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Gardner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story of Florence + +Author: Edmund G. Gardner + +Illustrator: Nelly Erichsen + +Release Date: October 18, 2011 [EBook #37793] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF FLORENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Melissa McDaniel and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="tnbox"> +<p class="center"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b></p> +<p>Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have +been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> + +<p>Some illustrations were originally located in the middle of paragraphs. +These have been adjusted so as not to interrupt the flow of reading. +In some cases this means that the page number of the illustration +is not visible. +</p> + +</div> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="423" height="650" alt="cover" title="" /> +</div> + +<h1 class="p4"><i>The Story of Florence</i></h1> + +<p class="center p6"><i>All rights reserved</i></p> + +<p class="center p6"><i>First Edition, September 1900.</i></p> +<p class="center"><i>Second Edition, December 1900.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter p12"><a name="illo_1" id="illo_1"></a> +<img src="images/illus004_tmb.jpg" width="283" height="400" alt="Pallas taming a Centaur" /> +<p class="caption"><i>Pallas taming a Centaur,<br /> +by Botticelli.</i><br /> +(THE TRIUMPH OF LORENZO.)</p> +<a href="images/illus004_fs75.jpg">View larger image</a> +</div> + +<p class="center p6"><big><i>The Story of</i> <big>Florence</big></big></p> + +<h2><i>by Edmund G. Gardner</i></h2> + +<h3><i>Illustrated by Nelly Erichsen</i></h3> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/logoa.png" width="300" height="274" alt="Printer's logo" title="" /></div> + +<p class="title_page"> +<span class="font80"><i>London:</i></span> <i>J. M. Dent & Co.</i><br /> +<span class="font70"><i>Aldine House, 29 and 30 Bedford Street</i></span><br /> +<span class="font80"><i>Covent Garden W.C. * * 1900</i></span></p> + +<p class="center p12">To</p> + +<p class="center">MY SISTER</p> + +<p class="center">MONICA MARY GARDNER</p> + +<h2 class="p12">PREFACE<a name="preface" id="preface"></a></h2> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE present volume is intended to supply a popular +history of the Florentine Republic, in such a +form that it can also be used as a guide-book. It +has been my endeavour, while keeping within the +necessary limits of this series of <i>Mediæval Towns</i>, to +point out briefly the most salient features in the story +of Florence, to tell again the tale of those of her +streets and buildings, and indicate those of her artistic +treasures, which are either most intimately connected +with that story or most beautiful in themselves. +Those who know best what an intensely fascinating +and many-sided history that of Florence has been, who +have studied most closely the work and characters of +those strange and wonderful personalities who have +lived within (and, in the case of the greatest, died +without) her walls, will best appreciate my difficulty +in compressing even a portion of all this wealth and +profusion into the narrow bounds enjoined by the aim +and scope of this book. Much has necessarily been +curtailed over which it would have been tempting to +linger, much inevitably omitted which the historian +could not have passed over, nor the compiler of a +guide-book failed to mention. In what I have selected +for treatment and what omitted, I have usually +let myself be guided by the remembrance of my own +needs when I first commenced to visit Florence and to +study her arts and history.</p> + +<p>It is needless to say that the number of books, old +and new, is very considerable indeed, to which anyone<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_viii" id="page_viii">[viii]</a></span> +venturing in these days to write yet another book on +Florence must have had recourse, and to whose +authors he is bound to be indebted–from the earliest +Florentine chroniclers down to the most recent biographers +of Lorenzo the Magnificent, of Savonarola, +of Michelangelo–from Vasari down to our modern +scientific art critics–from Richa and Moreni down to +the Misses Horner. My obligations can hardly be +acknowledged here in detail; but, to mention a few +modern works alone, I am most largely indebted to +Capponi's <i>Storia della Repubblica di Firenze</i>, to various +writings of Professor Pasquale Villari, and to Mr Armstrong's +<i>Lorenzo de' Medici</i>; to the works of Ruskin +and J. A. Symonds, of M. Reymond and Mr Berenson; +and, in the domains of topography, to Baedeker's <i>Hand +Book</i>. In judging of the merits and the authorship of +individual pictures and statues, I have usually given +more weight to the results of modern criticism than to +the pleasantness of old tradition.</p> + +<p>Carlyle's translation of the <i>Inferno</i> and Mr Wicksteed's +of the <i>Paradiso</i> are usually quoted.</p> + +<p>If this little book should be found helpful in initiating +the English-speaking visitor to the City of +Flowers into more of the historical atmosphere of +Florence and her monuments than guide-books and +catalogues can supply, it will amply have fulfilled its +object.</p> + +<p class="right">E. G. G.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roehampton</span>, <i>May</i> 1900.</p> + +<h2 class="p6">CONTENTS</h2> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ix" id="page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p> +<ul class="idx p2"> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_i">CHAPTER I</a> +<span class="tocright">PAGE</span></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>The Commune and People of Florence</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_1">1</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_ii">CHAPTER II</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>The Times of Dante and Boccaccio</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_32">32</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_iii">CHAPTER III</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>The Medici and the Quattrocento</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_71">71</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_iv">CHAPTER IV</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>From Fra Girolamo to Duke Cosimo</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_111">111</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_v">CHAPTER V</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>The Palazzo Vecchio–The Piazza della Signoria– The +Uffizi</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_146">146</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_vi">CHAPTER VI</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>Or San Michele and the Sesto di San Piero</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_184">184</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_vii">CHAPTER VII</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>From the Bargello past Santa Croce</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_214">214</a></span></li> +</ul> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_x" id="page_x">[x]</a></p> +<ul class="idx"> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_viii">CHAPTER VIII</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>The Baptistery, the Campanile, and the Duomo</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_246">246</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_ix">CHAPTER IX</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>The Palazzo Riccardi–San Lorenzo–San +Marco</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_283">283</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_x">CHAPTER X</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>The Accademia delle Belle Arti–The Santissima +Annunziata, and other Buildings</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_314">314</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_xi">CHAPTER XI</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>The Bridges–The Quarter of Santa Maria +Novella</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_340">340</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_xii">CHAPTER XII</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>Across the Arno</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_374">374</a></span></li> +<li class="idx center"><a href="#chapter_xiii">CHAPTER XIII</a></li> +<li class="idx"><span class="smcap"><i>Conclusion</i></span> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_409">409</a></span></li> +</ul> +<hr class="c15" /> +<ul class="idx"> +<li class="idx"><i>Genealogical Table of the Medici</i> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_423">423</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Chronological Index of Architects, Sculptors and +Painters</i> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_424">424</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>General Index</i> +<span class="tocright"><a href="#page_430">430</a></span></li> +</ul> + +<h2 class="p6">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_xi" id="page_xi">[xi]</a></p> +<ul class="idx p2"> +<li class="idx"> <span class="tocright">PAGE</span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Pallas taming a Centaur (Photogravure)</i><a name="fnanchor_1" id="fnanchor_1"></a><a href="#footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><span class="tocright"><i><a href="#illo_1">Frontispiece</a></i></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Florence from the Boboli Gardens</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_2">3</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Buondelmonte Tower</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_3">20</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Palace of the Parte Guelfa</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_4">29</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Arms of Parte Guelfa</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_5">31</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Florentine Families</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_6">33</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Corso Donati's Tower</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_7">40</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Across the Ponte Vecchio</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_8">47</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Mercato Nuovo, the Flower Market</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_9">51</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Campanile</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_10">63</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Cross of the Florentine People</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_11">70</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Florence in the Days of Lorenzo the Magnificent</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_12">80</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Badia of Fiesole</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_13">83</a></span></li> +<li class="idx">"<i>In the Sculptor's Work-shop</i>" (<i>Nanni di Banco</i>)<a href="#footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_14">97</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Arms of the Pazzi</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_15">110</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Death of Savonarola</i><a href="#footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_16">135</a></span></li> +<li class="idx">"<i>The Dawn</i>" (<i>Michelangelo</i>)<a href="#footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_17">144</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Palazzo Vecchio</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_18">147</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Looking through Vasari's Loggia, Uffizi</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_19">161</a></span></li> +<li class="idx">"<i>Venus</i>" (<i>Sandro Botticelli</i>)<a href="#footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_20">178</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Orcagna's Tabernacle, Or San Michele</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_21">185</a></span></li> +</ul> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_xii" id="page_xii">[xii]</a></p> +<ul class="idx"> +<li class="idx"><i>Window of Or San Michele</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_22">191</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Tower of the Arte della Lana</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_23">201</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>House of Dante</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_24">207</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Arms of the Sesto di San Piero</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_25">213</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Bargello Courtyard and Staircase</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_26">217</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Santa Croce</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_27">233</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Old Houses on the Arno</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_28">245</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Baptistery</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_29">251</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Bigallo</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_30">264</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Porta della Mandorla, Duomo</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_31">267</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Statue of Boniface VIII</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_32">270</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Arms of the Medici from the Badia at Fiesole</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_33">283</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Tomb of Giovanni and Piero dei Medici</i><a href="#footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_34">288</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Well of S. Marco</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_35">299</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Cloister of the Innocenti</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_36">331</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>A Florentine Suburb</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_37">337</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Ponte Vecchio</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_38">343</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Tower of S. Zanobi</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_39">347</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Arms of the Strozzi</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_40">353</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>In the Green Cloisters, S. Maria Novella</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_41">357</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>In the Boboli Gardens</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_42">374</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>The Fortifications of Michelangelo</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_43">399</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Porta San Giorgio</i><span class="tocright"><a href="#illo_44">403</a></span></li> +<li class="idx"><i>Map of Florence</i><span class="tocright"><i>facing</i> <a href="#illo_45">422</a></span></li> +</ul> + +<p class="p6 b2 center">The Story of Florence</p> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">[1]</a></p> +<h2><a name="chapter_i" id="chapter_i"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3><i>The People and Commune of Florence</i></h3> + +<p class="font90 left25" >"La bellissima e famosissima figlia di Roma, Fiorenza."