This was the great 
 work of his life, and he showed real genius in paint- 
 ing a commentary on those lines in which Horace 
 describes how " pale death with one blow overturns 
 the cottage of the poor and the })alace of the great. '^ 
 A good deal is said about ^' realism " and '"' natural- 
 ism" in the present day, but Orcagna rendered palpa- 
 ble by his unpretentious style of art the idea wliich
 
 328 FLOEENCE. 
 
 he had In his mind, and the most simple cannot fail 
 to seize his meaning.* 
 
 Andrea Orcagna first distinguished himself as an 
 architect in connection with Or San Michele. Arnolfo 
 had built upon the site of an old Lombard church 
 dedicated to 8t. Michael a sort of Loggia, to be used 
 as a corn mart, of the kind so common in Italy, the 
 vaulted roof resting on brick columns, with open 
 arches between them. A celebrated painter of his 
 day, Ugolino of Siena, had decorated one of the col- 
 umns with a Madonna, and about the middle of the 
 thirteenth century this became a place of pilgrimage. 
 In 1294 it was rumored that a miracle had been 
 wrought there in presence of the people, and crowds 
 came on market days with votive offerings, until at 
 last the wealthy corn merchants determined to erect 
 a building more worthy of the object of their worship. 
 The opportunity occurred in 1304, when, by the 
 carelessness of a prior of San Piero Scheraggio, knoT^Ti 
 as " Neri Abati,'^ the corn market was burnt down, 
 together with seven hundred houses and towers. 
 
 At the joint initiative of the corn merchants and 
 of a lay order wdiich had assumed the guardianship 
 of the Madonna, the members styleing themselves 
 captains of Or San ]\Iichele (Or being derived from 
 Horrcum, granary),t it was resolved to rebuild the 
 
 * These frescoes are now generally attributed to some artist of 
 the Sienese school. 
 
 t Or, according to some authorities from Ilortus, a garden.
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 329 
 
 Log'f^ia, and the work was intrusted to Taddeo Gaddi, 
 at tliat time clilef areliitect (Capo Maestro) of the 
 Commune. Above the part set aside for the corn ex- 
 change he built two stories, one for the Administra- 
 tion and the other for the granaries, which accounts 
 for the pocuHar shape of what is now the clnircli. 
 The first stone was laid with great pomp, and two 
 years later the Corporation of Silk-weavers (Arte 
 della Seta) having asked permission to place the 
 statue of their j^atron saint in one of the niches of the 
 new building, the other corporations asked a like 
 fovor. Thus it was that in course of time the original 
 use of the building was changed, and it came to be a 
 consecrated place of worship. Large sums were con- 
 tinually being bequeathed to it, and in lifty years the 
 gifts of the pilgrims alone amounted to 350,000 florins. 
 When the plague raged in Tuscany, carrying off three- 
 fifths of the inhabitants of Florence, four-fifths of the 
 population of Pisa, and eight thousand inhabitants of 
 Siena, the Florentines might have been seen kneeling 
 night and day before the Virgin of the Pillar, offering 
 to dedicate their fortunes to her if they were spared. 
 The Signoria, acting in accordance Avith the popular 
 feeling, passed a law by wliich the captains of C)r San 
 Michele were to receive a third of the property of 
 persons who had slain one of their relatives in order 
 to obtain his or her inheritance. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that Andrea Or- 
 caixna was called in to transform the granary into a
 
 330 FLOKENCE. 
 
 church, its history «nnd situation making it one of the 
 most interesting monuments in Florence. There it 
 stands, without perspective or set-ofF, as impossible to 
 sketch or to photograph as to see, situated in a nar- 
 row and ill-built street, along which, as is so often the 
 case in Florence, one might pass without noticing it.* 
 Orcagna closed in the open arches with Gothic win- 
 dows, placing the niches for the different patron saints 
 of the guilds between them. The famous painting of 
 Ugolino of Siena was enclosed by him in a shrine, a 
 work unique of its kind. 
 
 This shrine is of white marble, and Grothic in style, 
 the sculptures representing the principal episodes in 
 the life of the Virgin. The holy image is in the centre 
 of the composition, which is surmounted by an open- 
 worked lid, with statuettes of the Archangel Michael 
 and an angel above. There is a whole mass of bas- 
 reliefs, statues, busts, mosaics, incrusted stones, bril- 
 liant enamels, and stained glass, the great variety of 
 material not marring the general harmony. Perkins, 
 in his ^^ Italian Sculptors,'' gives the following com- 
 plete description of it, accompanied by etchings of 
 some of the bas-reliefs. He says, ^' Upon three sides 
 of the base, in octagonal recesses, are bas-reliefs rep- 
 resenting the Birth, Presentation, and Marriage of 
 the Virgin, the Annunciation, the Kativity, the 
 
 ■^'' The alterations which have taken place in Florence since this 
 was written have entirely changed the surroundings of Or San 
 Michele.
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 331 
 
 Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation of Christ in 
 the Temple, and an angel announcing to the Virgin 
 her approaching end. The Virgin, represented as an 
 aged woman, is looking -with an expression of hope 
 and submission at the divine messenger, and is receiv- 
 ing a palm branch, which will render her body invisi- 
 ble to the Jews when carried to the tomb. . . . 
 The subjects are divided by small bas-reliefs, repre- 
 senting the Christian virtues, and surrounded by 
 small figures personifying the Virtues, the Sciences, 
 and the Arts. Above the base and behind the shrine 
 there is a large panel representing the death of the 
 Madonna, laid out upon her bed and surrounded by 
 the Apostles, and her ascent in the mystic Olandorla,' 
 whence she lets fall her belt, to convince the doubting 
 St. Thomas." 
 
 It is worth noting that Orcagna, instead of conceal- 
 ing his identity, as was the case with so many of his 
 contemporaries, made a point of signing his works, 
 and on the shrine in San Michele may be read in 
 Gothic letters the inscription, "Andreas Cionis, pictor 
 Fiorentinus . . . cxtitit hujus LIXMCCC." He also 
 reproduced his own features in one of the bas-reliefs 
 of this shrine, executed, as the inscription proves, 
 when he was only thirty years of age. 
 
 Those who are interested in art will also observe that 
 most of the great artists of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries, who were at once architects, painters, 
 sculptors, and goldsmiths, place the word " sculptor "
 
 332 FLOKENCE. 
 
 or " goldsmith '^ in the corner of a picture ; while to 
 a piece of sculpture they append the signature of 
 "painter'^ or ^'architect/' as if to prove that their 
 talents were manifold. Such was the case with Ghi- 
 berti, Pollaiuolo, Pisanello, Francia, and several others. 
 The celebrated Madonna by Ugolino, which caused the 
 Loggia to be converted into a church, has not, unfor- 
 tunately, survived, for he painted " alia Greca," and 
 as he transferred it at once on '^ Intonaco," to use the 
 term of the day, it had either been destroyed by the 
 fire of 1304, or had gradually been obliterated by the 
 damp air before Orcagna made the shrine. But an 
 artist whose name is unknown — some pupil of Giotto, 
 no doubt — painted a Madonna on canvas for it.* 
 
 Orcagna was ten years about this work, beginning 
 by closing in the arcades and by opening a door on 
 to the Via Calimara, completely changing the appear- 
 ance which the Loggia had when built by Taddeo 
 Gaddi. 
 
 The church, as we see it now, is the result of two 
 centuries of embellishments, but it was in the fifteenth 
 century more especially that the guilds showed the 
 greatest liberality, the result of the respective dona- 
 tions of the wool-carders, the butchers, the smiths, 
 
 * There is great diversity of opinion as to the authorship of this 
 picture. It has been attributed to Lanzi, Orcagna, Lorenzo Mo- 
 naco, and Bernardo Daddi in turn, but the latest investigations 
 seem to settle the question in favor of the last named, an artist 
 of the fourteenth century.
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 333 
 
 the farriers, etc., being a sort of external altar, very 
 peculiar in shape, and having a mass of variegated 
 ornamentation, typical of the development of the 
 sculptor's art in Florence. 
 
 Apart from its artistic importance. Or San Michele 
 is interesting, because it symbolizes the strength and 
 influence of the guilds of Florence, Avhich may be 
 said to have made the city not only wealthy and 
 famous, but noble and beautiful. The guilds, in short, 
 were the first and most beneficent patrons of art in 
 Florence and throughout Italy. 
 
 There were fourteen niches on the outside, and 
 these were gradually filled with statues of the patron 
 saints of the various guilds, whose banners were dis- 
 played from them on the festival of St. Anne. This 
 ceremony, Avhich Avas one of the most imposing of the 
 year, Avas first observed upon the expulsion of the 
 Duke of Athens, and notwithstanding the dissolution 
 of the guilds, it is still carried on. 
 
 Beginning at the northwest, we see the statue of 
 St. Matthew, by jMichelozzo ]\Iichelozzi, and a careful 
 inspection of the hem of the cloak Avhich the saint is 
 represented as wearing will disclose the following in- 
 scription : — '^ Opus, Universitatis cansorum, Floren- 
 tiai An. Dom. MCCCCXX." The niche itself Avas 
 designed by Niccolo Aretino, and the guild of money- 
 changers bore the cost.* 
 
 * The niche was more probably tlesigned by Ghibcrti, to whom 
 the statue is also sometimes ascribed.
 
 334 FLOEEXCE. 
 
 Lorenzo Gliiberti did the statue of St. Stephen, in 
 the second niche, for the Guild of Wool-combers. 
 The Guild of Smiths employed Nanni, the son of An- 
 tonio di Banco, less famous than Ghiberti, but an 
 artist of sterling ability, to carve their statue. A bas- 
 relief at the foot represents the bishop under whose 
 protection this guild placed itself, in the act of shoe- 
 ing a horse possessed by a devil. This facade, look- 
 ing on to a dark, narrow street, is often overlooked 
 by visitors ; but, with its singular corridor connecting 
 the upper stories of Or San Michele with the neigh- 
 boring house, it is very picturesque. The street in 
 question is called ^' Sdrucciolo di San Michele." The 
 flax merchants obtained permission to place the 
 statue of their patron saint (St. Mark) in the first 
 niche of the south side, and the work was intrusted to 
 Donatello, who carved a statue which is not so much 
 admired as many of his works, though ]\Iichael An- 
 gelo is reported to have said of it, ^^ How can any one 
 not believe the Gospel, when it is preached by a saint 
 whose countenance is honesty itself?" 
 
 Donatello also did the statue of St. George for the 
 armorers, and this is one of the finest specimens of 
 the sculptor's art. St. George is in full armor, stand- 
 ing upright, and with one hand resting on his shield. 
 The noble and tranquil dignity of the saint, defying, 
 as it were, an invisible enemy, is the most striking 
 feature in this remarkable work. 
 
 On the pedestal may be seen a small bas-relief by
 
 AECHITECTURE. 335 
 
 Donatello of St. George slaying the Dragon, a terra- 
 cotta reproduction of which is in the South Kensing- 
 ton Museum.* 
 
 On the southern front is the statue of St. John the 
 Evangelist, executed by Baccio da Montehipo for the 
 Guild of the " Por Santa Maria/' and above these 
 niches, in the spandrels, Luca della Robbia placed the 
 arms and emblems, of the different guilds done in 
 terra-cotta or majolica. The fayade, which is most 
 noticed, overlooking as it does one of the most crowded 
 streets of Florence, has in its centre a splendid niche, 
 the architectural design of which is by Donatello, the 
 niche itself containing the figure of St. Thomas thrust- 
 ing his finger into the side of our Lord, by Yerroc- 
 chio, the tribunal of the Mcrcanzia having found the 
 funds for this effective composition. 
 
 Giovanni da Bologna, at a later period, executed 
 for the Guild of Judges and Notaries the statue of St. 
 Luke, which occupies the first niche on the eastern 
 front, while that of St. Peter on the north side is bv 
 Donatello, who did it for the Guild of Butchers. 
 
 The Guild of Shoemakers instructed Nanni di 
 Banco to carve a statue of St. Pliilip for the second 
 niche on the north front, and the Carpenters and 
 Masons employed him to erect a group of four un- 
 crowned saints martyred under Diocletian. An anec- 
 
 •'• The original St. George by Donatello is at present in the 
 National Museum— II Bargello — Avliither it was taken in 1S92, a 
 cast being substituted at Or San Michele.
 
 336 FLORENCE. 
 
 dote, which proves what a great influence Donatello 
 possessed over the artists of his day, is told in connec- 
 tion with this work. When the saints were finished 
 Nanni discovered that they were too big for the niche, 
 and he consulted DonateUo, who promised to help him 
 out of his trouble if he would give a supper to him 
 and liis workmen. Donatello set to work, and after 
 knocking off portions of the shoulders and arms of the 
 four saints, brought them into such close contact that 
 they could be placed in the niche without difficulty. 
 It will be seen from the foregoing description that Or 
 San Michele is a true sanctuary of Florentine art. In 
 the interior, which, like the exterior, is the work of 
 successive generations, the magnificent shrine of Or- 
 cagna, representing the history of the Virgin, first 
 attracts our attention. The first altar to the right is 
 modern, Avhile that consecrated to St. Anne dates 
 from the close of the last century, in the centre being 
 a handsome group of St. Anne and the Virgin, by 
 San Gallo, an artist with something of Michael An- 
 gelo's manner. 
 
 Simon da Fiesole had decorated the rear altar for 
 the Guild of Grocers, but it has been entirely reno- 
 vated, and, except for the handsome vaulted roof and 
 Orcagna's shrine, the interior has not the attractions 
 of the exterior. Still there is no sanctuary in Flor- 
 ence more venerated, the sacred picture of Ugolino 
 helping to inspire the people of the present day Avith 
 the same respect which was shown it in the Middle
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 337 
 
 Ages. There arc two curious legends, also, in con- 
 nection with the group of the Virgin and Child, hy 
 Simon da Fiesolc. One of these is that a Jew having, 
 in 1493, struck tliem a blow on the face, he was pur- 
 sued and stoned to death by the children of Florence, 
 an inscription at the base of the statue commemorat- 
 ing this occurrence. It was reported again in 1628 
 that the Virgin had been seen to move and blink her 
 eyes, and as the plague occurred in Florence two 
 years later, this was of course said to have been a 
 presage of the calamity. 
 
 THE LOGGIA DEI LAXZI. 
 
 Concurrently with the work which was being car- 
 ried on in Or San Michele, Orcagna was assisting in 
 the building of the Orvieto Cathedral, Avhere he spent 
 the year 1360 ; but so nuicli pressure was put U|)on 
 him that he did not remain there long, and returned 
 to Florence, the first important work which he under- 
 took after that being the '' Loggia dci Lanzi.'' xVc- 
 cording to Gave and Kicci, who are the most trust- 
 wortliy authorities, this work was begun in 1374, but 
 Italian dates of this period are never to be relied upon 
 alt(»gether.* The building of the Loggia was hiter- 
 rupted by war and civil dissensions during a j)eriod 
 of ten years, but Baldinucci, in his '' Libro di Ricor- 
 danze del Proveditore Stieri," referring to the sums 
 
 * The Loegia dei Lanzi is also attributed to Benci di Clone, 
 who moy have executed it from designs made by Orcagna. 
 
 22
 
 338 FLORENCE. 
 
 paid to the sculptors who assisted in carving the 
 statues above the Loggia, shows that considerable 
 progress must have been made in a short period. It 
 was thought at one time that Orcagna had carved the 
 statues of the four Cardinal Virtues, but Gaddi and 
 Giovanni Seti are now known to liaA^e executed those 
 of ^^ Fortitude " and ''' Temperance/' if not the two 
 others. 
 
 The Loggia merits a somewhat detailed descrip- 
 tion, for it is an open-air Tribune, holding much the 
 same position as regards sculpture as the famous 
 Uffizi Tribune does in respect to painting. Orcagna, 
 by the substitution of full for pointed arches, made an 
 innovation in architecture which was generally fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 The principal characteristics of this handsome 
 building are boldness of design, elegance, and 
 strength *, it consists of three open arches with three 
 pillars, enclosing a platform raised six steps above 
 the square. 
 
 The Loggia was originally designed to protect the 
 citizens from the weather during the discussion of 
 public affairs. About 1541 Cosimo I. brought to 
 Florence a Swiss Guard composed of two hundred 
 soldiers, and the name — De' Lanzi — dates from this 
 period, the derivation being from the word Lancer. 
 Not that the Loggia was occupied as a guard-house, 
 like that on the Piazza of St. Mark at Venice, but 
 there was a barrack close by, and there is no doubt
 
 ARCIIITECTUKE. 330 
 
 that the sokliers on guard at tlie Palazzo Veccliio 
 paced up and down before it. The first captain of 
 the Swiss Guard was named Fuggler, and his men 
 were quartered first in the Fortezza da Basso, then 
 in the Medici Palace, and finally on the Piazza itself. 
 The Swiss Guard was only abolished in 1745, and its 
 uniform was similar to that of the Pope's Guard at 
 the Vatican. 
 
 The aspect of the Loggia has changed with time, 
 though its architecture has undergone no modifica- 
 tion, the various pieces of sculpture being placed in 
 it as they Avere executed. Michael Angelo urged 
 Cosimo I. to continue the colonnade all round the 
 Piazza, but the idea was not carried out on account of 
 the expense. The oldest of all the works of sculpture 
 placed in the Loggia is beyond question Donatcllo's 
 ^' Judith," though it was not originally intended to 
 occupy its present position. An engraving of the 
 sixteenth century shows that it then stood in front 
 of the Palazzo Vecchio. Its transfer to the arcade 
 of the Loggia is due to a circumstance of historic 
 interest. It was executed in the first instance for 
 the Medici Palace, and when Pietro de' ]\Iedici was 
 expelled it was placed at the entrance to the Palazzo 
 Vecchio and the following inscription carved upon 
 the pedestal : "" Exemplum Sal. pub. civcs posucre, 
 1495." In 1504 it was replaced by Michael An- 
 gelo's '' David," and subsequently transported to its 
 present position, which, according to Gualandi, the
 
 340 FLOEENCE. 
 
 Bologna art critic^ it has occupied for nearly four 
 centuries. 
 
 The two colossal marble lions which stand at the 
 foot of the staircase have only been there since 1780; 
 one of them is very ancient^ while the other is by 
 Flaminio Vacca. 
 
 ^^ The Rape of the Sabines," a superb composition 
 by Giovanni da Bologna^ which stands out finely 
 against the architectural background, was not orig- 
 inally intended to represent that subject. Francesco 
 de' Medici requested that the artist should call it 
 ''' The Rape of Andromeda by Phineus/' but Bor- 
 ghini, the learned critic, suggested ^^The Rape of the 
 Sabines " as more appropriate, and Giovanni repre- 
 sented that historical episode upon the base of the 
 pedestal. He was eminently fitted for the work of 
 decorating spacious buildings of this kind, and among 
 his other compositions is " Hercules slaying the cen- 
 taur Xessus," carved from a single block of marble, 
 and remarkable for the precision of the anatomy and 
 the life-like attitude of the two figures. This group 
 Avas not specially intended for the place it occupies, 
 but it forms a fitting pendant to "" The Ajax and 
 Patroclus," a restoration of a Greek sculpture placed 
 there by the architect Poccianti. 
 
 Last of all comes the masterpiece of Benvenuto 
 Cellini, a bronze statue representing Perseus, Avhich 
 has all the characteristics of the eccentric genius by 
 whom it was cast. Perseus is represented as having
 
 Loggia, ciei Lanzi,
 
 ARCHITECTUKE. 341 
 
 just severed Medusa's head from the trunk, wliicli is 
 writhing beneath his feet, while he, witli a cahn air 
 of triumph, holds up the head with one hand, his 
 sword grasped in the other. The base is ornamented 
 with a series of bas-reliefs, the four sides containing 
 niches, in Avliich are small allegorical statues. There 
 are few more interesting stories than that in which 
 Benvenuto himself relates how the cast of the statue 
 was made. The Loggia, as it now stands, occupies a 
 page in the history of Florentine art, Avhich, instead 
 of lying hidden in museums and galleries, is spread 
 out in the full light of day, beneath the blue canopy 
 of heaven, and with a whole population to admii'e 
 its beauties. 
 
 PIAZZA E CHIESA SANTA MARIA NOVELLA. 
 
 Pucellai, about 1469, instructed Leo Battista Al- 
 berti to design a grand fa9ade for the church of Santa 
 Maria Novella. The square, upon which one now 
 comes upon issuing from the cloister, was then the 
 largest in Florence, even worse off for open spaces 
 in the time of the Medici than it is now. Li 1331 
 a decree had been issued for the laying out of this 
 piazza, and thirteen years later, when Peter Martyr 
 was delivering a series of sermons against an hereti- 
 cal sect called the Paterini, it was still further en- 
 larged. 
 
 As all the inhabitants of Florence were very fond 
 of festivals and sight-seeing, an open space of this
 
 342 FLORENCE. 
 
 kind was indispensable 5 and when in after-years the 
 Grand Duke Cosimo got up tournaments^ jousts^ and 
 so forth, it was there that the chariot races, with 
 their four colors of green, red, sky-blue and white, 
 were held. The prize was a piece of crimson cloth, 
 and seats were erected all round the amphitheatre for 
 the populace. At first some wooden pyramids served 
 as goals for the competitors, but in 1608 Giovanni da 
 Bolof^ua erected the two small obelisks in Seravezza 
 marble, resting on tortoises and surmounted by bronze 
 lilies. 
 
 The church is very famous in Florence, and with 
 its agglomeration of monastic buildings and cloisters 
 is one of the most interesting in the city. In 1221 
 the Dominicans took possession of the ancient sanc- 
 tuary, and began building a new church. Two of 
 their order, Fra Ristoro and Fra Sixtus, were ap- 
 pointed architects a number of years later, and the 
 work was completed, as we see it now, in 1470. The 
 low arcades on the right were used as tombs, beneath 
 which the principal families living in the quarter 
 were buried. 
 
 The interior is Gothic, and in the shape of a Latin 
 cross, thus forming a marked contrast with the classi- 
 cal character of Alberti's facade. This church is as 
 much a museum as it is a sanctuary, some of the 
 greatest names in Italy being commemorated there. 
 It contains the Rucellai and Strozzi Chapels, the 
 tomb of the Beata Yillana (1360), of G. B. Ricasoli,
 
 AECIIITECTUKE. 343 
 
 of Bishop Alliotti, of t]i(3 Patriarcli of Constantinople, 
 who died in Florence in 1440, and the niansolenni 
 of Aldobrandini Cavalcanti. The tomb of Filippo 
 Strozzi is by Benedetto da Maiano, but the balus- 
 trade of the organ loft by Baccio d'AgnoIo has been 
 sold to the South Kensington Museum. 
 
 The liuccellai Chapel contains the celebrated Ma- 
 donna by Cimabue, which is regarded as the starting- 
 point of the Florentine school, and there are many 
 other paintings of great importance in Santa Maria 
 Novella, including two frescoes of " St. Philip Exor- 
 cising the Demon " and of " St. John the Evangelist 
 Raising Drusiana to Life." But the artist Avho has 
 done most for this church is Domenico Ghirlandajo, 
 who was employed by Tornabuoni to paint in the choir 
 a series of scenes from the lives of the Virg-in and 
 St. John Baptist in which appear likenesses of sev- 
 eral members of his own family and of other illus- 
 trious persons of the day. Among them are Luca 
 Pitti, Baldovinetti, Piero Tornabuoni, Cosimo son of 
 Lorenzo, Bartolini, Salimbeni, Francesca Pitti, Po- 
 litian, ]\[arcilio Ficino, Cristoforo Landino, Andrea 
 de' Medici, and all the members of the Tornabuoni 
 and Pidolii families. At this period Michael Angelo 
 was one of his pupils, and in the " Msitation of Mary 
 to Elizabeth " he is said to have painted the man 
 looking from a balcony in the distance. 
 
 The walls of the Strozzi Chapel are covered with 
 frescoes by Filippino Lippi^ and the cloisters are full
 
 344 FLORENCE. 
 
 of most interesting works. In the Spanish Chapel 
 Taddeo Gaddi and !Memmi painted the Cliiirch ]\Iili- 
 tant and the C'lnireh Triumphant, and Memmi is be- 
 lieved to have introduced into his picture the leading 
 men of his day. The subject of Gaddi's picture is 
 St. Thomas Aquinas seated in a pul})it, surrounded 
 by the Prophets, the Evangelists and the angelic 
 host.* The Great Cloister, as it is called, which 
 communicates with this one, is the largest in Flor- 
 ence, and is decorated with paintings by various mas- 
 ters. It was a vast rehgious establishment, dis- 
 persed at the time of the Revolution, and founded in 
 1278, covering more than 200,000 feet of ground. 
 There were the Pope's quarters and the Pope's chapel; 
 and the refectory, built by Talenti in 1460, contain- 
 ing several paintings, including Allori's famous com- 
 position representing the miraculous supply of manna 
 in the desert. The Spezeria of Santa Maria No- 
 vella still remains open. It is entered by a door on 
 the Via Scala, and is celebrated for the liqueurs and 
 perfumes prepared there. 
 
 Altogether Santa Maria Novella is a true sanctuary 
 of art, the chapel of Ghirlandajo giving a better idea 
 than any other place in Florence of the prolific genius 
 of that day, while the compositions in the cloisters 
 are worthy to be compared with those in the Campo 
 Santo at Pisa. 
 
 * The authorship of these paintings is disputed.
 
 ARCHITECTUEE. 346 
 
 THE PIAZZA DELLA SAXTISSIMA ANNUXZIATA. 
 
 This Is one of tlie finest squares in Florence, sur- 
 rounded by arcades and decorated with busts of the 
 Medicean Grand Dukes. Approaching it from the 
 south, there is a fine view of the church of the An- 
 nunziata, while to tlie right it is flanked by the 
 Foundling Hospital, and to the left by the convent 
 of the order of Servites. These buildings are all 
 much in the same style. In the centre of the square 
 is an equestrian statue of Ferdinand I. by John of 
 Bologna, while to the right and left are two fountains 
 by Pietro Tacca, in which monsters of the deep are 
 in the act of vomiting water into bronze shells. 
 
 The statue was erected in 1G08, the veteran sculp- 
 tor being at that time eighty years of age, and the 
 work was done by order of Ferdinand II., as a tribute 
 to the memory of his predecessor, and also to com- 
 memorate the victory of the Knights of St. Stephen 
 over the Turks, the cannon taken from the latter 
 being used to make the statue, which bore the in- 
 scription, " Con la fusione dei metalli rapiti al fiero 
 Trace." Ferdinand 11. afterwards had the large 
 bronze shield, with motto, ^^^lajcstate Tantum," seme 
 of bees, let in at the base of the statue. 
 
 The portico of the church is of the Corinthian order, 
 the central arcade having been built for Leo X., after 
 the designs of A. da San Gallo, while the money for 
 the other arcades was found by ^Uexander and Rub-
 
 346 FLOKENCE. 
 
 ert Pucci. The central door leads into the church, 
 and opens upon the beautiful portico decorated by 
 Andrea del Sarto ; that to the left leads to the cloister, 
 and thence to the church, through the door over which 
 Del Sarto painted the fomous '^ Madonna del Sacco." 
 The door to the right opens into the chapel of St. 
 Sebastian, with its tiny cupola which rises above the 
 portico. This church is one of the marvels of Flor- 
 ence, and so many additions have been made to it of 
 late that it is now resplendent with gold and precious 
 marbles. Its thirty chapels were decorated by all the 
 princes who succeeded one another in Tuscany, from 
 the time of the first Medici down to the last repre- 
 sentatives of their race. 
 
 The building of the Foundling Hospital was decided 
 upon at the meeting of the Communal Council on the 
 25th of October, 1421, the mover of the resolution 
 being Leonardo Bruni, who is buried in Santa Croce. 
 When Filippo Brunelleschi, to Avhom the work was 
 given, had to leave Florence on account of his pre- 
 vious engagements, he prepared the designs, and left 
 his pupil, Francesco della Luna, to carry them out. 
 This was much to be regretted, for the latter changed 
 the lines of the edifice, and having once begun to 
 make alterations, he did not know where to stop. 
 The fa9ade has a handsome portico with nine arcades, 
 and in the spandrels may be noticed terra-cotta 
 medallions representing infants in swaddling-clothes, 
 as typical of the object of the building.
 
 La Madonna del Sacco, Cloister of the SS. Annunziata. 
 
 Andrea, del Sarto,
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 347 
 
 The frescoes are bj PoccettI, an artist of some 
 merit, and over the door leading from the court to the 
 church is an Annunciation of the Virgin by Luca della 
 Robbia.
 
 848 FLOEENCE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SCULPTURE. 
 
 KICCOLO AND GIOVAXXI PISAXO. 
 
 (1205-1278.) 
 
 There can be no doubt that Tuscany was tlie 
 cradle of the Renaissance of sculpture, for though the 
 precedence has been clahned for Apulia, the works 
 of sculpture which decorate the eleventh and twelfth 
 century monuments in that part of Italy are more or 
 less of a Saracenic or Byzantine type. Pisano, who" 
 may be regarded as the originator of Tuscan art, was 
 not a native of Florence, and his place of birth is un- 
 certain, though he is generally believed to have been 
 born at Siena. He was a man of genius, in the full 
 acceptation of the term, for he was the creator and 
 founder of a great school. He at first devoted his 
 attention to architecture, and at sixteen years of 
 age followed the Emperor Frederick II. to Naples, 
 where he is supposed to have remained twelve years, 
 during which period he undoubtedly worked at the 
 celebrated Castcl dell' Ovo and the Castel Capuano. 
 From Naples he went to Padua, where he is said to 
 have superintended the building of the church erected 
 in honor of San Antonio, the famous Santo of whom
 
 SCTLPTURK 349 
 
 the city of Padua Is so proud, tliougli there is uo direct 
 proof of his having taken part in this great work. 
 From Padua he went to Lucca, where he first gave 
 evidence of his skill as a scidptor, carving a '^ Descent 
 from the Cross '^ for one of tlie side doors of the 
 catln^lral of San Martino. This work was in his early 
 manner, tlie outcome of his natural accpurements and 
 personal observations, and to this period doubtless be- 
 long the Madonna, the St. Dominic, and the Mag- 
 dalene on the Misericordia Vecchia at Florence — this 
 Madonna being the prototype of all the subsequent 
 Madonnas of the Pisan School. 
 
 Henceforth his labors as an architect and sculptor 
 were blended together, but it is difficult to assign an 
 exact date to each of his works. He built the Santa 
 Trinita Church at Florence — restored in l.")<)3 by 
 Buontalenti — San Domenico d'Arezzo, the Duomo at 
 Volterra, the Pieva, and Santa ^largherita at Cortona. 
 In 12G0, by Avliich time his fame both as a sculptor 
 and an architect was firmly established, he executed 
 the beautifid pulpit in the Baptistery of Pisa, which 
 may be regarded as one of those works which inspire 
 a whole school. In this creation he shows the influ- 
 ence of the ancient sculptures which had come under 
 his observation as, for instance, the sarcophagus con- 
 taining the ashes of the wife of Bonifoce ^larquis of 
 Tuscany, and mother of the celebrated Countess Ma- 
 tilda who died in 1076. He also altered the accepted 
 shape which had been adopted from the earliest ages
 
 350 FLORENCE. 
 
 of Christianity, conforming himself, however, to the 
 traditions of the Lombard Church, by letting the col- 
 umns of the pulpit rest upon the backs of lions. As 
 a proof of his having been in some measure inspired 
 by antique art, the fact of his having taken from the 
 Campo Santo of Pisa the bearded Bacchus of the 
 Greek vase has often been mentioned by writers on 
 this subject. 
 
 From Pisa Niccolo went to Bologna, where he 
 fashioned the sarcophagus for the remains of San 
 Domenico (the Area di San Domcnico), which is one 
 of the marvels of that city. The ashes of the saint 
 were placed in it on the 12th of June, 1267, as we 
 know by the documents brought to light by Professor 
 Bonahii, but Niccolo had started the year before for 
 Siena, where he arranged to carve the cathedral pul- 
 pit, leaving his pupil Guglielmo Agnelli to complete 
 a few unfinished details. The pulpit at Siena was 
 erected with the assistance of his son Giovanni, and 
 of his pupils, Arnolfo di Cambioj Donate, and Lapo. 
 It is octagon in shape, and rests upon nine columns. 
 The upper part has six panels, filled in with bas-re- 
 liefs representing the Nativity, the Adoration of the 
 Magi, the Flight into Egypt, the Massacre of the In- 
 nocents, the Crucifixion, and the Last Judgment. 
 The centre pillar is surrounded by allegorical figures, 
 in semi-relief, of Astronomy, Grammar, Dialectics, 
 Philosophy, Arithmetic, Geometry, and Music. 
 
 The frequent journeys of Pisano from town to town,
 
 SCULPTURE. 351 
 
 and the great works which he executed in each, 
 naturally exercised no little influence upon art in the 
 places Avhich he visited, and at Siena more especially 
 he acted as a pioneer for all the sculptors of a later 
 date. 
 
 The name of Pisano is connected Avith one of the 
 bloodiest episodes in the history of his time — the exe- 
 cution of Conradin, by order of Charles of Anjou, 
 after the battle of Tagliacozzo — for he was employed 
 to build an abbey and conyent upon the battle-field, 
 to receive the remains of the dead. There is not, 
 however, a single stone of these buildings now stand- 
 ing, the name of Santa Maria della A'ittoria, given to 
 a neighboring church, alone remaining to indicate the 
 spot.* 
 
 In 1274 Pisano was at Perugia, where he erected 
 the beautifid fountain which may be said to embody 
 in its decorations the attributes of many of the cities 
 Avhich he had previously visited. This fountain com- 
 prises twenty-four statuettes attributed to Xiccolo, 
 fifty bas-reliefs done by his son Giovanni, and a basin 
 from which springs a column bearing up a bronze 
 Taz^tty from which, in turn, springs another colnuni 
 surrounded by nymphs, and surmounted by the grif- 
 fins of Perugia and a lion. The magistrates of Peru- 
 gia set so much store by this fountain that severe 
 
 * A festival commemorative of tlie victory is held in this 
 church every hundred years. See Perkins's Hi><t. Hand-book of 
 Italian Sculpture. Note, p. 20.
 