<br /> +<span class="i14">–<i>Dante.</i></span></p> + +<p><span class="dropcap">B</span>EFORE the imagination of a thirteenth century +poet, one of the sweetest singers of the <i>dolce stil +novo</i>, there rose a phantasy of a transfigured city, transformed +into a capital of Fairyland, with his lady and +himself as fairy queen and king:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"Amor, eo chero mea donna in domino,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">l'Arno balsamo fino,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">le mura di Fiorenza inargentate,</span><br /> +le rughe di cristallo lastricate,<br /> +<span class="i1">fortezze alte e merlate,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">mio fedel fosse ciaschedun Latino."<a name="fnanchor_2" id="fnanchor_2"></a><a href="#footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></span></p> + +<p>But is not the reality even more beautiful than the +dreamland Florence of Lapo Gianni's fancy? We +stand on the heights of San Miniato, either in front +of the Basilica itself or lower down in the Piazzale +Michelangelo. Below us, on either bank of the +silvery Arno, lies outstretched Dante's "most famous<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">[2]</a></span> +and most beauteous daughter of Rome," once the +Queen of Etruria and centre of the most wonderful +culture that the world has known since Athens, later +the first capital of United Italy, and still, though shorn +of much of her former splendour and beauty, one of +the loveliest cities of Christendom. Opposite to us, to +the north, rises the hill upon which stands Etruscan +Fiesole, from which the people of Florence originally +came: "that ungrateful and malignant people," Dante +once called them, "who of old came down from +Fiesole." Behind us stand the fortifications which +mark the death of the Republic, thrown up or at least +strengthened by Michelangelo in the city's last agony, +when she barred her gates and defied the united power +of Pope and Emperor to take the State that had once +chosen Christ for her king.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span class="o1">"O foster-nurse of man's abandoned glory</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Since Athens, its great mother, sunk in splendour;<br /></span> +Thou shadowest forth that mighty shape in story,<br /> +<span class="i1">As ocean its wrecked fanes, severe yet tender:<br /></span> +The light-invested angel Poesy<br /> +<span class="i1">Was drawn from the dim world to welcome thee.</span></p> + +<p>"And thou in painting didst transcribe all taught<br /> +<span class="i2">By loftiest meditations; marble knew<br /></span> +The sculptor's fearless soul–and as he wrought,<br /> +<span class="i2">The grace of his own power and freedom grew."</span> +</p></div> + +<p>Between Fiesole and San Miniato, then, the story +of the Florentine Republic may be said to be written.</p> + +<p>The beginnings of Florence are lost in cloudy +legend, and her early chroniclers on the slenderest +foundations have reared for her an unsubstantial, if +imposing, fabric of fables–the tales which the women +of old Florence, in the <i>Paradiso</i>, told to their house-holds–</p> + +<p class="font90 left25">"dei Troiani, di Fiesole, e di Roma."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_2" id="illo_2"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">[3]</a></span> +<img src="images/illus017_tmb.jpg" width="285" height="400" alt="From the Boboli Gardens" title="" /> +<p class="caption">FLORENCE FROM THE BOBOLI GARDENS</p> +<a href="images/illus017_fs.jpg">View larger image</a> +</div> +<p>Setting aside the Trojans ("Priam" was mediæval for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">[5]</a></span> +"Adam," as a modern novelist has remarked), there +is no doubt that both Etruscan Fiesole and Imperial +Rome united to found the "great city on the banks of +the Arno." Fiesole or Faesulae upon its hill was an +important Etruscan city, and a place of consequence +in the days of the Roman Republic; fallen though +it now is, traces of its old greatness remain. Behind +the Romanesque cathedral are considerable remains of +Etruscan walls and of a Roman theatre. Opposite +it to the west we may ascend to enjoy the glorious +view from the Convent of the Franciscans, where +once the old citadel of Faesulae stood. Faesulae was +ever the centre of Italian and democratic discontent +against Rome and her Senate (<i>sempre ribelli di Roma</i>, +says Villani of its inhabitants); and it was here, +in October <span class="smcap">b.c.</span> 62, that Caius Manlius planted the +Eagle of revolt–an eagle which Marius had borne +in the war against the Cimbri–and thus commenced +the Catilinarian war, which resulted in the annihilation +of Catiline's army near Pistoia.</p> + +<p>This, according to Villani, was the origin of +Florence. According to him, Fiesole, after enduring +the stupendous siege, was forced to surrender to the +Romans under Julius Cæsar, and utterly razed to the +ground. In the second sphere of Paradise, Justinian +reminds Dante of how the Roman Eagle "seemed +bitter to that hill beneath which thou wast born." +Then, in order that Fiesole might never raise its head +again, the Senate ordained that the greatest lords of +Rome, who had been at the siege, should join with +Cæsar in building a new city on the banks of the +Arno. Florence, thus founded by Cæsar, was populated +by the noblest citizens of Rome, who received +into their number those of the inhabitants of fallen +Fiesole who wished to live there. "Note then," says +the old chronicler, "that it is not wonderful that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">[6]</a></span> +Florentines are always at war and in dissensions among +themselves, being drawn and born from two peoples, so +contrary and hostile and diverse in habits, as were the +noble and virtuous Romans, and the savage and contentious +folk of Fiesole." Dante similarly, in Canto +XV. of the <i>Inferno</i>, ascribes the injustice of the +Florentines towards himself to this mingling of the +people of Fiesole with the true Roman nobility (with +special reference, however, to the union of Florence +with conquered Fiesole in the twelfth century):–</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="i6">"che tra li lazzi sorbi</span><br /> +si disconvien fruttare al dolce fico."<a name="fnanchor_3" id="fnanchor_3"></a><a href="#footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>And Brunetto Latini bids him keep himself free from +their pollution:–</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"Faccian le bestie Fiesolane strame</span><br /> +<span class="i1">di lor medesme, e non tocchin la pianta,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">s'alcuna surge ancor nel lor letame,</span><br /> +in cui riviva la semente santa<br /> +<span class="i1">di quei Roman che vi rimaser quando</span><br /> +<span class="i1">fu fatto il nido di malizia tanta."</span><a name="fnanchor_4" id="fnanchor_4"></a><a href="#footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>The truth appears to be that Florence was originally +founded by Etruscans from Fiesole, who came down +from their mountain to the plain by the Arno for commercial +purposes. This Etruscan colony was probably +destroyed during the wars between Marius and Sulla, +and a Roman military colony established here–probably +in the time of Sulla, and augmented later by Cæsar +and by Augustus. It has, indeed, been urged of late +that the old Florentine story has some truth in it, and +that Cæsar, not only in legend but in fact, may be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">[7]</a></span> +regarded as the true first founder of Florence. Thus +the Roman colony of Florentia gradually grew into a +little city–<i>come una altra piccola Roma</i>, declares her +patriotic chronicler. It had its capitol and its forum +in the centre of the city, where the Mercato Vecchio +once stood; it had an amphitheatre outside the walls, +somewhere near where the Borgo dei Greci and the +Piazza Peruzzi are to-day. It had baths and temples, +though doubtless on a small scale. It had the shape +and form of a Roman camp, which (together with the +Roman walls in which it was inclosed) it may be said +to have retained down to the middle of the twelfth +century, in spite of legendary demolitions by Attila +and Totila, and equally legendary reconstructions by +Charlemagne. Above all, it had a grand temple to +Mars, which almost certainly occupied the site of the +present Baptistery, if not actually identical with it. +Giovanni Villani tells us–and we shall have to return +to his statement–that the wonderful octagonal building, +now known as the Baptistery or the Church of St +John, was consecrated as a temple by the Romans in +honour of Mars, for their victory over the Fiesolans, +and that Mars was the patron of the Florentines as +long as paganism lasted. Round the equestrian statue +that was supposed to have once stood in the midst of +this temple, numberless legends have gathered. Dante +refers to it again and again. In Santa Maria Novella +you shall see how a great painter of the early Renaissance, +Filippino Lippi, conceived of his city's first +patron. When Florence changed him for the Baptist, +and the people of Mars became the sheepfold of St +John, this statue was removed from the temple and set +upon a tower by the side of the Arno:–</p> + +<p>"The Florentines took up their idol which they +called the God Mars, and set him upon a high tower +near the river Arno; and they would not break or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">[8]</a></span> +shatter it, seeing that in their ancient records they +found that the said idol of Mars had been consecrated +under the ascendency of such a planet, that if +it should be broken or put in a dishonourable place, +the city would suffer danger and damage and great +mutation. And although the Florentines had newly +become Christians, they still retained many customs of +paganism, and retained them for a long time; and they +greatly feared their ancient idol of Mars; so little +perfect were they as yet in the Holy Faith."</p> + +<p>This tower is said to have been destroyed like the +rest of Florence by the Goths, the statue falling into +the Arno, where it lurked in hiding all the time that +the city lay in ruins. On the legendary rebuilding of +Florence by Charlemagne, the statue, too–or rather +the mutilated fragment that remained–was restored to +light and honour. Thus Villani:–</p> + +<p>"It is said that the ancients held the opinion that +there was no power to rebuild the city, if that marble +image, consecrated by necromancy to Mars by the first +Pagan builders, was not first found again and drawn +out of the Arno, in which it had been from the destruction +of Florence down to that time. And, when +found, they set it upon a pillar on the bank of the said +river, where is now the head of the Ponte Vecchio. +This we neither affirm nor believe, inasmuch as it appeareth +to us to be the opinion of augurers and pagans, +and not reasonable, but great folly, to hold that a +statue so made could work thus; but commonly it was +said by the ancients that, if it were changed, our city +would needs suffer great mutation."</p> + +<p>Thus it became <i>quella pietra scema che guarda il +ponte</i>, in Dantesque phrase; and we shall see what terrible +sacrifice its clients unconsciously paid to it. Here it +remained, much honoured by the Florentines; street +boys were solemnly warned of the fearful judgments<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">[9]</a></span> +that fell on all who dared to throw mud or stones at +it; until at last, in 1333, a great flood carried away +bridge and statue alike, and it was seen no more. It +has recently been suggested that the statue was, in +reality, an equestrian monument in honour of some +barbaric king, belonging to the fifth or sixth century.</p> + +<p>Florence, however, seems to have been–in spite of +Villani's describing it as the Chamber of the Empire +and the like–a place of very slight importance under +the Empire. Tacitus mentions that a deputation was +sent from Florentia to Tiberius to prevent the Chiana +being turned into the Arno. Christianity is said to +have been first introduced in the days of Nero; the +Decian persecution raged here as elsewhere, and the +soil was hallowed with the blood of the martyr, +Miniatus. Christian worship is said to have been first +offered up on the hill where a stately eleventh century +Basilica now bears his name. When the greater +peace of the Church was established under Constantine, +a church dedicated to the Baptist on the site of the +Martian temple and a basilica outside the walls, where +now stands San Lorenzo, were among the earliest +churches in Tuscany.</p> + +<p>In the year 405, the Goth leader Rhadagaisus, +<i>omnium antiquorum praesentiumque hostium longe immanissimus</i>, +as Orosius calls him, suddenly inundated Italy +with more than 200,000 Goths, vowing to sacrifice all +the blood of the Romans to his gods. In their terror +the Romans seemed about to return to their old +paganism, since Christ had failed to protect them. +<i>Fervent tota urbe blasphemiae</i>, writes Orosius. They +advanced towards Rome through the Tuscan Apennines, +and are said to have besieged Florence, +though there is no hint of this in Orosius. On the +approach of Stilicho, at the head of thirty legions with +a large force of barbarian auxiliaries, Rhadagaisus and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">[10]</a></span> +his hordes–miraculously struck helpless with terror, as +Orosius implies–let themselves be hemmed in in the +mountains behind Fiesole, and all perished, by famine +and exhaustion rather than by the sword. Villani +ascribes the salvation of Florence to the prayers of its +bishop, Zenobius, and adds that as this victory of "the +Romans and Florentines" took place on the feast of +the virgin martyr Reparata, her name was given to the +church afterwards to become the Cathedral of +Florence.</p> + +<p>Zenobius, now a somewhat misty figure, is the first +great Florentine of history, and an impressive personage +in Florentine art. We dimly discern in him an ideal +bishop and father of his people; a man of great austerity +and boundless charity, almost an earlier Antoninus. +Perhaps the fact that some of the intervening +Florentine bishops were anything but edifying, has +made these two–almost at the beginning and end of +the Middle Ages–stand forth in a somewhat ideal +light. He appears to have lived a monastic life outside +the walls in a small church on the site of the +present San Lorenzo, with two young ecclesiastics, +trained by him and St Ambrose, Eugenius and Crescentius. +They died before him and are commonly +united with him by the painters. Here he was frequently +visited by St Ambrose–here he dispensed +his charities and worked his miracles (according to +the legend, he had a special gift of raising children +to life)–here at length he died in the odour of +sanctity, <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 424. The beautiful legend of his translation +should be familiar to every student of Italian +painting. I give it in the words of a monkish writer +of the fourteenth century:–</p> + +<p>"About five years after he had been buried, there +was made bishop one named Andrew, and this holy +bishop summoned a great chapter of bishops and clerics,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">[11]</a></span> +and said in the chapter that it was meet to bear the +body of St Zenobius to the Cathedral Church of San +Salvatore; and so it was ordained. Wherefore, on the +26th of January, he caused him to be unburied and +borne to the Church of San Salvatore by four bishops; +and these bishops bearing the body of St Zenobius +were so pressed upon by the people that they fell near +an elm, the which was close unto the Church of St +John the Baptist; and when they fell, the case where +the body of St Zenobius lay was broken, so that the +body touched the elm, and gradually, as the elm was +touched, it brought forth flowers and leaves, and lasted +all that year with the flowers and leaves. The people, +seeing the miracle, broke up all the elm, and with +devotion carried the branches away. And the Florentines, +beholding what was done, made a column of +marble with a cross where the elm had been, so +that the miracle should ever be remembered by the +people."</p> + +<p>Like the statue of Mars, this column was destroyed +by the flood of 1333, and the one now standing to +the north of the Baptistery was set up after that year. +It was at one time the custom for the clergy on the +feast of the translation to go in procession and fasten +a green bough to this column. Zenobius now stands +with St Reparata on the cathedral façade. Domenico +Ghirlandaio painted him, together with his pupils +Eugenius and Crescentius, in the Sala dei Gigli of +the Palazzo della Signoria; an unknown follower of +Orcagna had painted a similar picture for a pillar in +the Duomo. Ghiberti cast his miracles in bronze for +the shrine in the Chapel of the Sacrament; Verrocchio +and Lorenzo di Credi at Pistoia placed him and the +Baptist on either side of Madonna's throne. In a +picture by some other follower of Verrocchio's in the +Uffizi he is seen offering up a model of his city to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">[12]</a></span> +Blessed Virgin. Two of the most famous of his miracles, +the raising of a child to life and the flowering of +the elm tree at his translation, are superbly rendered +in two pictures by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio. On May +25th the people still throng the Duomo with bunches +of roses and other flowers, which they press to the +reliquary which contains his head, and so obtain the +"benedizione di San Zenobio." Thus does his memory +live fresh and green among the people to whom he +so faithfully ministered.</p> + +<p>Another barbarian king, the last Gothic hero Totila, +advancing upon Rome in 542, took the same shorter +but more difficult route across the Apennines. According +to the legend, he utterly destroyed all Florence, +with the exception of the Church of San Giovanni, +and rebuilt Fiesole to oppose Rome and prevent Florence +from being restored. The truth appears to be +that he did not personally attack Florence, but sent a +portion of his troops under his lieutenants. They were +successfully resisted by Justin, who commanded the +imperial garrison, and, on the advance of reinforcements +from Ravenna, they drew off into the valley +of the Mugello, where they turned upon the pursuing +"Romans" (whose army consisted of worse barbarians +than Goths) and completely routed them. Fiesole, +which had apparently recovered from its old destruction, +was probably too difficult to be assailed; but it appears +to have been gradually growing at the expense of +Florence–the citizens of the latter emigrating to it +for greater safety. This was especially the case during +the Lombard invasion, when the fortunes of Florence +were at their lowest, and, indeed, in the second half +of the eighth century, Florence almost sank to being +a suburb of Fiesole.</p> + +<p>With the advent of Charlemagne and the restoration +of the Empire, brighter days commenced for Florence,–so<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">[13]</a></span> +much so that the story ran that he had renewed +the work of Julius Caesar and founded the city again. +In 786 he wintered here with his court on his third +visit to Rome; and, according to legend, he was +here again in great wealth and pomp in 805, and +founded the Church of Santissimi Apostoli–the oldest +existing Florentine building after the Baptistery. Upon +its façade you may still read a pompous inscription concerning +the Emperor's reception in Florence, and how +the Church was consecrated by Archbishop Turpin in +the presence of Oliver and Roland, the Paladins! Florence +was becoming a power in Tuscany, or at least +beginning to see more of Popes and Emperors. The +Ottos stayed within her walls on their way to be +crowned at Rome; Popes, flying from their rebellious +subjects, found shelter here. In 1055 Victor II. held +a council in Florence. Beautiful Romanesque churches +began to rise–notably the SS. Apostoli and San Miniato, +both probably dating from the eleventh century. Great +churchmen appeared among her sons, as San Giovanni +Gualberto–the "merciful knight" of Burne-Jones' +unforgettable picture–the reformer of the Benedictines +and the founder of Vallombrosa. The early reformers, +while Hildebrand was still "Archdeacon of the Roman +Church," were specially active in Florence; and one +of them, known as Peter Igneus, in 1068 endured the +ordeal of fire and is said to have passed unhurt through +the flames, to convict the Bishop of Florence of simony. +This, with other matters relating to the times of Giovanni +Gualberto and the struggles of the reformers of +the clergy, you may see in the Bargello in a series of +noteworthy marble bas-reliefs (terribly damaged, it is +true), from the hand of Benedetto da Rovezzano.</p> + +<p>Although we already begin to hear of the "Florentine +people" and the "Florentine citizens," Florence was +at this time subject to the Margraves of Tuscany. One<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">[14]</a></span> +of them, Hugh the Great, who is said to have acted as +vicar of the Emperor Otto III., and who died at the +beginning of the eleventh century, lies buried in the +Badia which had been founded by his mother, the +Countess Willa, in 978. His tomb, one of the most +noteworthy monuments of the fifteenth century, by Mino +da Fiesole, may still be seen, near Filippino Lippi's +Vision of St Bernard.</p> + +<p>It was while Florence was nominally under the sway +of Hugo's most famous successor, the Countess Matilda +of Tuscany, that Dante's ancestor Cacciaguida +was born; and, in the fifteenth and sixteenth cantos of +the <i>Paradiso</i>, he draws an ideal picture of that austere +old Florence, <i>dentro dalla cerchia antica</i>, still within +her Roman walls. We can still partly trace and partly +conjecture the position of these walls. The city stood +a little way back from the river, and had four master +gates; the Porta San Piero on the east, the Porta del +Duomo on the north, the Porta San Pancrazio on the +west, the Porta Santa Maria on the south (towards the +Ponte Vecchio). The heart of the city, the Forum +or, as it came to be called, the Mercato Vecchio, has +indeed been destroyed of late years to make way for the +cold and altogether hideous Piazza Vittorio Emanuele; +but we can still perceive that at its south-east corner +the two main streets of this old <i>Florentia quadrata</i> +intersected,–Calimara, running from the Porta Santa +Maria to the Porta del Duomo, south to north, and +the Corso, running east to west from the Porta +San Piero to the Porta San Pancrazio, along the +lines of the present Corso, Via degli Speziali, and +Via degli Strozzi. The Porta San Piero probably +stood about where the Via del Corso joins the Via +del Proconsolo, and there was a suburb reaching out to +the Church of San Piero Maggiore. Then the walls +ran along the lines of the present Via del Proconsolo<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">[15]</a></span> +and Via dei Balestrieri, inclosing Santa Reparata and +the Baptistery, to the Duomo Gate beyond the Bishop's +palace–probably somewhere near the opening of the +modern Borgo San Lorenzo. Then along the Via +Cerretani, Piazza Antinori, Via Tornabuoni, to the +Gate of San Pancrazio, which was somewhere near +the present Palazzo Strozzi; and so on to where the +Church of Santa Trinità now stands, near which there +was a postern gate called the Porta Rossa. Then they +turned east along the present Via delle Terme to the +Porta Santa Maria, which was somewhere near the end +of the Mercato Nuovo, after which their course back to +the Porta San Piero is more uncertain. Outside the +walls were churches and ever-increasing suburbs, and +Florence was already becoming an important commercial +centre. Matilda's beneficent sway left it in +practical independence to work out its own destinies; +she protected it from imperial aggressions, and curbed +the nobles of the contrada, who were of Teutonic +descent and who, from their feudal castles round, +looked with hostility upon the rich burgher city of +pure Latin blood that was gradually reducing their +power and territorial sway. At intervals the great +Countess entered Florence, and either in person or by +her deputies and judges (members of the chief Florentine +families) administered justice in the Forum. Indeed +she played the part of Dante's ideal Emperor in +the <i>De Monarchia</i>; made Roman law obeyed through +her dominions; established peace and curbed disorder; +and therefore, in spite of her support of papal claims for +political empire, when the <i>Divina Commedia</i> came to be +written, Dante placed her as guardian of the Earthly +Paradise to which the Emperor should guide man, and +made her the type of the glorified active life. Her +praises, <i>la lauda di Matelda</i>, were long sung in the +Florentine churches, as may be gathered from a passage<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">[16]</a></span> +in Boccaccio.</p> + +<p>It is from the death of Matilda in 1115 that the +history of the Commune dates. During her lifetime +she seems to have gradually, especially while engaged +in her conflicts with the Emperor Henry, delegated +her powers to the chief Florentine citizens themselves; +and in her name they made war upon the aggressive +nobility in the country round, in the interests of their +commerce. For Dante the first half of this twelfth +century represents the golden age in which his ancestor +lived, when the great citizen nobles–Bellincion Berti, +Ubertino Donati, and the heads of the Nerli and Vecchietti +and the rest–lived simple and patriotic lives, +filled the offices of state and led the troops against the +foes of the Commune. In a grand burst of triumph +that old Florentine crusader, Cacciaguida, closes the +sixteenth canto of the <i>Paradiso</i>:</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"Con queste genti, e con altre con esse,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">vid'io Fiorenza in sì fatto riposo,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">che non avea cagion onde piangesse;</span><br /> +con queste genti vid'io glorioso,<br /> +<span class="i1">e giusto il popol suo tanto, che'l giglio</span><br /> +<span class="i1">non era ad asta mai posto a ritroso,</span><br /> +nè per division fatto vermiglio."<a name="fnanchor_5" id="fnanchor_5"></a><a href="#footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>When Matilda died, and the Popes and Emperors +prepared to struggle for her legacy (which thus initiated +the strifes of Guelfs and Ghibellines), the Florentine +Republic asserted its independence: the citizen nobles +who had been her delegates and judges now became +the Consuls of the Commune and the leaders of the +republican forces in war. In 1119 the Florentines +assailed the castle of Monte Cascioli, and killed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">[17]</a></span> +imperial vicar who defended it; in 1125 they took +and destroyed Fiesole, which had always been a refuge +for robber nobles and all who hated the Republic. But +already signs of division were seen in the city itself, +though it was a century before it came to a head; and +the great family of the Uberti–who, like the nobles +of the contrada, were of Teutonic descent–were prominently +to the front, but soon to be <i>disfatti per la lor +superbia</i>. Scarcely was Matilda dead than they appear +to have attempted to seize on the supreme power, and +to have only been defeated with much bloodshed and +burning of houses. Still the Republic pursued its victorious +course through the twelfth century–putting +down the feudal barons, forcing them to enter the city +and join the Commune, and extending their commerce +and influence as well as their territory on all sides. +And already these nobles within and without the city +were beginning to build their lofty towers, and to +associate themselves into Societies of the Towers; +while the people were grouped into associations which +afterwards became the Greater and Lesser Arts or +Guilds. Villani sees the origin of future contests in +the mingling of races, Roman and Fiesolan; modern +writers find it in the distinction, mentioned already, +between the nobles, of partly Teutonic origin and +imperial sympathies, and the burghers, who were the +true Italians, the descendants of those over whom successive +tides of barbarian conquest had swept, and to +whom the ascendency of the nobles would mean an +alien yoke. This struggle between a landed military +and feudal nobility, waning in power and authority, +and a commercial democracy of more purely Latin +descent, ever increasing in wealth and importance, +is what lies at the bottom of the contest between +Florentine Guelfs and Ghibellines; and the rival +claims of Pope and Emperor are of secondary importance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">[18]</a></span> +as far as Tuscany is concerned.