 352 ILORENCE. 
 
 edicts were issued to insure its preservation from 
 damage. 
 
 Pisano was the founder of Tuscan sculpture, and 
 exercised an influence, the extent of which cannot 
 well be exaggerated, upon after generations. Per- 
 kins, in his '^ Tuscan Sculptors," Avell says of him, 
 ^^ Respected and esteemed by all, he is one of the 
 truly great men to whom the whole world owes an 
 undying debt of gratitude, and he stands out like a 
 beacon light in the darkness of these five centuries. 
 What Dante was to Italian literature, Niccolo Pisano 
 was to Italian art.'' 
 
 ANDREA PISANO. 
 
 (1273-1349.) 
 
 Andrea was the son of Ugolino di Nino, and he 
 studied under Giovanni Pisano, the son of Niccolo, 
 acquiring the reputation of being the most skilful 
 bronze-founder of his day. He was the maker of 
 one of the bronze gates in the Baptistery at Flor- 
 ence, and the inscription, still legible, gives the date 
 on which the bronze was cast : ^^ Andreas Ugolini 
 Nini de Pisis me fecit, A.D. MCCCXXX." But 
 though the casting was made on this date, Andrea, 
 assisted by Leonardo di Giovanni, sj^ent nine years 
 more upon the chasing and finishing. A hundred 
 years later, Lorenzo Ghiberti, who wrought the 
 famous Gate of Paradise, was employed to make the 
 frieze which runs round the gate executed by An-
 
 SCULPTURE. 353 
 
 drea^ and after his death in 1454 farther additions 
 Avcre made to it by Pollaiuolo. There arc altoj^ether 
 twenty panels, representing the principal incidents in 
 the life of St. John the Baptist. 
 
 These gates -were erected during the artist's life- 
 time at the principal entrance opposite the facade 
 of the Duomo, and the Signoria came in procession 
 from the Palazzo Yecchio when they were put into 
 place, and conferred upon the maker the freedom of 
 the city. Demonstrations of this kind are worth re- 
 cording, for they excite a spirit of emidation among 
 other nations, and lead to a further development of 
 artistic progress. 
 
 Andrea was a friend of Giotto, and contributed to 
 the decoration of the Campanile, for w liich he carved 
 several of the bas-reliefs upon the low^er story. He 
 also executed some statues for the niches of the 
 Duomo far;adc. 
 
 He w^as an architect as well, and fortified the 
 Palazzo Yecchio for Gaultier de Bricmie, who, how- 
 ever, failed to find it a secure refuge from the fury 
 of the people. He also erected the Baptistery of 
 Pistoia, and dying at Florence in 1345 was buried in 
 the Cathedral. The development of the art of scidp- 
 ture due to the genius of these men is indeed mar- 
 vellous, for though in later times there has been more 
 freedom of movement than the scidptors of the thir- 
 teenth century could boast of, their conceptions have 
 never been outdone in point of boldness and con- 
 
 23
 
 354 FLORENCE. 
 
 scions strength. There is a clear analogy between 
 the bas-reliefs of the Campanile and those on the 
 fountain at Perugia^ their epic outline and symbolic 
 expression lending to them characteristics of grandeur 
 and simplicity worthy of the best epoch of ancient 
 sculpture. It may be said, in fact, that there was 
 more profundity of thought and geniality of concep- 
 tion with the Italian sculptors of the thirteenth than 
 Avith those of the fifteenth century, though the latter 
 excelled them in harmony and grace of outline. 
 
 AXDREA ORCAGNA. 
 (1328-1368.) 
 
 Although Andrea Orcagna, surnamed Clone after 
 his father, Matteo Clone, has already been mentioned 
 among the architects and painters of his day, his 
 name cannot well be omitted from a chapter on sculp- 
 ture. He was a goldsmith as well, and he was the 
 maker of the original of the silver altar preserved in 
 the treasury of the Duomo. This work, commenced 
 in 136G, was destroyed in the course of some rebel- 
 lion, but a new one was made, and a few parts of tlie 
 original one let into it, by Ghiberti, Michelozzo, Pol- 
 laiuolo, and Verrocchio. 
 
 His brother, who Avas a painter, helped him with 
 the frescoes of Santa Maria Novella, and he then set 
 to work upon the celebrated decorations of the Campo 
 Santo, which have rendered his name so famous, 
 ^^The Triumph of Death'' and ^' The Last Judg-
 
 Tabernacle in Or San Michele. 
 
 Andrea. Orcagna.
 
 SCULPTURE. 355 
 
 ment."* He transformed, as described in a previous 
 chapter, Or San Micliele from a corn market into a 
 sanctuary, and carved the Gotliic shrine of Avhitc 
 marble Avhich ilkistrates the liistory of the Madonna. 
 Pie also is sometimes credited Avith being the archi- 
 tect of the Loggia dei Lanzi, and to all these gifts 
 Avas added that of poetry, for he has left behind him 
 many sonnets, and manuscripts of his are to be seen 
 in the library of the Strozzi Palace and in the Mag- 
 liabecchiana. There is some doubt as to whether he 
 built the Certosa near Florence, though, as Xiccolo 
 Acciaiuoli, the founder, was a contemporary of his, it 
 is generally supposed that he or one of his pupils 
 should be credited with it. Orcagna was the last of 
 the Pisano school, the members of which may very 
 appropriately be classed with that of Florence, not 
 merely because of the influence which they exercised 
 upon art there, but because most of them were made 
 citizens of Florence. And in classing them thus I 
 am only following an example set by all historians of 
 art, from Vasari down to Perkins. 
 
 JACOPO DEL LA QUERCL\. 
 
 (1374-143S.) 
 
 This artist was not a Florentine, though it is not 
 too much to describe him as the forerunner of ]\Iichaol 
 Angelo. Born at Siena in 1374, he executed, when 
 only nineteen years of age, the equestrian statue in 
 
 * See note to chapter on Orcagna on this subject.
 
 356 FLORENCE. 
 
 wood of Azzo Ubaldini, the celebrated soldier. He 
 left Siena when the city surrendered to Giovanni 
 Galeas Visconti^ and after earning a precarious liveli- 
 hood for nine or ten years, he came to Florence, and 
 took part in the competition organized by the Sig- 
 noria for the Baptistery gates, coming out of it only 
 second to Ghiberti and Brunelleschi. This proof of 
 ability stood him in good stead, and he was employed 
 to make the Porta dei Servi at Santa Maria del Fiore, 
 his handiwork being plainly discernible in the ^' Ma- 
 donna dclla Cintola," over one of the side doors, and 
 in the mystic ^^ Mandorla," with angels as supporters. 
 
 From Florence Jacopo repaired to Ferrara, where 
 he executed the tomb of Vera, afterwards transferred 
 by Annibale Bentivoglio to the church of San Gio- 
 vanni Maggiore at Bologna. While at Ferrara he 
 received an application to erect the fountain (1409— 
 1419) upon the grand piazza at Siena, and ^'La Fonte 
 Gaza," as it is called, is as celebrated as that erected 
 by Pisano at Perugia, though it is of such singidar 
 construction that it is more like a water-tower than a 
 fountain. This work was in such a dilapidated state 
 that the municipality of Siena has recently had it 
 restored, and the work, so far as it has gone, has 
 been very conscientiously done. 
 
 Only a small fragment of the tomb erected by 
 Jacopo in the cathedral of Lucca to Ilaria, the second 
 wife of Paolo Guinigi, the signor of the city, is still 
 extant, the remainder having been destroyed when
 
 SCULPTUKE. 357 
 
 Paolo was dethroned ; and the best specimen of his 
 talent is to be seen in the decoration of the grand 
 portal of the basilica of San Petronius at Bologna, 
 with its fifteen bas-reliefs, which undoubtedly influ- 
 enced Michael Angelo ; as may be seen by comparing 
 certain parts of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with 
 the portal of San Petronius. 
 
 Jacopo della Querela returned to Siena, in accord- 
 ance with the contract he had signed for two bas-re- 
 liefs for the Baptistery ; he passed the last three years 
 of his life there, dying in that city on the 20th of 
 October, 1438. 
 
 LOEENZO GHIBERTL 
 
 (1378-1455.) 
 
 The son of Clone di Ser Buonaccorso, bom at 
 Florence in 1378, bears one of the most popular 
 names in the history of Florentine art, thanks to the 
 Porte del Paradiso of the Baptistery, and an adequate 
 biography of him Avould occupy a volume in itself. 
 
 He served his apprenticeship as a goldsmith under 
 Bartolo di Michieli, who was his mother's second hus- 
 band. In 1399 he Avent to Kimini, and attracted the 
 notice of Carlo Malatesta, the uncle of Sigismundi, 
 by some frescoes he executed in the palace ; but on 
 hearing of the competition for the Baptistery gates 
 he at once returned to Florence, and, as previously 
 explained, was successful against such rivals as Bru- 
 nelleschi and Querela.
 
 358 FLORENCE. 
 
 Ghiberti took twenty years to complete this work, 
 though he had twenty assistants in the moulding and 
 casting, among them being Donatello and Paolo 
 Uccello. In 142-4 the gates were placed in the posi- 
 tion previously occupied by those of Andrea Pisano, 
 just opposite the entrance to the Duomo, and the 
 church-wardens of Santa Maria immediately commis- 
 sioned him to make the second gates, for Avhich Leo- 
 nardo Bruni Aretino, the Secretary of the Eepublic, 
 was requested to select the subjects. Ghiberti began 
 these gates when quite a young man, and when they 
 were finished he was seventy-four years old. It 
 should be added, however, that he had undertaken 
 several other works in the interval, including the St. 
 Matthew, St. John, and St. Stephen at Or San 
 Michele. He also left behind him bas-reliefs for the 
 Baptistery font at Siena, funeral slabs at Santa Maria 
 Novella and Santa Croce, and the bronze shrine of 
 San Zenobio, executed in 1446 for the Duomo at 
 Florence. 
 
 Ghiberti left a diary, from which it is clear that 
 many of his works have disappeared, and this may be 
 regarded as a sort of poetical justice ; for, as already 
 mentioned in the sketch of BruneUeschi, he acted in 
 anything but an honorable way towards the latter 
 when they were both engaged upon the cupola of 
 Santa Maria del Fiore. 
 
 Ghiberti was pre-eminently a painter and gold- 
 smith, for in sculpture he attempted too much j and
 
 SCULPTURE. 359 
 
 instead of being content witli tlie resources of an art 
 Avliieli, from the very nature of tlie materials employed, 
 is limited, he abused it by trying to obtain all the variety 
 of a picture. The result arrived at is remarkable, 
 beyond all doubt, but the principle itself is false, for 
 it is unreasonable to ask from a material more than 
 it is capable of giving. Even in the gates — which 
 are the creation of a goldsmith rather than of a sculp- 
 tor — he has represented the sky and passing clouds ; 
 and there is an anecdote told of a very competent 
 judge of sculpture, who, passing in front of the Bap- 
 tistery gate, said, ^^ There is the man who has ruined 
 sculpture." The judgment was a severe one, but it 
 expresses, if in an exaggerated form, a true canon 
 of art. 
 
 Ghiberti was less at home in the carving of statues 
 than in fashioning shrines, mitres, and other ecclesi- 
 astical objects which he executed for the pontiffs. The 
 complete list of his works is as follows : At the age of 
 two-and-twenty he Avas at Rimini, where he did several 
 enamels and frescoes for Carlo Malatesta. He com- 
 menced the Baptistery gates in 1-1:03, and continued 
 at work upon them for twenty years. In 1414 he cast 
 the statue of St. John for Or San Michele, and in 1417 
 we find him at Siena, executing two bas-reliefs for 
 the font, which, however, were not completed until 
 1427, and then at Eome, where he made a mitre and 
 some other things for Pope Martin Y. In 1419 he 
 did the statue of St. Matthew for Or San Michele,
 
 360 FLORENCE. 
 
 and in 142-4 he finished the first of the Baptistery- 
 gates, having between-whiles erected the tomb of Fra 
 Leonardo di Stagio Dati. 
 
 Three j^ears after this he erected the tomb of 
 Lodovico degli Obizzi, and in the same year he began 
 the second of the Baptistery gates. He did not, how- 
 ever, confine his attention to them alone, executing 
 concm-rently the tomb of Bartolommeo Valori, the 
 two bas-reliefs of the Siena Baptistery, the shrine of 
 xSan Zenobio, another shrine for Saints Proto, Gia- 
 cinto, and Ximesio, and a mitre for Pope Eugenius 
 IV. In 1452 he completed his second pair of Bap- 
 tistery gates, and on the 1st of November, 1455, he 
 died and was bui'ied at Santa Croce. 
 
 DOXATELLO. 
 
 (13S6-14G6.) 
 
 DonateUo, son of Xiccolo di Betto Bardi, was born 
 at Florence in 1386, and, with the exception of 
 Michael Angelo, may be considered the greatest of 
 Florentine sculptors. He was a Tuscan to the core, 
 as upright in his private life as he was gifted in his 
 calling. Thoroughly grounded in the study of the 
 antique, which he held in the deepest veneration, he 
 at the same time succeeded in maintaining his own 
 personal characteristics ; and though some of his 
 works, notably a patera in bronze, forming part of 
 the Martelli Collection in the South Kensington Mu- 
 seum, might be mistaken for some relic of ancient
 
 SCULPTURE. 361 
 
 Greece at first sight, they have a distinctive impress 
 whicli could only liave been given them by a Floren- 
 tine artist like him. I have dwelt at length more 
 than once before upon the dramatic and splendid 
 talents of Donatello, but he possesses a power and a 
 nobility which cannot be too highly eulogized, his 
 gifts only stopping short of the very highest genius. 
 His works are almost infinite in their variety, and he 
 may be classed with Dante and Machiavelli as among 
 the most characteristic representatives of the genius 
 of Florence. He was a man of culture and of let- 
 ters, with a more extensive knowledge than the other 
 great stone-carvers of his day ; and he was a general 
 favorite with his brother artists, living under the same 
 roof with Michelozzo, and sharing Ins labors. The 
 story of how he assisted Kanni di Banco at Or San 
 Michele was told in the preceding chapter ; but it 
 may be added that he was beloved by his pupils, for 
 one of whom, Simone Gliini, he made a journey to 
 Rome for the express purpose of assisting him to cast 
 the bronze slab for the tomb of Martin V. 
 
 The great charm of Donatello is that his works 
 appeal to the heart and feelings as much as they 
 charm the eye. Few have possessed to an equal de- 
 gree the knowledge of how to obtain desired effects. 
 A statue by him, which looked at in the studio ap- 
 pears monstrous and ill-proportioned, is the perfec- 
 tion of shape and outline when stood in the ])lace for 
 which it is intended.
 
 362 FLORENCE. 
 
 Donatello was tlioroughly versed in tlie science of 
 practical perspective as applied to buildings. The 
 famous bas-reliefs of the Bargello, intended for the 
 balustrade of the organ-loft in the Duomo, the beauty 
 of which cannot be fullv appreciated when seen out 
 of their place on a level with the eye, are a good in*- 
 stance of his perfect knowledge of the effect of height 
 and distance. The bas-reliefs of the outer pulpit of 
 the Prato Cathedral, from which the girdle of the Vir- 
 gin is exhibited, afford another instance of this. There 
 is an elasticity of movement and a vivacity about the 
 gambols of the children which recall the words of 
 Horace, ^'Nunc pede libero, pulsanda tellus." Dona- 
 tello, in order to protect these bas-reliefs from possi- 
 ble injury, kept their level below that of the surround- 
 ing mouldings. In examining this pulpit it is best 
 first to consider it as a whole, and then to take the 
 separate details. 
 
 So varied and vast was Donatello's work that the 
 mere list of his sculptures in San Antonio at Padua, 
 with his equestrian statue of Gattamelata, forms a 
 whole volume — compiled by Herr Bode, Curator of 
 the Berlin Museum — and is a very interesting contri- 
 bution to the history of art in Italy. 
 
 At seventeen years of age he went to Rome, being 
 already an artist of some note, as he had been con- 
 sulted by the Signoria on some questions of impor- 
 tance. He assisted Brunelleschi in several excava- 
 tions, and it was at his i^istigation in later years that
 
 SCULPTURE. 363 
 
 Cosimo tlic Elder formed a collection of antiquities. 
 He spent several years at Rome, and one of his first 
 works, on returning to his native city, was the '^ An- 
 nunciation of the Virgin " in the Cavalcanti Chapel 
 of Santa Croce. There is much grace and nobility 
 about this work, which is quite in his early manner, 
 like the ^^St. Mark" in Or San Michele. The "St. 
 Peter" was of a later date (1411), and was executed 
 about five years before the splendid statue of St. 
 George. 
 
 It was between the years 1425 and 1427 that he 
 executed the tomb of John XXIII. in the Baptistery 
 of Florence (referred to in the chapter on the 
 Medici), but he did not remain all the time in Flor- 
 ence, as in 1426 he erected the tombs of Cardinal 
 Brancacci in the church of San Angelo at Xaples, 
 and of Bartolommeo Aragazzi at Montepulciano. At 
 the end of 1427 he Avent to Siena, and did a bronze 
 bas-relief for the font in the Baptistery ; and letters 
 dated 1433 speak of him as being at Rome, where he 
 was consulted about the tomb of Martin V. The 
 pulpit of the Prato Cathedral dates from 1434, and 
 there is nothing to show that he left Florence for the 
 next ten years, where he was busily engaged upon 
 statues for the Campanile, bas-reliefs for the balus- 
 trade of the organ-loft, the statue of " David," and 
 a number of bas-reliefs, statues, terra-cotta busts, 
 and bronzes, now disseminated among the various 
 collections of Europe.
 
 364 FLOEENCE. 
 
 He devoted twelve years of hard work to the 
 church of San Antonio of Padua and the statue of 
 Gattamelata on the Piazza, which was the first eques- 
 trian statue cast in Italy in modern times.* In 1444 
 we find him at Ferrara^ to which he paid several 
 visits, and it Avas about this time that he made an 
 agreement to erect a bronze statue of Borso d'Este, 
 though nothing ever came of it. The proof of his 
 having been at Venice is to be found in the beautiful 
 wooden statue of St. John over one of the altars of 
 Santa Maria Gloriosa dci Frari. In 1456 and 1457 
 he was at Faenza, and this was his last excursion 
 from Florence. On his return he modelled the niche 
 at Or San Michele, in Avhich was placed the group 
 of ^' The Doubting Apostle '^ by Yerrocchio ; and I 
 must also mention among his other works the ^^ En- 
 tombment/' at South Kensington ; the " St. Sebas- 
 tian," belonging to ]\I. E. Andre, of Paris ; the 
 bronzes presented to the Louvre by M. His de la 
 Salle, and those in the Berlin Museum 5 to say noth- 
 ing of private collections. The ^^ St. John " in the 
 Duomo at Siena was also his handiwork, and the last 
 few years of his life were devoted to the church of 
 San Lorenzo, Avhich was the Pantheon of the Medici 
 family, for Avhich he did the Four Evangelists in 
 stucco, several busts of saints, the small bronze door 
 
 * Equestrian statues of Tommaso and Bonifazio degli Obizzi 
 had been erected at Lucca in the fourteenth century. See Per- 
 kins's Historical Hand-book of Italian Sculpture, p. 103.
 
 SCULPTURE. 365 
 
 near tlie altar of the sacristy, and the two bronze 
 })iilpits, which latter were, however, completed by 
 his pupil Bertoldo after his death. Signs of de- 
 crepitude are to be observed in his last wr)rk. the 
 statue of St. Louis of Toulouse, which formerly ap- 
 peared above the porch of Santa Croce. He died 
 of an attack of paralysis on the 13th of March, 146(3, 
 after one of the most enviable careers in the history 
 of art, and at his own special rerpiest was buried in 
 San Lorenzo, by the side of his protectors and friends 
 of the Medici family. 
 
 MICHELOZZO MICHELOZZI. 
 
 (1391-1472.) 
 
 As a sculptor Michelozzi was worthy to be compared 
 with his master, Donatello, but it w^as as an architect 
 that he was best known in Florence. He was born 
 in that city about 1391, his father being a tailor; 
 and he was destined, in conjunction Avitli Bruncllcschi 
 and Leo Battista Alberti, to make a fresh departure 
 in architecture, after having linked his name with 
 that of Donatello in the execution of some of the 
 great works which the latter was then engaged upon. 
 
 He had the honor of being selected by Cosimo the 
 Elder to build the family palace, now called Riccardi, 
 thou2:h one would have thouo'ht that the Florentines 
 would have restored the original name. It was there 
 that Cosimo assembled the works which he had pur- 
 chased on the advice of Donatello, but these collec-
 
 366 FLOREXCE. 
 
 tions were dispersed Avlien the French entered the 
 city under Charles VIII. During Cosimo's tem- 
 porary exile from Florence, Michelozzi, his intimate 
 friend, followed him to Venice, and it was during 
 that time that he built for the convent of San Giorgio 
 Maggiore a splendid library, and did several pieces 
 of work for the churches. At Milan he built the 
 Vismara Palace, the magnificent gate of which has 
 been removed to the Brera Palace. Eeturning to 
 Florence with his master, he restored the Palazzo 
 Vecchio, built the villa of Careggi, the favorite resi- 
 dence of the Medici, those of CafFagiolo and Mozzi, 
 and enlarged and rebuilt the convent of San Marco. 
 
 A fitting pendant to the Riccardi Palace woidd be 
 the Strozzi Palace, but it is so badly situated in a 
 narrow street that it is impossible to obtain a satis- 
 factory view of it, but this is of all the less conse- 
 quence, as the two buildings have much in common. 
 The Strozzi Palace, however, can boast of the mag- 
 nificent Corinthian cornice Avhich has immortalized 
 the name of Simone PoUaiullo, surnamed II Cronaca, 
 who repeated at Siena the design which he had taken 
 originally from the fragment of an ancient cornice 
 found Ivino: amons: the ruins of the Poman Forum. 
 
 The lanterns, or ''fanali," of the Strozzi Palace 
 also deserve notice. The artist wlio made them was 
 named Niccolo Grossi ; and Lorenzo de' Medici, who 
 Avould often stop at the smithy in which he worked, 
 had nicknamed him ^^ Caparra," because he always
 
 SCULPTURE. 367 
 
 insisted upon being paid in advance. These iron 
 lanterns at the corner of the palaces, like the rings 
 for holding torches on fete-days, were only allowed 
 to the most distinguished citizens, and for this reason 
 those who had the privilege of displaying them en- 
 deavored to make them as costly and beautiful as 
 possible. The Strozzi key, in the collection of Baron 
 do Rothschild, was at one time regarded as another 
 perfect specimen of his art ; but according to recent 
 investigations it has been found to be the work of a 
 French artist. 
 
 The Pandolfini, like the Medici Palace, is typical 
 of its kind. Instead of being built like most of the 
 houses in the fifteenth century, so as to resist attack, 
 it partakes of the character of the Florentine palace 
 of the sixteenth century. Raphael is said to have 
 prepared the designs fur it in 1520, the building it- 
 self being erected by G. F. da San Gallo and Aris- 
 totile, by Avhom it was not completed until 1G20. 
 
 ]\Iiclielozzi is less known as a sculptor than as an 
 architect, though he has left a silver statuette of St. 
 John the Baptist on the Baptistery altar at Florence, 
 and a statue of Faith on the monument of Pope 
 John. 
 
 Apart from its architectural interest, the Riccardi 
 Palace, sold in 1659 by the Grand Duke Ferdinand 
 II. de' Medici to the Marquis Gabbriello Riccardi for 
 241,000 lire, contains many works of art of the high- 
 est value, including the famous fresco by Benozzo
 
 368 FLORENCE. 
 
 Gozzoli in the chapel. This work is not only of in- 
 trinsic value, but is interesting from the fact that it 
 gives the portraits of many of the most celebrated 
 personages of the day, including the Medici them- 
 selves, and the friends with whom they were wont to 
 converse in the Ruccellai Gardens. The JRiccardianaj 
 or private library of the Riccardi family, now belong- 
 ing to the city, contains twenty-four thousand vol- 
 umes, among them being three thousand six hundred 
 priceless manuscripts, and six hundred editions dating 
 from the first invention of printing. 
 
 It was in this palace that Lorenzo the Magnificent 
 was born, and that he presided over the meetings of 
 learned men who formed the Academy. JMichael An- 
 gelo added the windows under what was formerly a 
 loggia. In the large guard-room is a collection of 
 bas-reliefs, fragments of ancient sculpture, sarcophagi, 
 capitals, and inscriptions, which make a museum in 
 themselves, placed here by the Marquis Riccardi. If 
 tliis palace possessed no other charm, the chapel, with 
 its fresco by Gozzoli, Avould suffice to make it one 
 of the most attractive buildings in Florence. 
 
 DESIDEKIO DA SETTIGNAXO. 
 
 (142S-1464.) 
 
 Desiderio was the son of a stone-cutter of Settig- 
 nano, and it is only quite recently that his name has 
 become famous out of Italy, it may even be said, out 
 of Florence. In the early part of this century his
 
 SCULPTURE. 369 
 
 works Avcrc confounded with those of Donatcllo and 
 other celebrities of the day, but liis abilities are now 
 fully recognized, and it is seen that he possessed that 
 tender suavity so often the gift of those Avho arc des- 
 tined to die young. 
 
 Vasari himself knew so little about him that he is 
 all at sea in the dates given in his biography, and yet 
 this artist produced one of the most beautiful works 
 of which Florence, rich as she is in masterpieces of 
 art, can boast. Here and there may be seen in pri- 
 vate collections a Madonna or a Predella by him, and 
 he was also the artificer of a beautifully carved statu- 
 ette of the Infant Jesus in the church of San Lorenzo, 
 while a Magdalen in San Trinita is also believed to 
 be by him. 
 
 But if not many great works can be attributed to 
 Desiderio, the tomb of Carlo Marsuppini (see the 
 chapter on Illustrious Florentines) in Santa Croce, 
 opposite the Cavalcanti Chapel, in which his master, 
 Donatcllo, carved his first bas-relief, is sufficient to 
 keep his memory alive. The defunct Secretary of 
 the Republic is represented in a recumbent position 
 on a couch, clasping a book to his breast. On each 
 side of the richly decorated sarcophagus stands a 
 naked child holding a shield. The base of the tomb 
 is beautifully carved, while the upper part forms a 
 lunette crowned by a vase, with graceful figures 
 holding heavy festoons, which fall down on either 
 side. Although the entire surface is covered with 
 
 24
 
 370 FLORENCE. 
 
 ornamentation the exquisite delicacy of the work 
 causes it to be in very good taste ; and I know of no 
 tombs in Florence which can be compared to it, ex- 
 cept those of Leonardo Bruni and of Cardinal Porto- 
 gallo, Avhich have a greater variety of ornament, but 
 are not so chaste. Desiderio's bust of Beatrice d'Este 
 is in the Louvre, and Baron Adolphe de Rothschild 
 has a beautifid Madonna by him. 
 
 The bust of Marietta Strozzi is also a masterpiece 
 of sculpture ; everything in fact by this artist should 
 be jealously preserved, for nothing can exceed the 
 suavity of expression and the charm with which he 
 invested his creations — notably in the case of the two 
 children holding shields at the foot of Marsuppini's 
 tomb. Desiderio, who died in 1464, only thirty-six 
 years of age, is buried in San Piero Maggiore at 
 Florence, and his worth Avas evidently appreciated 
 during his lifetime, as a pompous epitaph, according 
 to the custom of the age, was prepared, stating that 
 ^' Nature, aggrieved at finding in him her superior, 
 had cut the thread of his days. But the act of ven- 
 geance was in vain, for he had immortalized the 
 marble, and the marble had immortalized him." 
 
 YEKROCCIIIO. 
 
 (1435-1488.) 
 
 Andi'ea di Micheli di Francesco Clone, born at 
 Florence in 1435, has rendered famous the hitherto 
 obscure name of Messer Giidiano Yerrocchio, the 
 goldsmith to whom as a boy he was apprenticed. It
 
 SCULPTURE. 871 
 
 frequently happened that artists of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury took the names of their masters, or rather were 
 given them by the apprentices of other masters, so 
 that when they attained celebrity they still continued 
 to be known by the borrowed name. 
 
 Verrocchio was a very talented sculptor, and as, 
 unlike most of the ])upils of Donatcllo, he retained a 
 personality or style of his own, it was for a long time 
 doubted whether he had studied under that master at 
 all. As a goldsmith, he displayed great refinement 
 and imaginative power, but though he executed a 
 great many works for Sixtus IV., most of them, in- 
 cluding twelve statuettes of the apostles, chasuble 
 clasps, incense-burners, vases, etc., have been de- 
 stroyed or stolen, and the only one which can give 
 any idea of his talent is the fragment of the silver 
 altar already described as part of the Duomo treasure. 
 Baron Adolphe de Rothschild has in his possession 
 part of the clay maquctte for the bas-relief to the ex- 
 treme right of this altar. 
 
 Verrocchio was a painter as well, and several gal- 
 leries contain religious pictures by him, though the 
 only one in Florence is the '' Baptism of Christ," in 
 the Academy. This is not a Avork of any great merit, 
 but Vasari states that Leonardo da Vinci, then only 
 a lad, and a pupil of Verrocchio, painted it '* an angel 
 with golden hair,'^ which was so much better than the 
 rest of the composition that Verrocchio resolved forth- 
 with to give up painting.
 
 372 FLORENCE. 
 
 He also made the group known as " The IncreduHty 
 of St. Thomas " for the principal fa9ade of Or San 
 Michele, and the tomb referred to in the biography 
 of Piero de^ Medici was also executed by him in 1472. 
 Another work attributed to him is the equestrian 
 statue of Colleoni at Venice, Avhich is even superior 
 to that of Gattamelata at Siena for force of expression 
 and fire. Bartolommeo Colleoni, Captain-General of 
 the armies of the Venetian Republic, died at Ber- 
 gamo, bequeathing to the State his arms, horses, fur- 
 niture, silver plate, and a sum of 216,000 florins, upon 
 the condition that a statue shoidd be raised to his 
 memory. Verrocchio, being the most celebrated 
 sculptor in Italy, was applied to, and he had already 
 completed the model of the horse when he was told 
 that the rider was to be done by one Bellano of Padua. 
 He was so indignant that he broke the legs and head 
 of his cast, and returned to Florence. The Senate of 
 Venice sentenced him to death shoidd he ever again 
 set foot on Venetian territory, but Verrocchio, from 
 the security of his native town, laughed at the decree, 
 observing that if he was put to death Venice would 
 be the loser, because, while the Senate could not 
 bring him to life again, he could put another head 
 and new legs to the statue. The Senate in the end 
 annulled the sentence, and gave Verrocchio a higher 
 salary ; but he had hardly recommenced the work 
 when he died after a brief illness. Upon opening his 
 will it was found to contain a clause in which he asked
 
 SCULPTURE. 873 
 
 that Lorenzo di Crcdi miglit be allowed to finish the 
 horse. But the Senate intrusted the work to Ales- 
 sandro Leopardi^ whose name will he found inscribed 
 across the lower girth : — '^ A. Leopardi, F." 
 
 It is an open question whether Leopardi merely 
 carried out the designs left behind by Verrocchio, or 
 whether he executed the whole work upon a plan of 
 his own. The letter ^^ F " after his signature may 
 signify " Fudet " (he cast it)^ as well as '' Fecit " (he 
 made it), and though the work is spoken of as the 
 ^^ Colleoni by Verrocchio/' there arc some strong pre- 
 sumptions in Lcopardi's favor. Yerrocchio, who was 
 goldsmith, professor of perspective, engraver, sculp- 
 tor, and musician, left behind him other works instinct 
 with vigor and grace, chief among which may be men- 
 tioned the boy playing with a dolphin, originally ordered 
 for the Careggi Gardens by Lorenzo do' Medici. 
 
 The Bargello now contains his statue of ^^ David,'' 
 which, meagre as it is in outline, is very correct in 
 regard to anatomy. There is much originality about 
 this work, down even to the belt which the vanquisher 
 of Goliath has round the waist. It may be said of 
 Verrocchio, in short, that he was a great and original 
 artist, endowed with a very supple talent, and with 
 high qualities in every branch of his profession. 
 
 LUCA DELLA EOBBIA. 
 (1400-1482.) 
 Luca della Robbia was the founder of a school and 
 member of a family devoted to art. Engaged as
 
 374 FLOKENCE. 
 
 they were in sculpture and majolica- work, there 
 always has been and always will be a great deal of 
 uncertainty as to the particular achievements of him- 
 self, his nephew Andrea, and his four sons, Giovanni, 
 Girolamo, Luca, and Ambrogio. 
 
 Although Luca proved himself to be a sculptor of 
 great ability, he is principally known to posterity as the 
 inventor of enamelled pottery ; and as he was the first 
 to discover, or rather to apply, this beautiful process 
 of decoration, all the works of this kind dating from 
 the fifteenth century are attributed to him. The pro- 
 cess, however, was kno^^m long before his day, as it 
 was in use among the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the 
 Arabs, the Persians, the Moors, and the Greeks, and 
 it cannot have been unknown to the Italians of the 
 thirteenth century, for there is in existence a treatise 
 entitled ''Maravita Preciosa," dating from 1330, which 
 is full of details on this subject, and of various speci- 
 mens of early works, which M. Eugene Piot has 
 published, with plates and illustrations in his "Cabi- 
 net de 1' Amateur." 
 
 It was towards the close of his life that Luca, after 
 a long course of experiments, made a practical appli- 
 cation of his process upon the splendid tomb of Be- 
 nozzo Federighi Bishop of Fiesole, in the church of 
 St. Francesco di Paolo, at the foot of the Bello Sguardo, 
 employing painted potteries, previously baked in the 
 oven and covered with enamel. At first he used a 
 pure white enamel, which covered the surface with a
 
 SCULPTURE. 375 
 
 transp«irent coat of protecting vaniisli. Afterwards 
 he had recourse to a bkie shade for the backgrounds, 
 and a light green sliadc for the soil, the plants, and 
 the accessories. His nephew Andrea assisted him in 
 his decorative Avork, and they continued their experi- 
 ments, adopting one shade after another, and gradu- 
 ally arriving at those general combinations which 
 may be seen upon the friezes, altars, spandrels, arches, 
 and walls of convents and churches. 
 