</p> + +<p>In 1173 (as the most recent historian of Florence +has shown, and not in the eleventh century as formerly +supposed), the second circle of walls was built, and +included a much larger tract of city, though many of +the churches which we have been wont to consider the +most essential things in Florence stand outside them. +A new Porta San Piero, just beyond the present façade +of the ruined church of San Piero Maggiore, enclosed +the Borgo di San Piero; thence the walls passed round +to the Porta di Borgo San Lorenzo, just to the north +of the present Piazza, and swept round, with two +gates of minor importance, past the chief western Porta +San Pancrazio or Porta San Paolo, beyond which the +present Piazza di Santa Maria Novella stands, down to +the Arno where there was a Porta alla Carraia, at the +point where the bridge was built later. Hence a lower +wall ran along the Arno, taking in the parts excluded +from the older circuit down to the Ponte Vecchio. +About half-way between this and the Ponte Rubaconte, +the walls turned up from the Arno, with several small +gates, until they reached the place where the present +Piazza di Santa Croce lies–which was outside. Here, +just beyond the old site of the Amphitheatre, there was +a gate, after which they ran straight without gate or +postern to San Piero, where they had commenced.</p> + +<p>Instead of the old Quarters, named from the gates, +the city was now divided into six corresponding Sesti +or sextaries; the Sesto di Porta San Piero, the Sesto +still called from the old Porta del Duomo, the Sesto +di Porta Pancrazio, the Sesto di San Piero Scheraggio +(a church near the Palazzo Vecchio, but now totally +destroyed), and the Sesto di Borgo Santissimi Apostoli–these +two replacing the old Quarter of Porta Santa +Maria. Across the river lay the Sesto d'Oltrarno–then +for the most part unfortified. At that time the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">[19]</a></span> +inhabitants of Oltrarno were mostly the poor and the +lower classes, but not a few noble families settled there +later on. The Consuls, the supreme officers of the +state, were elected annually, two for each sesto, usually +nobles of popular tendencies; there was a council of a +hundred, elected every year, its members being mainly +chosen from the Guilds as the Consuls from the +Towers; and a Parliament of the people could be +summoned in the Piazza. Thus the popular government +was constituted.</p> + +<p>Hardly had the new walls risen when the Uberti in +1177 attempted to overthrow the Consuls and seize +the government of the city; they were partially successful, +in that they managed to make the administration +more aristocratic, after a prolonged civil struggle of two +years' duration. In 1185 Frederick Barbarossa took +away the privileges of the Republic and deprived it of +its contrada; but his son, Henry VI., apparently gave +it back. With the beginning of the thirteenth century +we find the Consuls replaced by a Podestà, a +foreign noble elected by the citizens themselves; and +the Florentines, not content with having back their +contrada, beginning to make wars of conquest upon their +neighbours, especially the Sienese, from whom they +exacted a cession of territory in 1208.</p> + +<div class="figleft"><a name="illo_3" id="illo_3"></a> +<img src="images/illus034_tmb.jpg" width="270" height="400" alt="The Buondelmonte Tower" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE BUONDELMONTE TOWER</p> +<a href="images/illus034_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>In 1215 there was enacted a deed in which poets +and chroniclers have seen a turning point in the history +of Florence. Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti, "a +right winsome and comely knight," as Villani calls him, +had pledged himself for political reasons to marry a +maiden of the Amidei family–the kinsmen of the +proud Uberti and Fifanti. But, at the instigation of +Gualdrada Donati, he deserted his betrothed and married +Gualdrada's own daughter, a girl of great beauty. +Upon this the nobles of the kindred of the deserted +girl held a council together to decide what vengeance<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">[20]</a></span> +to take, in which "Mosca dei Lamberti spoke the evil +word: <i>Cosa fatta, capo ha</i>; to wit, that he should be +slain; and so it was done." On Easter Sunday the +Amidei and their associates assembled, after hearing mass +in San Stefano, in a palace of the Amidei, which was on +the Lungarno at the +opening of the present +Via Por Santa Maria; +and they watched young +Buondelmonte coming +from Oltrarno, riding +over the Ponte Vecchio +"dressed nobly in a new +robe all white and on a +white palfrey," crowned +with a garland, making +his way towards the +palaces of his kindred in +Borgo Santissimi Apostoli. +As soon as he had +reached this side, at the +foot of the pillar on +which stood the statue +of Mars, they rushed out +upon him. Schiatta degli +Uberti struck him from +his horse with a mace, +and Mosca dei Lamberti, Lambertuccio degli Amidei, +Oderigo Fifanti, and one of the Gangalandi, stabbed +him to death with their daggers at the foot of the +statue. "Verily is it shown," writes Villani, "that +the enemy of human nature by reason of the sins of the +Florentines had power in this idol of Mars, which the +pagan Florentines adored of old; for at the foot of his +figure was this murder committed, whence such great +evil followed to the city of Florence." The body<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">[21]</a></span> +was placed upon a bier, and, with the young bride supporting +the dead head of her bridegroom, carried through +the streets to urge the people to vengeance. Headed +by the Uberti, the older and more aristocratic families +took up the cause of the Amidei; the burghers and the +democratically inclined nobles supported the Buondelmonti, +and from this the chronicler dates the beginning +of the Guelfs and Ghibellines in Florence.</p> + +<p>But it was only the names that were then introduced, +to intensify a struggle which had in reality commenced +a century before this, in 1115, on the death of Matilda. +As far as Guelf and Ghibelline meant a struggle of the +commune of burghers and traders with a military aristocracy +of Teutonic descent and feudal imperial tendencies, +the thing is already clearly defined in the old +contest between the Uberti and the Consuls. This, +however, precipitated matters, and initiated fifty years +of perpetual conflict. Dante, through Cacciaguida, +touches upon the tragedy in his great way in <i>Paradiso</i> +XVI., where he calls it the ruin of old Florence.</p> + +<p class="poem p2"><span class="o1">"La casa di che nacque il vostro fleto,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">per lo giusto disdegno che v'ha morti</span><br /> +<span class="i1">e posto fine al vostro viver lieto,</span><br /> +era onorata ed essa e suoi consorti.<br /> +<span class="i1">O Buondelmonte, quanto mal fuggisti</span><br /> +<span class="i1">le nozze sue per gli altrui conforti!</span><br /> +Molti sarebbon lieti, che son tristi,<br /> +<span class="i1">se Dio t'avesse conceduto ad Ema</span><br /> +<span class="i1">la prima volta che a città venisti.</span><br /> +Ma conveniasi a quella pietra scema<br /> +<span class="i1">che guarda il ponte, che Fiorenza fesse</span><br /> +<span class="i1">vittima nella sua pace postrema."<a name="fnanchor_6" id="fnanchor_6"></a><a href="#footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></span></p> + +<p>And again, in the Hell of the sowers of discord,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">[22]</a></span> +where they are horribly mutilated by the devil's sword, +he meets the miserable Mosca.</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"Ed un, ch'avea l'una e l'altra man mozza,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">levando i moncherin per l'aura fosca,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">sì che il sangue facea la faccia sozza,</span><br /> +gridò: Ricorderaiti anche del Mosca,<br /> +<span class="i1">che dissi, lasso! 'Capo ha cosa fatta,'</span><br /> +<span class="i1">che fu il mal seme per la gente tosca."<a name="fnanchor_7" id="fnanchor_7"></a><a href="#footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></span></p> + +<p>For a time the Commune remained Guelf and +powerful, in spite of dissensions; it adhered to the +Pope against Frederick II., and waged successful wars +with its Ghibelline rivals, Pisa and Siena. Of the +other Tuscan cities Lucca was Guelf, Pistoia Ghibelline. +A religious feud mingled with the political +dissensions; heretics, the Paterini, Epicureans and +other sects, were multiplying in Italy, favoured by +Frederick II. and patronised by the Ghibellines. Fra +Pietro of Verona, better known as St Peter Martyr, +organised a crusade, and, with his white-robed captains +of the Faith, hunted them in arms through the streets +of Florence; at the Croce al Trebbio, near Santa +Maria Novella, and in the Piazza di Santa Felicità +over the Arno, columns still mark the place where he +fell furiously upon them, <i>con l'uficio apostolico</i>. But in +1249, at the instigation of Frederick II., the Uberti<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">[23]</a></span> +and Ghibelline nobles rose in arms; and, after a +desperate conflict with the Guelf magnates and the +people, gained possession of the city, with the aid of +the Emperor's German troops. And, on the night +of February 2nd, the Guelf leaders with a great following +of people armed and bearing torches buried +Rustico Marignolli, who had fallen in defending the +banner of the Lily, with military honours in San +Lorenzo, and then sternly passed into exile. Their +palaces and towers were destroyed, while the Uberti +and their allies with the Emperor's German troops +held the city. This lasted not two years. In 1250, +on the death of Frederick II., the Republic threw off +the yoke, and the first democratic constitution of +Florence was established, the <i>Primo Popolo</i>, in which +the People were for the first time regularly organised +both for peace and for war under a new officer, the +Captain of the People, whose appointment was intended +to outweigh the Podestà, the head of the +Commune and the leader of the nobles. The Captain +was intrusted with the white and red Gonfalon of +the People, and associated with the central government +of the Ancients of the people, who to some +extent corresponded to the Consuls of olden time.</p> + +<p>This <i>Primo Popolo</i> ran a victorious course of ten +years, years of internal prosperity and almost continuous +external victory. It was under it that the banner of the +Commune was changed from a white lily on a red field +to a red lily on a white field–<i>per division fatto +vermiglio</i>, as Dante puts it–after the Uberti and +Lamberti with the turbulent Ghibellines had been +expelled. Pisa was humbled; Pistoia and Volterra +forced to submit. But it came to a terrible end, +illuminated only by the heroism of one of its conquerors. +A conspiracy on the part of the Uberti to +take the government from the people and subject the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">[24]</a></span> +city to the great Ghibelline prince, Manfredi, King of +Apulia and Sicily, son of Frederick II., was discovered +and severely punished. Headed by Farinata +degli Uberti and aided by King Manfredi's German +mercenaries, the exiles gathered at Siena, against +which the Florentine Republic declared war. In +1260 the Florentine army approached Siena. A preliminary +skirmish, in which a band of German horsemen +was cut to pieces and the royal banner captured, +only led a few months later to the disastrous defeat of +Montaperti, <i>che fece l'Arbia colorata in rosso</i>; in which, +after enormous slaughter and loss of the Carroccio, or +battle car of the Republic, "the ancient people of +Florence was broken and annihilated" on September +4th, 1260. Without waiting for the armies of the +conqueror, the Guelf nobles with their families and +many of the burghers fled the city, mainly to Lucca; +and, on the 16th of September, the Germans under +Count Giordano, Manfredi's vicar, with Farinata and +the exiles, entered Florence as conquerors. All +liberty was destroyed, the houses of Guelfs razed to +the ground, the Count Guido Novello–the lord of +Poppi and a ruthless Ghibelline–made Podestà. +The Via Ghibellina is his record. It was finally +proposed in a great Ghibelline council at Empoli to +raze Florence to the ground; but the fiery eloquence +of Farinata degli Uberti, who declared that, even if he +stood alone, he would defend her sword in hand as long +as life lasted, saved his city. Marked out with all his +house for the relentless hate of the Florentine people, +Dante has secured to him a lurid crown of glory even +in Hell. Out of the burning tombs of the heretics he +rises, <i>come avesse l'inferno in gran dispitto</i>, still the +unvanquished hero who, when all consented to destroy +Florence, "alone with open face defended her."</p> + +<p>For nearly six years the life of the Florentine people<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">[25]</a></span> +was suspended, and lay crushed beneath an oppressive +despotism of Ghibelline nobles and German soldiery +under Guido Novello, the vicar of King Manfredi. +Excluded from all political interests, the people imperceptibly +organised their greater and lesser guilds, and +waited the event. During this gloom Farinata degli +Uberti died in 1264, and in the following year, 1265, +Dante Alighieri was born. That same year, 1265, +Charles of Anjou, the champion of the Church, invited +by Clement IV. to take the crown of the kingdom of +Naples and Sicily, entered Italy, and in February +1266 annihilated the army of Manfredi at the battle +of Benevento. Foremost in the ranks of the crusaders–for +as such the French were regarded–fought the +Guelf exiles from Florence, under the Papal banner +specially granted them by Pope Clement–a red eagle +clutching a green dragon on a white field. This, with +the addition of a red lily over the eagle's head, became +the arms of the society known as the Parte Guelfa; +you may see it on the Porta San Niccolò and in other +parts of the city between the cross of the People and +the red lily of the Commune. Many of the noble +Florentines were knighted by the hand of King +Charles before the battle, and did great deeds of +valour upon the field. "These men cannot lose to-day," +exclaimed Manfredi, as he watched their advance; +and when the silver eagle of the house of Suabia fell +from Manfredi's helmet and he died in the melée +crying <i>Hoc est signum Dei</i>, the triumph of the Guelfs +was complete and German rule at an end in Italy. +Of Manfredi's heroic death and the dishonour done +by the Pope's legate to his body, Dante has sung in +the <i>Purgatorio</i>.