 Much as has been written about the Robbia familv, 
 it is impossible to define precisely what share of the 
 work was done by its head, but as he lived to the age 
 of eighty-two, and was a man of extraordinary ac- 
 tivity, it must have been large. At the same time, 
 when it is remembered that six of the Robbias were 
 actively employed for over a century, and that two 
 of them were named Luca, it is impossible to speak 
 with any confidence on the subject. Still there are 
 many pieces of enamel at Florence known to be by 
 him, notably the exquisite lavatory in the sacristy of 
 Santa Maria Novella, all the medallions In the Found- 
 ling Hospital on the square of the Annunzlata, the 
 arms and insignia let into the fagade of Or San Michele, 
 some of the medallions in the Loggia di San Paolo in 
 the Piazza of S. Maria Novella, and a number of works 
 collected in the Bargello. 
 
 As high a testimonial as any to his skill as a sculp- 
 tor may be found in the splendid series of altl-relievi 
 ordered for the balustrade of one of the organ-lofts of
 
 376 FLOKENCE. 
 
 the Diiomo, as a pendant to those hy Donatello. This 
 Avas deservedly the most popular of his works, for 
 though it has not the fire and bold character of Dona- 
 tello's composition, it is of matchless elegance, and 
 well balanced in design. There are a great number 
 of Madonnas by Luca in private museums all over 
 Europe, but the finest are in the South Kensington 
 Museum, the Louvre, and Berlin. Luca died in 1482, 
 leaving the secret of his method to his nephew and 
 his nephew's four sons. The most striking specimen 
 of Robbia-ware is in the Ceppo Hospital at Pistoia, in 
 the frieze representing the Seven Acts of Mercy, 
 which cost Andrea and his son Luca II. eleven years 
 of labor. Girolamo introduced this mode of decora- 
 tion into France, and there was a fine specimen of it 
 in the Chfiteau de Madrid, just outside Paris, but it 
 has been entirely destroyed. Some of the fragments 
 are now in the Cluny Museum. 
 
 THE EOSSELLINL 
 
 (1409-1478?) 
 
 There were five sculptors of the name of Rosscl- 
 lino, all born in Florence — Bernardo, Domenico, 
 Maso, Giovanni, and Antonio. They were all sons 
 of Domenico del Borro, surnamed Gambarelli, and 
 Bernardo and Antonio were the two most famous. 
 The first-named spent nearly the whole of his life at 
 Rome, where he held the appointment of Director of 
 Public Works under Kicholas V., but he is so far
 
 Dancingf and Singfing: Boys. 
 
 Luca. Detfa. Robbia.
 
 SCULPTURE. 377 
 
 connected with Florence^ tliat lie erected tlie sjiloidid 
 tonil) of Leonardo liiMuii Arctiiio in 8anta (,'roce^ 
 described in a preceding cliapter. 
 
 Antonio, his brother, was surnamed Dd Froconsoh, 
 after the district of Florence in wliich he was born ; 
 and tliere can be no doubt as to his having been a 
 pupil of Donatello. His greatest work was the tomb 
 of Cardinal da Portogallo for the church of San Min- 
 iato. This prelate belonged to the house of Braganza, 
 and had acquired such a reputation for piety Avhile 
 studj'ing at Perugia, that he was raised to the purple 
 at the early age of six-and-twenty. Though a Portu- 
 guese by birth, he was in the service of the Floren- 
 tine Republic, which employed him as ambassador to 
 the most Catholic King. He died Avhen only twenty- 
 nine ; and as he had founded a chapel at San ]\Iiniato, 
 he stipulated that his body should be buried tliere. 
 The tomb which Antonio erected represents tlie 
 marble ligure of the young cardinal, Avith two chil- 
 dren and two kneeling angels holding in their hands 
 the emblems of victory. The medallion above, upon 
 a blue background, is singularly graceful ; it has a 
 style of its own, distinct from that cither of Desiderio 
 or Yerrocchio, and is evidently the work of an orig- 
 inal artist able to maintain his own characteristics at 
 a time when Donatello was being universally fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 The church of ]Monte Oliveto at Xai)les contains 
 another funeral monument by Antonio Rosselliuo,
 
 878 FLORENCE. 
 
 erected by the Duke of Amalfi to his wife, i\[aria of 
 Aragon. It is ahiiost an exact replica of the one at 
 San Miniato, with the addition of a superb bas-relief 
 representing the Xativity of our Lord. For the same 
 church he carved a ^^Resurrection," which is remark- 
 able for the number of the iigures, the simplicity of 
 their features, and the softness of their expression. 
 
 If he takes after any one in sculpture, it is Ghi- 
 berti, from whom he evidently derived the art of so 
 arranging his distances as to be able to graduate his 
 figures as in a picture, though it is fair to add that 
 he did not carry this process to an exaggerated de- 
 gree. 
 
 Bernardo, born in 1409, died in 1472, and his 
 brother Antonio, born in 1427, died about 1478. 
 
 BENEDETTO DA MAIAXO. 
 
 (1442-1497.) 
 
 The Maiani form another dynasty of artists, archi- 
 tects, and scidptors. There were three brothers, 
 sons of Antonio da Maiano, a Florentine stone-cut- 
 ter. Two of them, Giuliano and Benedetto, became 
 famous, while the third, Giovanni, having less talent 
 than the others, is but little known. Benedetto com- 
 menced his career in Hungary, at the Court of Mat- 
 thias Corvinus, a liberal patron of art and literature, 
 and at first devoted himself to the art o{ Intayslatura^ 
 or the inlaying of wood of different colors, which was 
 in great vogue during the fifteenth century. But he
 
 SCULPTURE. 379 
 
 soon sought a wider scope for his talents, and as 
 sculptor and architect rapidly acquired considerable 
 celebrity at Florence, his greatest work being the 
 Strozzi Palace, commenced in 1489, in the style of 
 architecture introduced by Brunelleschi and Michel- 
 ozzo Michelozzi. Filippo Strozzi began the build- 
 ing, and his son, also named Filippo, completed it ; 
 but the works were for a long time suspended, and, 
 as II Cronaca came back from Rome just as they were 
 about to be resumed, he was asked to take charge, 
 and designed the part facing the interior courtyard, 
 as well as the beautifid cornice croAvning the whole, 
 which can only be equalled by that of the Farnese 
 Palace at Rome. 
 
 An intimate friendship must have existed between 
 the elder Strozzi and Benedetto, for the latter be- 
 came sculptor for the whole family, and was the 
 author of those beautiful marble and terra-cotta busts 
 of Fihppo Strozzi surnamcd the Elder to distinguish 
 him from his son, who came to such a tragic end, 
 which were so eagerly bid for by all the musuems of 
 Europe when they were lately put on the market, 
 and were finally purchased by the Louvre. 
 
 Filippo the Elder married Clarissa, daughter of 
 Pietro do' Medici, and falling under suspicion when 
 his fother-in-law was exiled, he, devoted friend of 
 freedom as he was, would not take part with either 
 side, and died at Florence in complete retirement, 
 having directed Benedetto to erect him a tomb in
 
 380 FLOKENCE. 
 
 Santa Maria Novella. The sarcophagus, very sim- 
 ple in design, stands under a recess, with two angels' 
 figures holding up a tablet. Benedetto had not much 
 scope for his fancy here, but in the space above the 
 recess he carved what is generally considered as his 
 greatest work — a j\Iadonna and Child, very similar in 
 outline to the medallions upon the tombs of Rossel- 
 lino, Desiderio, and Verrocchio, and superior to them 
 in the studied refinement of the modelling. Bene- 
 detto also left a medallion of Filippo Strozzi, a replica 
 of the bust which formerly stood here. 
 
 His son, Filippo the Younger, who had emigrated 
 during the reign of Alessandro de' Medici, came to a 
 tragic end. When Lorenzino had murdered Duke 
 Alessandro, he repaired to Venice and induced 
 Filippo to join the Fuorusciti. But Cosimo, son of 
 Giovanni, who had been chosen as Alessandro's suc- 
 cessor, sent Yitelli against the rebels, who were de- 
 feated by him at the battle of Montemurlo. Filippo 
 and Piero Strozzi fought desperately, but the former 
 was taken prisoner and immured in the ^' Fortezza 
 da Basso.'' This, curiously enough, was the fortress 
 which Pope Clement YII. hesitated about building, 
 but which he at last agreed to do at the earnest re- 
 quest of Filippo Strozzi, and against the advice of 
 Salviati, who remarked that he might perhaps " be 
 digging his o^vn grave." 
 
 The sinister prediction was verified to the letter. 
 It is said that the examining magistrate endeavored to
 
 SCULPTURE. 381 
 
 extract from liim a confession that he had been im- 
 plicated in the murder of Alessandro, and that, though 
 innocent of that crime, he was so fearfid of the con- 
 sequences that he committed suicide. It has been 
 questioned more than once wliether he had enough 
 cncrgj to destroy himself, and the Mar(juis dd Vasto, 
 governor of the fortress, has been mentioned as his 
 murderer. There is a letter, however, extant which 
 Luciano Scarabelli has published, and which is said 
 to have been found by his side in the prison. 
 
 " To God the Deliverer. 
 
 " In order that I may not remain in the hands of 
 my enemies, who have unjustly tortured me, and in 
 order that I may not be constrained by the violence 
 of fresh tortures to say anything which can affect 
 the honor of myself, my relatives and friends, as hap- 
 pened the other day to the ha[)lcs3 Giuliano Gondi, I, 
 Filippo Strozzi, have resolved, at whatever cost, to 
 end my days. I humbly commend my soid to the 
 infinite mercy of God, and I implore Him to receive 
 me in the place allotted to Cato and other virtuous 
 men Avho have taken their own lives. I beg the 
 governor of the Castle, Don Giovanni di Luna, to 
 take a little of my blood after death, and send it to 
 His Eminence Cardinal Cibo, in order that this latter 
 may feast his eyes on it. He has now no obstacle to 
 prevent his reaching the Papal chair, to which he has 
 so shamelessly aspired. I beg him to have me buried
 
 382 FLORENCE. 
 
 at Santa Maria Novella, by the side of my wife — if 
 Cibo deems me worthy to be buried in consecrated 
 gromid. I beg my relatives to respect the will which 
 I have made in prison, and which is in the hands of 
 Benvenuto Olivieri, excepting these. . . . Don Gio- 
 vanni is to be repaid all the expenses he has incurred 
 for mc, as I have never reimbursed him for anything. 
 ^^ And you, Cnesar, let me beg of you to keep bet- 
 ter watch over the interests of unhappy Florence, 
 and to have more care for them, unless you have re- 
 solved to bring her altogether to ruin. 
 
 " Philippus Strozza Jam Jam Moriturus." 
 ^^ Exorlare AJiquis nostris ex ossihus uJtory 
 
 Returning to the Maiani, it may be added of Bene- 
 detto that he also did a good deal of work at Naples, 
 where his brother Giuliano had been employed by the 
 Duke of Calabria upon the church of Monte Oliveto, 
 in which Antonio Rossellino erected the funeral 
 monument to the Duchess of Amalfi. He also 
 carved the altar of San Savino at Faenza, his great- 
 est work, so far as regards the number of figures and 
 bas-reliefs. From Faenza he returned to Florence, 
 where he was employed by Pietro Mellini to erect a 
 marble pulpit in Santa Croce, the celebrated '' Pul- 
 pito " in the nave, with a staircase cut into one of 
 the pillars. Added to this is the tomb of San Bar- 
 tolo in the Church of St. Augustine at San Gemig- 
 nano, and a retablo for the Santa Fena Chapel in the
 
 SCULPTURE. 383 
 
 cathedral at the same place ; while among the many 
 ])iists by him is one of Giotto in Santa Maria del 
 Fiore, and another of Squarcialupo upon the tomb 
 Avhich Lorenzo dc' Medici raised in the same church 
 to the memory of that great musician. 
 
 MIXO DA FIESOLE. 
 (1431-1484.) 
 
 Mino da Fiesole must have derived his second 
 name from the fact of having bought a residence at 
 Fiesole, for he was a native of Poppi, in the Casen- 
 tino, and his name appears upon the lists of the Cor- 
 poration of Stone-hewers. 
 
 He acquired a reputation for originality of style as 
 a sculptor, but his manner Avas always the same, and 
 lie Avas chiefly notable for tenderness and refinement 
 of treatment. His work cannot be fully appreciated 
 when seen from a distance ; one must examine it, 
 and note the delicate reproduction of the lines and 
 wrinkles, the living look of the eyes and of the ex- 
 pression. One of the best specimens of his manner 
 is the bas-relief opposite the tomb of Bishop Salutati 
 in the cathedral at Fiesole. This retablo is divided 
 into three compartments : in the centre the Madonna 
 upon her knees with the Child and St. John, and 
 on either side San Lorenzo and San Remigius. L'pon 
 the entablature is a bust of our Lord, but this is too 
 realistic in character, and the best figure in the 
 group is that of the Lifant Savior stretching out his
 
 384 FLORENCK 
 
 hand to St. John, Mino da Fiesole being imrivalled in 
 depicting children at play. 
 
 The retablo of San Ambrogia is of the same date, 
 and the church of the Badia contains two fine tombs 
 by the same master — those of Count Ugo and of 
 Bernardo Giugni, both of Avhich are evidently in- 
 spired by the tombs in Santa Croce. 
 
 Two other works known to be by him are the very 
 poor bas-reliefs on the pidpit of the Prato Cathedral, 
 executed in 1473, just before his third visit to Rome. 
 One of his greatest works, a monument erected to 
 Pope Paul 11. by his nephew Cardinal Barbo, in the 
 church of St. Peter, disappeared Avhen that ancient 
 basilica was demolished, but a few fragments of it 
 may still be seen in the crypt. 
 
 At Santa Maria in Trastevere is the '' Opus Mini," 
 a very elaborate shrine, a replica of Avhich was done 
 by him for the sacristy of Santa Croce at Florence. 
 There are many other works Avhich have been attrib- 
 uted to him at Rome, but which, though not unhke 
 his productions, w^ere probably executed by pupils. 
 
 Such, for instance, are the Borgia altar at Santa 
 Maria del Popolo, the Riario tomb in the church of 
 the Holy Apostles, the Sarelli tomb at Ara Cceli, and 
 that of Francesco Tornabuoni in Santa Maria sopra 
 Minerva. There is a bust of Piero il Gottoso by 
 him, and several of his busts are in Paris collections, 
 while the retablo in the Baglioni Chapel in the 
 church of S. Pietro in Cassinense at Perugia is very
 
 SCULPTURE. 385 
 
 similar in character to that of Santa Maria in Traste- 
 vere. 
 
 Mine died in 1484 from the effects, it is said, of 
 having attempted to move a heavy hlock of marble 
 in his studio. 
 
 AXTOXIO POLLAIUOLO. 
 
 (1429-1498.) 
 
 There was, as with several of the artists already 
 referred to, a whole family of architects, sculptors, 
 and goldsmiths bearing the same name. The most 
 celebrated of them, Antonio, is credited with most of 
 the famous works executed by any Pollaiuolo. Next 
 to Antonio in point of celebrity came his brother 
 Piero, his cousin Simonc (surnamed II Cronaca)^ and 
 the hitter's brother Matteo, who was a pupil of An- 
 tonio Rossellino, and Avho died in the prime of life. Ac- 
 cording to contemporary writers, the word Pollaiuolo 
 was indicative of the trade of poultry-rearing followed 
 by the father, whose proper name was Jacopc^ di 
 Giovanni Benci. 
 
 Antonio, avIio was a pu})il of Ghiberti's step-father, 
 assisted Vittorio, Ghiberti's son, in decorating the 
 lintels of Andrea Pisano's bronze gate of the Bap- 
 tistery. It was he who carved the quail fluttering 
 among the foliage which is invariably pointed out to 
 visitors by the guides. 
 
 He also did the bas-relief of the '' Banquet " and 
 " The Dance of Ilerodias " for the silver altar front 
 in the Duomo treasure, working at the outset of his 
 
 25
 
 386 FLOEENCE. 
 
 career as a goldsmith and niellist. Antonio Pollaluolo 
 also distinguished himself as an engraver^ his '^ Com- 
 bat of Ten Naked Men '^ being well known. He was 
 an able sculptor as well^ having erected at Rome the 
 tomb of Sixtus IV., and that of Innocent YIII. in the 
 church of San Pietro in Vincoli, which contains the 
 '^ Moses" of Michael Angelo. He did not leave many 
 paintings, but a great many bronze plaquettes, which 
 are to be found in modern collections, reproduce com- 
 positions of which he was the author. The National 
 Gallery possesses four of his pictures : the '^ Martyr- 
 dom of St. Sebastian," painted for the Pidci Chapel 
 in San Sebastiano dei Servi at Florence ; a ^^ Virgin 
 in the act of Adoration," formerly the property of the 
 Contugi family at Volterra ) the '^ Angel Raphael ac- 
 companying Tobias," from the cohection of Count 
 Galli Tassi at Florence ; and an ^^ Apollo and Daphne," 
 from the collection of Mr. W. Coningham. The Uffizi 
 Gallery itself has not so many of his pictures, though 
 there is one remarkable portrait of a warrior arrayed 
 in armor, very similar in character to the piece of 
 sculpture in the Bargello. 
 
 The same museum contains the bronze relief of the 
 Crucifixion, which is attributed to him, but which is 
 more probably by Agostino di Duccio. 
 
 In 1484 Antonio went to Rome, at the request of 
 Pope Innocent VIIL, to execute the works already 
 referred to. He died there in 1498, and was buried 
 in the church of San Pietro in Vinccli.
 
 SCULPTUEE. 387 
 
 Ilig-lilj «is liis works are now appreciated, there is 
 a good deal of exaggeration about liis style, which is 
 for removed from the grace and simplicity of Dcsi- 
 derio, j\Iaiano, and the Eossellini. Hitherto artists 
 had paid more attention to the idea than to the mere 
 execution of it; when the conception was thoroughly 
 mastered it was comparatively easy to put it into tan- 
 gible shape. But form and execution gradually 
 came to be thought more of than the idea, and art was 
 beginning to decay when the genius of Michael An- 
 gelo dawned upon the world. 
 
 Before speaking of that great master a brief notice 
 may be given of the last artists belonging to the close 
 of the fifteenth century. Among them were Andrea 
 di Piero Ferucci (1465-1526), who began the tomb 
 of Antonio Strozzi in Sta. Maria Novella, and erected 
 that of Marcilio Ficino in the Duomo ; Francesco 
 Ferucci, surnamed Cecca del Tadda,who was a very 
 skilful worker of porphyry, and the carver of a statue 
 of Justice upon a column in the Piazza della Santa 
 Trinita ; and Baccio Sinibaldi da Montelupo (1469- 
 1535), the author of a bronze statue of St. John the 
 Evangelist at Or San Michele, and possibly of a statue 
 of ^lars on the tomb of Benedetto Pesaro, in the 
 Frari Church at Venice. 
 
 ANDREA COXTUCCI (SAXSOVIXO). 
 (1460-1529.) 
 
 Andrea Contucci del Monte San Savino (1460- 
 1529), architect and sculptor, visited Spain and Por-
 
 388 FLORENCE. 
 
 tugal^ and there are a statue of St. Mark and a bronze 
 bas-relief executed by him at Coimbra. He carved 
 the baptismal font in the Baptistery at Yolterra, a 
 Madonna and Child for the Cathedral at Genoa, and 
 the group representing the Baptism of Christ over 
 one of the gates of the Florence Baptistery, with the 
 exception of the angel, which is said to be by Spi- 
 nazzi. At Rome Contucci erected the tombs of Car- 
 dinal G. B. della Rovere and Cardinal Ascanio Maria 
 Sforza, behind the high altar in Santa Maria del 
 Popolo, the various portions of which, examined ajDart, 
 are very handsome, but which as a whole are wanting 
 in harmony. 
 
 From Rome Contucci went to Loretto, where lie 
 carved the bas-reliefs on the temple enclosing the 
 Santa Casa, which, interesting as they are, cannot be 
 compared with the work of some of the sculptors of 
 the early Renaissance. 
 
 Another Florentine, jACOro Di Axtonio Tatti 
 (1477-1570), took the name of his master Sansovino, 
 and became famous in Venice as Sansovino. 
 
 Then we have Giuliaxo da San Gallo (1445- 
 1516), and Fkancesco da San Gallo (1493-1570). 
 The first named was the scidptor of Sassetti's tomb in 
 Santa Trinita, under the fresco by Ghirlandajo ; while 
 the second was the author of the statue of the Bishop 
 of Cortona, in the middle of the pavement of one of 
 the chapels at the Certosa of the Val d'Emo ; of the 
 group of the Virgin and Child and St. Anne in Or
 
 SCULPTURE. 389 
 
 San Micliele ,• of the tomb of Bishop Angelo !Marzi, 
 on the steps of the ahar of the Annunziata ; of the 
 statue of Paolo Giovio at the entrance to the basilica 
 of San Lorenzo from the cloister ; and of the mon- 
 ument to Piero de' Medici in the convent of Monte 
 Casino. This latter artist was unquestionably much 
 influenced in his style by Michael Angelo, as may be 
 seen by comparing his work with that of the master. 
 
 Benedetto da Rovezzaxo (1474-1550) erected 
 the monuments of Piero Soderini in the Carmine 
 Church, and of Oddo Altoviti in that of the SS. 
 Apostoli. His tomb of San Gualberto Avas broken to 
 pieces during the siege of 1530 in the sculptor's 
 studio, all that remain being the reliefs now in the 
 Bargello. Strange as it may seem, he was the sculp- 
 tor of Lord Xelson's tomb, who died nearly three 
 hundred years afterwards. Rovezzano went to Eng- 
 land to erect a tomb for Cardinal Wolsey, which 
 was afterwards selected by King Charles I. for his 
 own burial-place. After his execution Parliament 
 had the bronzes melted down and preserved the sar- 
 cophagus, which, a century and a half later, was by 
 royal decree utilized for the interment of Nelson. 
 
 The last sculptor of this period was Tokkigiaxo 
 (1472-1522), who was a soldier of fortune, and who 
 became notorious by breaking the nose of Michael 
 Angelo in a studio quarrel. He executed different 
 works at Kome, the tomb of Henry VHI. in AVest- 
 minster Abbey, and afterwards resided ni Spain,
 
 390 FLORENCE. 
 
 where he left behind him several works in terra- 
 cotta, dying at Seville in 1522. According to tradi- 
 tion, he broke to pieces a statue for which one of his 
 employers refused to pay what he deemed a fair 
 price, and the latter, by way of vengeance, de- 
 nounced him to the Inquisition as having laid sacri- 
 legious hands upon the holy images. This story is 
 declared by QuiUiet to be untrue, but in any event 
 Torrigiano has acquired by his attack on Michael 
 Angelo a notoriety which his works, able as some of 
 them are, would not have won for him. 
 
 MICHAEL ANGELO BUONAEOTTL 
 
 (1475-1564.) 
 
 Just when Florentine art was losing the towering 
 figures which had asserted its supremacy throughout 
 Europe, Michael Angelo was born (March 6, 1475) 
 in the castle of Chiusi e Caprese, in the Casentino, 
 of which place his father was Podesta. He came to 
 Florence while quite a lad, and, like his friend Gra- 
 nacci the painter, entered the studio of Domenico 
 Ghirlandajo. His first work Avas a picture in dis- 
 temper — now the property of Lady Taunton — of a 
 Virgin and Child, Avith St. John and Angels, Avhich 
 in its unfinished state betrays the influence of Ghir- 
 landajo. 
 
 His earliest efforts were encouraged by Lorenzo 
 the Magnificent, avIio gave him the run of his collec- 
 tions in order that he might copy from the antique ; 
 and Avhen that prince happened to see one day the
 
 Vittofia Colonna. 
 
 Muziano,
 
 SCULPTURE. 391 
 
 head of a faun, now in the Uffizi, and ascertained tliat 
 it was his own drawing, lie invited him to reside in 
 the ]\Iedici Palace. There he lived in tlie society of 
 the most notable men of the day. Politian suggested 
 to him the idea of ^' The Combat of Centaurs," now 
 to be seen in the Casa Buonarotti. The death of 
 Lorenzo was a cruel blow to the young sculptor, and 
 it is said that when it occurred he abandoned his work 
 and spent several days in a sort of lethargy. 
 
 Pietro de^ Medici, showed him equal favor, but he 
 missed that polished and brilliant society in which 
 the most learned men of the day had discussed the 
 loftiest and most recondite questions. "Wishing to 
 remain neutral in the struggle about to break out be- 
 tween the people and the family of his patrons, 
 Michael Angelo determined to quit Florence, and 
 accordingly repaired to Venice just before the en- 
 trance of Charles VIII. From Venice, where there 
 is no trace of his presence, he Avent to Bologna, where 
 he executed the statue of an angel kneeling, holding 
 a candelabrum, before the altar of the shrine of San 
 Domenico. At Bologna he pursued his studies, and 
 copied the bas-reliefs of Jacopo della Quercia on the 
 portal of San Petronius ; these drawings he afterwards 
 used for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. 
 
 Sketching only the main outlines of his mightv 
 career, we find that from Bologna he returned to 
 Florence, where he enjoyed the patronage of Lorenzo, 
 son of Piero Francesco of the younger Medici branch,
 
 392 FLORENCE. 
 
 and did the statue of Cupid, wliich was sold to the 
 Cardinal di San Giorgio as a Avork of antiquity after 
 being liidden in the ground and digged up again. 
 He went to Rome about the matter of the Cupid, 
 where he executed another one — now in the South 
 Kensington Museum — and a statue of Bacchus for a 
 Roman gentleman named Jacopo Gallo. He was 
 tlien one-and-twentv, and from this period dates his 
 beautiful Pieta, now in St. Peter's, to which he ap- 
 pended his name because he hea^d some one remark 
 that it was by Cristoforo Solari. 
 
 His first stay at Rome was not a very long one, 
 and Avhen he returned to Florence he signed an agree- 
 ment with Cardinal Piccolomini for some very exten- 
 sive works, which do not appear to have been ex- 
 ecuted, as no trace of them is to be found. It was 
 about this time (1503) that he utilized the large block 
 of Carrara marble which the building committee of 
 the Duomo had on hand, and which he converted into 
 the beautiful statue of David, afterwards placed on 
 the Ringhiera of the Palazzo della Signoria. The 
 ''Madonna and Child," now in the Bargello, dates 
 from the same period, as does the '' Holy Family " in 
 the Tribune, a harsh and unpleasing picture, wliich 
 has doubtless been spoilt by the ravages of time. 
 
 The celebrated cartoon of the '' Battle of Pisa," 
 now entirely destroyed, but which contemporary 
 chroniclers describe in such glowing terms, also dates 
 from about the same period.
 
 SCULPTURE. 393 
 
 His fame as an artist was growing greater every 
 day, and Pope Julius II. invited him to come and 
 plan the mausoleum wliicli he contemplated erect- 
 ing during his lifetime in 8t. Peter's. After a good 
 deal of discussion as to the Lest site it was decided 
 to pull down the venerable basilica of 8t. Peter's and 
 rebuild it. Michael Angelo prepared a very ambi- 
 tious plan, included in it being the erection of no 
 fewer than forty statues. The Pope was so anxious 
 to see the work begun that he sent him to Carrara to 
 superintend the cutting out of the marbles, and here 
 he remained six months. Upon his return he fitted 
 up a studio near the Vatican, and the Pope, who had 
 d temporary bridge made leading from his apartments 
 to this studio, often came to sec how the work pro- 
 gressed. It was here that he made the rough 
 sketches for his '' Moses " in the church of San Pietro 
 in Vincoli, his ^^ Two Prisoners," and the statue of 
 Victory for the tomb of Julius. When he had been 
 nine months at this work the Pope changed his mind, 
 and upon his asking for payment he was so rudely 
 treated by the officials that he wrote to the Pope, 
 '^ Driven out of your palace this morning by the ex- 
 press orders of your Hohness, I take the liberty of 
 saying that if you happen to require me at any future 
 time, you will have to look for me elsewhere than at 
 Rome." This was no idle threat, as he set out forth- 
 with for Florence, and though messengers on horse- 
 back were sent after him refused to return. Upon his
 
 394 FLOKENCE. 
 
 arrival at Florence three official requests were ad- 
 dressed to the Signoria, asking them to compel him to 
 come back^ and the Florentines were afraid that the 
 Pope, who was then marching at the head of his army 
 against Bologna and Perugia in revolt, would declare 
 war against the citv. Michael Angelo was thinking 
 of starting for Constantinople, as the Sidtan had 
 asked him to come and throw a bridge from the 
 suburbs of Pera to the opposite shore of the Bos- 
 phorus ; but just then the Pope entered Bologna, and 
 sent the Cardinal Legate to the Signoria with power 
 to negotiate for the great artist's return. An inter- 
 view between the Pope and the sculptor then fol- 
 lowed, and it was during this interview that the 
 former vented his displeasure upon one of the i\Ion- 
 signori, who, without meaning any harm, remarked 
 that Michael Angelo had erred through ignorance, 
 " because men of that sort do not understand any- 
 thing outside their calling.'' The outcome of the re- 
 conciliation was the erection of the bronze statue of 
 the Pope on the Piazza of Bologna, the sculptor obey- 
 ing the Pope's behest to '^ put a sword, not a book, 
 in my hand, for I have no pretensions to learning." 
 This statue was destroyed by the populace when 
 Bentivogho was restored by the French troops. 
 
 It was Julius II., also, who conceived the idea of 
 having the Sistine Chapel decorated with frescoes, 
 though Michael Angelo insisted that he was a good 
 sculptor, but a poor painter. Nevertheless, this work,
 
 SCULPTURE. 395 
 
 which lie brought to a conclusion in two years, has 
 immortalized his name as a painter. With little re- 
 gard to method, and devoting his whole attention to the 
 conception and form of the work, he succeeded in 
 achieving a masterpiece that may, Avithout exaggera- 
 tion, be termed sublime. It is said that being unac- 
 quainted with the material processes of fresco painting, 
 he sent for some very skilfid artists from Siena, and 
 having mastered their secret, shut himself up, and 
 would not allow even the Pope to see what he was 
 doing until All Saints' Day, 1509, when the Avork 
 being half completed Julius was admitted to judge of 
 the effect and was struck dumb Avith Avonder and ad- 
 miration. The chapel, commenced in 1508, Avas not 
 open to the public until 1513, Avhen the Pope died, 
 although it had been completed the pre Anions year. 
 
 When Leo X. succeeded Julius II. he determined 
 to complete the basilica of San Lorenzo at Florence, 
 Avhere his ancestors (the Medici) Avere interred, and 
 IMichael Angelo AA-as obliged to spend fixe years of 
 his life in tedious exile at Carrara, procuring the 
 necessary marbles for the fayade ; his design liaA^ng 
 been accepted from among a number that Avere sub- 
 mitted for this AA'ork, Avhieh after all Avas never 
 executed. 
 
 From time to time, as the opportunitv presented 
 itself, he Avent on Avith the tomb of Julius II., Avhieh 
 Avas evidently his favorite enterprise. The reign of 
 Adrian VI., Avho had no liking for literature or art,
 
 396 FLOEENCE. 
 
 enabled him to work at it for a whole year ; but when 
 Clement VII. (Giuliano de' Medici) succeeded Adrian, 
 he led a very hard and feverish life, so nmnerous were 
 the engagements forced upon him. Upon the one 
 hand, the executors pressed him to finish the tomb of 
 Julius II., while upon the other, Clement YII. insisted 
 upon employing him upon the Medici chapel at San 
 Lorenzo. 
 
 Amid these conflicting calls upon his time he painted 
 the ^' Three Fates," now in the Pitti Palace, which is 
 one of the few easel pictures by him. He graphically 
 describes the life which he led at this period in a let- 
 ter to Messer Luigi del Riccio, who had acted as the 
 agent of the Pope in these contracts. He says, 
 '^ Painting, scidpture, fatigue, and honesty have done 
 for me, and things are as bad as they well can be. I 
 should have done much better if I had started in life 
 as a vendor of matches " (Zolfanelli). He speaks of 
 himself as being a very martyr, and says that he is 
 " stoned every day, as if I had crucified our Lord." 
 The monument was finally completed in a very differ- 
 ent manner from that originally intended, only one 
 statue, the Moses, is by Michael Angelo himself, and 
 two of the others are from designs of his. " The 
 Prisoners," now in the Louvre, was also intended for 
 this tomb. 
 
 The two tombs in the new sacristy of San Lorenzo, 
 which Clement VII. ordered in 1525 for the remains 
 of his two relatives, Giuliano, Due de Nemours, and
 
 SCULPTURE. 397 
 
 Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, were executed with more 
 dispatch, though it took twelve years to complete the 
 whole work, for during that period Florence was be- 
 sieged by Charles V., and ^Michael Angelo laid down 
 the chisel to fortify the slopes of San Miniato. 
 
 When Florence was taken Michael Angelo had to 
 fly from the vengeance of the Pope, but as no one 
 else was capable of going on with the work in San 
 Lorenzo, he was eventually pardoned, and returned 
 to complete the two tombs. Upon either side of the 
 sarcophagus of Giuliano he placed the two gigantic 
 figures known as Day and Night, while by the side 
 of the sarcophagus of Lorenzo, surnamed II Pensiero, 
 on account of its thoughtful attitude, he placed the 
 figures of Dawn and Twilight. Opposite the altar is 
 a ^^ Madonna and Child," quite after the manner of 
 Michael Angelo, and grandiose in design. 
 
 The tomb of the Medici was not finished Avhen 
 ]\Iichael Angelo, on Christmas Day, 1541, disclosed 
 to view the grand fresco of the ^^ Last Judgment," 
 ^' filling the world with stupor and admiration," to use 
 Vasari's phrase. 
 