</p> + +<p>When the news reached Florence, the Ghibellines +trembled for their safety, and the people prepared to +win back their own. An attempt at compromise was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">[26]</a></span> +first made, under the auspices of Pope Clement. Two +<i>Frati Gaudenti</i> or "Cavalieri di Maria," members of +an order of warrior monks from Bologna, were made +Podestàs, one a Guelf and one a Ghibelline, to come +to terms with the burghers. You may still trace the +place where the Bottega and court of the Calimala +stood in Mercato Nuovo (the Calimala being the Guild +of dressers of foreign cloth–panni franceschi, as Villani +calls it), near where the Via Porta Rossa now enters +the present Via Calzaioli. Here the new council of +thirty-six of the best citizens, burghers and artizans, +with a few trusted members of the nobility, met every +day to settle the affairs of the State. Dante has +branded these two warrior monks as hypocrites, but, as +Capponi says, from this Bottega issued at once and almost +spontaneously the Republic of Florence. Their +great achievement was the thorough organisation of the +seven greater Guilds, of which more presently, to each +of which were given consuls and rectors, and a gonfalon +or ensign of its own, around which its followers might +assemble in arms in defence of People and Commune. +To counteract this, Guido Novello brought in more +troops from the Ghibelline cities of Tuscany, and +increased the taxes to pay his Germans; until he had +fifteen hundred horsemen in the city under his command. +With their aid the nobles, headed by the +Lamberti, rushed to arms. The people rose <i>en masse</i> +and, headed by a Ghibelline noble, Gianni dei +Soldanieri, who apparently had deserted his party in +order to get control of the State (and who is placed +by Dante in the Hell of traitors), raised barricades in +the Piazza di Santa Trinità and in the Borgo SS. +Apostoli, at the foot of the Tower of the Girolami, +which still stands. The Ghibellines and Germans +gathered in the Piazza di San Giovanni, held all the +north-east of the town, and swept down upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">[27]</a></span> +people's barricades under a heavy fire of darts and +stones from towers and windows. But the street fighting +put the horsemen at a hopeless disadvantage, and, +repulsed in the assault, the Count and his followers +evacuated the town. This was on St Martin's day, +November 11th, 1266. The next day a half-hearted +attempt to re-enter the city at the gate near the Ponte +alla Carraia was made, but easily driven off; and for +two centuries and more no foreigner set foot as conqueror +in Florence.</p> + +<p>Not that Florence either obtained or desired absolute +independence. The first step was to choose Charles of +Anjou, the new King of Naples and Sicily, for their +suzerain for ten years; but, cruel tyrant as he was +elsewhere, he showed himself a true friend to the +Florentines, and his suzerainty seldom weighed upon +them oppressively. The Uberti and others were expelled, +and some, who held out among the castles, were +put to death at his orders. But the government became +truly democratic. There was a central administration +of twelve Ancients, elected annually, two for each +sesto; with a council of one hundred "good men of +the People, without whose deliberation no great thing +or expense could be done"; and, nominally at least, +a parliament. Next came the Captain of the People +(usually an alien noble of democratic sympathies), with +a special council or <i>credenza</i>, called the Council of the +Captain and Capetudini (the Capetudini composed of the +consuls of the Guilds), of 80 members; and a general +council of 300 (including the 80), all <i>popolani</i> and +Guelfs. Next came the Podestà, always an alien +noble (appointed at first by King Charles), with the +Council of the Podestà of 90 members, and the general +Council of the Commune of 300–in both of which +nobles could sit as well as popolani. Measures presented +by the 12 to the 100 were then submitted<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">[28]</a></span> +successively to the two councils of the Captain, and +then, on the next day, to the councils of the Podestà +and the Commune. Occasionally measures were concerted +between the magistrates and a specially summoned +council of <i>richiesti</i>, without the formalities and delays +of these various councils. Each of the seven greater +Arts<a name="fnanchor_8" id="fnanchor_8"></a><a href="#footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> was further organised with its own officers and +councils and banners, like a miniature republic, and its +consuls (forming the Capetudini) always sat in the +Captain's council and usually in that of the Podestà +likewise.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_4" id="illo_4"></a> +<img src="images/illus043_tmb.jpg" width="264" height="400" alt="THE PALACE OF THE PARTE GUELFA" /> +<p class="caption">THE PALACE OF THE PARTE GUELFA</p> +<a href="images/illus043_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>There was one dark spot. A new organisation was +set on foot, under the auspices of Pope Clement and +King Charles, known as the Parte Guelfa–another +miniature republic within the republic–with six captains +(three nobles and three popolani) and two councils, +mainly to persecute the Ghibellines, to manage confiscated +goods, and uphold Guelf principles in the State. +In later days these Captains of the Guelf Party became +exceedingly powerful and oppressive, and were the cause +of much dissension. They met at first in the Church +of S. Maria sopra la Porta (now the Church of S. +Biagio), and later had a special palace of their own–which +still stands, partly in the Via delle Terme, as +you pass up it from the Via Por Santa Maria on the +right, and partly in the Piazza di San Biagio. It is +an imposing and somewhat threatening mass, partly of +the fourteenth and partly of the early fifteenth century.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">[31]</a></span> +The church, which retains in part its structure of the +thirteenth century, had been a place of secret meeting +for the Guelfs during Guido Novello's rule; it still +stands, but converted into a barracks for the firemen +of Florence.</p> + +<p>Thus was the greatest and most triumphant Republic +of the Middle Ages organised–the constitution under +which the most glorious culture and art of the modern +world was to flourish. The great Guilds were henceforth +a power in the State, and the <i>Secondo Popolo</i> had +arisen–the democracy that Dante and Boccaccio were +to know.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_5" id="illo_5"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29"></a></span> +<img src="images/illus045_tmb.jpg" width="190" height="300" alt="ARMS OF PARTE GUELFA" title="" /> +<p class="caption">ARMS OF PARTE GUELFA</p> +<a href="images/illus045_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">[32]</a></p> +<h2 class="p6"><a name="chapter_ii" id="chapter_ii"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3><i>The Times of Dante and Boccaccio</i></h3> + +<p class="left25 font90"><span class="o1">"Godi, Fiorenza, poi che sei sì grande</span><br /> +che per mare e per terra batti l'ali,<br /> +e per l'inferno il tuo nome si spande."<br /> +<span class="i14">–<i>Dante.</i></span></p> + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE century that passed from the birth of Dante +in 1265 to the deaths of Petrarch and Boccaccio, +in 1374 and 1375 respectively, may be styled the +<i>Trecento</i>, although it includes the last quarter of the +thirteenth century and excludes the closing years of +the fourteenth. In general Italian history, it runs from +the downfall of the German Imperial power at the +battle of Benevento, in 1266, to the return of the Popes +from Avignon in 1377. In art, it is the epoch of the +completion of Italian Gothic in architecture, of the +followers and successors of Niccolò and Giovanni Pisano +in sculpture, of the school of Giotto in painting. In +letters, it is the great period of pure Tuscan prose and +verse. Dante and Giovanni Villani, Dino Compagni, +Petrarch, Boccaccio and Sacchetti, paint the age for us +in all its aspects; and a note of mysticism is heard at +the close (though not from a Florentine) in the Epistles +of St. Catherine of Siena, of whom a living Italian poet +has written–<i>Nel Giardino del conoscimento di sè ella è +come una rosa di fuoco.</i> But at the same time it is a +century full of civil war and sanguinary factions, in +which every Italian city was divided against itself; and +nowhere were these divisions more notable or more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">[35]</a></span> +bitterly fought out than in Florence. Yet, in spite +of it all, the Republic proceeded majestically on its +triumphant course. Machiavelli lays much stress upon +this in the Proem to his <i>Istorie Fiorentine</i>. "In Florence," +he says, "at first the nobles were divided against +each other, then the people against the nobles, and lastly +the people against the populace; and it ofttimes happened +that when one of these parties got the upper hand, it +split into two. And from these divisions there resulted +so many deaths, so many banishments, so many destructions +of families, as never befell in any other city of +which we have record. Verily, in my opinion, nothing +manifests more clearly the power of our city than the +result of these divisions, which would have been able +to destroy every great and most potent city. Nevertheless +ours seemed thereby to grow ever greater; such +was the virtue of those citizens, and the power of their +genius and disposition to make themselves and their +country great, that those who remained free from these +evils could exalt her with their virtue more than the +malignity of those accidents, which had diminished +them, had been able to cast her down. And without +doubt, if only Florence, after her liberation from the +Empire, had had the felicity of adopting a form of +government which would have kept her united, I know +not what republic, whether modern or ancient, would +have surpassed her–with such great virtue in war and +in peace would she have been filled."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_6" id="illo_6"></a> +<img src="images/illus047_tmb.jpg" width="243" height="400" alt="FLORENTINE FAMILIES" title="" /> +<p class="caption"> +FLORENTINE FAMILIES, EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY,<br />WITH +A PORTION OF THE SECOND WALLS INDICATED<br />(<i>Temple +Classics: Paradiso</i>).<br />(The representation is approximate +only: the Cerchi Palace near the Corso degli +Adimari should be more to the right.)</p> +<a href="images/illus047_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>The first thirty-four years of this epoch are among +the brightest in Florentine history, the years that ran +from the triumph of the Guelfs to the sequel to the +Jubilee of 1300, from the establishment of the <i>Secondo +Popolo</i> to its split into Neri and Bianchi, into Black +Guelfs and White Guelfs. Externally Florence became +the chief power of Tuscany, and all the neighbouring +towns gradually, to a greater or less extent,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">[36]</a></span> +acknowledged her sway; internally, in spite of growing +friction between the burghers and the new Guelf nobility, +between <i>popolani</i> and <i>grandi</i> or magnates, she was daily +advancing in wealth and prosperity, in beauty and +artistic power. The exquisite poetry of the <i>dolce stil +novo</i> was heard. Guido Cavalcanti, a noble Guelf who +had married the daughter of Farinata degli Uberti, and, +later, the notary Lapo Gianni and Dante Alighieri, +showed the Italians what true lyric song was; philosophers +like Brunetto Latini served the state; modern +history was born with Giovanni Villani. Great palaces +were built for the officers of the Republic; vast Gothic +churches arose. Women of rare beauty, eternalised as +Beatrice, Giovanna, Lagia and the like, passed through +the streets and adorned the social gatherings in the open +loggias of the palaces. Splendid pageants and processions +hailed the Calends of May and the Nativity of +the Baptist, and marked the civil and ecclesiastical +festivities and state solemnities. The people advanced +more and more in power and patriotism; while the +magnates, in their towers and palace-fortresses, were +partly forced to enter the life of the guilds, partly held +aloof and plotted to recover their lost authority, but +were always ready to officer the burgher forces in time +of war, or to extend Florentine influence by serving as +Podestàs and Captains in other Italian cities.</p> + +<p>Dante was born in the Sesto di San Piero Maggiore +in May 1265, some eighteen months before the liberation +of the city. He lost his mother in his infancy, +and his father while he was still a boy. This father +appears to have been a notary, and came from a noble +but decadent family, who were probably connected +with the Elisei, an aristocratic house of supposed +Roman descent, who had by this time almost entirely +disappeared. The Alighieri, who were Guelfs, do +not seem to have ranked officially as <i>grandi</i> or magnates;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">[37]</a></span> +one of Dante's uncles had fought heroically at +Montaperti. Almost all the families connected with +the story of Dante's life had their houses in the Sesto +di San Piero Maggiore, and their sites may in some +instances still be traced. Here were the Cerchi, with +whom he was to be politically associated in after years; +the Donati, from whom sprung one of his dearest +friends, Forese, with one of his deadliest foes, Messer +Corso, and Dante's own wife, Gemma; and the Portinari, +the house according to tradition of Beatrice, the +"giver of blessing" of Dante's <i>Vita Nuova</i>, the +mystical lady of the <i>Paradiso</i>. Guido Cavalcanti, +the first and best of all his friends, lived a little apart +from this Sesto di Scandali–as St Peter's section of +the town came to be called–between the Mercato +Nuovo and San Michele in Orto. Unlike the +Alighieri, though not of such ancient birth as theirs, +the Cavalcanti were exceedingly rich and powerful, and +ranked officially among the <i>grandi</i>, the Guelf magnates. +At this epoch, as Signor Carocci observes in +his <i>Firenze scomparsa</i>, Florence must have presented +the aspect of a vast forest of towers. These towers +rose over the houses of powerful and wealthy families, +to be used for offence or defence, when the faction +fights raged, or to be dismantled and cut down when +the people gained the upper hand. The best idea of +such a mediæval city, on a smaller scale, can still be +got at San Gemignano, "the fair town called of the +Fair Towers," where dozens of these <i>torri</i> still stand; +and also, though to a less extent, at Gubbio. A few +have been preserved here in Florence, and there are a +number of narrow streets, on both sides of the Arno, +which still retain some of their mediæval characteristics. +In the Borgo Santissimi Apostoli, for instance, and in +the Via Lambertesca, there are several striking towers +of this kind, with remnants of palaces of the <i>grandi</i>;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">[38]</a></span> +and, on the other side of the river, especially in the +Via dei Bardi and the Borgo San Jacopo. When one +family, or several associated families, had palaces on +either side of a narrow street defended by such towers, +and could throw chains and barricades across at a +moment's notice, it will readily be understood that in +times of popular tumult Florence bristled with fortresses +in every direction.