 It was at this period of his life that Michael Angelo, 
 then sixty-four years of age, fell deeply in love with 
 the celebrated Vittoria Colonna, ]\Iarchioncss of Pes- 
 cara, daughter of Fabrizio Colonna and Anna do Mon- 
 tefeltro, married to Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis of Pes- 
 cara, Avho died in 1525 of wounds received at the 
 battle of Pavia. Her influence upon him was very
 
 398 FLORENCE. 
 
 great, for, lie writes, ^^ I cannot turn my eyes away 
 from hers : I see in them the hght which guides me 
 towards God." He Hved for nine years in her society, 
 burning with a spiritual passion which recalls that of 
 Dante for Beatrice. When she died he was present 
 to imprint a kiss upon the cr)ld hand. In a subse- 
 quent sonnet he expresses his regret at not having 
 kissed her forehead. 
 
 He was at this time — about 1547 — busily engaged 
 upon the dome of St. Peter's, which, as he had re- 
 solved when he saw Brunelleschi's work, equalled that 
 of Santa Maria del Fiore at Florence. 
 
 This great sculptor, painter, architect, and poet 
 died at the age of nearly ninety, and his remains were 
 claimed by Florence, as he had expressed a desire to 
 be buried in Santa Croce. Pope Pius IV. was also 
 anxious to raise a tomb worthy of him in St. Peter's, 
 and the Florentines Avere compelled to smuggle his 
 body out of Rome in a bale of goods, as had been 
 done by the Venetians with the body of St. Mark at 
 Constantinople. 
 
 The funeral ceremony was a splendid one, the 
 Avliole of Florence defihng past his coffin. Benedetto 
 Varchi pronounced the funeral oration, and his tomb 
 was erected by Vasari, who, however, Avas not equal 
 to the occasion. It must be said that his influence 
 was almost as a matter of necessity prejudicial to those 
 who came after him, for, in attempting to imitate his 
 originality of style^ they only succeeded in bringing
 
 SCULPTURE. 399 
 
 into relief Avliat may be termed its defects, exaggerat- 
 ing his eccentricities of posture and attitude. Floren- 
 tine art could still, however, boast of several men of 
 talent, such as Montelupo, Simone ^losca, Lorenzetto, 
 and ]\[ontorsoli, followed by Baccio Bandinelli, Tribolo, 
 and Giovanni da Bologna, though the name of 
 ]\Iichael Angelo stands out in the sixteenth century 
 as an exception recalling the galaxy of genius which 
 had illumined the fifteenth century. 
 
 Raffaello Sixibaldi da Montelupo, who Avas 
 born in 1505, and who died at Orvieto in 1567, was 
 one of the best pupils of Michael Angelo, who allowed 
 him to do some of the statues for the tomb of Julius 
 II., including those of Leah, Rachel, one of the Proph- 
 ets, and a Sibyl. He Avas an architect as well, and 
 held the position of architect of the castle of St. An- 
 gelo — for which he also executed a marble angel, now 
 placed inside the building — and assisted in the erec- 
 tion of the dome at Orvieto. 
 
 LoKEXZO DEL Campaxaro, surnamed Lorenzetto, 
 born June 13, 1490, and died in 1541, left but few 
 traces behind him, his principal works being part of 
 the tomb of Cardinal Portiguerra in the cathedral of 
 I'istoia, and the statues of *"' Jonas " and " Ellas " in 
 the Chigl Chapel at Santa Maria del Popolo at Rome. 
 The first is generally attributed to Raphael, but the 
 truth is that he merely designed, or at most modelled, 
 it, and that Lorenzetto carried It out. This happened 
 often with statues which are attributed to Michael
 
 400 FLORENCE. 
 
 Angelo, though it must be added that the general 
 outlme of a statue is the primary condition of success 
 in sculpture, and that the hand which carries it into 
 execution is of only secondary importance. 
 
 SiMOXE MOSCA, a somewhat inferior artist, worked 
 in Sansovino's studio with II Tribolo. He was about 
 the same age as Michael Angelo, but he died before 
 him, his principal works being the decorations of the 
 Cesia Chapel at Santa Maria della Pace at Rome, and 
 those of the Magi Chapel in the Orvieto Cathedral. 
 Another of his pupils, surnamed II IloscJiino, ex- 
 ecuted for this same chapel a group representing God 
 the Father surrounded by angels, a Visitation, and a 
 San Sebastian of no little beauty. 
 
 Fra Giovanni Angiolo Mont'ORSOLI is the most 
 celebrated of Michael Angelo's pupils next to Mon- 
 telupo, and the great artist was five-and-forty years 
 of age when he came to study under him at St. 
 Peter's, haA^ng been grounded in his profession by 
 Andrea Ferrucci. Michael Angelo employed him 
 prior to 1527 in the new sacristy of San Lorenzo at 
 Florence, and he was again with him from 1531 to 
 1534, having a share in the erection of the tombs of 
 Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici. He also travelled 
 to France, where Franyois I. Avas endeavoring to at- 
 tract ItaUan artists and founding the Fontainebleau 
 School, which gave such a great impulse to the Re- 
 naissance. For the Annunziata at Florence he ex- 
 ecuted for the Painters' Chapel the stucco decora-
 
 SCULPTURE. 401 
 
 tions, notable among which are the figures of Moses 
 and St. Paul. He left works behind him at Genoa, 
 Bologna, Messina, Arezzo, and Naples. At Genoa 
 there is a colossal statue of Jupiter by him in Prince 
 Doria's villa, and several marble and plaster statues 
 in the church of St. Matthew, which arc more or less 
 an exaggeration of Michael Angelo's style. The 
 celebrated fountain at Messina, erected in the piazza, 
 is his ^vork ; after completing it he returned to Flor- 
 ence and finished the Capella dei Pittori in the cliurch 
 of SS. Annunziata. It was there that he was buried 
 on the 1st of September, 1563, his funeral oration 
 being pronounced by Michael Angelo. 
 
 BENVEXUTO CELLINI. 
 (1500-157L) 
 
 There is not a more remarkable figure in the his- 
 tory of Italian art than the exuberant, hardy, and 
 brilliant sculptor and goldsmith whose career, resem- 
 bling rather that of a condottiere than of an artist, 
 has been related with such a mixture of cynicism and 
 candor by himself. Kot shrinking from crime in 
 moments of passion, he was at times accessible to the 
 promptings of generosity, and the verdict of posterity 
 has not been altogether an unfavorable one. 
 
 Born during the reign of Cosimo L, who was a 
 warm patron of art, his father, Giovanni Cellini, 
 intended him to be a musician. But having at an 
 early age developed a preference for the plastic
 
 402 FLOKENCE. 
 
 artSj lie entered the studio of Antonio di Sandro 
 Involved in a harifffa, he fled to Siena, and thence to 
 Bologna, returned to Florence for a short time, an(] 
 then spent a year at Pisa. In 1518 Torrigiano. 
 who had broken Michael Angelo's nose in a quarrel, 
 offered to take him to England. He preferred, how- 
 ever, to go to Rome with a wood-carver named Tasso. 
 His life from this point may be divided into three dis- 
 tinct periods — Rome, Paris, and Florence. At Rome, 
 where he spent twenty -two years, partly in the ser- 
 vice of Clement VIL, he distinguished himself by the 
 execution of many little masterpieces of goldsmith's 
 work, such as salt-cellars, candelabra, diamond set- 
 tings, gold medallions worn in head-dresses, and coins 
 for the Pope. The clasp of a cope for Julius 11. is 
 described in detail in his Memoirs-, the Pope paid him 
 36,000 ducats for it, his only rival in this kind of 
 work being Caradosso of j\[ilan. 
 
 Benvenuto was present at the sack of Rome by 
 the Constable de Bourbon in 1527, and according to 
 his account he took an active part in the defence, 
 commanding tlie artillery in the castle of St. Angelo, 
 and discharging the gun which killed the Cardinal 
 himself and wounded the Prince of Orange, though 
 this latter statement is not generally believed. He 
 should have assisted at the siege of Florence, for 
 Orazio Baglioni, who was in command of the defend- 
 ing forces, appointed him captain, but he fled to Rome 
 and accepted employment under Clement VII. He
 
 SCULPTURE. 403 
 
 remained in Rome during the reign of Paul III., but 
 liaving stabbed the goldsmith Pompeo in a fit of pas- 
 sion, he had to fly. The Pope, however, overlooked 
 the crime in consideration of his great talents, but the 
 tragic occurrence had brought him into such disfavor 
 that he resolved to go to France. Reaching Lyons by 
 way of Switzerland, Francois I. was glad to employ 
 him, but falling ill, he returned once more to Rome, 
 where he was accused of having made way with 
 some of the jewels of the Holy See, whose settings 
 he had melted down by order of Pope Clement Xll. 
 Though the charge was not proved, he was none the 
 less detained for two years in the castle of St. Angelo, 
 during Avhich period, according to his o^vn account, he 
 became pious and even ascetic. He was finally par- 
 doned through the influence of Cardinal Hii)polytus 
 of Este. 
 
 At the urgent request of Francois I. he came back 
 to France, and from this period date those beautiful 
 jewels, now in the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre. 
 The French king, of whom he has left a medallion, 
 gave him, for a residence, the Hotel du Petit-Xesle, 
 then occupied l)y Provost Jean d'EstouteviUe, and 
 containing at the time a distillery, a printing-oftice, 
 and a saltpetre manufactory. Benvenuto's descrip- 
 tion of how he took possession of it forms one of 
 the most curious chapters in his memoirs. The pro- 
 vost refused to leave, and Benvenuto, always ready 
 for a fight, armed his workmen and his two pupils,
 
 404 FLORENCE. 
 
 Ascanio and Paolo Romano, and laid siege to it. 
 Among the besieged persons was a favorite of the 
 Duchesse d'Etampes, who espoused his quarrel, and 
 appealed to the King for justice. A lawsuit ensued, 
 but Cellini, without waiting for a legal decision, at- 
 tacked his adversaries with the sword. 
 
 Francois I. was an enthusiastic admirer of Cellini, 
 and it was in France that he executed his first im- 
 portant piece of sculpture. This was at Fontainebleau, 
 where he represented over the grand entrance the 
 '"'' Fountain of Pure AVater," a nymph crowned with 
 fruits floating upon the water, her left arm encircling 
 the neck of an antlered stag, while the right hand 
 rests upon a vase from Avhich flows a stream of Avater, 
 at which wild boar, deer, and hounds are drinking. 
 
 This work, which is not up to the standard of his 
 ability, was presented to Diane de Poitiers by Henry 
 11. after the King's death, and she had it placed above 
 the gateway of the Chateau d'Anet, whence it Avas 
 removed by M. Lenoir, at the time of the Revolution, 
 to the Museum of the Augustins, and thence to the 
 Renaissance Rooms in tlie Louvre. 
 
 The Ambras Collection at Vienna contains the cele- 
 brated salt-cellar executed for Cardinal Hippolytus 
 of Este, and presented by him to Frangois L, being 
 afterwards given by Charles IX. to the Archduke 
 Ferdinand, uncle of his betrothed, the daughter of 
 ^Maximilian HI. 
 
 CeUini had another outburst of temper at Fontaine-
 
 Perseus* 
 
 Betwenuio Cellini,
 
 SCULPTURE. 405 
 
 bleau, where Francois I. asked both liim and Prima- 
 ticcio to prepare plans of a fountain for the gardens 
 of a chateau ; and Avlien the latter was entrusted with 
 the work, Cellini threatened to '^ kill him like a dog." 
 Francois I. once more overlooked the offence, but he 
 did not make any resistance to his departure when 
 Cardinal da Ferrara sent for him. 
 
 Cellini now proceeded to Poggio a Cajano, and 
 presented himself to Cosimo de' Medici. He was 
 kindly received, and told to prepare the model for a 
 statue of Perseus, to be placed in the Loggia dei Lanzi 
 (see the chapter on Architecture). 
 
 The account of how the statue was cast is well 
 worth reading in Cellini's Memoirs, and the work, as 
 already described, is the personification of a certain 
 epoch of the Renaissance. Cellini had trouble in ob- 
 taining sufficient money to complete the group, and 
 was involved in constant quarrels with Bandinelli, and 
 Rocci the Duke's Majordomo. It is wonderful that 
 one so impulsive and irritable should have had the 
 patience to write his Memoirs as well as treatises 
 on sculpture and goldsmiths' work. These two 
 treatises are interesting, inasmuch as they explain to 
 us the methods which were in use at the time ; but 
 the Memoirs, in spite of their obvious exaggeration, 
 are much more valuable for the light they throw upon 
 the manners and customs of the artists of the Renais- 
 sance. This work has all the charm of a sensational 
 novel, being a strange mixture of enthusiasm, ro-
 
 406 FLOKENCR 
 
 mance, shrewd maxims, and precepts of art as pro- 
 fessed by a great artist, interwoven with a tissue of 
 adventures worthy of some bravo of the sixteenth 
 century. It is infinitely superior to Bonaccorso Pitti's 
 chronicles, and though the style is faulty, it gives a 
 vivid and fascinating picture of the existence led by 
 these adventurous men of genius. 
 
 He was not destitute of generosity and gratitude, 
 recognizing the superiority of Michael Angelo and 
 Caradosso, and adopting the six children of his 
 widowed sister, Liberata Tassi. He was a poet, too, 
 and Avrote several sonnets, madrigals, sacred hymns, 
 love sonnets, and satires. 
 
 He fell ill in December, 1570, and died on the 13th of 
 the following February, leaving his fortune to his wife 
 and three children. He was honored with a public 
 funeral, and buried in the vaults of the SS. Annmi- 
 ziata, under the chapter-house. 
 
 It has been the custom to regard Benvenuto as only 
 a skilful goldsmith who had a talent for combining 
 gold Avith enamel and precious stones, and of so pro- 
 ducing very tasteful compositions, but he possessed 
 genuine ability as a sculptor, and only needed an 
 opportunity to show of what he was capable. 
 
 BACCIO BAXDIXELLI. 
 
 (1493-1560.) 
 
 Baccio was, like Cellini, a pupil of the goldsmith 
 Michael Angelo di Viviano, and if all that his contem-
 
 SCULPTURE. 407 
 
 porarics said of liiin was true, he must have hcen a 
 man of very contemptible character. All his works 
 were spoken sli«^-htingly of by them, and even the most 
 celebrated of his statues met with a hostile reception, 
 due more probably to the mipopularity of the artist 
 than to the indifference of the works themselves. 
 
 Baccio, however, enjoyed the favor of Cosimo I., 
 and thronghout the whole of his career he was em- 
 ployed by the Medici. Benvenuto Cellini was one of 
 his bitterest enemies, and the Grand Duke derived 
 great amusement from letting the two artists attack one 
 another in his presence, and exhaust the vocabulary 
 of the fish market. It is absurd, however, to accuse 
 Bandinelli of having destroyed Michael xVngelo's great 
 cartoon of the Pisan war, for we may be sure that if 
 there had been any ground for such a charge Cellini 
 would not have failed to mention it in his ^lemoirs. 
 His chief fault was his vanity, and his arrogant asser- 
 tion that the only artist who could come up to him 
 was Michael Angelo, has gone much against him with 
 posterity. 
 
 The story of his group of '' Hercules and Cacus," 
 on the Piazza della Signcria, as told by Cellini, is very 
 amusing. The latter criticized it in the following 
 terms in presence of the Grand Duke and of Bandi- 
 nelli, to whom he said, ^^ If your Hercules had his 
 hair cropped he would not have skull enough left to 
 hold the brain. One cannot tell whether his face is 
 that of a man or a monster, for he is half lion and
 
 408 FLORENCE. 
 
 half ox. Ills heavy shoulders remind one of the two 
 panniers of a donkey's pack-saddle. His chest and 
 muscles are copied^ not from human nature^ but from 
 a bag of bad melons.'' But, in spite of all criticisms, 
 Baccio was concerned in the principal works of art 
 executed during that period. He was the author of 
 the copy of the ''' Laocoon " in the Uffizi, which was 
 executed for Frangois I., but which the latter ex- 
 changed with the Pope for several antique statues. 
 At Santa Maria sopra Minerva, at Rome, he erected 
 the tombs of Pope Clement VH. and Leo X., orders 
 obtained through the influence of the Medici. He 
 also executed a statue of Giovanni de' Medici, sur- 
 named delle Bande Nere. And there are a number 
 of his works in Santa Croce, the Cathedral, and the 
 Palazzo Vecchio. Held in too high esteem by Cosimo 
 de' Medici, and underrated by posterity, the impartial 
 critic must strike the happy mean. 
 
 BARTOLOMMEO AMMANATI. 
 
 (1511-1592.) 
 
 This artist was at one time a pupil of Bandinelli, but 
 unable to put up with his violent behavior, he went to 
 study under Jacopo Sansovino at Venice, where he 
 imbibed many of the principles of the Venetian 
 school, as may be gathered from his different com- 
 positions. He was one of Sansovino's assistants in 
 the decorations of the Library of St. Mark, which 
 is one of the most beautiful monuments in Venice,
 
 SCULPTURE. 409 
 
 and there lie had fur comrades Cataneo and Ales- 
 sandro Vittoria. Upon his return from Venice, liis 
 first great work Avas tlie tomb of Duke Francesco 
 Maria, whicli has disappeared from the 8anta Chiara 
 Church at Urbino in which it formerly stood. lie 
 also erected in the Eremitani at Padua a very com- 
 plex and elaborate monument to a professor of juris- 
 prudence, one Marco di Mantova Benavides, a Avealthy 
 amateur of art who, during his lifetime, resided in a 
 splendid palace, the entrance to which was under a 
 triumphal arch erected by Ammanati, who also ex- 
 ecuted a Hercules twenty-five feet high for the 
 Cortile. 
 
 Summoned to Rome at the instance of Michael 
 Angelo, whose engagements were then very numer- 
 ous, Ammanati received the order for the tomb of 
 Antonio de' j\[onti and his father at San Pietro in 
 Montorio. He also was the sculptor of the celebrated 
 fountain at Pratolino, and of the colossal group of 
 Hercules and Antaeus at Castello. His most impor- 
 tant work as a sculptor was the fountain at the corner 
 of the Ducal Palace, with the figure of Neptune in a 
 car drawn by sea-horses, looking down upon a num- 
 ber of mythological figures in bronze. This foun- 
 tain, very pleasing to the eye, but devoid of all pre- 
 tensions to classical outline, was erected by him after 
 the work had been competed for ; Benvenuto Cellini 
 and Giovanni da Bologna being among the unsuc- 
 cessfid competitors.
 
 410 FLORENCE. 
 
 It is, however, as an arcliitect that Ammanati has 
 the highest claims to the admiration of posterity, and 
 it is difficult to speak too highly of the bridge of 
 Santa Trinita, with the noble proportions of its arches. 
 He also completed the Pitti Palace after Brunelleschi, 
 and the whole of the Cortile is by him. He died, 
 universally regretted, on the 14tli of April, 1592, 
 and is buried in the church of San Giovanni, which 
 he had so much embellished. 
 
 The idyl of his life was his passion for the beauti- 
 fid Laura Battiferri, who has been made famous by 
 the verses of Bernardo Tasso and Annibale Caro, the 
 former of whom speaks of her as ^' the pride of Ur- 
 bino," Avhile the latter styles her ^^ the new Sappho." 
 The Duchess of Urbino was anxious to keep her at 
 that court, but she eloped to Loretto Avith Ammanati, 
 and was there married to him. 
 
 GIOVANNI DA BOLOGNA. 
 
 (1524-1608.) 
 
 This artist was not the last sculptor of the grand 
 epoch, but he was the last truly great man. Though 
 not born in Florence, he was a Tuscan by affinity, and 
 Florence was, so to speak, his cradle, as it was his 
 centre of action. 
 
 He had been successful in the competition for the 
 Fountain of Neptune on the Piazza della Signoria, 
 but was set aside in favor of Ammanati, on the 
 ground of his being too young and inexperienced j
 
 SCULrXURE. 411 
 
 but it is probable that tlic morlel Avas afterwards used 
 for the fountain on tlie grand piazza of Bologna. 
 
 The " Mercury/' which is the most popular and 
 graceful of his works, at first occupied a very 
 prominent position upon the basin of the fountain of 
 the Villa IMedici, and remained there until 1750, 
 when the Grand Duke Peter Leopold I. restored it 
 to Florence. The celebrated group of the ^' Rape 
 of the Sabines," now at the Loggia dei Lanzi, was 
 also one of his early works. The anecdote of how 
 this group came to be called the ^^ Rape of the 
 Sabines," after having first been merely intended to 
 represent a young man mastering an adversary and 
 taking away a female captive, has been told in a 
 previous chapter. The statue excited so much ad- 
 miration in its completed form, that John of Bologna 
 was declared to be a fitting successor to Michael 
 Angelo. This was exaggerated praise, but John of 
 Bologna was in so much request that he had more 
 than he could do, and the list of his Avorks is almost 
 interminable. The artists of this period did not 
 throw nearly so much soul into their work as their 
 predecessors, so that the only limit to their produc- 
 tiveness was their physical endurance. Giovanni's 
 successive works were the equestrian statue of 
 Cosimo I. on the Piazza della Signoria ; the group 
 of " Hercules and Xessus," which forms a pendant to 
 the " Rape of the Sabines f the '^ Mctory " group 
 in the large room of the Palazzo Vecchio ; the '' St.
 
 412 FLORENCE. 
 
 Luke " in Or San Michele ; the Boboli Fountain ; tlie 
 '' Genius of the Apennines," which is so conspicuous 
 at the Lake of Pratolino; the beautiful bronze 
 " Venus " in the royal villa at Pretava ; and the 
 colossal ^' Samson slaving the Philistines/' which, 
 originally in the casino of St. Mark at Florence, was 
 sent, with the basin and fittings, to the Duke of 
 Lerma, minister of Philip III. of Spain. The Duke 
 of Buckingham, while travelling in that country, pur- 
 chased it for Buckingham Palace, and when King 
 George acquired that residence he made a present of 
 it to Sii' AVilliam Worseley. 
 
 This is far from a complete list of his greater 
 works, to sav nothing' of hundreds of small bronzes 
 which are now in private collections, and of articles 
 of common use, such as fire-dogs, etc. The destruc- 
 tion of the bronze gates of the Pisa Cathedral, which 
 had been melted during the fire of 1595, gave Gio- 
 vanni da Bologna an opportunity of distinguishing 
 himself; but though he displayed great manual skill, 
 his bas-reliefs were inferior to the original ones. 
 He was assisted in this work by a Portuguese monk 
 of the Dominican order, Portigiani, who as a founder 
 had few or no equals. His sculptures at Siena recall 
 the Medici Chapel, but here, as in all his other works, 
 the depth and inspiration fall short of the outline and 
 style. 
 
 There is a general concurrence of testimony as to 
 his having been a man of very estimable private
 
 SCULPTURE. 413 
 
 character, and when he died, at eighty-four years of 
 age, he was buried with due honors in the Madonna 
 del Soccorso Chapel at SS. Annunziata. 
 
 The last great artists whose names may be men- 
 tioned are Tribolo, Vincenzio Danti, Lorenzi Stoldo, 
 and Paolo Ponzio Trebati, to each of whom a brief 
 biographical sketch is attached. 
 
 TRIBOLO. 
 
 (1485-1550.) 
 
 The proper name of Tribolo was Xiccolo Brac- 
 cini. He first comes into notice with a bronze 
 group for a fountain executed for Lorenzo Strozzi. 
 In 1525 he went to Bologna, Avhere he did twelve 
 bas-rehefs fur the door of the cathedral, whicli had 
 been decorated by Jacopo della Quercia. Like all 
 the artists of the sixteenth century, his style betrayed 
 the influence of Michael Angelo. From Bologna he 
 went to Pome, where he erected the tomb of Pope 
 Adrian VI. in the church of Santa jMaria dell' 
 Aninia, and from Rome the Pope sent him to Loretto, 
 where he decorated the sanctuary, the bas-reliefs of 
 whicli, it may be added, are of a connnonplace and 
 almost vulgar type. From Loretto he came to Flor- 
 ence, where ^lichael Angelo employed him upon the 
 Medici Chapel, but falling ill, he went to Venice with 
 Cellini, who hoped to find work for him with Sanso- 
 vino. Failing that, he once more returned to Flor- 
 ence, and took an active part in getting up the deco-
 
 414 FLORENCE. 
 
 rations for the marriage festival of ^Vlcssandro de' 
 Medici to Margaret of Austria. Cosimo I. employed 
 liim to make two fountains for the villas of Castello 
 and Petraya, and on the marriage of that Prince with 
 Eleanora of Toledo he erected a superb triumphal 
 arch at the Porta al Prato. He became a sort of 
 artistic master of ceremonies, and, as this was a 
 period of great festivity in Florence, he never lacked 
 employment. When the son of the Grand Duke was 
 christened he transformed the Baptistery from ceil- 
 ing to floor, bringing the ^^ St. John '' of Donatello 
 from the Casa Martelli to surmount the temporary 
 font which he had erected. 
 
 Turning his attention from sculpture to hydraulics, 
 Tribolo got into serious difficulties. Inundations oc- 
 curred during the execution of certain works planned 
 by him, and chagrin at the popular manifestations of 
 disapproval which resulted, is sometimes supposed to 
 have been the cause of his death, which occurred in 
 September, 1550. He was one of the leading sculp- 
 tors of his day, surpassed only by Michael Angelo 
 and Giovanni da Bologna. 
 
 VINCEXZIO DAXTI. 
 
 (1530-1576.) 
 
 Danti completed the marble group representing 
 the Baptism of Christ upon the architrave of the 
 eastern gate of the Baptistery. It was begun — some 
 critics say only modelled — by Sansovino, and the
 
 SCULPTURE. 415 
 
 angel was made by Spinazzi in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury/ Though most of his work was done at Flor- 
 ence^ he was a native of Perugia, for which place he 
 cast the large bronze statue of Pope Julius II. , which 
 stands just behind the cathedral. He was a military 
 architect as well, and left several sonnets, being alto- 
 gether a very notable representative of the Renais- 
 sance. 
 
 LoREXZi Stoldi was one of the artists who were 
 employed upon the Duomo and San Celso at !Milan, 
 and what value his sculptures possess they derive 
 from being imitations of the antique. 
 
 Paolo Poxzio(1500-157-). — This artist, taken to 
 the Court of Frangois I. by Primaticcio, was a natural- 
 ized Frenchman, and it was as ^' Paul Ponce " that 
 he modelled the stuccoes for the gallery of Frangois 
 I., the frescoes in which Avere painted by Rosso and 
 Primaticcio, and recently restored by M. Alaux. The 
 Louvre contains several works of this artist, who re- 
 mained in France durino; the reimi of four monarchs, 
 from Francois I. to Charles IX. The Renaissance 
 IMuseum contains his statues of Albert Pius of Savov, 
 Prince de Carpi^ Charles de IMagny captain of 
 Henri II. 's body-guard, and of Andre Blondel de Ro- 
 quencourt, Controller of Finance. It is not known 
 whether he died in France or in Italy, but he must 
 have lived to a great age. 
 
 One of the last great sculptors of the period was 
 PiETRO Tacca, a native of Carrara, who did a good
 
 416 FLOKENCE. 
 
 deal of work at Florence. The Medici employed him 
 very frequently, and some of the equestrian statues 
 in the court-yard of the Royal Palace at Madrid are 
 by him. He was a pupil of Giovanni da Bologna, 
 and it Avas after a model made by that master that he 
 cast the statue of Duke Ferdinand on the Piazza della 
 SS. Annunziata. He was also the author of the 
 bronze fountains which ornament the same square. 
 
 From this time the decadence of the art of sculpture 
 proceeded rapidly, and though there has been a revival 
 within the present century, the last of the long series 
 of mighty artists belonging to the period of Avhich 
 this volume treats is Michael Angelo, whose name 
 stands out as a model of civic virtue as well as of in- 
 spired genius.
 
 PAINTING. 417 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAINTING. 
 
 ElCil in paintings as are the Florence collections, 
 and marvellous as is the spectacle of the Uffizi and the 
 Pitti Galleries, it is not in them that the elements for 
 a study of Florentine painting are to be sought. They 
 contain, no doubt, many unique and incomparable ex- 
 amples of the greatest masters, but the true Floren- 
 tine art is fresco-painting. In this respect Florence 
 is highly privileged, for there is not one of her 
 churches or public monuments from the thirteenth to 
 the seventeenth century in which some great artist 
 has not left the impress of his talent, and some wealthy 
 citizen a proof at once of his liberality and piety. 
 
 It is impossible in the course of a single chapter to 
 take more than a bird's-eye view of Florentine art, 
 and though there is no lack of material for writing at 
 length on these paintings — appealing as they do more 
 vividly to the imagination than statuary does — I must 
 confine myself to indicating the march of ideas and 
 the successive phases of their development, citing 
 various specimens of the different masters to illustrate 
 my argument. 
 
 The Uffizi and the Pitti Palaces contam such vast 
 27
 
 41 8 FLORENCE. 
 
 numbers of specimens of the pictorial art that no ade- 
 quate idea of them can be gathered from the descrip- 
 tions of specialist writers. Here Avere gradually ac- 
 cumulated all the masterpieces purchased by successive 
 members of the Medici family, the liberality of the last 
 bearer of this name converting these galleries into a 
 national museum, which, while not perhaps unrivalled 
 as a general history of art, unquestionably contains 
 specimens unique of their kind, and which no critic 
 of art can ignore. 
 
 The great name of Raphael does not belong to 
 Florence, for, born at Urbino, he spent most of his 
 life at the Vatican. Still there are many of his Avorks 
 at Florence, the Pitti Palace alone possessing twelve, 
 while in the Tribune of the Uffizi may be seen the 
 ^^Fornarina," the '^Madonna del Cardellino," the por- 
 traits of ^^ Julius IL," and of " Cardinal Bernardo 
 Dovizi da Bibbiena" who Avas so fond of Raphael 
 that he Avished him to marry his niece, and other 
 masterpieces. The Cardinal AA^as the author of the 
 CaJruidrciy the first comedy Avritten in Italian, and 
 Raphael painted his portrait tAvice, and also painted 
 scA^eral portraits of his niece. In the Pitti Palace 
 hang his portraits of Maddalena Doni, and her hus- 
 band Angiolo Doni, Avho Avas a great friend of 
 Raphael's. 
 
 Masterpieces of sculpture, AA^hich furnished excel- 
 lent models, and exercised upon the Renaissance of 
 that art a marked influence, had been bequeathed to
 
 Maddalcna Doni. 
 
 Raphael.
 
 PAINTING. 419 
 
 the Italians by the ancients, but this was scarcely the 
 case in regard to painting. Not that nothing was left 
 of ancient genius in this branch of art, but neither 
 Pompeii, Herculaneum, the Palace of the Caesars, the 
 tombs of the Volsci and the Etruscans, nor the first 
 efforts of Christian art upon tlie walls of the cata- 
 combs, had been brought to light from out of the 
 entrails of the earth in which they had been en- 
 tombed for centuries. 
 
 The inheritors of Greek art were the Byzantines, 
 and they were the earliest revivers of it with their 
 mosaic compositions at Rome, Ravenna, and Classa. 
 Though the art of painting was shrivelled up, life- 
 less, and mummified, so to speak, the depositaries of 
 it, such as it was, were these Greek artists. 
 
 The persecution of the Iconoclasts had driven some 
 of them into Italy ; the Crusades had led to the es- 
 tablishment of more intimate relations between the 
 East and the West ; and the Venetians, when desir- 
 ous of decorating their city and beautifying their 
 temples, sent for artists from Byzantium. A few 
 Italian artists had also studied under the Greek monks, 
 and thus began the resurrection of painting at Rome, 
 Florence, Siena, Perugia, and even at Venice, where 
 the Murano School owes to them its supremacy. 
 There are no specimens of the early })ainters of the 
 eleventh century at Florence, and with regard to the 
 miniature painters, with whom we have the real tran- 
 sition from ancient art to the Renaissance of paint-
 
 420 FLORENCE. 
 
 ingj their history is very obscure. The only Flor- 
 entine painters of the eleventh and twelfth centuries 
 of whose works anything is known are Rustico (1066)^ 
 Girolamo di Morello (1112), Marchisello (1191), Ma- 
 gister Fidanza (1224), Bartolommeo (1236), and Lapo 
 (1259). 
 
 In the thirteenth century a Franciscan monk, 
 Jacobus Toriti, decorated the cupola of the Bap- 
 tistery, his name and the date being still legible. 
 This artist also executed the famous mosaics in St. 
 John Lateran and Santa Maria Maggiore at Eome, 
 his tracery and foliage work above the " Coronation 
 of the Virgin " in the latter church being very cele- 
 brated. 
 
 These mosaics are works of great merit, the com- 
 bination of shape and colors testifying to his artistic 
 sense. The decorations of the Baptistery were be- 
 gun by him about the year 1220, continued by Taffi 
 in 1294, and completed by Gaddo Gaddi. They bear 
 unmistakable evidence of being the work of an artist 
 Avho had studied under the Greeks, and, as a matter 
 of fact, Andrea Tah was one of their pupils, having 
 worked at the mosaics of St. Mark's (Venice), where 
 he and his fellow- workers — one of whom, BufFalmaco, 
 has a fe^v works in the Florence collections — derived 
 their main inspirations from the Greeks. 
 
 CiMABUE was the iirst of the new school of painters 
 in Florence. Born in 1240, and said by Vasari to 
 have been a pupil of the Greek mosaic workers, with
 
 PAINTING. 421 
 
 only the works of Turrita and of Coppo di ^larco 
 Valdo as models, lie -was obliged at first to follow in 
 their track ; but he soon shook off their trammels, 
 and acquired a freedom of handling and a power of 
 expressing life and movement which they did not 
 possess. The greatest of Cimabue's works is the 
 Madonna in the Kiiccellai Chapel at Santa Maria 
 Novella, which, though still Byzantine in character, 
 is intellectualized, and rises far above the work of the 
 Greek niosaicists. The Virgin is represented as 
 dressed in a red tunic, covered with a blue mantle 
 embroidered in gold. Angels stand three deep on 
 each side of the throne. Though there is much to 
 criticize in the painting, both of the ^fadonna and 
 Child, the effect produced by it was overpowering, 
 and it has been mentioned in a previous chapter how 
 Charles of Anjou, King of Naples, went in state to 
 visit it while passing through Florence, and how the 
 whole city crowded after him. When the picture 
 was taken to Santa Maria Novella there Avas a solemn 
 procession to the church, and public rejoicings ex- 
 tending over several days. 
 
 ^Vith the exception of another Madonna in the 
 Academy of Fine Arts, which adheres more closely 
 to the Byzantine style, Florence does not possess the 
 most important works of this pioneer of the Kenais- 
 sance artists. 
 
 The Upper Church of Assisi is said to have afl'orded 
 specimens of the highest development of Cimabue's
 
 422 FLOEENCE. 
 
 talent, but we are obliged to take this to some extent 
 on trust, as the frescoes are so much injured by time 
 that it is difficult to judge what they originally were 
 like. When, however, it is remembered that the art 
 of painting in that day consisted in the representation 
 of a figure, a frieze, and a procession, as in the mosaics 
 of the first centuries, much credit is due to the artist 
 who first, with the assistance of the pupils whom he 
 employed, represented Bible scenes, and attempted 
 compositions such as those which in a perfected form 
 were executed by his successors upon the walls of the 
 Vatican, in the Stanze, and the Sistine Chapel. 
 
 Comparing Cimabue and Giotto, various writers 
 have described the former as the last of Byzantine 
 and the latter as the first of modern painters. The 
 second part of this dictum is, beyond doubt, correct, 
 and the distance between Giotto and Cimabue is 
 enormous. The story of how Cimabue saw Giotto, 
 Avhile looking after his flock of sheep, sketching them 
 with a piece of charcoal on a rock, and at once took 
 him as a pupil, is well known. If Giotto's composi- 
 tions are criticised in detail, or if he Avere to be judged 
 by a few easel pictures of doubtful authenticity pre- 
 served in the museums, it would be difficult to under- 
 stand how his works came to be so popular, or why 
 he holds so prominent a place in the history of paint- 
 ing. But this is not the way to look at him, and what 
 elicits so much admiration is the spirit by which he is 
 animated, his tendencies, his breadth, and the genius
 
 PAINTING. 42:3 
 
 wlilcli enabled liim to symbolize an idea, and to render 
 it palpable by transferring it from the moral and })liil()- 
 sophical domain to the world of reality and fact bv 
 some striking imagery. Thus, for instance, when he 
 represents the Catholic Church as a storm-tossed ves- 
 sel, he displays a power of inventiveness which ap- 
 peals to the intelligence. In his " Life of St. Fran- 
 cis," in the Upper Church at Assisi, which was one 
 of his earlier works, he illustrated the life of that 
 saint, by representing various scenes, in each of which 
 one or more personages are depicted as taking part. 
 There is more life and delicacy of touch in these fres- 
 coes than in those of Cimabue, and Giotto already 
 showed that he was a master of posture and attitude ; 
 as, for instance, when seeking to represent a thirsty 
 man coming upon a spring, he depicts him as throw- 
 ing himself face downwards to the ground. The fres- 
 coes in the lower church, executed later, testify to a 
 still more marked improvement in the art of painting, 
 the color being harmonious, and the shade effects 
 transparent and light, though time has dimmed them 
 so much that it is impossible to reproduce them in an 
 engraving. 
 
 As it is my object to describe the special charac- 
 teristics and style of each artist rather than to write 
 his biography or a catalogue of his works, it may be 
 said, with regard to GiOTTO, that he lent animation to 
 the personages whom he painted, and gave expression 
 to the passions which they might be supposed to feel.
 
 424 FLORENCE. 
 
 All his characters carry their nationality on their 
 faces — this being a distinct advance upon the impas- 
 sible and uniform type of countenance painted by the 
 Byzantines — as in his "Raisinir of Lazarus" at Padua, 
 Avhere it is easy to distinguish an Israelite and an 
 Arab. Moreover, he is, so far as we know, the first 
 portrait painter. In a picture at St. John Lateran 
 (1300) he represented Pope Boniface YIII. in a stand- 
 ing posture, wearing his tiara, and attended by two 
 young clerks ; and among the portraits by him in the 
 Bargello, so fortunately discovered in 1841, are those 
 of Charles of Valois cousin of the King of Xaples, 
 Dante, Corso Donato, and Brunetto Latini the mas- 
 ter of Dante. 
 
 There are few churches in Florence which do not 
 contain frescoes either by Giotto himself or by one 
 of his school. But Giotto does not show to so much 
 advantage in his own country as at Padua, Avhere the 
 greatest of his works is to be seen in the Scrovegni 
 Chapel at the Madonna dell' Arena, in a series of 
 frescoes illustrating scenes from Holy Scripture. The 
 " Bribery of Judas " and the '^ Crucifixion " are con- 
 ceived with great dramatic power, and awaken in the 
 beholder mingled feelings of terror and pity. His 
 friend Dante was at Padua during this period, and 
 his presence doubtless had no little influence upon 
 this work. 
 
 Giotto was the painter of the frescoes in the 
 Peruzzi and Bardi Chapels at Santa Croce. He
 
 PAINTING. 425 
 
 visited many of tlio principal cities of Italy, and most 
 of the Courts. The Visconti invited him to IMilan, 
 an ancestor of the Malatestas to Ivimini, and Gero 
 Pepoli to Bologna, while he went to Home to })aint a 
 portrait of Boniface YIII. He spent some time at 
 Arezzo, and in 1330 he Avas at Naples at the request 
 of King Robert ; in each of these cities he made 
 many disciples, and effected a revolution in painting. 
 He set the fLishion of fresco pictures, and this is why 
 many subsequent Avorks were accredited to him. 
 
 Giotto Avas an architect and sculptor as well, and in 
 1334 he Avas charged AA^th the building of the Cam- 
 panile at Florence. It appears certain that he pre- 
 pared the plans for the architectural part of this edi- 
 fice, as Avell as the draAAdngs for all the sculptures 
 executed by Andrea Pisano. His plan AA'as not car- 
 ried out in its entirety, for he had designed a pyramid 
 similar to that Avhich surmounts the Campanile of St. 
 Mark's, but this, as already mentioned, AA^as omitted 
 by his pupil Taddeo Gaddi, Avho assumed the direc- 
 tion of the Avorks after his death. 
 
 His pupils, in addition to Taddeo, Avere Puccio 
 Capana Fiorentino, Ottaviano da Faenza, Pace da 
 Faenza, Guglielmo da Forli, Stefano Fiorentino, and 
 Pietro Cavalini, and some mention must be made of 
 them, as they Avere the stem from Avhich issued the 
 branches of the tree of art. Taddeo Gaddi AA-as the 
 son of one of those early artists Avho Avere associated 
 with Andrea Taffi upon the mosaics of the cupola of
 
 426 FLOEENCE. 
 
 San Giovanni, and his father, Gaddo Gaddi, was also a 
 contemporaiy of Jacopo da Turrita, and worked with 
 him at Rome. From his father's studio Taddeo went to 
 that of Giotto, his godfather, and it was to this change 
 that he owed the prominent place which he occupied 
 in the Avorld of art. He had a cpiick eye for deco- 
 rative effects, and with a good deal of skill in outline, 
 his pictures are, as a rule, remarkable for their suav- 
 ity. The Baroncelli Chapel at Santa Croce contains 
 several frescoes from the '^ Life of the Virgin." At 
 Santa Felicita there is a very graceful Madonna, and 
 in the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella a grand 
 allegorical composition representing the ^' Apotheosis 
 of St. Thomas," surrounded by prophets and evan- 
 gelists, and trampling Heresy under foot. This fresco 
 also comprises fourteen figures representing the Sci- 
 ences and Virtues, and at the foot of each is seated a 
 personage who may be regarded as the incarnation 
 of that particular gift. Thus, for instance, Cicero is 
 at the feet of Rhetoric, and Euclid at those of Geom- 
 etry. The Sacristy Chapel of Santa Croce also con- 
 tains an altar-piece of the Madonna surrounded by 
 saints, the work of this artist. 
 
 Taddeo Gaddi was an architect as well, and recon- 
 structed the Loggia of Or San Michele, after the de- 
 signs of Arnolfo diCambio, while a still more important 
 work was the Ponte Vecchio, with its row of shops, 
 which brought in such a handsome income to the 
 town. It has been noticed that the strongest floods
 
 Coronation of the Vif§:in in Church of S. Croce* 
 
 Giotto.
 
 PAINTING. 427 
 
 have never affected the solidity of this bridge, and 
 it is strange that a painter such as Taddeo should 
 have been so well versed in what we should call civil 
 engineering ; though, as a matter of fact, the Com- 
 munal Council employed him on many important 
 works of a similar kind. He widened the quays, re- 
 paired the fortifications, and rebuilt the Ponte Santa 
 Trinita (again destroyed in 1557), and was so busy 
 that he had to take Simone Memmi to assist him. 
 He also completed the Campanile, begun l)y his mas- 
 ter Giotto, and, as I have several times mentioned 
 before, modified the original design. 
 
 Taddeo Gaddi had tvro sons, Agnolo and Giovanni ; 
 his remains are interred at Santa Croce, in the first 
 cloister, and in the same tomb as that erected by him 
 for his father, the epitaph upon it reading : 
 
 Hoc uno dici poterat Florentia felix 
 Yivente : at certa est non potiiisse mori. 
 
 Giottino was the surname given to Tommaso 
 Stefano, whose father, a painter of some merit, was 
 a contemporary of Giotto. The well-deserved sur- 
 name does not indicate much originality on the part 
 of this artist, avIio, however, exercised no little in- 
 fluence ; and it is astonishing, considering that he 
 died at the early age of two-and-thirty, that he should 
 have left so many works behind him. The best 
 known of them all is the composition relating to the 
 life of St. Silvester, in the Bardi Chapel at Santa
 
 428 FLOKENCE. 
 
 Croce. The saint is represented in the act of exor- 
 cising a dragon whose breath is poisonous^ and a 
 monk who is present is pressing his hand to his 
 nose with a very HfcHke expression. Filippo Lippi 
 showed his appreciation of this work by borrowing 
 some of the features in it for his frescoes at Santa 
 Maria Noveha. 
 
 There are frescoes by him in the Cappella Strozzi 
 in the crypt of Santa Maria Novella, and a Pieta at 
 present in the Uffizi is probably by the same hand. 
 
 When still very young he was intrusted with a 
 singular task by the Signoria. The Duke of Athens 
 had just been expelled, and in order to stigmatize his 
 memory, it was determined to portray on the walls 
 of the Palace of the Podestas (now called the Bar- 
 gello) the Duke and his companions, with the mitres 
 of justice on their heads, surrounded by the animals 
 which Avere emblematic of his appetites and vices. 
 Nothing remains of this work, nor is there anything 
 to give an idea of the portraits of the Pazzi con- 
 spirators, who, after being hung by the feet, were 
 painted on these same walls a hundred years later. 
 A curious feature of these paintings was that the 
 scutcheon of the family was given under the effigy 
 of each person. 
 
 Many of the works executed by Giottino at Flor- 
 ence have disappeared, but there is a composition 
 said to be by him in St. John Lateran at Rome, in 
 which the Pope appears ; a group of celebrated per-
 
 PAINTING. 429 
 
 sonages at the Orsiiii Palace ; and a fine portrait of 
 St. Louis to the right of tlie high altar at Ara Coeli. 
 He also left his mark upon the Lower Church at 
 Assisl. 
 
 Tacldeo Agnolo Gaddi left two sons, Agnolo and 
 Giovanni. The first commenced his career as an 
 artist at San Jacopo extra Muros at Florence, where 
 he painted the " Resurrection of Lazarus," in what 
 Avould now be termed " realistic" fashion. The body 
 is represented as quite putrefied, and the expressions 
 of the spectators are supposed to be in keeping with 
 the horror Avhich they feel. It may be remarked in 
 this connection that the naturalists of the present day 
 have never gone so fiir as the early painters, who 
 have only been outdone in this respect by the Span- 
 iards of the seventeenth century, and these latter — 
 such as Ribeira and Valdes Leal — had a skill and 
 poAver which did much to mitigate the repulsiveness 
 of their delineations. 
 
 Another important work of Agnolo was the ^'Life 
 of St. Cecilia" in the Carmine Church ;* and lie 
 painted for the Alberti fiimily, in the choir of Santa 
 Croce, the " History of the True Cross." 
 
 Like his father, he was a skilful architect, and was 
 employed to repair and enlarge the Bargello after the 
 fire of 1330. He went on with his paintings at the 
 
 * More generally attributed to Carentino or Spinello, or 
 both.
 
 430 FLORENCE. 
 
 same time, executing several works now preserved 
 in the Uffizi and Academia. He also painted some 
 frescoes in the cathedral at Prato, and a Madonna 
 and saints in Santo Spirito in Florence is attributed 
 to him. He is described as having only painted 
 Avhen the fancy took him^ as he was rich enough to 
 be independent ; and his sons, who had no taste for 
 art, went into trade, and made a large fortune at 
 Venice. Their father died at Florence, aged sixty- 
 three. 
 
 Another early painter of whom little is known, 
 though he played a very prominent part at Florence, 
 was BuFFALMACO. His surname or Christian name — 
 which of the two it is difficult to say — was Buon- 
 amico, and this pupil of Andrea Taffi was a very 
 jovial and humorous character, and was probably the 
 originator of the studio jokes for which painters have 
 ever been noted. Boccaccio and Sacchetti have made 
 him famous, and he is better known for his adventures 
 than for his works. Some of the latter, however, arc 
 to be found in the museums of Florence, and there are 
 frescoes by him at the Certosa near Florence ; at the 
 Badia, Avhere he represented the '' Passion " in the 
 Giochi and Bastari Chapel; and at the Ognissanti, 
 where he painted the ^' Nativity of Christ '^ and the 
 '^ Adoration of the Magi." At Arezzo he was em- 
 ployed by Bishop Guido to decorate the baptismal 
 chapel of the cathedral. Vasari has drawn a very 
 fascinating portrait of Buffalmaco, who appears to
 
 PAINTING. 431 
 
 Lave been something of a poet, and to have written 
 very sprightly notices of his own works.* 
 
 His stay at Arezzo Avas followed by a journey to 
 Pisa, where, among other compositions, he painted 
 the History of the World, from the Creation to the 
 Btulding of the Ark. All round this composition was 
 a frieze, with the portraits of different personages, 
 himself included. He wrote a sonnet descriptive of 
 this work, and Vasari, in his lengthy biography of 
 him, describes him as prodigal in his style of living, 
 and as dying so poor, at the age of sixty-eight, that 
 he was buried in the paupers' grave in the cloisters 
 of the hospital, 1340. 
 
 Taddeo Gaddi left a pupil, Venetian by birth but 
 Florentine by adoption, named Antoxio Vexeziaxo, 
 whose earliest works, in the Grand Council Room at 
 Venice, have been destroyed by fire. He seems to 
 have been rather badly used in his native country, 
 and to have excited the jealousy of foreign painters, 
 so he returned to Florence, where he was very well 
 received. He did paintings at Santo Spirito, San Ste- 
 
 * "They (frescoes illustrating the Life of our Lord, in the Campo 
 Santo at Pisa) are ascribed to a certain Buonamico BufTalmaco, 
 whose existence is, however, altogether doubtful, as the descrip- 
 tion of his life by Vasari is a mere tissue of whimsical stories." 
 Hand-book of Painting. Kiigler, vol. i., p. 145. 
 
 Crowe and Cavalcaselle make only a passing allusion to BufTal- 
 maco in connection with the Pisan Campo Santo (vol. i., p. 4ol), 
 and the only work attributed to him in Horner's Walks in Florence 
 is a fresco in the left aisle of San Miniato, while his name does 
 not occur in Karl Karoly's The Paintings of Florence.
 
 432 FLORENCE. 
 
 fano al Ponte Vecchio^ and he was afterwards cm- 
 ployed by the committee of the Campo Santo at Pisa 
 upon the frescoes ilhistrating episodes in the life of 
 San Ranieri, the patron of the city. This was the 
 greatest work which he executed, and it won him a 
 high place in the esteem of the people of Pisa. 
 
 From Pisa he returned to Florence, and painted a 
 series of religious scenes in a tabernacle in the grounds 
 of Nuovoli, just outside the Porta al Prato. Thence he 
 went to the Certosa, where the Acciaiuoli family em- 
 ployed him to decorate the chapel in Avhich their an- 
 cestors were buried ; but this is one of the many 
 works which have been effaced by the hand of time.* 
 Veneziano later in life gave up painting for Jbotany. 
 He died somewhere about 1387. 
 
 Spinello Spinelli was born at Arezzo, but there 
 are many of his Avorks at Florence. Baron Capelli, 
 pleased with his style, employed him to paint the prin- 
 cipal chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore. He is also 
 supposed to have done some of the frescoes in the Car- 
 mine Church, as well as a fine fresco of the Ascension 
 for the Santa Trinita ; and a number of other works, 
 some of Avhich are noAv preserved in the Academia. 
 
 He painted some historical scenes in the Palazzo 
 Publico at Siena and was commissioned in 1377 by 
 Nerozzo degli Alberti to decorate the Sacristy of San 
 
 '■■ Crowe and Cavalcasellc attribute the Navicella on the ceiling 
 of the Spanish chapel at Santa Maria Novella to this artist.
 
 PAINTING. 433 
 
 Miniato with scenes from the Hfe of St, Benedict. 
 He died about the year 1410. 
 
 Andrea Orcagxa is not, perhaps, so highly ap- 
 preciated as he deserves to be, as architect, sctdptor, 
 and painter, for he excelled in covering large spaces, 
 and his ideas Avere comprehensive enough to embody 
 the vast subjects which he represented on the walls 
 of many a Campo Santo and church. His architect- 
 ural abilities were displayed at the Loggia dei Lanzi. 
 At Or San Michele we see his Avonderful sculptural 
 gifts, while in the frescoes upon the walls of Santa 
 Maria Xovella he gave free course to his gloomy im- 
 agination. 
 
 There is more realism about Paolo Ucello, who 
 represented historical facts without any of those alle- 
 gories which tend to confuse at times. His proper 
 name was Paolo di Dono, and it was because of Ids 
 fondness for birds that he was surnamed U(;cllo. He 
 was a Florentine^ not only in style, but by birth. 
 Born in 1396, he was, like most of his contempo- 
 raries, a goldsmith rather than a painter in his early 
 days. He was employed in the shop of Ghibcrti 
 Avhcn the latter was at work on the Baptistery gates. 
 But very few of his own works are known. At Santa 
 Maria Novella there are a series of frescoes by him, 
 and in the Florence Cathedral there is a work signed 
 " Pauli Ucelli opus." This fresco is a portrait of Sir 
 John Hawkwood, an English captain of free com- 
 panies, who was for many years in the service of the 
 
 28
 
 434 FLORENCE. 
 
 Republic. Paolo was fond of soldiers, and in the Casa 
 Yitali at Padua he painted portraits of the mighty 
 men of war so often spoken of by Andrea Mantegna. 
 The Bartolini Garden at Gualfonda had until recently 
 a series of frescoes by him entitled the ^' Four Bat- 
 tles,'^ of which the Enghsh National Gallery now has 
 the " Battle of San Egidio/' in which Carlo Malatesta 
 and his nephew Galeazzo appear side by side. Apart 
 from his work as a painter, he has transmitted to us 
 several facts of historical interest^ and many details 
 as to dress and military equipment at Florence in the 
 fifteenth century. Paolo contributed not a little to 
 the advancement of the science of perspective, owing 
 to his having studied mathematics with Gianozzo 
 Manetti. 
 
 His ^' Battle of San Egidio " is a work Avhich de- 
 serves close attention, for though it is old-fashioned, 
 and the horses are as stilted and wooden as the fig- 
 ures of the warriors are childish, this is the first battle 
 painted by an artist of the Penaissance — the first 
 composition in which the laws of perspective are ob- 
 served. This picture, moreover, shows us what was 
 the kind of armor worn in the early part of the fif- 
 teenth century, and gives likenesses of the celebrated 
 Condottieri, who, with their free companies, played 
 such a conspicuous part in the history of Italy. 
 
 Masolino da Panicale, an artist of the same pe- 
 riod, and a Florentine as well, gave a marked impulse 
 to the art of his time, and effected a considerable im-
 
 PAINTING. 435 
 
 provcment in tlie execution. Until his time all paint- 
 ers employed a conventional perspective, and the 
 various personages of a group were invarial^ly hud- 
 dled together. Masolino was a pupil of Lorenzo Ghi- 
 berti, and one of the twenty-one assistants who helped 
 to make the Baptistery gates. His first efforts were 
 made at Rome, but falling sick of a fever, he returned 
 to Florence, where he had the good fortune to be em- 
 ployed to paint the Life of 8t. Peter on one of the 
 walls of the Brancacci Chapel in the Carmine Church. 
 This work appears to have been characterized by 
 much force and expression, but it is impossible to 
 distinguish what is due to Masolino, as his painting 
 has been effaced by the brushes of his successors.* 
 Still he contributed his share to the building, and 
 he is credited Avith having been the first painter who 
 could portray a smile, the flutter of a garment, 
 or the lifelike hue of the flesh 5 while Vasari asserts 
 that in regard to the relief of his pictures, he so de- 
 ceived the eye that his figures seem to stand out. 
 
 Masaccio, one of the leading figures in the history 
 of Florentine painting, was born in 1402, and with 
 his superb talent, his native elegance, his combina- 
 tion of strength and suavity, his profound knowledge 
 of anatomy, and his strongly marked characteristics, 
 he stands cpiite alone. A contemporary of, though 
 younger than, Ghiberti, he did not live beyond the 
 
 * Crowe and Cavalcaselle consider that these frescoes are not the 
 work of Masolino.
 
 436 FLOKENCE. 
 
 age of seven-and-twenty, and his premature deatli 
 was a severe loss to Florence. 
 
 His greatest works are in the Brancacci Chapel in 
 the Carmine Church. The various restorations of 
 these pictures have robbed them of much of their 
 interest^ but disfigured as they are, one can still form 
 some idea of the nobility of the compositions by the 
 engravings Avhich have been preserved of them. For 
 a century they were fruitful examples, and a school 
 of study for painters, and not since Giotto had any 
 artist effected such progress in the details of paint- 
 ing, paving the way for the still more perfect crea- 
 tions of a Leonardo da Yinci and a Raphael. The 
 place of Masaccio's burial is uncertain, though Vasari 
 says that he was interred in the Carmine Church. 
 
 Another painter, whose works throw no little light 
 upon the dress and manners of the day, is PiERO 
 BELLA Fraxcesca, who Avas bom in 1416, at Borgo 
 San Sepolcro, and who, at the time of his death in 
 1492, was quite blind. His pictures and frescoes 
 are now very scarce, but he was an active artist. 
 At a time when portrait painting was so little in 
 vogue, it is interesting to meet with the works of 
 artists such as he and Pisanello, who portrayed be- 
 tween them many princes and leading men. Piero 
 della Francesca painted portraits at the Courts of 
 Urbino, Ferrara, Eimini, Pesaro, Ancona, and Rome; 
 and he was a distinguished geometer and writer on 
 perspective. His portraits are now much sought
 
 PAINTING. 437 
 
 after, and Avhenever one comes into the market it 
 fetches a high price. 
 
 Alesso Baldovixetti (1427-1499) is less known, 
 and his works are even scarcer than those of Fran- 
 cesca. If his disfigured frescoes could have been 
 preserved we should have had authentic portraits of 
 the greatest men of the day, for he painted in the 
 Gianfigliazzi Chapel of Santa Trinita likenesses of 
 Guicciardini, Luca Pitti, Diotisalvi Neroni, Giuliano 
 de' Medici, Gherardo Gianfigliazzi, Messer Bongi- 
 anni, and Filippo Strozzi. These interesting works 
 became more and more injured, until they finally 
 disappeared in 17G0. The altar-piece which he did 
 for this same chapel is identified by Crowe and Caval- 
 caselle Avitli the one hanging in the Academy of Fine 
 Arts, of the Trinity between two kneeling saints, 
 and catalogued '' Inconnu." The frescoes of Santa 
 Trinita were begun in 1471, and took him five years 
 to finish. Cosimo Rosselli, Benozzo Gozzoli, Pietro 
 Perugino, and Filippino Lippi Avere employed to 
 value them. 
 
 Up to that time the painters of the fourteenth and 
 fifteenth centuries treated sacred subjects in a broad 
 and philosophical spirit. This was tlie case even 
 with the most illustrious of them, such as Giotto and 
 Orcagna ; but a new school was gradually formed, 
 consisting of artists who were not only religious by 
 doctrine and feeling, but were themselves attached to 
 the Church. Fka Filippo di TomiAiaso Lippi (born
 
 438 FLORENCE. 
 
 at Florence in 1412^ and died in 1469) was one of 
 the first of this schooL He was known in art as 
 Filippo Lippi, and he belonged to the Carmelite order. 
 Brought up in the Carmine convent, he doubtless 
 acquired as a boy a taste for painting from the fres- 
 coes of IMasaccio ; and when he began to copy the 
 latter's work, he became so imbued with his princi- 
 ples, that it was commonly said that Masaccio's soul 
 had become embodied in him. In course of time he 
 abandoned the Carmelite convent, though he did not 
 throw off the robe. In 1452 he was chaplain to the 
 convent of nuns of S. Giovannino at Florence, and 
 this benefice enabled him to pursue his artistic pro- 
 fession in independence. It was customary then, as 
 it was in France two or three centuries later, to in- 
 scribe the names of the great artists of the day who 
 had taken orders, upon the list of candidates for 
 vacant benefices, and Leo Battista Alberti held a 
 canonry, which enabled him to carry out the impor- 
 tant works upon which succeeding pontiffs employed 
 him. So numerous Avcre the artists in holy orders 
 in Italy, that the Dominicans alone have formed the 
 subject of a bulky volume. 
 
 A curious incident in the life of Filippo Lippi was 
 his capture by pirates upon the Adriatic ; for eigh- 
 teen months he remained their prisoner, owing his 
 release to the talent with which he drew a charcoal 
 portrait of one of his captors. On his return to 
 Florence he gained the friendship of Cosimo, and
 
 Madonna and Child. 
 
 Filippo LippL
 
 PAINTING. 439 
 
 afterwards of Lorenzo de' Medici. There is scarcely 
 a place in Tuscany wliicli cannot boast of frescoes by 
 him, though, as he had a son of the same name, also 
 in holy orders and also a painter of some ability, it 
 is not always easy to distinguish between them. 
 
 It is strange that a painter whose compositions 
 were so full of religious fervor should have been so 
 dissolute, as he appears to have been, but he pos- 
 sessed some good qualities in private life, for Lorenzo 
 de' Medici, deeming that his tomb in the cathedral of 
 Spoleto — at Avhich place he died, while decorating the 
 principal chapel of the cathedral — was not worthy of 
 him, after paying a visit to it while on his way to 
 Rome, asked that the body might be given up to 
 him. As this request was refused, he resolved to 
 erect a monument worthy of the defunct artist, and 
 instructed Cardinal Napoli to superintend the execu- 
 tion of the tomb, and Politian to write the epitaph in- 
 scribed on it. 
 
 Li the " Coronation of the Virgin," now in the 
 Academy of Fine Arts at Florence, Fra Filippo Lippi 
 has left a portrait of himself. He is the figure with 
 clasped hands ascending the steps on the right; his 
 portrait may also be seen in one of the Spoleto fres- 
 coes. 
 
 Andrea del Castagno, whose name has occurred 
 several times in the course of this work (1390-1457), 
 painted the effigies of the Pazzi conspirators in the 
 Bargello, and so got the nickname of ^' Andrea degP
 
 440 FLOKENCE. 
 
 Impiccati." Several churclies in Florence have fres- 
 coes by liim^ which with their firm handling and 
 dark tones remind one of Mantegna and some of the 
 Lombard painters, while in the Pitti Palace there is a 
 portrait of some unknown person attributed to him. 
 
 Bexozzo Gozzoli, — born at Florence in 1420, — 
 died in 1498, was a pupil of Fra Angelico at Fiesole, 
 and helped him to paint several of the frescoes in 
 Orvieto Cathedral. An indefatigable Avorker, many 
 of his paintings are extant both in Pisa and Florence, 
 the' frescoes in the Campo Santo at the former place 
 being possibly his greatest work. They consist of 
 twenty-four scenes taken from the Old Testament, 
 beginning with Xoah and terminating with the Visit 
 of the Queen of Sheba. Benozzi Gozzoli called to 
 his aid all the resources of nature, laying the scenes 
 of his subjects amid beautiful landscapes or handsome 
 buildings, and peopling his pictures with animals of 
 different kinds, horses, dogs, and birds of brilliant 
 plumage. The influence of Masaccio is perceptible 
 in his heads, but he has a style of his own in the out- 
 lines of his female figures and in the delicate arrange- 
 ment of the hair and the draperies. The best known 
 of all his works is in the ancient Medici Chapel of the 
 Eiccardi Palace, and represents the '' Adoration of 
 the Magi." The Magi are depicted as winding on 
 horseback through a rocky country on their way to 
 Bethlehem. Most of the figures are portraits of 
 prominent persons of the day — Cosimo the Elder 5
 
 PAINTING. 441 
 
 Lis brother Lorenzo; Gozzoli himself; Lorenzo the 
 Magnificent ; Manuel Palieologus ; the Patriarch of 
 Constantinople^ and many others being rej)resente(l 
 here. He was very fond of painting his contempo- 
 raries, and in the Campo Santo at Pisa he placed Mar- 
 cilio Ficino among the prelates, with Argiropoulos, 
 the celebrated Hellenist, and Bartolommeo Platina. 
 
 Benozzo Gozzoli exercised an immense influence 
 upon his time, for the illuminated manuscripts of the 
 fifteenth century abound in subjects copied from him. 
 His various compositions and costumes, even his pe- 
 culiarity of always bringing animals into his pictures, 
 are reproduced. The monks of the Campo Santo of 
 Pisa were so pleased with his work, attracting as it 
 did strangers from all parts of Italy, that they erected 
 a funeral monument to him during his lifetime, with 
 the inscription, ^4iic Tmnulus est Benotii Florenthii, 
 qui proximo has pinxit historias : hunc sibi Pisanor : 
 donavit humanitas ]\[CCCCLXXVnL" This tomb 
 was erected in 1478, but Gozzoli did not die until 
 1498. He is one of those artists for whom the pres- 
 ent generation has conceived a great admiration, and 
 it may almost be said that he has been re-discovered, 
 his fame having hitherto been obscured by th(3 paint- 
 ers of the sixteenth century. 
 
 CoSBio RossELLi and Sandko Botticelli (1447- 
 1510) were contemporaries, but the celebrity of the 
 latter is incomparably the greater. Sandro (the di- 
 minuitive of Alessandro) was the son of Mariano
 
 442 FLORENCE. 
 
 Filipepi, and took the name of Botticelli, from the 
 goldsmith to whom he was apprenticed. lie Avas a 
 scholar of Fra Filippo Lippi, and united to the vigor- 
 ous and forceful style of that master an original and 
 delicate fancy, particularly noticeable in his allegori- 
 cal pictures. One of these has a somewhat peculiar 
 history. It represented Pallas (the Wisdom of the 
 Medici) leading a centaur (Violence and Misrule), 
 and Vasari's not very accurate description of it was 
 supported by an existing engraving ; of the original 
 painting, however^ all traces seemed to have dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 In the year 1894 jNIr. William Spence noticed a 
 picture hanging in an obscure corner of one of the 
 royal apartments in the Pitti which he thought bore 
 indications of being by the hand of Botticelli. The 
 attention of Signer Ridolii being called to it, he un- 
 hesitatingly pronounced it to be the lost Pallas. It is 
 thought to have been painted about the year 1480 in 
 honor of Lorenzo the Magnificent. 
 
 Vasari also mentions as one of his easel pictures 
 the profile of a woman Avho has always been sup- 
 posed to be the mistress of Giidiano de' Medici, killed 
 in the Pazzi conspiracy. It is now thought, how^ever, 
 that this portrait represents a young Avoman of the 
 loAver classes, the picture in the collection of the Due 
 d'Aumale being that of the real Simonetta. This 
 lady died young, and her charms were celebrated in 
 verse by both Politiano and Bernardo Pulci. The
 
 PAINTING. 443 
 
 former also wrote an epitaph on her. Lorenzo, in 
 his notes on his own sonnets, describes the grief 
 caused in Florence by the premature death of a 
 young lady of singular beauty, who has been iden- 
 tified as this same Simonetta. 
 
 Botticelli illustrated the " Divina Comraedia," and 
 no other painter, not even Giotto, was so thoroughly 
 versed in the works of Dante, whom he annotated, 
 taking the subjects of several of his compositions from 
 episodes in the ^^ Convito." He was also an enthu- 
 siastic admirer of Savonarola, and towards the close 
 of his life felt so strongly in his cause that he would 
 willingly have suifered martyrdom for him. 
 
 The round picture of the Madonna surrounded by 
 saints which hangs in the Uffizi Gallery is a happy 
 example of the peculiar style of this master. A num- 
 ber of his other works hang in the same gallery, and 
 a fcAv are to be seen at Paris and Berlin. As a 
 fresco painter we find him represented by three 
 biblical scenes, and the portraits of twenty-eight 
 Popes in the Sistine Chapel, where Sextus IV. 
 had employed him to superintend the decoration of 
 the walls. A great many artists were engaged upon 
 the work, and the editor of Kiigler's ^^ Hand-book of 
 Painting " states that Cosimo Rosselli having gauged 
 the quality of the Pope's artistic taste, overlaid his 
 figures thickly Avith gold, whereupon '' to the dismay 
 of the other artists his Ploliness expressed himself 
 best pleased with Cosimo's performances."
 
 444 FLORENCE. 
 
 Botticelli died about the year 1510^ his most emi- 
 nent scholar being Filippino Lippi. 
 