</p> + +<p>In 1282, the year before that in which Dante received +the "most sweet salutation," <i>dolcissimo salutare</i>, +of "the glorious lady of my mind who was called by +many Beatrice, that knew not how she was called," +and saw the vision of the Lord of terrible aspect in the +mist of the colour of fire (the vision which inspired +the first of his sonnets which has been preserved to us), +the democratic government of the <i>Secondo Popolo</i> was +confirmed by being placed entirely in the hands of the +<i>Arti Maggiori</i> or Greater Guilds. The Signoria was +henceforth to be composed of the Priors of the Arts, +chosen from the chief members of the Greater Guilds, +who now became the supreme magistrates of the State. +They were, at this epoch of Florentine history, six in +number, one to represent each Sesto, and held office +for two months only; on leaving office, they joined +with the Capetudini, and other citizens summoned for +the purpose, to elect their successors. At a later period +this was done, ostensibly at least, by lot instead of +election. The glorious Palazzo Vecchio had not yet +been built, and the Priors met at first in a house belonging +to the monks of the Badia, defended by the +Torre della Castagna; and afterwards in a palace belonging +to the Cerchi (both tower and palace are still +standing). Of the seven Greater Arts–the <i>Calimala</i>, +the Money-changers, the Wool-merchants, the Silk-merchants, +the Physicians and Apothecaries, the traders +in furs and skins, the Judges and Notaries–the latter<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">[39]</a></span> +alone do not seem at first to have been represented in +the Priorate; but to a certain extent they exercised +control over all the Guilds, sat in all their tribunals, +and had a Proconsul, who came next to the Signoria in +all state processions, and had a certain jurisdiction +over all the Arts. It was thus essentially a government +of those who were actually engaged in industry +and commerce. "Henceforth," writes Pasquale Villari, +"the Republic is properly a republic of merchants, and +only he who is ascribed to the Arts can govern it: +every grade of nobility, ancient or new, is more a loss +than a privilege." The double organisation of the +People under the Captain with his two councils, and +the Commune under the Podestà with his special +council and the general council (in these two latter +alone, it will be remembered, could nobles sit and vote) +still remained; but the authority of the Podestà was +naturally diminished.</p> + +<div class="figleft"><a name="illo_7" id="illo_7"></a> +<img src="images/illus054_tmb.jpg" width="271" height="400" alt="CORSO DONATI'S TOWER" title="" /> +<p class="caption">CORSO DONATI'S TOWER</p> +<a href="images/illus054_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Florence was now the predominant power in central +Italy; the cities of Tuscany looked to her as the head +of the Guelfic League, although, says Dino Compagni, +"they love her more in discord than in peace, and +obey her more for fear than for love." A protracted +war against Pisa and Arezzo, carried on from 1287 to +1292, drew even Dante from his poetry and his study; +it is believed that he took part in the great battle of +Campaldino in 1289, in which the last efforts of the +old Tuscan Ghibellinism were shattered by the Florentines +and their allies, fighting under the royal banner of +the House of Anjou. Amerigo di Narbona, one of +the captains of King Charles II. of Naples, was in +command of the Guelfic forces. From many points of +view, this is one of the more interesting battles of the +Middle Ages. It is said to have been almost the last +Italian battle in which the burgher forces, and not the +mercenary soldiery of the Condottieri, carried the day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">[40]</a></span> +Corso Donati and Vieri dei Cerchi, soon to be in deadly +feud in the political arena, were among the captains of +the Florentine host; and Dante himself is said to have +served in the front rank of the cavalry. In a fragment +of a letter ascribed to him by one of his earlier biographers, +Dante speaks +of this battle of Campaldino; +"wherein I +had much dread, and +at the end the greatest +gladness, by reason of +the varying chances of +that battle." One of +the Ghibelline leaders, +Buonconte da Montefeltro, +who was mortally +wounded and died +in the rout, meets the +divine poet on the +shores of the Mountain +of Purgation, and, +in lines of almost ineffable +pathos, tells +him the whole story +of his last moments. +Villani, ever mindful +of Florence being the +daughter of Rome, assures us that the news of the +great victory was miraculously brought to the Priors +in the Cerchi Palace, in much the same way as the +tidings of Lake Regillus to the expectant Fathers at +the gate of Rome. Several of the exiled Uberti had +fallen in the ranks of the enemy, fighting against their +own country. In the cloisters of the Annunziata you +will find a contemporary monument of the battle, let +into the west wall of the church near the ground;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">[41]</a></span> +the marble figure of an armed knight on horseback, +with the golden lilies of France over his surcoat, +charging down upon the foe. It is the tomb of the +French cavalier, Guglielmo Berardi, "balius" of +Amerigo di Narbona, who fell upon the field.</p> + +<p>The eleven years that follow Campaldino, culminating +in the Jubilee of Pope Boniface VIII. and the +opening of the fourteenth century, are the years of +Dante's political life. They witnessed the great +political reforms which confirmed the democratic +character of the government, and the marvellous +artistic embellishment of the city under Arnolfo di +Cambio and his contemporaries. During these years +the Palazzo Vecchio, the Duomo, and the grandest +churches of Florence were founded; and the Third +Walls, whose gates and some scanty remnants are with +us to-day, were begun. Favoured by the Popes and +the Angevin sovereigns of Naples, now that the old +Ghibelline nobility, save in a few valleys and mountain +fortresses, was almost extinct, the new nobles, the +<i>grandi</i> or Guelf magnates, proud of their exploits at +Campaldino, and chafing against the burgher rule, +began to adopt an overbearing line of conduct towards +the people, and to be more factious than ever among +themselves. Strong measures were adopted against +them, such as the complete enfranchisement of the +peasants of the contrada in 1289–measures which +culminated in the famous Ordinances of Justice, passed +in 1293, by which the magnates were completely +excluded from the administration, severe laws made +to restrain their rough usage of the people, and a +special magistrate, the <i>Gonfaloniere</i> or "Standard-bearer +of Justice," added to the Priors, to hold office +like them for two months in rotation from each sesto +of the city, and to rigidly enforce the laws against the +magnates. This Gonfaloniere became practically the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">[42]</a></span> +head of the Signoria, and was destined to become the +supreme head of the State in the latter days of the +Florentine Republic; to him was publicly assigned +the great Gonfalon of the People, with its red cross +on a white field; and he had a large force of armed +popolani under his command to execute these ordinances, +against which there was no appeal allowed.<a name="fnanchor_9" id="fnanchor_9"></a><a href="#footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +These Ordinances also fixed the number of the Guilds +at twenty-one–seven Arti Maggiori, mainly engaged +in wholesale commerce, exportation and importation, +fourteen Arti Minori, which carried on the retail traffic +and internal trade of the city–and renewed their +statutes.</p> + +<p>The hero of this Magna Charta of Florence is a +certain Giano della Bella, a noble who had fought at +Campaldino and had now joined the people; a man of +untractable temper, who knew not how to make concessions; +somewhat anti-clerical and obnoxious to the +Pope, but consumed by an intense and savage thirst for +justice, upon which the craftier politicians of both sides +played. "Let the State perish, rather than such things +be tolerated," was his constant political formula: <i>Perisca +innanzi la città, che tante opere rie si sostengano.</i> But +the magnates, from whom he was endeavouring to snatch +their last political refuge, the Parte Guelfa, muttered, +"Let us smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be +scattered"; and at length, after an ineffectual conspiracy +against his life, Giano was driven out of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">[43]</a></span> +city, on March 5th, 1295, by a temporary alliance of +the burghers and magnates against him. The <i>popolo +minuto</i> and artizans, upon whom he had mainly relied +and whose interests he had sustained, deserted him; +and the government remained henceforth in the hands +of the wealthy burghers, the <i>popolo grosso</i>. Already +a cleavage was becoming visible between these Arti +Maggiori, who ruled the State, and the Arti Minori +whose gains lay in local merchandise and traffic, +partly dependent upon the magnates. And a butcher, +nicknamed Pecora, or, as we may call him, Lambkin, +appears prominently as a would-be politician; he cuts +a quaintly fierce figure in Dino Compagni's chronicle. +In this same year, 1295, Dante Alighieri entered public +life, and, on July 6th, he spoke in the General Council +of the Commune in support of certain modifications in +the Ordinances of Justice, whereby nobles, by leaving +their order and matriculating in one or other of the +Arts, even without exercising it, could be free from +their disabilities, and could share in the government of +the State, and hold office in the Signoria. He himself, +in this same year, matriculated in the Arte dei +Medici e Speziali, the great guild which included the +painters and the book-sellers.</p> + +<p>The growing dissensions in the Guelf Republic came +to a head in 1300, the famous year of jubilee in which +the Pope was said to have declared that the Florentines +were the "fifth element." The rival factions of Bianchi +and Neri, White Guelfs and Black Guelfs, which were +now to divide the whole city, arose partly from the +deadly hostility of two families each with a large following, +the Cerchi and the Donati, headed respectively +by Vieri dei Cerchi and Corso Donati, the two heroes +of Campaldino; partly from an analogous feud in Pistoia, +which was governed from Florence; partly from the +political discord between that party in the State that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">[44]</a></span> +clung to the (modified) Ordinances of Justice and supported +the Signoria, and another party that hated the +Ordinances and loved the tyrannical Parte Guelfa. +They were further complicated by the intrigues of the +"black" magnates with Pope Boniface VIII., who +apparently hoped by their means to repress the burgher +government and unite the city in obedience to himself. +With this end in view, he had been endeavouring to +obtain from Albert of Austria the renunciation, in +favour of the Holy See, of all rights claimed by +the Emperors over Tuscany. Dante himself, Guido +Cavalcanti, and most of the best men in Florence either +directly adhered to, or at least favoured, the Cerchi +and the Whites; the populace, on the other hand, was +taken with the dash and display of the more aristocratic +Blacks, and would gladly have seen Messer Corso–"il +Barone," as they called him–lord of the city. +Rioting, in which Guido Cavalcanti played a wild and +fantastic part, was of daily occurrence, especially in the +Sesto di San Piero. The adherents of the Signoria +had their head-quarters in the Cerchi Palace, in the +Via della Condotta; the Blacks found their legal fortress +in that of the Captains of the Parte Guelfa in the Via +delle Terme. At last, on May 1st, the two factions +"came to blood" in the Piazza di Santa Trinità on +the occasion of a dance of girls to usher in the May. +On June 15th Dante was elected one of the six Priors, +to hold office till August 15th, and he at once took a +strong line in resisting all interference from Rome, and +in maintaining order within the city. In consequence +of an assault upon the officers of the Guilds on St. +John's Eve, the Signoria, probably on Dante's initiative, +put under bounds a certain number of factious +magnates, chosen impartially from both parties, including +Corso Donati and Guido Cavalcanti. From his +place of banishment at Sarzana, Guido, sick to death,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">[45]</a></span> +wrote the most pathetic of all his lyrics:–</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span class="o1">"Because I think not ever to return,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Ballad, to Tuscany,–</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Go therefore thou for me</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Straight to my lady's face,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Who, of her noble grace,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Shall show thee courtesy.</span><br /></p> + +<p><span class="i4"> * * * * *</span></p> + +<p><span class="o1">"Surely thou knowest, Ballad, how that Death</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Assails me, till my life is almost sped:</span><br /> +Thou knowest how my heart still travaileth<br /> +<span class="i1">Through the sore pangs which in my soul are bred:–</span><br /> +<span class="i1">My body being now so nearly dead,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">It cannot suffer more.