 Fra Giovaxxi da Fiesole, better known as Fra 
 Beato Angelico, belongs to the school of ascetic 
 painters whose lives were spent in praising God with 
 voice and brush. He was born at Castello di Vec- 
 chio, in the Mugello, in 1387^ and christened Guido. 
 He entered the order of the Preaching Brethren, or 
 Dominicans, at the age of twenty, and ended his 
 life as a miniature painter. His first essays in art 
 were made at Cortona, where several of them are 
 still preserved. He was at Fiesole in 1418, and for 
 the ensuing eighteen years but little is known of him. 
 In 1436 the convent formerly occupied by the friars 
 of S. Sylvester was given to the Dominicans, and 
 Fra Angelico was employed to paint an altar-piece 
 and decorate the walls with frescoes. He spent nine 
 years upon this work, Avhich has made his name so 
 famous — helped, it is said, by his brother Fra Bene- 
 detto, the series of frescoes painted there rendering 
 San Marco a very sanctuary of art. There are two 
 distinct categories of decoration in San Marco, repre- 
 senting Avhat may be called ceremonial and homely 
 painting. In the first Fra Beato depicted the grander 
 scenes of Holy Writ with profound faith and consum- 
 mate skill, combining simplicity and grandeur of ex- 
 ecution with the manifest sincerity of a great soul. 
 In the cells of the convent he is seen in quite another 
 light. Having lived in intimacy with the different
 
 Peter Martyr in the Convent of S. Marco* 
 Fra. Angehco,
 
 • PAINTING. 445 
 
 monks^ he knew the favorite saint of each, and de- 
 picted on the walls of his cell some episode in the Hfe 
 of that saint. 
 
 After nine years of this work he was invited by 
 Pope Eugenius IV., in 1445, to come and work at the 
 Vatican, where Nicholas V. also gave him employ- 
 ment. This did not prevent him, however, from 
 going to Orvieto, where he commenced, but did not 
 finish, a series of frescoes in the Duomo. Sum- 
 moned back to Rome by Nicholas V., he remained 
 there until his death in 1455, and was buried in 
 Santa Maria sopra Minerva. It was said that he 
 never took up a brush without a previous prayer, 
 and it is a pity that his gentle countenance has not 
 been depicted on the walls of San Marco, as a pen- 
 dant to the portrait of Savonarola, with whom his 
 name is so closely associated. 
 
 LuCA SiGXORELLi was not, strictly speaking, one 
 of the Florentine School, for he was born at Cortona, 
 about 1441, was a pupil of Pierro della Francesca, 
 and painted at Arezzo, Citta di Castello, and Orvieto, 
 where he completed the work left unfinished by Fra 
 Angelico. He also painted at the Sistine Chapel, but 
 most of his works have disappeared, and his greatest 
 achievement was the decoration of the chapel of the 
 Madonna of San Brizio in Orvieto Cathedral — a com- 
 position which inspired Michael Angelo himself, and 
 which may be regarded as one of the most powerful 
 in Italy. Signorelli took only three years and three
 
 446 FLOKENCE. . 
 
 months to complete this grand series of frescoes, 
 divided into four separate compositions — Antichrist, 
 Hell, the Resurrection, Paradise. The '^Fulminati" 
 — destruction of the Avicked — is a marvel of move- 
 ment and intensity, the attitudes of the figures be- 
 ing sublime in their reality. 
 
 Fra Bartolommeo, called Bartolommeo di San 
 Marco, partly because of the part he took in the 
 decoration of St. Mark's and partly because he was 
 an inmate of that convent, was originally known as 
 Baccio della Porta. He was one of the most emi- 
 nent of Florentine painters of religious subjects, ex- 
 celling in the grandeur of his outlines and the superb 
 gravity of his figures. Born at Sufiignano, just out- 
 side Prato, it was his passion for Savonarola which 
 brought him to the convent of San Marco, where he 
 was an assiduous attendant of the Dominican's ser- 
 mons, forming one of those who grouped themselves 
 around him when the populace laid siege to St. 
 Mark's. But if he was a great artist, he was not 
 very warlike, for, becoming panic-stricken at finding 
 his life in danger, he made a vow that if he escaped 
 he would enter holy orders. This he accordingly did 
 in 1500 at Prato, where he assumed the robe of the 
 Dominicans, and shut himself up from the Avorld. 
 For a time he abandoned painting as well, but in the 
 course of time he returned to St. Mark's, where many 
 of his works are still to be seen. This was the period 
 of Raphael's visit to Florence, and the young painter
 
 PAINTING. 447 
 
 of Urljino became a very close friend of the monk, 
 passing hours at a time in liis cell. lie went on to 
 Kome, while Michael Angelo and Raphael were there, 
 marking his progress by the execution of different 
 works in the towns through which he passed. Two 
 pictures by him in the Pitti Palace at Florence are thus 
 described by Yasari ' '' The fancy took him, as it was 
 said that he could only paint small pictures, to prove the 
 contrary, and to place above the door, opening into the 
 choir of San Marco, a panel thirty feet high, represent- 
 ing St. ^lark the Evangelist ; the work being perfect 
 in design and one of real merit. After this Salvator 
 Belli, a Florentine merchant, hearing, on his return 
 from Naples, of Fra Bartolommeo's talent, and having 
 seen some of his works, ordered from him another, a 
 ])icture of our Saviour — as symbolic of his own name 
 — surrounded by the four Evangelists. There arc 
 also in this composition two children holding up the 
 globe, and their fresh coloring is like the rest of 
 the work, admirably rendered.'' These painters, who 
 belonged to the religious orders, are very numerous 
 in the history of art ; they Avere all given a dispen- 
 sation from their duties in the convent, and what they 
 gained with their brush went to the community, as 
 they were only allowed to keep what money they 
 required for the purchase of colors and accessories. 
 
 Ghirlandajo, one of the artists whose works in- 
 fluenced Fra Bartolommeo, died in 1498 ; he was 
 himself a painter of no little talent, combining grav-
 
 448 FLORENCE. 
 
 ity and po^Yer with much grace. He was gifted, more- 
 over, with a robustness of expression which is equally 
 noticeable in all his works, Avhether at Santa Maria 
 Novella — in the series of compositions which cover 
 the walls of the choir from roof to base — or in the 
 Sassetti Chapel at Santa Trinita. 
 
 His proper name was Domcnico Corradi, and it is 
 said that his father first obtained the name of Ghir- 
 landajo on account of the garlands he manufactured 
 for the young girls of Florence, his trade being tliat 
 of a goldsmith. 
 
 The frescoes at Santa Maria Novella are remark- 
 able for the large number of figures they contain, 
 and the portraits of contemporary personages intro- 
 duced into them. These comprise the whole of the 
 Tornabuoni family, Marcilio Ficino, Cristoforo Lan- 
 dino, Demetrius Greco, Politian, and one of the most 
 beautiful of the Florentine maidens, Ginevra Benci. 
 Even in his delineation of buildings he represented 
 the actual state of the city, and the architectural ar- 
 rangements of the time. Domenico, who Avas born 
 in 1449, died about 1498, his pupils comprising, in 
 addition to Michael Angelo ; Francesco Granacci, 
 Mainardi, Cieco, Jacopo del Tedesco, and Baldini. 
 
 Fraxcesco Graxacci was the favorite pupil of 
 Ghirlandajo, and a fellow-student of ^lichael Angelo. 
 Lorenzo de^ Medici, who took a great deal of interest 
 in Ghirlandajo and his pupils, employed Granacci to 
 design several of the costumes in the Triumph of
 
 PAINTING. 449 
 
 Paulus Emillns, Avliich he had organized, and later he 
 carried out the decoration of the streets through 
 ^vliicli Leo X. and ]iis cortege passed, Avhen that })on- 
 tiff entered Florence in state. All these ephemeral 
 works have passed away, all that remains being the 
 poems which were composed for the occasion by some 
 of the greatest writers of the day. Granacci had 
 been so intimate with Michael Angelo in the studio 
 of their common master, that the latter sent for him 
 to assist in the decoration of the Sistine, but, con- 
 cluding that his powers were not equal to the task, 
 subsequently dismissed him, a coolness arising be- 
 tween them in consequence. Most of Granacci's 
 paintings are in distemper, and there are still extant 
 several standards and banners done by him. He 
 possessed some of the qualities of Ghirlandajo, and at 
 one period was powerfully influenced by Michael An- 
 gelo in the first instance and Raphael later. He died 
 about 1543, and his remains were laid in San Am- 
 brogio at Florence. 
 
 Leonardo da Vixci was also a Tuscan by birth, 
 but though born in the Val d'Arno, he Avas, for rea- 
 sons wliich I will explain, almost a stranger to Flor- 
 ence. His father, Pietro da Vinci, was a notary, and 
 his son was born in 1452, the father being appointed, 
 in 1484, notary to the Signoria. Leonardo was a 
 pupil of Andrea Yerrocchio, and the legend goes that 
 he showed himself so much superior to the latter in 
 painting that Yerrocchio resolved to abandon that 
 
 29
 
 450 FLORENCE. 
 
 branch of art, and devote himself solely to sculpture, 
 in which he acquired such distinction. 
 
 Leonardo's genius embraced every branch of art, 
 science, and Hterature. Scidptor, painter, architect, 
 engineer, botanist, anatomist, mathematician, and as- 
 tronomer, he seemed to be at home in every branch 
 of human knowledge. He was a poet, too, and he 
 had few equals as a musician when, taking up the 
 lyre to which he had added a chord, he accompanied 
 his own mellow and resonant voice. For all of these 
 gifts Florence apparently did not offer a sufficiently 
 broad field, for when Ludovico il Moro invited him 
 to Milan he wrote accepting the offer. The original 
 of this letter, preserved in the Ambrosiana Library at 
 Milan, runs : '^ I can do all that is humanly possible, 
 whether in painting or in sculpture, as well as any 
 living artist." He might fairly have added that, be- 
 sides being the most skilful of his race in all the plas- 
 tic arts, he also possessed great physical strength and 
 beauty, for it is said that he was the first swordsman of 
 his day, and that he could twist the clapper of a bell, 
 or stop with one turn of his arm the most fiery cours- 
 ers. 
 
 His arrival at Milan was the turning-point in his 
 destiny j he was forthwith intrusted with the found- 
 ing of a ducal Academy of Fine Arts and made Di- 
 rector of the works of the Duomo, his patron also 
 ordering from him an equestrian statue of his father, 
 Francesco Sforza. This colossal group, of which he
 
 PAINTING. 451 
 
 made fourteen different sketches, Avas never executed 
 in bronze, tliougli Leonardo completed two models for 
 it; the first was accidentally broken and the second, 
 according to Castiglione the author of the '' Car- 
 teggio/' Avas destroyed by the Gascon soldiers of 
 Louis XII. at the capture of Milan. 
 
 He soon acrpiired a high reputation as a painter by 
 his execution of the great fresco still in existence, 
 and famous throughout the world as the " Cenacolo 
 of Leonardo da Vinci." Unfortunately, whether be- 
 cause the vehicle employed was not what it ought to 
 have been, or because the wall had been imperfectly 
 prepared, or else owing to the dampness of the soil, 
 within a hundred years after it had been painted this 
 fresco was almost entirely ruined.* Still it may be 
 gathered from the engravings of Morghen and the 
 copies of ]\rarco d'Oggione that it was the work of a 
 great genius, converting the refectory of the Do- 
 minicans of the Madonna della Grazia into a true 
 sanctuary. In 1499 he returned to Florence, where 
 he was very favorably received by the Gonfalonier 
 Soderini, and after executing some other works Avas 
 employed, in 150.3, to pahit a cartoon f)r tlic grand 
 hall of the Palazzo Vecchio, the suliject to be sym- 
 bolic of the glories of Florence. Michael Angelo Avas 
 to decorate the opposite Avail, and the loss of these 
 tAVO cartoons cannot be too deeply deplored. Michael 
 
 * Its final ruin was accomplished by the " restorers" who re- 
 touched it, one in 172G, and another in 1770.
 
 452 FLOEENCE. 
 
 Angelo's composition depicted a scene in the Pisan 
 campaign ; while Leonardo selected as his subject the 
 defeat of the Milanese under Piccinino, by the Flor- 
 entines, at Anghiari, near Borgo San Sepolcro. Both 
 works were destroyed at the time of the return of the 
 Medici, when the soldiers were quartered in this hall. 
 
 Arriving at Rome, in 1514, as one of the suite of 
 Giuliano de' Medici, Leonardo executed a number of 
 paintings notably that of two female figures repre- 
 senting Vanity and Modesty, formerly in the Sciarra 
 collection, and the '' Christ Disputing with the Doc- 
 tors " now to be seen in the National Gallery in Lon- 
 don. From Rome he went to France, and remained 
 in the service of Francis I. until his death. He fol- 
 lowed that prince to Pavia, and back again to France, 
 forming part of the suit at Fontainebleau and Am- 
 boise ; dying at Cloux, near the latter town, on the 
 2d of May, 1519, at the age of sixty-seven. There 
 is a popular engraving in France which represents 
 him as drawing his last breath in the arms of the 
 King, and the Louvre possesses several of his works, 
 including the famous '' Mona Lisa '^ and the Madonna 
 in the Salon Carre. 
 
 His manuscripts on science and art form, Avith 
 those of Leo Battista Alberti, the first technical trea- 
 tises Avritten by artists. Florence possesses but few 
 of his works*, of these may be mentioned the Head of 
 Medusa and an Adoration of the Kings, both in the 
 Uffizi GaUery.
 
 PAINTING. 453 
 
 Lorenzo di Ckedi ^vas tlie favorite pupil of Ver- 
 roccliio, and it was to liim tliat tlie sculptor of the 
 '^ Colleoni " assigned in liis will the task of complet- 
 ing that famous statue. I have already explained 
 that the Senate, not feeling suffigient confidence in 
 his ability, called in Alessandro Leopardi, who re- 
 ceived in consequence the sobriquet of Alessandro 
 del Cavallo. Lorenzo, however, inherited all the art 
 works of his late master. 
 
 The list of his works is a very long one, for he 
 painted principally easel pictures, was extremely in- 
 dustrious, and lived to the age of seventy-eight. He 
 was a close imitator of Leonardo, it being sometimes 
 difficult to distinguish the latter's original from 
 Lorenzo's copy. His pictures are remarkable for 
 their religious sentiment, their elaborate finish, and 
 the high glaze employed by the artist. 
 
 Andrea del Sarto is one of the most touching 
 figures in the history of Florentine painting. Ardent, 
 passionate, and even wanting in good faith, he finally 
 became the victim of a misplaced affection for a 
 woman whom his brush has immortalized. He was 
 the son of a tailor (del Sarto), and his proper name 
 was Andrea Yannucchi. He was born in 1487. Ap- 
 prenticed at the outset of his career to Gian Barile, 
 and later to Piero di Cosimo, he rapidly acquired a 
 great reputation at Florence, and was invited by the 
 King of France to Fontaincbleau. AVhcn five-and- 
 twenty years of age he had married a widow named
 
 454 FLORENCE. 
 
 Lucrezia del Fede, of wliom lie has left several por- 
 traits. At her urgent request he asked Francis I. 
 to let him forego his engagements and. return to Flor- 
 ence^ and the King not only agreed to this proposal, 
 but intrusted hin^ with a sum of money to purchase 
 works of art for him in Italy. Andrea, however, 
 spent the money at Florence, and never sent the pict- 
 ures, thus precluding the possibility of his return to 
 France. ]\lany works by him still exist, his frescoes 
 in the SS. Annunziata, in the small cloister leading 
 to the church, which have been protected against the 
 ravages of time by an enclosure of glass, being mar- 
 vels of taste and execution. The ^' ^ladonna del 
 Sacco," over the door of the large cloister leading 
 into the church, is one of the finest works of art in 
 Italy, and is regarded as his masterpiece. Among 
 his other more celebrated works is, first, the ^' Dis- 
 pute about the Trinity," painted for the Augustinian 
 brethren, and when their chapel beyond the Porta 
 San GaUo was razed for strategic reasons during the 
 siege of Florence, brought into Florence. In 1555 an 
 inundation of the Arno having damaged it very con- 
 siderably in the church of San Giovanni tra' Fossi, 
 which was then their headquarters, the picture was 
 removed to the Pitti Palace, and a good copy by Ot- 
 tavio Vannini, a pupil of Possignano, substituted 
 for it. 
 
 Next, the ^' Descent from the Cross," painted dur- 
 ing the plague of 1523, and known in Italy as the
 
 PAINTING. 455 
 
 " Pietn, (li San Luco," Andrea del Sarto 1 
 
 laviiiiT, u]) 
 
 tlie advice of one Antonio of tlie Brancacci faniilv, 
 taken refuge at Luco, and it was f(jr the sisters of 
 San Piero that he painted this picture, now in the 
 Pitti. 
 
 An " Assumption of the Madonna," painted for the 
 Cardinal of Cortona, a '^ Virgin and Saints " and the 
 " Descent from the Cross " give a good idea of the 
 grandiose style of this gifted artist, concerning whom 
 Michael Angelo wrote to Raphael : " There is a little 
 fellow at Florence who, if he was employed as you are 
 upon great works, would make it very hot for you." 
 A judgment such as this, expressed though it is in 
 homely terms, justifies any measure of enthusiasm 
 for Del Sarto, who died in the prime of life, on the 
 22d of January, 1531, his sharp-tongued wife sur- 
 viving him forty years. So perfect was he as a do- 
 signer and colorist, that he was known as " Andrea 
 senza Errori" (Andrea the faultless). 
 
 The Florentine School very justifiably regards him 
 as one of its brightest ornaments ; Pontormo, II Rosso, 
 and Domenico Puligo being numbered among his 
 scholars. 
 
 There is no need to devote much space to GiORGiO 
 Vasaki, though the list of his works is a lengthy one, 
 and though he had in the course of his career oppor- 
 tunities denied to artists more gifted than himself. 
 An architect, a painter, and a writer, his biographies 
 of celebrated artists are his best title to fame, and
 
 456 FLORENCE. 
 
 these, while full of errors both as to facts and dates, 
 are invaluable as forming the first work on modern 
 art worthy of the name, and supplying information 
 about many of the leading painters which is unob- 
 tainable from any other source. 
 
 Vasari was a favorite of Cosimo, Avho employed 
 him to paint the soaring cupola of Santa Maria del 
 Fiore, and he also altered the Uffizi Palace and erected 
 the present fagade. His career was a very busy one, 
 and he Avas concerned in all the chief events of his 
 day. Besides the many pictures which he painted 
 for churches, he was fortunate enough, as I have 
 mentioned in describing the Palazzo Vecchio, to be 
 employed to decorate the vast ceiling of the 8ala 
 del Cinquecento. He was a man of talent and of 
 considerable acquirements, but in comparison with 
 men of genius consumed by the fire burning within 
 them, he was cold and formal. There are not many 
 easel paintings by him, most of his works being large 
 decorative compositions designed for the walls of 
 palaces and convents, Avhich, if they do not enthral, 
 at least please the eye. 
 
 PONTORMO, a pupil of Del Sarto, whose proper 
 name was Jacopo Carucci, was born in 1494. Com- 
 ing to years of manhood at a time when Michael 
 Angelo's fame resounded throughout Italy, he had 
 been deeply impressed by the grandeur of his genius. 
 He himself excelled as a portrait painter, and there 
 are numerous admirable examples of his work in this
 
 PAINTING. 457 
 
 branch of art to be seen in Berlin and Florence. 
 He won the favor of the Medici^ who employed him 
 to decorate the walls of their villas at Poggio a 
 Cajano and Careggi with frescoes. It is worthy of 
 remark that Pontormo, who shows the influence of 
 Michael Angelo in all his fresco paintings, recovers 
 his originality Avhen left face to face with nature. 
 His portraits are of a very high order, and he was 
 employed to paint many of the Medici family, among 
 others Cosimo the Elder, a Avork which may be seen 
 in a cell at San Marco. It is true that Cosimo the 
 Elder died long before Pontormo's time ; but this 
 does not necessarily discredit the authenticity of the 
 portrait, as he would have had abundant materials 
 for a good likeness. Pontormo died in 1557. 
 Beoxzixo, a contemporary and imitator of Pontormo, 
 was born in 1502, at MonticelK, near Florence, his 
 first master being Raffaellino del Gcirbo. His best 
 works are to be seen in a small chapel in the Palazzo 
 Vecchio, where he executed a series of frescoes illus- 
 trating scenes from the Old Testament. Most of his 
 pictures are portraits of the Medici and others, more 
 than twenty of these being found in the Pitti and 
 Uffizi Galleries alone. 
 
 There are probably few collections in Europe which 
 have not a picture of one of the Medici by him. 
 His intimate friend, Vasari, gives him, as he de- 
 serves, a prominent place in his " Lives," for he was 
 a poet as well, and a member of the Academy of
 
 458 FLORENCE. 
 
 Florence^ lils verses having been puLlislied at Naples 
 in 1723. There is mucli poetic feeling in one of his 
 most brilliant pictures, now in the National Gallery 
 of England, "Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time." His 
 death occurred in 1572. 
 
 Christofano Allori owes his celebrity to his pict- 
 ure of " Judith," which is, with the Madonnas of 
 Raphael and the famous " Cenci," more frequently 
 copied than any work in Italy. 
 
 Il Rosso, or Giovanni Battista Fiorentino, went to 
 France with Primaticcio, and was, with Niccolo delP 
 Abbate, one of the Fontainebleau School ; his alle- 
 gorical frescoes in that palace, set off by the orna- 
 mental compositions in stucco of Dell' Abbate, being 
 his best title to fame. 
 
 Andrea del Mixga, who is represented in Santa 
 Croce by the " Orazione dell' Orto," has a good deal 
 of Bronzino's style in the outline of his figures, but it 
 it is easy to see that one is reaching the end of a 
 school. With regard to Cristoforo dell' Altissimo, 
 his name is not classed among the masters, though 
 he is represented both in the Uffizi and the Pitti Pal- 
 ace. He was a pupil of Pontormo, as may be guessed 
 at once by his portrait of Clarissa Altoviti, which 
 might have been painted by his master or by Bron- 
 zino. This lady was the sister of Niccolo Ridolfi, 
 Archbishop of Florence and of Sabine and nephew 
 of Leo X. Cristoforo was also employed by Cosimo 
 I. to copy, at the residence of Bishojj Paolo Giovio at
 
 PAINTING. 459 
 
 Como, tlie two liundrod and twonty-fonr ])()rtraits 
 which formed tlio conoction of that learned prelate. 
 
 Fraxcesco Hossi, known in art by the name of his 
 patron, Cardinal Salviati, was born at Florence in 
 1510, and studied under Andrea del Sarto. He was 
 an imitator of Michael Angelo and a friend of Vasari, 
 one of his best-known works being a portrait of 
 Aretino, which he painted at Venice, and sent as a 
 present to Francis I. of France. He died in 1563, 
 having spent a short time in France under Henri XL, 
 and then gone to Rome, where he executed several 
 important works at Santa Maria del Popolo. 
 
 The last names of the Florentine School are Cigoli, 
 Poccetti, Jacopo Empoli, and Carlo Dolci, the last 
 named of whom, born in 1616, died at the close of 
 the century, his masterpiece being a Pieta, Avhich is 
 in the museum at ^Madrid, and Avhich is not lacking 
 either in force or grace of expression. Poccctti's 
 frescoes are very numerous in Florence. They come 
 nearer to the superficial but graceful French School 
 of the eighteenth century, though it may be said that 
 Florence had no intermediate school in the seven- 
 teenth century, like Venice, which could boast of a 
 Guardi, a Tiepolo, a Ricci, and a Longhi, or, like 
 Naples, with its grand decorative painters. 
 
 Here my task must end, for though much might be 
 written about the history of Florentine painting and 
 sculpture, as well as about the architecture, the his- 
 tory, and the intellectual development of the Tuscan
 
 460 FLORENCE. 
 
 people, the object of this book is to give a general 
 idea of the part ^Yhich Florence has played in the in- 
 tellectual history of modern times. 
 
 The novel feature in this book is the chapter on 
 ^^Illustrious Florentines," in which I have given a 
 brief sketch of the life and idiosyncrasies of those 
 who achieved distinction in Florence in philosophy, 
 politics, literature, and science, giving special promi- 
 nence to those gifted humanists who shed such lustre 
 upon the Tuscan name in the fifteenth' century. 
 
 There must always be faults in a book of this kind, 
 and they are apparent enough to the author, but upon 
 the whole I hope that I may have succeeded in con- 
 veying an adequate idea of the superiority of Flor- 
 ence over the other cities of Italy, and of imparting 
 to my readers something of the enthusiasm, the re- 
 spectful admiration, and the profound tenderness 
 which I feel for Italy, ^' the divine mother of us all," 
 and for that City of Flowers towards which all faces 
 turn when they want to study the origin of the Re- 
 naissance of literature and art in the modern world.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abbatc, Niccolo dell', 458. 
 Academy, Cimenlo, 109. 
 
 of Florence, 87. 
 
 of La Crusca, 87. 
 
 Platonian, 21l>. 
 Accaiuoli, conspiracy of, 45. 
 Acciaiuoli, Niccolo, 3ri5. 
 
 biography of, 163-164. 
 Accurst, the juriscnsult, 166. 
 Acquasparta, Cardinal, sent to Flor- 
 ence as Papal Legate, 23. 
 
 Cardinal Matteo d' and S. Croce, 
 313. 
 .^neas Sylvius see Pope Pius II. 
 African Corsairs, 102. 
 Agnolo, Baccio d', 343. 
 Agnoli, Convent of the, 36. 
 Agriculture of the Medici, 57, 90. 
 Alamanni, tomb of, 322. 
 Albany, tomb of Countess of, 321. 
 Alberghettino, the, 32. 
 Albert! familv. the, 204. 
 
 Leo Hattista, 140, 438. 
 
 biography of, 201-211. 
 
 dome of Cathedral. 305. 
 
 S. JMaria Novella, 341. 
 
 tomb of, 318. 
 
 tomb of Senator G. V., 318. 
 Albizzi, familv, 2.'^. 
 
 hatred of the Albert!, 205, 210. 
 
 Renaldo degli, 32. 
 Aldrovandri. Ulysses, 94. 
 Alessandri, Cornelia degli, 88. 
 Alexander VI., see Pope. 
 
 VII.. .see Pope. 
 Alfieri, tomb ot Victor, 314. 
 Alighieri, see Dante. 
 
 father of Dante, 142-143. 
 Almini, Sforza. 92. 
 Alliance, the Holy, 252. 
 Alliotli, tomb of Bishop, 343. 
 AUori, Alessandro, 344. 
 
 Cristoforo, 458. 
 Alms Houses, 118. 
 Altar, Silver, 327, 354. 
 Altissimo, Cristoforo dell', 458. 
 Altopascio, battle of. 24. 
 Altoviti, portrait of Clarissa, 458. 
 Amadei, family, 16. 
 Amalfi, tomb of Duchess of, 382. 
 Ammanati, Bartolommeo, biogra- 
 phy, 408-410. 
 
 Pitti Palace, 200. 
 
 Ponte S. Trinita, 90. 
 
 Signoria Fountain, 295. 
 
 Julia, 257. 
 
 Ancycle, the, 275. 
 
 Andrea (S.), church of, at Mantua, 
 209. 
 
 (S.), tomb of, 283. 
 Angelico, Fra, bi(graphv, 414-445. 
 
 S. Marco, 229. 
 Angelo Buonarotti, Michael, biog- 
 raphy , 390-399. 
 
 character of, Avork, 9. 
 
 David, 291, 296, 339. 
 
 dome of Florence Cathedral, 
 197, 305. 
 
 Donatello's S. Mark, 334. 
 
 fortifies Florence, 78, 288. 
 
 Grinacci, 449. 
 
 S. Maria Novella, 343. 
 
 nose broken, 389. 
 
 Riccardi Palate. 368. 
 
 " the man with four souls," 10. 
 
 tomb, 314. 
 
 tombs of the Medici, 75, 77. 
 
 bridge of S , 209. 
 Anjou, Charles of. 421. 
 
 arms adopted by Florence, 14. 
 
 Robert of. 157. 
 
 his arms adopted by Florence, 
 
 Annunziata, church and Piazza of 
 theSS., 345-347. 
 
 decorations of church of the SS., 
 208. 
 Ammanati, Ponte S. Trinita, 312. 
 Anziani, the, 18, 21, 324. 
 Apatisti, literary society, 115. 
 Apennines, giant of the', 94. 
 Arab influence on Italian art, 135, 
 
 136. 
 Arbia, the river, 19. 
 .\rch, the Etruscan, 273. 
 Archa'ology, Biondo da Forli, 207. 
 Arch ilecture, 285-347. 
 
 IClruscan, 273. 
 Archivio Generale, 90. 
 
 di Stato, 29. 
 Aretino, see Bruni, Leonardo. 
 
 Niccolo, Or S. Michele, 333, and 
 note. 
 Aretines at Campaldino, 21. 
 Arezzo, church of S. Domenico, 349. 
 Argyropulus, 45. 
 Amis of Florence, 12-13-14. 
 Arnoldi, Alberto, 302. 
 Arrabiati, the, 223. 
 Art, (Christian, 280-284. 
 Art, influence of Savonarola on, 230, 
 232. 
 
 461
 
 462 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Art, Roman, 275. 
 
 Assisi, church of S. Francis d', 286. 
 
 frescoes at, 42 1-422-4 -'3. 
 Athens, Duke of, at S. Croce, 321 
 322. 
 
 Capitano del Popolo. 2t. 
 
 ceremony on expulsion of, 333. 
 
 expulsion of, 24. 
 
 portrait of. 32G, 428. 
 
 reign of, 165. 
 Austria. Joanna of, 94, 2P7. 
 
 Maria Maddalena, ]05. 
 
 silver ^vedding of Emperor of, 
 96. 
 Azeglio (C) on the Palazzo Yecchio, 
 8. 
 
 Badia, Monastery of the, 325. 
 Baldovinelti, Alesso, portraits by, 
 
 437. 
 Balia, tlie, 74, 81. 
 
 Banco, Nanni di, statues at Or S. 
 Michele. 3: 4, 335. 
 
 and Donatello, 361. 
 Bandinelli, Baccio. 291). 
 
 biography of. 4ii6-408. 
 
 colossal group by, 2". 6. 
 Baptistery, 8. Giovanni, 286, 307-310. 
 
 gates. 194, 352. 
 
 meeting-place of the Guelphs, 
 302. 
 
 mosaics, 13.5. 
 
 tomb of John XXIII., 30, 183. 
 
 at Pistoia. 353. 
 Barbarossa. 15. 
 Barber's Salon, 216. 
 Barcelona, the Peace of, 255. 
 Bardi, dau. of Count, 31, 38. 
 
 Niccolo di Betto, 360. 
 Bargello, the, 286, 324-326. 
 
 effigies of conspirators, 70. 
 
 enlarged, 429. 
 Barlaam, Bernardo. 132. 
 Bartoliui, tomb of Leo Battista Al- 
 
 berti, 318. 
 Bartolo, Giov. di, 306. 
 Bartolomeo and Romolo, Abbey of 
 
 S., 35. 
 Bartolommeo, Fra, biography of, 
 446-417. 
 
 effect of Savonarola's death on, 
 231. 
 Battiferri, Laura. 410. 
 Battle of Altopascio, 21. 
 
 (ampakiino, 21. 
 
 Montaperti, 19. 
 
 Montecatini, 24. 
 
 Montemurlo, 380. 
 
 Tagliacozzo, 351. 
 
 of Vadimo, 268. 
 Bavaria: dau. of Duke of, 113. 
 Beata, Villana, tomb of the, 342. 
 Beatrice, first meeting with Dante, 
 142. 
 
 news of death of, 144. 
 
 Beatrice, mother of Countess Ma- 
 tilda, her tomb, 283. 
 of Lorraine, 14. 
 Bell, in the tower of the Lion, IS. 
 la Martinella, 81. 
 la Vacca, 295. 
 Bellarmino, Galileo and Cardinal, 
 
 259. 
 Bells in the Campanile, 305. 
 Bembo, clears Politian's character, 
 23S. 
 the Dialogues of Cardinal, 75. 
 Benavides, palace and tomb of 
 
 Marco di Montova, 409. 
 Benivieni, biographies of the, 234- 
 235. 
 Jerome, portrait of, 233. 
 Bernardo, chapel in Palazzo Vec- 
 chio of S.,300. 
 da Siena, S., 322. 
 Bessarion, consecration of S. Croce 
 
 by Cardinal, 313. 
 Bigallo, Loggia del, 301-302. 
 Biaiichi and Neri, 22. 
 Bibbiena, Cardinal da, 41S. 
 Black Band, Joim of the, 83-85. 
 Boboli Gardens, 90, 94. 
 Boccaccio, biography of, 164-172. 
 friendship with" Petrarch, 157, 
 
 160, 165. 
 inspired by the plague, 25. 
 studies in Greek, 43, 127. 
 Bocchi, "Le Bellezze della citta di 
 
 Firenze," by Francesco, 324. 
 Bode, list of Donatello's works com- 
 piled by Herr, 362, 
 Bologna, tomb of Vera, 356. 
 