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Then, going, I implore</span><br /> +<span class="i2">That this my soul thou take</span><br /> +<span class="i2">(Nay, do so for my sake),</span><br /> +<span class="i2">When my heart sets it free."<a name="fnanchor_10" id="fnanchor_10"></a><a href="#footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></span></p></div> + +<p>And at the end of August, when Dante had left +office, Guido returned to Florence with the rest of the +Bianchi, only to die. For more than a year the "white" +burghers were supreme, not only in Florence, but +throughout a greater part of Tuscany; and in the following +May they procured the expulsion of the Blacks +from Pistoia. But Corso Donati at Rome was biding +his time; and, on November 1st, 1301, Charles of +Valois, brother of King Philip of France, entered +Florence with some 1200 horsemen, partly French and +partly Italian,–ostensibly as papal peacemaker, but +preparing to "joust with the lance of Judas." In +Santa Maria Novella he solemnly swore, as the son +of a king, to preserve the peace and well-being of the +city; and at once armed his followers. Magnates and +burghers alike, seeing themselves betrayed, began to +barricade their houses and streets. On the same day<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">[46]</a></span> +(November 5th) Corso Donati, acting in unison with +the French, appeared in the suburbs, entered the city +by a postern gate in the second walls, near S. Piero +Maggiore, and swept through the streets with an armed +force, burst open the prisons, and drove the Priors +out of their new Palace. For days the French and +the Neri sacked the city and the contrada at their will, +Charles being only intent upon securing a large share +of the spoils for himself. But even he did not dare to +alter the popular constitution, and was forced to content +himself with substituting "black" for "white" +burghers in the Signoria, and establishing a Podestà of +his own following, Cante de' Gabbrielli of Gubbio, in +the Palace of the Commune. An apparently genuine +attempt on the part of the Pope, by a second "peacemaker," +to undo the harm that his first had done, came +to nothing; and the work of proscription commenced, +under the direction of the new Podestà. Dante was +one of the first victims. The two sentences against +him (in each case with a few other names) are dated +January 27th, 1302, and March 10th–and there were +to be others later. It is the second decree that contains +the famous clause, condemning him to be burned +to death, if ever he fall into the power of the Commune. +At the beginning of April all the leaders of the +"white" faction, who had not already fled or turned +"black," with their chief followers, magnates and +burghers alike, were hounded into exile; and Charles +left Florence to enter upon an almost equally shameful +campaign in Sicily.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_8" id="illo_8"></a> +<img src="images/illus061_tmb.jpg" width="259" height="400" alt="ACROSS THE PONTE VECCHIO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">ACROSS THE PONTE VECCHIO</p> +<a href="images/illus061_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Dante is believed to have been absent from Florence +on an embassy to the Pope when Charles of Valois +came, and to have heard the news of his ruin at Siena +as he hurried homewards–though both embassy and +absence have been questioned by Dante scholars of +repute. His ancestor, Cacciaguida, tells him in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">[49]</a></span> +<i>Paradiso</i>:–</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"Tu lascerai ogni cosa diletta</span><br /> +<span class="i1">più caramente, e questo è quello strale</span><br /> +<span class="i1">che l'arco dello esilio pria saetta.</span><br /> +Tu proverai sì come sa di sale<br /> +<span class="i1">lo pane altrui, e com'è duro calle</span><br /> +<span class="i1">lo scendere e il salir per l'altrui scale."<a name="fnanchor_11" id="fnanchor_11"></a><a href="#footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></span><br /></p> + +<p>The rest of Dante's life was passed in exile, and only +touches the story of Florence indirectly at certain points. +"Since it was the pleasure of the citizens of the most +beautiful and most famous daughter of Rome, Florence," +he tells us in his <i>Convivio</i>, "to cast me forth from her +most sweet bosom (in which I was born and nourished +up to the summit of my life, and in which, with her +good will, I desire with all my heart to rest my weary +soul and end the time given me), I have gone through +almost all the parts to which this language extends, a +pilgrim, almost a beggar, showing against my will the +wound of fortune, which is wont unjustly to be ofttimes +reputed to the wounded."</p> + +<p>Attempts of the exiles to win their return to Florence +by force of arms, with aid from the Ubaldini and the +Tuscan Ghibellines, were easily repressed. But the +victorious Neri themselves now split into two factions; +the one, headed by Corso Donati and composed mainly +of magnates, had a kind of doubtful support in the +favour of the populace; the other, led by Rosso della +Tosa, inclined to the Signoria and the <i>popolo grosso</i>. +It was something like the old contest between Messer +Corso and Vieri dei Cerchi, but with more entirely +selfish ends; and there was evidently going to be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">[50]</a></span> +hard tussle between Messer Corso and Messer Rosso +for the possession of the State. Civil war was renewed +in the city, and the confusion was heightened by the +restoration of a certain number of Bianchi, who were +reconciled to the Government. The new Pope, Benedict +XI., was ardently striving to pacify Florence and +all Italy; and his legate, the Cardinal Niccolò da Prato, +took up the cause of the exiles. Pompous peace-meetings +were held in the Piazza di Santa Maria Novella, +for the friars of St Dominic–to which order the new +Pope belonged–had the welfare of the city deeply at +heart; and at one of these meetings the exiled lawyer, +Ser Petracco dall'Ancisa (in a few days to be the +father of Italy's second poet), acted as the representative +of his party. Attempts were made to revive the +May-day pageants of brighter days–but they only +resulted in a horrible disaster on the Ponte alla Carraia, +of which more presently. The fiends of faction broke +loose again; and in order to annihilate the Cavalcanti, +who were still rich and powerful round about the Mercato +Nuovo, the leaders of the Neri deliberately burned a +large portion of the city. On July 20th, 1304, an +attempt by the now allied Bianchi and Ghibellines to +surprise the city proved a disastrous failure; and, on +that very day (Dante being now far away at Verona, +forming a party by himself), Francesco di Petracco–who +was to call himself Petrarca and is called by us +Petrarch–was born in exile at Arezzo.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_9" id="illo_9"></a> +<img src="images/illus065_tmb.jpg" width="260" height="400" alt="MERCATO NUOVO, THE FLOWER MARKET" title="" /> +<p class="caption">MERCATO NUOVO, THE FLOWER MARKET</p> +<a href="images/illus065_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>This miserable chapter of Florentine history ended +tragically in 1308, with the death of Corso Donati. +In his old age he had married a daughter of Florence's +deadliest foe, the great Ghibelline champion, Uguccione +della Faggiuola; and, in secret understanding with +Uguccione and the Cardinal Napoleone degli Orsini +(Pope Clement V. had already transferred the papal +chair to Avignon and commenced the Babylonian captivity),<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">[53]</a></span> +he was preparing to overthrow the Signoria, +abolish the Ordinances, and make himself Lord of +Florence. But the people anticipated him. On Sunday +morning, October 16th, the Priors ordered their +great bell to be sounded; Corso was accused, condemned +as a traitor and rebel, and sentence pronounced +in less than an hour; and with the great Gonfalon of +the People displayed, the forces of the Commune, supported +by the swordsmen of the Della Tosa and a band +of Catalan mercenaries in the service of the King of +Naples, marched upon the Piazza di San Piero Maggiore. +Over the Corbizzi tower floated the banner of the +Donati, but only a handful of men gathered round the +fierce old noble who, himself unable by reason of his +gout to bear arms, encouraged them by his fiery words +to hold out to the last. But the soldiery of Uguccione +never came, and not a single magnate in the city stirred +to aid him. Corso, forced at last to abandon his position, +broke through his enemies, and, hotly pursued, +fled through the Porta alla Croce. He was overtaken, +captured, and barbarously slain by the lances of the +hireling soldiery, near the Badia di San Salvi, at the +instigation, as it was whispered, of Rosso della Tosa and +Pazzino dei Pazzi. The monks carried him, as he +lay dying, into the Abbey, where they gave him humble +sepulchre for fear of the people. With all his crimes, +there was nothing small in anything that Messer Corso +did; he was a great spirit, one who could have accomplished +mighty things in other circumstances, but who +could not breathe freely in the atmosphere of a mercantile +republic. "His life was perilous," says Dino +Compagni sententiously, "and his death was blame-worthy."</p> + +<p>A brief but glorious chapter follows, though denounced +in Dante's bitterest words. Hardly was +Corso dead when, after their long silence, the imperial<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">[54]</a></span> +trumpets were again heard in the Garden of the +Empire. Henry of Luxemburg, the last hero of the +Middle Ages, elected Emperor as Henry VII., crossed +the Alps in September 1310, resolved to heal the +wounds of Italy, and to revive the fading mediæval +dream of the Holy Roman Empire. In three wild +and terrible letters, Dante announced to the princes +and peoples of Italy the advent of this "peaceful +king," this "new Moses"; threatened the Florentines +with the vengeance of the Imperial Eagle; +urged Cæsar on against the city–"the sick sheep +that infecteth all the flock of the Lord with her +contagion." But the Florentines rose to the occasion, +and with the aid of their ally, the King of Naples, +formed what was practically an Italian confederation +to oppose the imperial invader. "It was at this +moment," writes Professor Villari, "that the small +merchant republic initiated a truly national policy, and +became a great power in Italy." From the middle of +September till the end of October, 1312, the imperial +army lay round Florence. The Emperor, sick with +fever, had his head-quarters in San Salvi. But he +dared not venture upon an attack, although the fortifications +were unfinished; and, in the following August, +the Signoria of Florence could write exultantly to their +allies, and announce "the blessed tidings" that "the +most savage tyrant, Henry, late Count of Luxemburg, +whom the rebellious persecutors of the Church, and +treacherous foes of ourselves and you, called King of +the Romans and Emperor of Germany," had died at +Buonconvento.</p> + +<p>But in the Empyrean Heaven of Heavens, in the +mystical convent of white stoles, Beatrice shows Dante +the throne of glory prepared for the soul of the noble-hearted +Cæsar:–<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">[55]</a></span></p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"In quel gran seggio, a che tu gli occhi tieni</span><br /> +<span class="i1">per la corona che già v'è su posta,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">prima che tu a queste nozze ceni,</span><br /> +sederà l'alma, che fia giù agosta,<br /> +<span class="i1">dell'alto Enrico, ch'a drizzare Italia</span><br /> +<span class="i1">verrà in prima che ella sia disposta."<a name="fnanchor_12" id="fnanchor_12"></a><a href="#footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></span><br /></p> + +<p>After this, darker days fell upon Florence. Dante, +with a renewed sentence of death upon his head, was +finishing his <i>Divina Commedia</i> at Verona and Ravenna,–until, on September 14th, 1321, he passed away in +the latter city, with the music of the pine-forest in his +ears and the monuments of dead emperors before his +dying eyes. Petrarch, after a childhood spent at +Carpentras, was studying law at Montpellier and +Bologna–until, on that famous April morning in +Santa Chiara at Avignon, he saw the golden-haired +girl who made him the greatest lyrist of the Middle +Ages. It was in the year 1327 that Laura–if +such was really her name–thus crossed his path. +Boccaccio, born at Certaldo in 1313, the year of the +Emperor Henry's death, was growing up in Florence, +a sharp and precocious boy. But the city was in a +woeful plight; harassed still by factious magnates and +burghers, plundered by foreign adventurers, who pretended +to serve her, heavily taxed by the Angevin +sovereigns–the <i>Reali</i>–of Naples. Florence had +taken first King Robert, and then his son, Charles of +Calabria, as overlord, for defence against external foes +(first Henry VII., then Uguccione della Faggiuola, +and then Castruccio Interminelli); and the vicars of +these Neapolitan princes replaced for a while the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">[56]</a></span> +Podestàs; their marshals robbed and corrupted; their +Catalan soldiers clamoured for pay. The wars with +Uguccione and Castruccio were most disastrous to the +Republic; and the fortunate coincidence of the deaths +of Castruccio and Charles of Calabria, in 1328, gave +Florence back her liberty at the very moment when +she no longer needed a defender. Although the +Florentines professed to regard this suzerainty of the +Reali di Napoli as an alliance rather than a subjection,–<i>compagnia +e non servitù</i> as Machiavelli puts it–it +was an undoubted relief when it ended. The State +was reorganised, and a new constitution confirmed in +a solemn Parliament held in the Piazza. Henceforth +the nomination of the Priors and Gonfaloniere was +effected by lot, and controlled by a complicated process +of scrutiny; the old councils were all annulled; +and in future there were to be only two chief councils–the +Council of the People, composed of 300 <i>popolani</i>, +presided over by the Captain, and the Council of the +Commune, of 250, presided over by the Podestà, in +which latter (as in former councils of the kind) both +<i>popolani</i> and <i>grandi</i> could sit. Measures proposed by +the Government were submitted first to the Council +of the People, and then, if approved, to that of the +Commune.