 Sarcophagus of S. Domenico, 
 350. 
 Bologna, Giovanni da, biography 
 of, ^10-413, 
 Boboli Gardens, 94. 
 Loggia del Lanzi, 340. 
 Medici statues, 93, 102, 315. 
 obelisks, 342. 
 Or S. Michele, 335. 
 Porial of S. Potronius, 357. 
 Bolide, the Alberti, 206. 
 Bonafeste, collection of Princess 
 
 Matilda, 93. 
 Bonaparte, tomb of Princess Char- 
 lotte, 321. 
 Boiiaveniuri, Pietro de Zenobio, 95. 
 Boni, Chev. Ornofrio, 315. 
 Boniface VIIL, see Pope. 
 Borgia. Ctesar and Machiaveli, 246. 
 Lucretia, 9H. 
 see Pope Alex. VI. 
 Bosco a Prati, Convent of, 35. 
 Botticelli Sandro, biography of, 441- 
 
 444. 
 Botticelli, Sandro, influence of Sav- 
 onarola on, 231. 
 Pazzi conspirators, 70. 
 portrait of Simouetta, 215.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 463 
 
 Botany, study of under Cosimo I., 90. 
 Buurbou, sack of Rome by the Con- 
 stable de, 78, 255, 402. 
 Bracciolini, Giacomo, son of Poggio, 
 
 186. 
 Brave, tomb of Cardinal de, 293. 
 Bridge, see Ponte. 
 Brienne, itaulthier de, see Athens, 
 
 Duke of. 
 Bi-ochi, Giuseppi. Lives of Floren- 
 tine Haints by, 112. 
 Bronzino, biography of, 4.57-458. 
 paintings in Paiazzo Vecchiobv, 
 
 298, 8(K). 
 portrait of Cosimo I., 93. 
 Brunelleschi, Filippo di Ser, biog- 
 raphy of, 190-2(tl. 
 dome of Duomo, 305, 358. 
 Foundling Hospital, 34r,. 
 letter from Albert! to, 205. 
 8. Lorenzo, 28. 
 Pazzi chapel, 322. 
 Bruni, Leonardo (.Aretino), 133. 
 biography of, 182-185. 
 Fiiundling Hospital, 199, 316. 
 subjects for Baptistery Gates, 
 
 358. 
 tomb of, 316-317. 
 Bueri, I'iccarda, 28. 
 Buflhlmaco, Buonamico, 420. 
 
 biograpliy of, 430-431. 
 Buggiano, bust of Brunelleschi by, 
 
 2<J0. 
 Buonaccorsi, Elena, 218. 
 Buonaccorso, Cione di Ser, 357. 
 Buondelmonte family, the, 16. 
 Buonsollazzo, Monastery of, 112. 
 Burchiello, Domeuico, biography 
 
 of, 216-217. 
 Burokhardt, work on the Renais- 
 sance by, 122. 
 Burial in churches, decree concern- 
 ing, 167. 
 Burlamachi, burning of the " Vani- 
 ties," 225. 
 death of Lorenzo de' Medici, 58- 
 59, and note on p. 60. 
 Buschetto, architect of Pisa Cathe- 
 dral, 2.%. 
 Byzantine, Art in the West, 281. 
 
 artists in Italy. 419. 
 Byzantium, capital transferred from 
 Bome to, 279. 
 
 Cabala, library of Pico delta Miran- 
 
 dola, 242. 
 Cacciaguida, grandfather of Dante, 
 • 141. 
 
 Cafaggiuolo, 36. 
 
 Calandra, lirst Italian comedy, 418. 
 Calimala. Guild of the, 21, 309. 
 Camaldoli, Ambrose, prefiice to the 
 
 life of; by Abb6 Mehus, 240. 
 Camaldoli, gatherings in the woods 
 
 of, 209. 
 
 ' Camalduli, Fathers, convent of the, 
 
 ; 36. 
 
 I Cambio, Amolfo di. biography of, 
 292-294. 
 Baptistery, 307. 
 Bargello, 324. 
 S. Croce, 312, 321. 
 OrS. Michele, 328. 
 Campaldino, battle of, 21, 23, 143. 
 Campanile, the, 304-305, 425. 
 
 bas-reliefs, 3.53. 
 Can Grande della Scala, 147. 
 Cancellieri, Pistoia, familv of the, 
 
 21. 
 Canova, tomb of Alfieri by, 314. 
 Canti Carnavaleschi, 46,51. 
 Cdpello Bianca, 94-98. 
 
 pamphlet on marriage fC-tes of, 
 96. 
 Capilano del Popolo, 18. 324. 
 Capitani di Parte Guelfa, 25, 311. 
 I Caporali di Popolo, IS. 
 Capponi, Niccolo, plan for protect- 
 ing Florence, 297. 
 Piero, and Charles VIII., 72, 222. 
 Capraia, fortress of, 17. 
 Caroccio, the. 13. 
 Carraja. see Ponte. 
 Car'eggio, the, 54. 
 Cartoons, of Leonardo da Vinci and 
 
 Michaul Angelo, 451. 
 Caskets, marriage, in So. Kensing- 
 ton Museum, 47. 
 Cassino, monks of Monte, 126. 
 Castagno, Andrea del, biographv of, 
 439-440. 
 paintings at the Bargello, 70. 
 Castellani, tomb of the. 321. 
 Castruecio Castracane, 24. 
 Catasta, method of taxation, 27. 
 Cathedral, see Duomo. 
 Catiline, flies to Fiesole.ll note. 
 Catrick, tomb of John, 321. 
 Cavalcanti, tomb of Aldubrandini, 
 
 343. 
 Cellini. Benvenuto, biographv of, 
 401-406. 
 bust of Cosimo I., 89. 
 competes for Signoria fountain, 
 
 89. 
 Perseus by, 340-341. 
 his quarrels wUh Bandinelli, 407. 
 Cellini, Giovanni, 401. 
 ('erchi, Veri de. at Campaldino, 143. 
 Ceres, Temple of, 273. 
 Cestus in Kircherian Museum, the, 
 
 271. 
 Certaldo, tomb of Boccaccio at, 107. 
 Certosa, 3-55. 
 
 Charlemagne, sarcophagus of, 283. 
 Charles of Anjou, device adopted, 14. 
 execution of Conradin, 351. 
 visits Cimabue's Madonna, 421. 
 Charles I., 389. 
 I Charles V., and the Campanile, 305.
 
 464 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Charles V.. campaign against Afri- 
 can Corsairs, 102. 
 claims Dnchy of Milan, 78. 
 confers Order of Golden Fleece, 
 
 91. 
 interviiRW with the Pope, 79. 
 Charles VIII., enters Italy, 71. 
 enters Florence, 72. 
 and Pico della Mirandola, 244. 
 and Savonarola. 221. 
 Chimeera of the Uffizi, 269. 
 Choir of Duomo as it was formerly, 
 
 807. 
 Christian art, 280-284. 
 Christianity and Greek art and liter- 
 ature, 129, ISO. 
 Chrysoloras, Emannel, lo3, 319. 
 Churches, separation of Eastern and 
 
 Western, 130. 
 Cigoli, 459. 
 
 Cimabue. Giovanni. 135. 
 biography of, 420-422. 
 his Madonna, 343. 
 Cimento Academy, the, 109. 
 Cioli, Valerio, 314". 
 Ciompi Revolution, the. 25. 
 Clone, Andrea, see Oicagna. 
 Bernardi, 327. 
 INIatleo, 32fi, 354. 
 Civil strife, first appearance in Flor- 
 ence of, 15. 
 Clement, see Pope. 
 (Hizia, comedy by Machiavelli, 250. 
 Cloister, of S. Croce, 322. 
 of S. M. Novella. 314. 
 Coats of Arms, union of Fiesoline 
 and Florentine, 12. 
 , Cocchi, tomb of Antonio, 318. 
 Collections of the Medici scattered, 
 
 72. 
 Colleges founded by Ferdinand I., 
 
 99. 100. 
 CoUeoni, statue of Bartolommeo, 
 
 298, 372-373. 
 Colli, Vialedei, 296. 
 Colonna, Bishop, influence on Pe- 
 trarch, 156. 
 murder of, 158. 
 Vittoria, .397-398. 
 Commentators, Dante, 150. 
 Comune, Palazzo del, see Bargello. 
 Communes, establishment of the, 
 
 17. 
 Conradin. execution of, 351. 
 Conspiracy, against the Medici, 45. 
 of April 1526, 251. 
 Pazzi, 57, 62-70, 306. 
 Constance, see Council. 
 Constantine Copronymos, and image 
 
 worship, 281. 
 Constantinople, tomb of Patriarch 
 
 of, .343. 
 Consuls, 2,3. 
 Contado, the, 15. 
 Convent of S. Croce, 321-322. 
 
 Convent of S. Marco, 221, 226, 220, 
 
 233, 444. 
 Convito, by Dante, 115. 
 Corniole, cameo of Savonarola, by, 
 
 232. 
 Cortona, works of N. Pisano at, 349. 
 Corvin Matthias, 54. 
 Cosmati, the, 293. 
 Cossa, Baldassare, see Pope John 
 
 xxrii. 
 
 Council of Carthage, 130. 
 of Constance, 29. 
 
 deposes John XXIII., 183. 
 Poggio at, 185. 
 established by Lorenzo de' 
 
 Medici. 57. 
 of Florence, 43, 134. 
 
 formed bv Savonarola, 73. 
 of Priors, the*. 31. 
 of twelve citizens, 81. 
 of Vienna, 132. 
 Credi, Lorenzo di. 453. 
 
 influence of Savonarola on, ^31. 
 named in Verrochio's will, 373. 
 Croce, S., 286,312-322. 
 
 chapel of the Noviziato, 36. 
 of the Pazzi, 198. 
 Cronaca, il, see Pollaiuolo, Simone. 
 Cross, Triumph of the, by Savon- 
 arola, 225. 
 Crucifix from S. Miniato, the mirac- 
 ulous, 289. 
 Crusca, Academy of La, 87. 
 Cupid of Michael Angelo, the, 392. 
 
 Dami. valet of John Gaston, 117. 
 Dandolo, Boccaccio's birth-place, 
 164. 
 
 clears Politian's character, 238. 
 
 Florence down to the Fall of the 
 Republic by, 62. 
 
 summary of II Governo della 
 Famiglia, 182. 
 Dante, 10. 
 
 anecdote of an admirer of, 43. 
 
 biography of, 141-150. 
 
 Boccaccio's admiration for, 165. 
 
 commentaries on 170. 
 
 Botticelli's familiarity with, 443. 
 
 at Camf)aldino,21. 
 
 connection with Sacchctti fam- 
 ily, 1"6. 
 
 influence upon Giotto, 424. 
 
 lines on the battle of Monta- 
 perti. 19. 
 
 made a Prior, 23. 
 
 monument to. 314. 
 
 portraits of, 140, 306, 326. 
 
 and Virgil, 127. 
 Danti. Vincenzio, 308. 
 
 biography of, 414-415. 
 David, by Michael Angelo, the, 296, 
 339, 392. 
 
 bronze copy of, 291. 
 Dazzi, Andrea.*49.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 465 
 
 Decameron, the, 25, 172. 
 Dialogues, Galileo's, 'i(51. 
 
 for the theatre, 240. 
 Diary of Ghiberti. ;J5S. 
 Didot, M. Firmin, jiamphlet on mar- 
 riage ft'tes of Bianca ('apello,%. 
 Dii'pntationes CamalduUn.icf, 4G. 
 Dolci, Carlo, 459. 
 
 Dolphin, boy and, by Verrocchio,29T. 
 Domenioo, Area di 8.. H50. 
 Donatelio, Annunciation by, 315. 
 biography of, ?)6(J-3(55. 
 Marzocco by, 296. 
 Nanni di Banco and. ""6. 
 Brunelleschi and, lii3. 
 sculptors of the fifteenth cent. 
 
 and, 9. 
 statue, of, S. George, 334. 
 Judith. 3:^9. 
 the Magdalen, 310. 
 S. Mark, 334. 
 S. Peter, 335. 
 and stained glass atS. Croce,313. 
 tomb of John XXIII., 30, 1S3. 
 works in Pazzi chapel by, 324. 
 "II Zuccone," 305. 
 Donati, Corso, 22. 
 
 Gemma, wife of Dante, 144. 
 Drevfus Collection, portrait of Al- 
 
 berti in, 211. 
 Duomn, Florentine, 303-307. 
 dome, 196-19cS. 
 statues by A. Pisano, 353. 
 Duomo of, Milan. 286. 
 of Pisa. 2<'-6. 
 
 of Prato, the bas-relief of the 
 pulpit. 362. 
 
 Edward IV., and the Medici. 38. 
 Emblem of Florence, lily the, 12, 
 
 and note. 
 Emperor and Pope, struggle be- 
 tween the. 14. 
 Empoli, conference of Ghibellines 
 
 at, 19. 
 Empoli, Jacopo, 459. 
 Engraving under Francesco I., 93. 
 Equestrian statues, 364, and note. 
 Etruscan, architecture, 273. 
 
 art, 266-279. 
 
 chimera in the I'ffinzi. 110. 
 
 remains, at Fiesole, 267, 268. 
 
 at Perugia, 268. 
 Etruscans, become subject to Rome, 
 2GS. 
 
 origin of the, 266. 
 Eugenius. see Pope. 
 Exarchate of Ravenna, influence 
 on Tuscan V, 1^4. 
 
 the Alberti, 203-204. 
 Exile, of Cosimo the Elder, 33-31. 
 
 of Dante, 145. 
 Exiles, plots of the, 86. 
 
 Fagade, ol S. Croce, 313, and note. 
 
 Far-ade of the Duomo, .307. 
 
 of S. Maria Novella, 208, 341. 
 Facades of Florentine buildings, 
 289 
 ! Fflcardino, the Emir, and the Holy 
 Sepulchre. 101. 
 Fanali or Strozzi Palace, 366-.367. 
 Fanftini. Pietro. gives facts about 
 
 Macchiavelli, 245. 
 Fede, 1 ucrezia del, wife of A. del 
 
 Sarto. 4."3. 
 Federighi Benozzo, tomb of. 374. 
 Ferucci, Andrea di Piero, 387. 
 
 Francesco (Cecca del Tadda),88, 
 387. 
 Feruccio, loss of, 80. 
 Festivals, at marriage of Bianca 
 Capello, 96. 
 of Ferdinand de' Medici, 264. 
 of Gonzaga, 265. 
 
 of Henry IV, and Maria de' 
 Medici, 264. 
 Festivals under Cosimo I., 143. 
 Ficino. Marcilio, 42. 45. 
 biography of, 211-215. 
 letter from Cosimo the Elder to, 
 
 40. 
 letter from Politian to. 56. 
 stands sponsor for Guicciardini, 
 252. 
 Fiesole, Catiline takes refuge in, 11 
 note. 
 Etruscan walls at. 267, 268. 
 Florence formed by emigrations 
 
 from, 11. 
 forms alliance with Florence, 12. 
 Medici villa at, 36. 
 Town Hall,. 325. 
 Fiesole. biogiaphy of Mino da, 383- 
 3.S.5. 
 his tomb of Bishop Palutati,175. 
 his works in the Badia. 355. 
 Filelfo. Francesco, enmity of Mar- 
 suppini towards, U8. 
 Poggios attack upon, 187. 
 Fiorovarti. Nero di, 325 note. 
 F'ire, Savon arola's trial by, 226. 
 Firenze, Le Bellezze della citti di, 
 
 by T. Bocchi, 324. 
 Flood, see Inundation. 
 Floren, first striking of the gold, 19. 
 Florence, Academy of, established, 
 87. 
 beautified by Cosimo I., 90. 
 besieged bv Imperial Army, 78. 
 Council of, 43. 134. 
 fortified by Michael Angelo. 78. 
 in the year 1490. described by 
 
 Guicciardini. 54. 
 Jesus Christ elected King of, 297. 
 offers to admit Dante, 146. 
 period of development of art 
 
 and literature. 34. 
 sketch of the history of, 11-26. 
 treaty with Gonzaga, 80. 
 
 30
 
 466 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Florence, imder John Gaston, 118. 
 down to the fiUl of the Republic, 
 
 essays by Dandolo, 62. 
 the history of, by Leonardo 
 
 Bruni, 183, 316. 
 b-v Macchiavelli, 250. 
 by Poggio, 186. 
 by Giovanni Villani, 150. 
 Florentine merchants, reputation 
 
 of, 20. 
 Font in the Baptistery, 310. 
 Fonte Gaza, La, 356. 
 Foraboschi Tower, the, 294. 
 Forli, Biondo da, 207. 
 
 seven inhabitants of, beheaded, 
 ISO. 
 Fortezza da Basso, 380. 
 Fortifications of Florence inspected 
 by Macchiavelli, 250. 
 strengthened by Michael An- 
 gelo. 78. 
 Fortress of San Martino, 87. 
 
 of Terre del Sole, b7. 
 Foundling Hospital, the, 199, 208, 
 
 346. 
 Fountain, by Ammanati, 295, 409. 
 at Perug"ia, 29a, 351. 
 by Tadda,2'J7. 
 Fountains on hquare of the SS. An- 
 
 nunziata, 345, 416. 
 " Fourteen," the, 21. 
 Francesca, Piero della, 436. 
 Francesco, Bartolomeo di, 318. 
 Francis I. and Andrea del Sarto, 
 453—454 
 and Benvenuto Cellini, 403-404- 
 
 4(15. 
 and Leonardo da Vinci, 452. 
 d Assisi, church of S.. 286. 
 Franciscans, church of the Re- 
 formed. 291. 
 Monastery founded by Spanish, 
 112. 
 Frederick II , death of, CO. 
 
 his influence in Italy, 136-137. 
 struggle with the Pope, 17. 
 treachery of, 17. 
 
 III. passes through Florence, 188. 
 French in Italy, fall of the, 253. 
 Fresco painting at Florence, 417. 
 Frescoba'di, Battista, attempt on 
 life of Lorenzo de' Medici, 57. 
 Messer Lamberto builds Ponte 
 S. Trinita, 312. 
 Fuorusciti, the, 380. 
 
 Gaddi, Agnolo, Baptistery lantern, 
 307. 
 and Giovanni. 429-430. 
 Gaddo, 420,426. 
 Taddeo, biography of, 425-427. 
 Campanile, 304. 
 
 frescoes in S. Maria Novella, 344. 
 Or S. Michele, 3J9. 
 Poute Vecchio, 311. 
 
 Galilei, Alex., tomb of, 321. 
 
 Vincenzio, 257. 
 Galileo. 10. 
 
 befriended by Cosimo II., 104. 
 by Ferdinand II., 107. 
 biography of, 257-264. 
 burial-place of, 324, and note, 
 influence in Florence, 108. 
 tomb, 320. 
 
 trial for heresy, 107-108. 
 Galla Placidia, mosaics on tomb of, 
 
 135. 
 Galleries, the Uffizi, connected with 
 the Pitti, 89. 
 founded by Francesco I., 93. 
 Gallo, Antonio da San. church of 
 SS Annunziata, 345. 
 Giuliano da San, 388 
 Francesco da San, 336, 388-389. 
 Gambarelli, Antonio. 290, 376-378. 
 Bernardo. 376-378. 
 Domenico del Borro.376. 
 Gardens, Giovanni da Bologna deco- 
 rates the Boboli, 94. 
 Gates, the Baptistery, 307-308. 
 Ghiberti, 358-360. 
 A. Pisano. 3-52. 
 J. della Quercia, 356. 
 Gattamelata, equestrian statue of, 
 
 364. 
 Gaulthier de Brienne, see Athens, 
 
 Duke of. 
 Genealogies of Italian families, by 
 
 Litta, 97. 
 Gentucca di Dante, la, 146. 
 George, Donatello's statue of S., 334- 
 
 3;>) and note. 
 Gerolamo, Monastery of S., 3-^. 
 Ghibelline T'^rty, conference at Em- 
 poli.l9. 
 defeated at Campaldino, 21. 
 effect of deatli of Henry VII. on, 
 
 23. 
 name ceases to be prominent, 
 
 20. 
 first heard of in Florence, 16. 
 origin of. 17, and note, 
 popular rising against the, 324. 
 'successes of the, 17, 19, 24. 
 victories of the, 19, 24. 
 Ghiberti, Lorenzo, biographv, 357- 
 360. 
 Baptistery, 307-308, 310. 
 niche for statue of S. Matthew, 
 S;33 and note, 
 statue of S. Stephen, 334. 
 statues and stained glass at S. 
 Croce, 313. 
 Ghini. Luke, botanist, 90. 
 Ghirlandajo. Domenico, biography 
 of. 447-448. 
 frescoes at S. Maria Novella, 
 
 343. 
 Ridolfo, paintings in Palazzo 
 Vecchio, 300.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 467 
 
 Ghirlandajo, predella in the Bigallo, 
 802. 
 
 Gianfigliazzi, Simona, 252. 
 
 Giaiio della Bella institutes "Ordi- 
 nances of Justice," 22. 
 
 Giorgio, library founded in Monas- 
 tery of S,, ot). 
 
 Giottino, Tommaso Stefimo, sur- 
 named il, biography of, 427- 
 42y. 
 Campanile, 304. 
 Iresco in the Bargello, r>26. 
 Giotto, biography of, 422-425. 
 Campanile, :;04. 
 frescues ni Bargello. 326. 
 S. Maria de Fiore, 304. 
 portrait of Dante, 140. 
 tomb, oOf.. 
 Giovanni, criminals pardoned on 
 fe.stival ofS., ]4r). 
 tumult on eve of S., 23. 
 Giovannozzi, Luigi, 321. 
 Giovio, Paolo, slanders Politian, 
 
 2:«. 
 Giugni, tomb of Bernardo, 384. 
 Golden Fleece, Cosimo 1., leceives 
 
 order of the. 91. 
 Gonfalouiere, otlice of, 21, 23. 
 
 Salvestro de' Medici made, 25. 
 Pietro Soderini made, 73. 
 Gonza^ra, Captain of Imperial Army, 
 80. 
 Eleanora, 114. 
 Government, Guelphs establish a 
 new form of. 18. 
 change in form of, 21. 
 Governo della Famiglia. il, 182. 
 Gozzoli Benozzo, biography of, 440- 
 411. 
 frescoes in Riccardi Palace, 368. 
 Granacci, Francesco, biography of, 
 
 448-449. 
 Grand Duke, title first borne by Cos- 
 imo I., 91. 
 Grandi, the, 24. 
 Grazie, Pontc alle, 312. 
 Greece, influence upon Italy, 125. 
 Greek art in Italy, 268. 
 
 chair of, founded in Florence, 
 
 132. 
 influence on Etruscan art, 271. 
 language used in Rome, 129 
 settlements in Sicily, 273. 
 Gregory, see Pope. 
 Grossi, Niceolo, 36G. 
 Guard, Cosimo I. establishes the 
 
 Swiss. 338. 
 Guelphs, defeat at Montaperti, 19. 
 name first used in Florence, 16. 
 its origin, 17. and note, 
 new form of government estab- 
 lished by, 18. 
 victory at (^ampaldino, 21. 
 Guicciardini, Francesco, biography 
 of, 251-257. 
 
 Guicciardini, Francesco, his descrip- 
 tion of Florence in 1490, 54. 
 
 Lodovico, 257. 
 
 Piero, 252. 
 Guilds, the Florentine, .3.33. 
 
 they select Priori delle Arti, 
 21. 
 
 of the Calimali. money-changers 
 and woollen-cloth iiierchants, 
 21. 
 
 Hadrian, arts encouraged by, 278. 
 Hapsburgs, Tuscany ruled" by Lor- 
 raine branch of the, 119. 
 Ilawkwood, portrait of Sir John, 
 
 433. 
 Heidelberg castle, John XXIII. con- 
 fined in, 30. 
 Hemaphrodite, of the Ufflzi, 110. 
 Henry I\^ marries Marie de Medici, 
 94. 
 sends representatives to Flor- 
 ence. 15. 
 VII., canzone by Dante on death 
 
 of, 146. 
 the death of, 23. 
 VIII., tomb of, 389. 
 Hercules and Nessus, Giovanni da 
 
 Bologna, 340. 
 Hildebrand, see Pope Gregory VII. 
 Historv of Florence, by L. Bruni, 
 183, 316. 
 by Macchiavelli,250. 
 by Poggio,186. 
 by Giovanni Villani, 150. 
 of Italy, by Guicciardini, 256. 
 Honorius.'see'Pope. 
 Hospital, the Foundling (degli In- 
 
 nocenti), 199. 208, 316. 
 Hubert of Lucca, first Capitano del 
 
 Popolo, 324. 
 Huguenots not allowed to settle near 
 
 Pisa, 116. 
 Humanists, the, 40-41. 
 
 Iconology, 281 
 
 Ilaria, wife ot Paolo Guinigi, her 
 
 tomb, 356. 
 Iliad, translated by Boccaccio. 43. 
 Imperial succession, interregnum ia 
 
 the, 20, 
 Impiccati, Andrea degli (.\ndrea 
 Castagno), 70. 
 biography of, 439-440. 
 Imprese of the Medici, altered by 
 
 Ferdinand I., H>3. 
 Infantrv, Macchiavelli's opinion of, 
 
 247. 
 Innocent, see Pope. 
 Inquisition, regulations establishing 
 the, 322. 
 sittings of the. 321. 
 summons of Galileo before the, 
 107, 258, 259. 
 Inundations, 311, 312, 414.
 
 468 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Italian language, formation of the, 
 134, 138. 
 
 preferred by Boccaccio, 164. 
 
 used by Dante. 14i». 
 Italy Guicciardini's History of, 256. 
 
 Jerome, Greek classics and S., 129. 
 
 Jerusalem, asylum established by 
 Cosimo the Elder in, 36. 
 
 Jewels of the Holy See, and B. Cel- 
 lini, 403. 
 
 Julius, see Pope. 
 
 Joan, Queen 1('3. 
 
 John II. of Portugal, 54. 
 
 ^ohn S., sec S. Giovanni. 
 
 Jubinal Collection, Medician tools 
 in the, 88. 
 
 Julian. Greek written by the Em- 
 peror, 129. 
 
 Justice, the statue of, 88. 
 
 Lami, Giovanni, 320. 
 
 Landino, Cristofero, 45, 46, 211. 
 
 Lando, Michele di, 25. 
 
 Eanzi, tomb of Luigi, 315. 
 
 Lapo, Ponte alia Carraja built by 
 
 one, 312. 
 Larga, Medici Palace in the Via, 36. 
 Lateran. abbey built by C. de' Me- 
 dici for canons of the, 35. 
 monuments of S. John. 8. 
 Latin language, influeuce of the, 
 
 127. 
 Latini, Dante studies under Bru- 
 netto, 143. 
 portrait in Bargello of. 326. 
 Latino. Card., acts as Papal Legate, 
 20. 
 replaces the Anziani, 21. 
 Laura, 162. 
 
 Laurentiana, see Library. 
 Legends connected with Or S. Mi- 
 chele, 337. 
 Leo, see Pope. 
 
 of Isaura, and image worship, 
 281. 
 Leopardi. Alessandro, 8, 373. 
 Leopold, decree concerning burials, 
 
 of Duke, 167. 
 Leori, Piero, a celebrated doctor, 59. 
 Lettere Innanzi il Principato, 29. 
 Library, the Laurentian, 43, 53, 90, 
 232. 
 of Niccolo Niccoli, 43. 
 Libraries founded by Cosimo the 
 
 Elder. 35. 36. 
 Lihro d'Oro of Venice, 96. 
 Libro di Ragione of the Medici, 36. 
 Lily of Florence, the, 12 and note, 
 
 303. 
 Lions, marble, in Piazza Signoria, 
 
 310. 
 Lippi. Filippo. biography of, 437-439. 
 Filippino. 41-1. 
 frescoes in S. Maria Novella, 343. 
 
 Litta, genealogies of Italian families 
 
 by. 97. 
 Loggia, del Bigallo, 301-302. 
 
 del Lanzi. 337-341, 
 Lombardi, Pietro, 148. 
 Lorenzetto, Lorenzo del Campanaro, 
 
 399. 
 Lorenzini. Lorenzo, impri.soned by 
 
 Cosimo III., 116. 
 Lorenzo, basilica of S., 28. 35. 190. 
 burial of Bianca Capello at, 98. 
 Medici chapel, 100. 
 tomb of Cosimo the Elder. 41. 
 of Piero de' Medici. 44. 
 Lorenzo. Battista, bust of Michael 
 
 Angelo, 314. 
 Lorraine branch of the Hapsburgs, 
 
 rule Tuscany, 119. 
 Lorraine. Christine of, co-regent of 
 
 Florence. 105. 
 Lothair. schools founded by. 126. 
 Louis IX , portrait at Ara Coeli, 429. 
 Louis XL, 54. 
 
 Louis XIII. and Alexander VII.. 107. 
 Louvre. Alberti's portrait in the, 211. 
 Loiseleur. M. on Galileo. 263. 
 Lucca, plot to introduce armed force 
 from , 23. 
 tomb of wife of Paolo Guinigi 
 
 at, 356. 
 work of Niccolo Pisano at. 349. 
 Luini, portrait of Pico della Miran- 
 
 dolaby, 140. 
 Luna, Fiancesco della, 346. 
 
 Macchiavelli, Bernardo. 245. 
 Macchiavelli. Niccolo. hi- account 
 of Glov. de' Medici. 28. 
 
 of death of Cosimo the Elder, 
 39. 
 
 of imprisonment of Cosimo, 33. 
 
 of the Pazzi conspiracy, 62. 
 
 of the plague. 24. 
 
 of the origin of Florence, 11. 
 
 of the Alberti. 210. 
 
 his biography, 245-251. 
 
 tomb of, 31-^. 
 Madonna di Cimabue, 343. 
 
 di Niccolo Pisano, 3)9. 
 
 del Sacco, A. del Sarto. 346. 
 
 di Ugolino da Siena. 328-329, 330, 
 3.32 and note 
 Maadalen, Donatello's statue of the, 
 
 310. 
 Maiano. Benedetto da, biography of, 
 378-383 
 
 doorway by. 300. 
 
 pulpit at s! Croce. 315. 
 
 tomb of Giotto. 306. 
 
 of Filippo Strozzi, 343. 
 Maiani, the, 37s. 
 Makart, the painter. P6. 
 Malatesta, treason of Baglione. 78. 80. 
 Malatestas. Temple of the, 202, 208. 
 Malvolt',Federico,33.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 469 
 
 Mandrapola, comedy by ^farchia- 
 
 velli, '2:y(). 
 Manetti. Gianozzi, asked to aid Mar- 
 suppini. 18i». 
 delivers Bruni's funeral oration, 
 184. 
 Manfred, the death of, 19. 
 Mantegna, Andrea, tomb in Mantua, 
 
 209. 
 Mariti, Giovanni, Hist, of Facardino, 
 
 101. 
 Marco, church and convent of S., 
 J>), 233. 
 attack of the Arrabiati, 233, 4-16. 
 frescoes, 4-14. 
 MSS. presented, by Cosimo de' 
 
 Medici to, 41. 
 Savonarola at, 220. 
 tomb of Mirandola and Beni- 
 vieni at, 235. 
 Marcus Aurelius, column of, 279. 
 equestrian statue of, 278. 
 writes his Maximus in Greek, 129. 
 Maria del Fiore, S., 19C), 286, 30:3-307. 
 Ghiberti and the dome, 197, 358. 
 old choir, 70. 
 Porta dei Servi, 356. 
 statues by A. Pi'^ano, 353. 
 tomb of Brunelleschi, 200. 
 Maria Novella, S., 341-344. 
 farade. 208. 
 frescoes, 153. 
 by Bernardi Clone, 327. 
 Lorenzo di Credi at, 231. 
 Maria sopra Miuerva, S., Galileo's 
 
 trial, 262, 264. 
 Maria della Vittoria, S., 351. 
 Marsuppini, Carlo, biography of, 
 187-190. 
 epitaph on Brunelleschi, 200. 
 tomb, 188, 318, 369. 
 Jfarsuppini, Gregory, 188. 
 Martelli, Cammilla, 92. 
 Martinella. the, 81. 
 Martino, Fortress of San, 87. 
 Maximilian, Macchiavelli sent to, 
 
 248. 
 Mayday, popular disturbance on, 23. 
 Marzooco, 296, and note. 
 Masolino da Panicale, biography of, 
 
 434-435. 
 Masaccio, biography of, 435-436. 
 
 influence on Filippo Lippi, 438. 
 Matilda, history of the Countess, 14. 
 tomb of mother of Countess, 349. 
 Mebius, Jacobus, invention of adopt- 
 ed by Galileo, 2G0. 
 Medici, ability, 29. 
 account books, 36. 
 accused of corruption, 37. 
 age of the, 38. 
 banishment, 33. 
 chapel at S. Lorenzo, 100, 101, 
 
 395-396. 
 chapel at S. Miniato, 2S9-290. 
 
 Medici, collections scattered, 72. 
 counting-houses, 37. 
 family becomes extinct, 119. 
 influence in the 17th cent., 106. 
 and John XXIII., 31. 
 and Macchiavelli, 249. 
 origin of the, 27. 
 palace, 199. 
 and Politian,238. 
 political influence, 32. 
 portraits in Riccardi Palace, 368, 
 
 440-441. 
 and the Renaissance, 38. 
 residences, 36. 
 return of the, 74, 81, 253. 
 stanze written for Giuliano's 
 
 tournament, 236. 
 stars, named by Galileo. 105, 261. 
 statue of Cosimo I., 102, 295. 
 
 of Ferdinand de'. 416. 
 statues by Giov. da Bologna and 
 
 Tacca, 101. 
 tombs by Michael Angelo, 77, 
 
 396-397. 
 triumphal displavs under the, 
 
 46. 
 younger branch of the, 39, 82. 
 Medici, Anna Maria Louisa de', 113, 
 
 118. 
 Medici, Alexander de', 77, 79, 80. 
 biography of, 80-82. 
 murder of, 86. 
 Medici, Buonagiunta de'. 27. 
 Medici, Cardinal de', brother of 
 
 Cosimo 111., 114. 
 Medici, Cardinal de', brother of 
 
 Francesco I., 97. 
 Medici, Carlo de', 42. 
 Medici, Catherine de", 76, 106. 
 Medici. Cosimo the Elder, called 
 Father of his Country, 4. 
 biography of, 29-41. 
 elegv bv Pulci on death of, 215. 
 and Ficino. 211,212,213. 
 and Pandolfini. 182. 
 portrait in S. Marco, 233. 
 recalls the Alberti, 205. 
 Medici, Cosimo I. de', 82. 
 biography of. 85-93. 
 and Baccio Bandinelli, 407^08. 
 and Benvenuto Cellini, 405. 
 equestrian statue of, 102, 295. 
 and Guicciardini, 255. 
 and Tribolo, 414. 
 Medici, Cosimo II. de', biography 
 of, io;^i05. 
 and Galileo, 2=i8. 
 Medici, Cosimo III. de', biography 
 
 of, 111-116. 
 Medici, death of Eleanora de', 92. 
 Medici. Ferdinand I. de", biography 
 of. 98-103. 
 statue of, 102, 345. 
 Medici, Ferdinand II.de', biography 
 of, 105-110.
 
 470 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Medici, Ferdinand II. de', and Ga- 
 lileo. 260. 
 and statue of Ferdinand I., 102, 
 345. 
 Medici, Ferdinand de', son of Cos- 
 
 imo III., 113. 
 Medici, Francesco I. de', 93-98. 
 
 marriage of, 297. 
 Medici, Don Garcia de', 92. 
 Medici, Giovanni de', founder of the 
 house, biography of, 27-29, 
 death, 2t). 
 wealth, 37. 
 Medici, Gii'vanni de', son of Cos- 
 imo the Elder, 42. 
 death. 41. 
 marriage, 38. 
 Medici, Giovanni de', son of Lorenzo, 
 
 see Pope Leo X. 
 Medici, Cardinal Giovanni de', 92. 
 Medici, Giuliano de', son of Piero, 44. 
 biography of, 61-70. 
 medallion of, 307. 
 Medici, Giuliano, son of Lorenzo de', 
 
 56, 74. 75. 
 Medici, Giulio. son of Giuliano de', 
 
 see Pope Clement VII. 
 Medici, Cardinal Hippolytus de', 
 
 biography of, 77-80. 
 Medici, John of the Black Band, 
 
 biography of, 83-85. 
 Medici, John Gaston, 114. 
 
 biography of, 116-119. 
 Medici, Cardinal Leopold de', 108, 
 109, 110,114. 
 and Galileo, 260. 
 Medici, Lorenzo de', son of Giovanni, 
 
 38, 39, 82. 
 Medici, Lorenzo il Magnifico, 41, 42. 
 biography f)f, 44-6u. 
 and Michael Angelo, 390. 
 and Savonarola, 221. 
 sonnet oJi death of Simonetta, 
 
 443. 
 sons of. 71. 
 Medici, Lorenzo de', Duke of Ur- 
 bino, 74, 254. 
 biography of, 75-77. 
 Medici, Lorenzino de", 82, 86, 380. 
 Medici, Maria de', 94, 93, 106. 
 Medici, Piero de', son of Cosimo the 
 Elder, biography of, 41-44. 
 and Ficino. 213. 
 marriage, 38. 
 Medici, Piero Francesco de', 38. 
 Medici, Pietro, son of Lorenzo de', 
 56. 
 biography of, 71-73. 
 and Michael Angelo, 391. 
 and Politian, 241. 
 Medici, Salvestro de', Gonfaloniere, 
 
 25. 
 Medici, Virginia de', 92. 
 Medician. archives, 31. 
 dynasty, 34. 
 
 Mehus, Abbe, on death of Politian, 
 
 240. 
 Melliui, Pietro, gives pulpit to S. 
 
 Croce, 315. 
 Memmi, frescoes in S. Maria Novella, 
 
 344. 
 Memoirs, of Benvenuto Cellini, 405. 
 
 of Bonaccorso Pilti, 178. 
 Mencken, biography of Politian bv, 
 
 240. 
 Mercati. Michael, and Ficino, 214. 
 Mercenary troops suppressed by 
 
 Macchiavelli, 247. 
 Merchants, reputation of Floren- 
 tine, 20. 
 Merula. Politian's controversy with 
 
 Giorgio, 239. 
 Michele, Or S , 328-337, 426. 
 Micheli, P. A., the botanist, 115, 
 
 his tomb, 317. 
 Michelino, Domenico, portrait of 
 
 Dante. 3'J6. 
 Michelozzo Michelozzi. 297. 
 biography of, 365-368. 
 chapel of S. Minia o, 289, 290, 
 statue of S. Matthew, 333. 
 tomb of John XXIII. , 30. 
 Misericordia, oratory of the, 301. 
 Minga, Andrea del, 458. 
 Milan, Duomo, 286. 
 Miniato. S., basilica of, 287-91. 
 
 Medici chapel, 36. 
 Mirandola, Giov. Francesco, 241. 
 Mirandola, Pico della, charities of, 
 2;>5. 
 biography of, 241-244. 
 at death-bed of Lorenzo de' Me- 
 dici, 60. 
 friendship with J. Benivieni, 
 
 2a5. 
 with Pol{tan,237. 
 with Savonarola. 219, 221, 229. 
 portrait by Luini, 140. 
 Miscellanete, "the. 237. 
 Missions encouraged by Ferdinand 
 
 I., 99. 
 Montaperti, battle of, 19. 
 Montecatini, battle of, 24. 
 Montelupo, Baccio da, statue of S. 
 John. 387. 
 Pvaffaello Sinibaldi da, 399. 
 Montemurlo, battle of. 380. 
 Montt'varchi, defeat of the Ghibel- 
 
 lines at. 17. 
 Montniartre, Convent of. 113. 
 Montorsoli, Fra Giovanni Angiolo, 
 
 40:M01. 
 Monuments, S. John Lateran, 8. 
 Vatican, 8. 
 Venice. 8. 
 Morgante, by Luigi Pulci, 215. 
 Morghen, tomb of Pvaphael. 321. 
 Moro, Ludovico il, and L, da Vinci, 
 
 450. 
 Mosaics, in the Baptistery, 309, 420.
 
 INDEX 
 
 471 
 
 Mosaics of San Vitale, 13'). 
 
 of tomb of Galla Placidia, 135. 
 Mosaic workers, 420. 
 Mosca. Simone, 400. 
 Moschino, il, 400. 
 Mozzi, Episcopal residence at S. 
 
 Miniato of Andrea de, "JSH. 
 Mugellu.conventof Bosco a Pratiat, 
 
 Mussulman invasion, the, 131-132. 
 
 Naldini, Battista, 314. 
 
 Nantes, revocation of Edict of. 110. 
 
 Naples, Robert of, proclaimed King 
 
 of Italy, 145. 
 Naxos. Greek .'settlement of, 272. 
 Nelli, Bartolomea di Stefano, 245. 
 Nelson, tomb of Lord, 389. 
 Nemours, Duchy of, 75. 
 Neri Abati. 32S. 
 
 and Bianchi,22. 
 Neroni Diotisalvi, 42, 45. 
 Netherlands, History of the, by L. 
 
 Guicciardini. 257. 
 Neuberg, daughter of Philip of, 114. 
 Nicholas, see Pope. 
 Niccolo Niccoli, 43, 44. 133. 
 Nigretti, Matteo, architect, 100. 
 Nino. Ugolinodi, .352. 
 Nobili, tomb of Leoj)oldo, 317. 
 Nobles of the Contado, 15. 
 Nolza, Francesco Maria, 79. 
 Norman influence in Italy, 137. 
 Novello, Guido. 147. 
 Noviziato chapel at S. Croce. 36. 
 Numa Pompilius, the sacred shield, 
 
 13 note, 275. 
 
 Obesi, 2fi9. 
 
 Obelisks in Piazza of S. Maria No- 
 vella, 342. 
 Obizzi, tomb of Ludovico degli, 3fi0. 
 Odyssey, translated by Boccaccio, 43. 
 Opera del Duomo, 327, 354. 
 
 Giovanni Dell, 314. 
 
 name first used. 264. 
 
 Rinuccini and the, 264. 
 Opus Mini, in S. Maria in Trastevere, 
 
 384. 
 Orange, Prince of, death, 402. 
 
 at siege of Florence, 78. 
 Orator of the Uftizi, the, 269. 
 Orcagna, Andrea. 354-355. 433. 
 
 the Bigallo, 301, and note. ■ 
 
 biography of, 326-332. 
 
 the Loggia, 337. 
 
 Orvielo Duomo, 337. 
 Ordinances of Justice, the, 22. 
 Organ-loft bas-reliefs, by Donatello, 
 362. 
 
 by Luca della Robbia, 375. 
 Orleans, assassination of the Duke 
 of, ISO. 
 
 Louise Marguerite d', 113. 
 Or S. Michele, 328-337, 358. 
 
 Orsini, Alfonsino, 75. 
 Clarice, 56. 
 
 wax figures of the Medici bv, 
 70. 
 Otranto, bombarded by the Turks, 
 
 102. 
 Ottobuoni, Aldobrandino, 3^6. 
 Urvieto, tomb of Cardinal William 
 de Braye, 293. 
 
 Palatine, William Elector and 
 
 Count, 113. 
 Palazzo, Medici, 72, 199. 
 Pandolfini, 367. 
 Pitti, 89, 200,410. 
 collection, 115, 417. 
 meetings of Cimento Academy, 
 
 109. 
 portraits of Bianca Capello in 
 
 the, 98. 
 site of the. 180. 
 del Podesta, 324-.326. 
 Ricca-di, .39, 48. 365, 367-368. 
 Strozzi, 299, 366, 379. 
 Uberti. 294. 
 Uguccione, 295. 
 Vecchio, 8, 28f>. 294-301. 
 Cosimo the Elder imprisoned in 
 the, 32. 
 Palmieri, Matteo, 164. 209. 
 
 and Marsuppini's funeral ora- 
 tion, 189, 190, 320. 
 Pancras, S., 208. 
 
 Pandolfini. Agnolo, biography of, 
 181-182. 
 Palace, 367. 
 Paolo extra Muros. S., 293. 
 Papacy, Savonarola and the. 222. 
 Papal "interdict, Florence under a, 
 
 23. 
 Passavanti, Jacopo, biography of, 
 152-1.54. 
 facts about Macchiavelli, 245. 
 Passerini, text of the " Provisiuni," 
 204. 
 Silvio, regent of Florence, 78. 
 Pasti Matteo da, medallion of Ai- 
 
 berti. 211. 
 Paterini. the, 341. 
 Paul, see Pope. 
 Pawn-shops first opened in Florence, 
 
 105. 
 Pazzi, chapel at S. Croce, 198, 322- 
 324. 
 conspiracy, 57, 62-70, 306. 
 Politian's account, 236. 
 conspirators, Bargello portraits 
 
 of. 42S, 439. 
 tomb of Francesco. 322. 
 Pendulum, Inveuted bv Galileo, 260. 
 Peretli. Monk Felix. 322. 
 Perugia, Etruscan remains, 268. 
 
 fountain of 293, .351. 
 Perseus of B. Celhni, 340-341, 405. 
 Peter, Martyr, 341.
 
 472 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Peter, oratory of S., 287. 
 Peter's, dome of S., 398. 
 Petit-Nesle, Hotel du, residence of 
 
 B. Cellini, 403. 
 Petrarch, biography of, 154-163. 
 
 Boccaccio's grief at death of, 168. 
 ignorance of Greek, 43. 
 tries to revive study of Greek, 
 117. 
 Petronius, Portal of S. at Bologna, 
 
 357. 
 Philiberta of Pavoy, 75. 
 Philodoxeos, by Alberti, 205. 
 Piagnoni, the, 223. 
 Piazza, della &S. Anuunziata, 345- 
 &17. 
 di S. Maria Novella, 341. 
 della Signoria, 295-296. . 
 Piccolomini, Silvio, letter Irom So- 
 
 derini to, 97. 
 Pilate, Leonce, 128. 
 Pingues Etrusci, 269. 
 Pisa, ancient sarcophagi, 135, 282. 
 Duomo, 286. 
 frescoes in Campo Santo, 327-328, 
 
 and note, .3'i5. 
 gates of Duomo. 412. 
 Macchiavelli and capture of, 
 
 248. 
 pnlnit in Baptistery, 349. 
 Treaty of, 107. 
 T'Uiversity of, 87. 
 Pisano, Andrea, biographv of, 352- 
 354. 
 font in Baptistery, 310. 
 Giovanni and Niccolo, biogra- 
 phies of, 348-352. 
 Niccolo, 135. 292. 
 Baptistery Gate«, 307. 
 the Bigailo, 301. 
 
 influence of ancient sarcophagi 
 on, 283. 
 Pistoia, Baldinetto da. attempts Lo- 
 renzo de' Medici's life, 58. 
 Baptistery of, 353. 
 origin of Bianchi and Neri quar- 
 rel. 21. 
 Pitti, Bonaccorso, biography of, 178- 
 180. 
 collection, the, 115,417-418. 
 Luca, 180. 
 
 Palace, see Palazzo. 
 Pius, see Pope. 
 Plague, the. 24, 329. 
 
 Boccaccio and the, 25. 
 visitation in the seventeenth 
 century, 106, 337. 
 Plato. Cosimo the Elder and, 40. 
 Latin translations of, 42. 
 revival of study of. 213. 
 Platonic Philosophy, chair founded, 
 
 42. 
 Platonician school, founded by Co- 
 simo the Elder, 40. 
 Plethon, Gemistas, 40. 
 
 Poccetti,.347. 4.'9. 
 Podesta, office of, 18, and note, 
 title of, 325. 
 Palazzo del, 324-326. 
 Poems of A. Orcagna, 355. 
 
 of L. de' Medici, 46. 
 Poggio, Bracciolini, biographv of, 
 
 185-187. 
 buried in S. Maria del Fiore, 
 
 306. 
 Polenta, the Lord of. 147. 
 Politian, Angelo. account of death of 
 
 L. de' Medici, 59-60. 
 of Pazzi Conspiracy, 62. 
 biography of, 236-2*41. 
 biographv bv Mencken, 240. 
 by Sarassi, 240. 
 
 epitaph on Filippo Lippi, 439. 
 on Simonetta, 443. 
 pronounces Alberti's funeral 
 
 oration. 210. 
 Pollaiuolo, Antonio, biography of, 
 
 385-387. 
 Medallions, 70, 307. 
 Simone (II Cronaca), 299, 379, 385. 
 cornice of Strozzi Palace, 299, 
 
 366. 
 Council Hall, 299. 
 Savonarola's influence on, 232. 
 the. 385. 
 Pompeo. stabbed by B. Cellini, 403. 
 I'onte. Alia Carraja, 312. 
 Alia Grazie, 312. 
 S. Trinita, 90, 312, 427. 
 Vecchio, 310-312,426. 
 gallery over the, 89. 
 Pontormn, Jacnpo Carucci, 456-457. 
 Ponzio, Paolo (Paul Ponce), 415. 
 Pope, Alexander VI. (Borgia) and 
 
 Savonarola. 222-223. 
 Alexander VII. (Chigi) and 
 
 Louis XIII., 107. 
 Boniface VIII. (Caetani), asked 
 
 to mediate. 22, 23. 
 and Dante, 144. 
 legate lays corner-stone of 
 
 Duomo, 303. 
 portrait by Giotto, 424-425, 
 tomb, 293. 
 Clement IV. (Foucauld) bestows 
 
 device upon Florence, 13, 14. 
 Clement VI. (Beaufort) and Pe- 
 trarch, 158. 
 Clement VII. (Medici), 62, 69, 77, 
 
 79, 81, 85. 296, 380. 
 andB. Cellini. 402. 
 and Guicciardini, 254,255. 
 emplovs Macchiavelli, 250. 
 and Michael Angelo, 396. 
 imprisoned in Castle Angelo, 78. 
 Clement XIV. (Ganganelli) at 
 
 S. Croce, 322. 
 Eugenius IV. (Condolmieri), 34, 
 
 18S. 
 Gregory VII. (Hildebrand), 14.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 473 
 
 Pope Gregory VTTI. (di Morra), tomb 
 
 at Pisa, '2x:?. 
 Honorius III. (Savclli), 293. 
 Innocent IV. (Fieschi), struggle 
 
 with Frederick II., 17. 
 Innocent VII. (Cosniator de' Me- 
 
 liorati) and L. Bruni, 18:'.. 
 Innocent VIII. (Cibo) and Pico 
 
 della Mirandola, 243. 
 and Politian, 23/. 
 John XXIII. (Baldassare Cossa), 
 
 183, SK). 
 death. 30. 
 deposed. 30. 
 and the Medici, 31. 
 submits to Martin V., 30. 
 tomb, 30, 183, 309. 
 Julius II. (della Rovere), death, 
 
 74. 
 and B. Cellini, 402. 
 and Florence, 73, 253. 
 and Macchiavelli, 248. 
 and Michael Angelo, 393, 394, 
 
 395. 
 reinstates the Medici, 74. 
 statue at Bologna, 394. 
 at Perugia. 415. 
 tomb of. 393. 396. 
 Leo X. (Medici), 56. 74, 76, 77, 79, 
 
 254. 
 liberates Macchiavelli. 249. 
 and Michael Angelo, 395. 
 Martin V. (Colonna) and the Al- 
 bert i, 203. 
 and epitaph of John XXIII., 
 
 30. 
 receives submission of John 
 
 XXIII., 30. 
 Nicholas III. (Orsini), asked to 
 
 mediate, 'JO. 
 Nicholas V. (Parentucelli) and 
 
 Alberti. 207. 
 embellishes Rome, 209. 
 and Fra Angelico, 445. 
 Paul 11. (Barbo), tomb in S. 
 
 Peter's, 384. 
 Paul III. (Farnese),86. 
 Pius II. (^Eneas Sylvius) and 
 
 Alberti, 207. 
 pa.sses through Florence as sec- 
 retary to Frederick III., 18i>. 
 Pius V. (Ghislieri) and Cosimo 
 
 I.. 91. 92. 
 Sixtus IV. (della Rovere), 62. 
 and Ficino, 214. 
 and the Pazzi conspiracy, 64. 
 and Sistine chapel. 443. 
 Sixtus V. (Peretti) at S. Croce, 
 
 322. 
 and Card. Ferdinand de' Medici, 
 
 99. 
 Urban V. (Grimoard) and Salu- 
 
 tati, 173. 
 Urban VIII. (Barberini) and 
 
 Galileo, 107, 259, 262. 
 
 Popolani, 24. 
 Popolo, gra.sso. 24. 
 
 Minuto, 24. 
 Porphyry, working on, 88. 
 Porta, Baccio della (Fni Bartolom- 
 
 meo). 446. 
 Portigiani, 412. 
 Portogallo, tomb of Cardinal Jaco- 
 
 po da, 290, 377. 
 Portraits, by Brrnzino. 93, 457. 
 
 by Piero della Francesco and 
 Pisanella, 430. 
 Porttigal, John II. of, 51. 
 employs Politian, 238. 
 Pottery, art of enamelling known 
 
 to ancients, 374. 
 Pozzetti, bust of Lcstini, 314. 
 Pozzi, Francesco. 317. 
 Prato. bas-reliefs for Cathedral, 362. 
 Pratolino, constructed by Francesco 
 
 I., 93. 
 Primaticcio. 415. 
 
 Priors (Priori della Arli), council of, 
 31. 
 Dante one of the, 144. 
 device of the, 13. 
 elected by the Guilds, 21. 
 exile Biahchi and Neri leaders, 
 
 increased to six, 21. 
 Princess Joan. 158. 
 Principe, il, by Macchiavelli, 251. 
 Painting becomes general in Flor- 
 ence. 87. 
 Proconsolo, A. Rossellini, called 
 
 Del, 377. 
 Propositions, the nine hundred of 
 
 Pico della Mirandola, 213. 
 Prosperity, periods of, 18, 19, 20. 
 Provision!, the, 204. 
 Ptolemvs, destruction of the library 
 
 of the, 131. 
 Pulci, Antonia. wife of Bernardo, 
 her worlds, 216. 
 Bernardo, biography of, 215-216. 
 Luca, 216. 
 Luigi, 215-216. 
 Pulpit, in S. Croce, 315, 382. 
 in Pisa Baptistery, 349. 
 in Siena Cathedral, 350. 
 
 Querela, Jacopo della, biography of, 
 355-357. 
 
 Raddi, tomb of the botanist, 321. 
 Raphael. 418. 
 
 introduces Savonarola in a 
 
 fresco, 228. 
 letters from Michael Angelo to, 
 455. 
 Ravenna, Dante at, 147. 
 his tomb. 148. 
 Exarchate of, its influence on 
 
 Tuscany, 134. 
 Greek literature at, 130.
 
 474 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ravenna, viotory of, '253. 
 Kaymond de Cordova, takes Prate 
 
 by assault, 74. 
 Redi, letter from Galileo to, 260. 
 " Reforms," designed by Papal Le- 
 gate, 23. 
 Renaissance, the 35. 
 
 brief sketch of the movement, 
 
 121-138. 
 work on the, by Burckhardt, 
 122. 
 Reparata. ch. of S., 303. 
 
 legend of S., 13 note. 
 Republic, attitude towards the great 
 powers, 30. 
 end of the, 6, 3i, 253. 
 foundation of its liberty and 
 strength. 18. 
 Retablo of the OPA (Opera del 
 
 Duomo), 30'J. 
 Revolution, the Ciompi, 25. 
 Ricasoli, Bishop of Florence, 288. 
 tomb of Bettino, 321. 
 tomb of G. B , 312. 
 Riccardi Palace, see Palazzo. 
 Ricci, the, 25. 
 
 Dante's monument, 311. 
 Rienzi and Petrarch, 158. 
 Rimini, Malatesta temple at, 202, 
 
 20S. 
 Ringhiera, the, 296. 
 Rinuccini, Filippo Alamanno, 264. 
 Ottavio, biography of, 264-265. 
 Piero Francesco, 265. 
 Robbia. brothers and nephews of 
 
 Lucca della, 374. 
 Robbia, Lucca della, Annunciation 
 by, 347. 
 biography of, 373-376. 
 Pazzi chapel, 198, 323. 
 tomb of Card. Portogallo, 290. 
 work at Or S. Michele, 335. 
 Roman art, 275 
 
 Empire, seat transferred. 130. 
 Romance, Boccaccio the father of 
 
 modern, 169. 
 Rome, compared with Florence, 10. 
 influence on Dante, 127. 
 influence of monuments, 124. 
 sacked by Constable de Bour- 
 bon, 78, 255, 402. 
 Rosselli, Cosimo, 441-442. 
 
 and decorations of Sixtine 
 chapel, 443. 
 Rossellini, the, 376-378. 
 Rossellini. Bernardo, 207. 
 character of work, 9. 
 tomb of L. Bruni, 184, 185. 189, 
 
 317. 
 tomb of Card. Portogallo, 290. 
 Rossi, Adamo, 293. 
 Rosso, 458. 
 Revere, della. see Pope Julius II. 
 
 and Sixtus IV., Vittoria, 106. 
 Rovezzano, Benedetto, 389. 
 
 Rubaconte, Messer, builds Ponte 
 
 A lie Grazie, 312. 
 Rucellai chapel at S. Maria Novella, 
 
 343. 
 Rudolph of Hapsburgh, 20, 
 
 Sabine group in the Loggia, 91, 340, 
 
 411. 
 Sacchetti, Filippo. 177. 
 
 Francesco, biography of, 175-177. 
 Nicholas, Gonlaloniere, 177. 
 Salvetti, tomb of Joseph, 321. 
 yalviati, Francesco Rossi, 459. 
 Maria di Alimanno, 252. 
 Maria di Jacopo, 85-86. 
 Jacopo, 253. 
 
 and the Fortezzo da Basso, 380. 
 Salvador al Monte, 291. 
 Salutali, Coluccio, biography of, 
 172-175. 
 tomb of Bishop, 175. 
 Sansovino, Andrea, biography of, 
 387-388. 
 baptism of Christ, 308, 414. 
 Jacopo, 388. 408. 
 Santa relli, Emillo. 321. 
 Sarassi, biography of Politian by, 
 
 240. 
 Sarcophagi, ancient, importance in 
 art of the, 281, 282,283. 
 at Pisa. 135, 349. 
 Sarto, Andrea del, biography of, 
 453—455. 
 frescoes in the SS. Annunziata, 
 346. 
 Savonarola, Fra Girolamo, biogra- 
 phy by Villari, 232. 
 • biographv, 217-234. 
 Council Hall built for, 298. 
 at death-bed of L. de' Medici. 58. 
 forms a Great Council, 73. 
 influence on Fra Bartolommeo, 
 
 446. 
 on Botticelli, 413. 
 portrait at San Marco, 233. 
 sent to Charles VIII., 72. 
 Savonarola, Niccolo, 218. 
 Scotino, il, 234. 
 Sculpture, 348-416. 
 Scutcheons on buildings. 325. 
 Serapeum, sacked by Theodosius, 
 
 131. 
 Servi, Mediciau chapels in ch. of 
 
 the, 36. 
 Seti. statues bv Giov., 338. 
 Settignano, Desiderio da, biography 
 of, 3(i8-37n. 
 character of his work, 9. 
 reference tobv Giov. Santi, 318. 
 tomb of Mansuppini, 188, 189, 318. 
 Sforza, Catherine, dau. of Galeazo, 
 
 83. 
 Shrine, Orcagna's Gothic. 330-331. 
 Sicily colonized by Greeks, 272. 
 Siege of Florence, the, 5, 78.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 475 
 
 Siena, fountain, ?,')C>. 
 
 pull)it in Cathedral, 350 
 treaty \vith, 17. 
 University of, 87. 
 wars with, 17. 
 Siena, Ugolino da, Madonna of, 328- 
 
 329, 330, 332. 
 Signorelli, Luca, biography of, 445- 
 
 446. 
 Signoria and Martin V., 31. 
 nucleus formed of the, 21, 
 Piazza (lella, 2'.ir)-2<»6. 
 Pignorini, Miilazzi, 320. 
 Simonetta, La Bella, elegy on death 
 of. 215. 
 portrait of. 215, 443. 
 Sinibaldi da Motelupo, Baccio. 387. 
 Sixtine chapel, deeoration of the, 
 
 394-395. 
 Sixtus, see Pope. 
 
 Soderini, Pietro, appointed Gonfal- 
 oniere for life, 73. 
 flight of, 74, 249. 
 tomb of, 389. 
 Soderini, Vittorio, account of death 
 
 of Bianca Capello, 97. 
 Sophocles, MS. preserved by Pe- 
 trarch. 128. 
 Spanish chapel at S. Maria Novel!a, 
 
 344. 
 Specchio della Vera Penitenza, by 
 
 Passavanti. 152. 
 Spence. Mr. William, discovers Bot- 
 ticelli's Pallas. 442. 
 Spezeria of S. Maria Xovella, 344. 
 Spinazzi, tombs at S. Croce. 320. 
 Spinelli, Spiuello, biography of, 
 
 432-133. 
 Squarcialupi, Antonio, tomb of, 306. 
 "Stanze" of Politian, 239 
 Stephen, Order of S., 87, 102. 
 
 victory of the Turks bv Knights 
 of, 3 15. 
 Stoldi, Lorenzo. 415. 
 Strabo. on Etruscan and Egvptian 
 
 art. 270. 
 Strozzi, chapel in S. Maria Novella, 
 343. 
 fanali, 3f)6-3r.7. 
 Filippo the Younger, 380-382. 
 the Elder, 379. 
 tomb of, 313. 
 kev, 367. 
 
 Palace, 299, 366, 379. 
 Palla, 133. 182. 
 Swabia, influence on Italy of House 
 
 of, i;;6. 
 Sylla, cohorts of, build Florence, 
 11. 
 embellishes Florence, 12. 
 
 Tabernacle, at S. Paolo extra Muros, 
 
 293. 
 Tacca, Pietro, biography of, 415-416. 
 fountains by, 345. 
 
 Tarca, statues of the Medici, 102, 
 
 103. 
 Tadda Cecco del, fountain by, 297. 
 
 statue of .Justice, 88. 
 Tafi. Andrea, 310. 420. 
 Tagliacozzo, battle of, 351. 
 Talenti, Refectory of S. Maria No- 
 vella, 314. 
 Tarentum, Prince Louis of, 163. 
 Tarquinius Priscus and Temple of 
 
 Jupiter, 275. 
 Tavanti, tomb of Angiolo, 320. 
 Taxation, oppressive system of, 26. 
 svstem reformed by Giovanni 
 de' Medici. 26. 27. 
 Taxes, lightened by John Gaston, 
 
 118. 
 Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, 275. 
 
 of the Malatestas, 202, 208. 
 Terre del Sole. Fortress of, 87. 
 Tesoro and Tesoretto, by Brunetto 
 
 Latini, 143. 
 Theatre, Politian writes decalogues 
 
 for the, 240. 
 Thiers, on Guicciardini's History, 
 
 256. 
 Tiraboschi, anecdote about Ficino, 
 
 214. 
 Titian, portraits by, 80. 
 tomb of, 315. 
 
 Venus in the Tribune, 110. 
 Title, Roj'al, obtained by Cosimo 
 
 IIL, 111. 
 Toledo, Eleanora di, 92. 200. 
 Tombs of Marsuppiui and Bruni, 
 
 189. 
 Tommaso in Mercato S., residence 
 
 of the Medici, 36. 
 Toriti, Jacobus, 293. 
 
 Mosaics of. 420. 
 Tornabuoni, Camilla Lucrezia, 38, 
 
 44-45, 215. 
 Torre, tomb of Gastone della, 322. 
 Torrentino works printed in Flor- 
 ence, 88. 
 Torriyiano, 402. 
 
 biography of, 389-390. 
 Torture, Galileo, 263. 
 Macchiavelli, 249. 
 Tour, Madeleine, Jean de la, 76. 
 Tower del Guarda morto, 302, 
 of the Liou,18. 
 Vacca, 2M. 
 Trajan. Column of, 278. 
 Trappists, Monastery founded by 
 
 French. 112. 
 Treaty, with Charles VIII.. 71. 
 with Imperial Forces, 80. 
 with Siena, 17. 
 Trebbio, 36. 
 Trial, instructions for Galileo's, 262. 
 
 official report of Galileo's, 261. 
 Tribolo, Niccolo Bracini, biography 
 
 of. 413-414. 
 Trinita, church of S., 349.
 
 476 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Trinita, miraculons crucifixion in 
 church of, 289. 
 Ponte, S., 312. 
 "Triumphs," under the Medici, 46- 
 52. 91,%, 104. 
 illustrated accounts of sixteenth 
 century, 48. 
 Troubadours, Italian literature in- 
 fluenced by. 138. 
 Turks, bombard towns on the coast, 
 102. 
 vessels destroyed bv Cosimo de' 
 Medici, 87. 
 Tuscan colonists, 11. 
 
 Communes become indepen- 
 dent, 20. 
 Tuscany during minority of Ferdi- 
 nand IT., 105. 
 Tyrrhenians, 11. 
 
 Ubaldini, Azzo, equestrian statue 
 
 of, 355. 
 rberti family, the, 15. 
 
 Farinata'degli, 19. 
 
 Palace, 294. 
 Ucello, Paolo, biography of, 433- 
 
 434. 
 Uffizi, Gallery, the, 417-418. 
 
 connected with the Pitti, 89. 
 
 enriched by Cosimo III., 115. 
 
 by John Ga'ston and Anna Maria 
 *de' Medici. 118. 
 
 founded by Francesco I., 93. 
 Ugo, tomb of Count, 384. 
 Uguccione, della Faggiuola, 24, 146. 
 
 Palace, 295. 
 Unity of Italy, the, 10. 
 Tniversities of Pisa and Siena, 87. 
 ITrban, see Pope. 
 Urbino. Gentile di', tutor of Lorenzo 
 
 de' Medici. 45. 
 Uzzano, Niccolo da, 27. 
 
 Vacca, la, 295. 
 
 marble lion by Flaminio, 340. 
 
 Tower della. 294. 
 Yadimo, battle of, 268. 
 Valeriano, Cardinal, lays Duomo 
 
 corner-stone, 303. 
 Valois, portrait of Charles of, 326. 
 Valori, tomb of Bartolommeo. 360. 
 Vanities, burning of the, 223, 224, 
 
 225. 
 Yarchi, Benedetto, delivers Michael 
 Angelo's fut>eral oration, 398. 
 
 description of Hippolytus, 79. 
 
 on influence of the Medici, 37. 
 Vasari, Giorgio. 455. 
 
 chapels at 8. Croce. 314. 
 
 connects Pitti and Ufflzi, 89. 
 
 paintings iu Palazzo Vecchio, 
 
 Yasari, tomb of Michael Angelo, 
 
 314. 
 Yatican. Monuments of the, 8. 
 Vaucluse. 154. 
 Yecchio. Palazzo. 8.294-301. 
 
 Ponte, 311-312. 
 Yeii, becomes subject to Rome, 268. 
 Veneziano, Antonio, 431-432. 
 
 Leopoldo, 317. 
 Yenice and Florence compared, 10. 
 
 library founded bv Cosimo de' 
 Med"ici,36. 
 
 monuments of. 8. 
 Yenus de' Medici, brought from 
 
 Rome, 115. 
 Yera, tomb of, 3.'6. 
 Verdiana. Monastery of S., 35. 
 Yerrocchio, Andrea, 449. 
 
 biography of, 370-373. 
 
 ball on Duomo cupola. r06. 
 
 boy and dolphin, 44. 297. 
 
 Madonna on Bruni's tomb, 317. 
 
 statue of Colleone, 44, 298. 
 
 of S. Thomas, 335. 
 
 tomb of Piero de' Medici, 44. 
 
 wax models of the ^ledici, 70. 
 
 Messer Giuliano. 370. 
 YienuH, Council of, 132. 
 Yieri de' Cerchi, at Campaldino, 21. 
 
 joins the Bianchi, 22. 
 
 siammoned to Rome, 22. 
 Yilanella, la Bella, 291. 
 Yillani, Filippo, 152, note. 
 
 description of Boccaccio, 167. 
 
 Giovanni, biography of, 150-152. 
 
 Matteo, 152. 
 Yillari, biography of Savonarola, 
 
 232 
 Yinci. Leonardo da, 139. 
 
 biography of, 449-452. 
 
 angel in" Yerrocchio's picture, 
 371. 
 Yinci, Pietro da, 449. 
 Yirgil and Dante, 127. 
 
 house at Brindisi, 127. 
 
 statue decorated, 127. 
 Yitale, mosaics of S., 13-5. 
 Yolgare Eloquio, by Dante, 145. 
 Yolsinii, capture of the, 269. 
 Yolterra, Duomo, 349. 
 
 sack of, 58. 
 
 Will of Boccaccio, 167. 
 
 Wolf of the Capitol, 2' -,9. 
 
 World, predictions of end of the, 
 
 282. 
 Writers of the fifteenth century, 48. 
 
 Zamo'iska, tomb of Countess, 321. 
 Zenobio, S., 304. 
 
 shrine of S., 358,360. 
 Zuccone di Donatello, il, 305.
 
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