</p> + +<p>Within the next few years, in spite of famine, +disease, and a terrible inundation of the Arno in 1333, +the Republic largely extended its sway. Pistoia, +Arezzo, and other places of less account owned its +signory; but an attempt to get possession of Lucca–with +the incongruous aid of the Germans–failed. +After the flood, the work of restoration was first +directed by Giotto; and to this epoch we owe the +most beautiful building in Florence, the Campanile. +The discontent, excited by the mismanagement of the +war against Lucca, threw the Republic into the arms<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">[57]</a></span> +of a new and peculiarly atrocious tyrant, Walter de +Brienne, Duke of Athens, a French soldier of fortune, +connected by blood with the <i>Reali</i> of Naples. Elected +first as war captain and chief justice, he acquired credit +with the populace and the magnates by his executions +of unpopular burghers; and finally, on September 8th, +1342, in the Piazza della Signoria, he was appointed +Lord of Florence for life, amidst the acclamations of +the lowest sections of the mob and the paid retainers of +the treacherous nobles. The Priors were driven from +their palace, the books of the Ordinances destroyed, +and the Duke's banner erected upon the People's +tower, while the church bells rang out the <i>Te Deum</i>. +Arezzo, Pistoia, Colle di Val d'Elsa, San Gemignano, +and Volterra acknowledged his rule; and with a +curious mixture of hypocrisy, immorality, and revolting +cruelty, he reigned as absolute lord until the following +summer, backed by French and Burgundian soldiers +who flocked to him from all quarters. By that time +he had utterly disgusted all classes in the State, even +the magnates by whose favour he had won his throne +and the populace who had acclaimed him; and on the +Feast of St. Anne, July 26th, 1343, there was a +general rising. The instruments of his cruelty were +literally torn to pieces by the people, and he was +besieged in the Palazzo Vecchio, which he had transformed +into a fortress, and at length capitulated on +August 3rd. The Sienese and Count Simone de' Conti +Guidi, who had come to mediate, took him over the +Ponte Rubaconte, through the Porta San Niccolò and +thence into the Casentino, where they made him +solemnly ratify his abdication.</p> + +<p>"Note," says Giovanni Villani, who was present at +most of these things and has given us a most vivid +picture of them, "that even as the Duke with fraud +and treason took away the liberty of the Republic of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">[58]</a></span> +Florence on the day of Our Lady in September,<a name="fnanchor_13" id="fnanchor_13"></a><a href="#footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> not +regarding the reverence due to her, so, as it were in +divine vengeance, God permitted that the free citizens +with armed hand should win it back on the day of her +mother, Madonna Santa Anna, on the 26th day of +July 1343; and for this grace it was ordained by the +Commune that the Feast of St. Anne should ever be +kept like Easter in Florence, and that there should be +celebrated a solemn office and great offerings by the +Commune and all the Arts of Florence." St. Anne +henceforth became the chief patroness and protectoress +of the Republic, as Fra Bartolommeo painted her in +his great unfinished picture in the Uffizi; and the +solemn office and offerings were duly paid and celebrated +in Or San Michele. One of Villani's minor +grievances against the Duke is that he introduced +frivolous French fashions of dress into the city, instead +of the stately old Florentine costume, which the republicans +considered to be the authentic garb of ancient +Rome. That there was some ground for this complaint +will readily be seen, by comparing the figure of +a French cavalier in the Allegory of the Church in +the Spanish Chapel at Santa Maria Novella (the figure +formerly called Cimabue and now sometimes said to +represent Walter de Brienne himself), with the simple +grandeur and dignity of the dress worn by the burghers +on their tombs in Santa Croce, or by Dante in the +Duomo portrait.</p> + +<p>Only two months after the expulsion of the Duke +of Athens, the great quarrel between the magnates and +the people was fought to a finish, in September 1343. +On the northern side of the Arno, the magnates made +head at the houses of the Adimari near San Giovanni, +at the opening of the present Via Calzaioli, where one +of their towers still stands, at the houses of the Pazzi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">[59]</a></span> +and Donati in the Piazza di San Pier Maggiore, and +round those of the Cavalcanti in Mercato Nuovo. +The people under their great gonfalon and the standards +of the companies, led by the Medici and Rondinelli, +stormed one position after another, forcing the defenders +to surrender. On the other side of the Arno, +the magnates and their retainers held the bridges and +the narrow streets beyond. The Porta San Giorgio +was in their hands, and, through it, reinforcements +were hurried up from the country. Repulsed at the +Ponte Vecchio and the Ponte Rubaconte, the forces of +the people with their victorious standards at last +carried the Ponte alla Carraia, which was held by the +Nerli; and next, joined by the populace of the +Oltrarno, forced the Rossi and Frescobaldi to yield. +The Bardi alone remained; and, in that narrow street +which still bears their name, and on the Ponte Vecchio +and the Ponte Rubaconte, they withstood single-handed +the onslaught of the whole might of the people, +until they were assailed in the rear from the direction +of the Via Romana. The infuriated populace sacked +their houses, destroyed and burned the greater part of +their palaces and towers. The long struggle between +<i>grandi</i> and <i>popolani</i> was thus ended at last. "This +was the cause," says Machiavelli, "that Florence was +stripped not only of all martial skill, but also of all +generosity." The government was again reformed, +and the minor arts admitted to a larger share; between +the <i>popolo grosso</i> and them, between burghers +and populace, lay the struggle now, which was to end +in the Medicean rule.</p> + +<p>But on all these perpetual changes in the form of the +government of Florence the last word had, perhaps, +been said in Dante's sarcastic outburst a quarter of +a century before:–<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"Atene e Lacedemone, che fenno</span><br /> +<span class="i1">l'antiche leggi, e furon sì civili,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">fecero al viver bene un picciol cenno</span><br /> +verso di te, che fai tanto sottili<br /> +<span class="i1">provvedimenti, che a mezzo novembre</span><br /> +<span class="i1">non giunge quel che tu d'ottobre fili.</span><br /> +Quante volte del tempo che rimembre,<br /> +<span class="i1">legge, moneta, offizio, e costume</span><br /> +<span class="i1">hai tu mutato, e rinnovato membre?</span><br /> +E se ben ti ricordi, e vedi lume,<br /> +<span class="i1">vedrai te simigliante a quella inferma,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">che non può trovar posa in su le piume,</span><br /> +ma con dar volta suo dolore scherma."<a name="fnanchor_14" id="fnanchor_14"></a><a href="#footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>The terrible pestilence, known as the Black Death, +swept over Europe in 1348. During the five months +in which it devastated Florence three-fifths of the +population perished, all civic life was suspended, and +the gayest and most beautiful of cities seemed for a +while to be transformed into the dim valley of disease +and sin that lies outstretched at the bottom of Dante's +Malebolge. It has been described, in all its horrors, +in one of the most famous passages of modern prose–that +appalling introduction to Boccaccio's <i>Decameron</i>. +From the city in her agony, Boccaccio's three noble +youths and seven "honest ladies" fled to the villas of +Settignano and Fiesole, where they strove to drown the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">[61]</a></span> +horror of the time by their music and dancing, their +feasting and too often sadly obscene stories. Giovanni +Villani was among the victims in Florence, and +Petrarch's Laura at Avignon. The first canto of +Petrarch's <i>Triumph of Death</i> appears to be, in part, +an allegorical representation–written many years later–of +this fearful year.</p> + +<p>During the third quarter of this fourteenth century–the +years which still saw the Popes remaining in +their Babylonian exile at Avignon–the Florentines +gradually regained their lost supremacy over the cities +of Tuscany: Colle di Val d'Elsa, San Gemignano, +Prato, Pistoia, Volterra, San Miniato dei Tedeschi. +They carried on a war with the formidable tyrant +of Milan, the Archbishop Giovanni Visconti, whose +growing power was a perpetual menace to the liberties +of the Tuscan communes. They made good use of +the descent of the feeble emperor, Charles IV., into +Italy; waged a new war with their old rival, Pisa; +and readily accommodated themselves to the baser +conditions of warfare that prevailed, now that Italy +was the prey of the companies of mercenaries, ready to +be hired by whatever prince or republic could afford +the largest pay, or to fall upon whatever city seemed +most likely to yield the heaviest ransom. Within the +State itself the <i>popolo minuto</i> and the Minor Guilds +were advancing in power; Florence was now divided +into four quarters (San Giovanni, Santa Maria Novella, +Santa Croce, Santo Spirito), instead of the old Sesti; +and the Signoria was now composed of the Gonfaloniere +and <i>eight</i> Priors, two from each quarter (instead of the +former six), of whom two belonged to the Minor Arts. +These, of course, still held office for only two months. +Next came the twelve Buonuomini, who were the +counsellors of the Signoria, and held office for three +months; and the sixteen Gonfaloniers of the city<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">[62]</a></span> +companies, four from each quarter, holding office for +four months. And there were, as before, the two +great Councils of the People and the Commune; and +still the three great officers who carried out their +decrees, the Podestà, the Captain, the Executor of +Justice. The feuds of Ricci and Albizzi kept up the +inevitable factions, much as the Buondelmonti and +Uberti, Cerchi and Donati had done of old; and an +iniquitous system of "admonishing" those who were +suspected of Ghibelline descent (the <i>ammoniti</i> being +excluded from office under heavy penalties) threw +much power into the hands of the captains of the +Parte Guelfa, whose oppressive conduct earned them +deadly hatred. "To such arrogance," says Machiavelli, +"did the captains of the Party mount, that they +were feared more than the members of the Signoria, +and less reverence was paid to the latter than to the +former; the palace of the Party was more esteemed +than that of the Signoria, so that no ambassador +came to Florence without having commissions to the +captains."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_10" id="illo_10"></a> +<img src="images/illus077_tmb.jpg" width="251" height="400" alt="THE CAMPANILE" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE CAMPANILE</p> +<a href="images/illus077_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Pope Gregory XI preceded his return to Rome by +an attempted reconquest of the States of the Church, +by means of foreign legates and hireling soldiers, of +whom the worst were Bretons and English; although +St. Catherine of Siena implored him, in the name of +Christ, to come with the Cross in hand, like a meek +lamb, and not with armed bands. The horrible atrocities +committed in Romagna by these mercenaries, +especially at Faenza and Cesena, stained what might +have been a noble pontificate. Against Pope Gregory +and his legates, the Florentines carried on a long and +disastrous war; round the Otto della Guerra, the eight +magistrates to whom the management of the war was +intrusted, rallied those who hated the Parte Guelfa. +The return of Gregory to Rome in 1377 opens a new<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">[65]</a></span> +epoch in Italian history. Echoes of this unnatural +struggle between Florence and the Pope reach us in +the letters of St Catherine and the canzoni of Franco +Sacchetti; in the latter is some faint sound of Dante's +<i>saeva indignatio</i> against the unworthy pastors of the +Church, but in the former we are lifted far above the +miserable realities of a conflict carried on by political +intrigue and foreign mercenaries, into the mystical realms +of pure faith and divine charity.</p> + +<p>In 1376, the Loggia dei Priori, now less pleasantly +known as the Loggia dei Lanzi, was founded; and in +1378 the bulk of the Duomo was practically completed. +This may be taken as the close of the first or "heroic" +epoch of Florentine Art, which runs simultaneously with +the great democratic period of Florentine history, represented +in literature by Dante and Boccaccio. The +Duomo, the Palace of the Podestà, the Palace of the +Priors, Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce, Or San +Michele, the Loggia of the Bigallo, and the Third +Walls of the City (of which, on the northern side of +the Arno, the gates alone remain), are its supreme +monuments in architecture. Its heroes of greatest +name are Arnolfo di Cambio, Giotto di Bondone, +Andrea Pisano, Andrea di Cione or Orcagna (the +"Archangel"), and, lastly and but recently recognised, +Francesco Talenti.</p> + +<p>"No Italian architect," says Addington Symonds, +"has enjoyed the proud privilege of stamping his own +individuality more strongly on his native city than +Arnolfo." At present, the walls of the city (or what +remains of them)–<i>le mura di Fiorenza</i> which Lapo +Gianni would fain see <i>inargentate</i>–and the bulk of +the Palazzo Vecchio and Santa Croce, alone represent +Arnolfo's work. But the Duomo (mainly, in its present +form, due to Francesco Talenti) probably still retains +in part his design; and the glorious Church of Or San<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">[66]</a></span> +Michele, of which the actual architect is not certainly +known, stands on the site of his Loggia.</p> + +<p>Giovanni Cimabue, the father of Florentine painting +as Arnolfo of Florentine architecture, survives only as +a name in Dante's immortal verse. Not a single +authentic work remains from his hand in Florence. +His supposed portrait in the cloisters of Santa Maria +Novella is now held to be that of a French knight; +the famous picture of the Madonna and Child with +her angelic ministers, in the Rucellai Chapel, is shown +to be the work of a Sienese master; and the other +paintings once ascribed to him have absolutely no +claims to bear his name. But the Borgo Allegro +still bears its title from the rejoicings that hailed his +masterpiece, and perhaps it is best that his achievement +should thus live, only as a holy memory:–</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"Credette Cimabue nella pittura</span><br /> +tener lo campo, ed ora ha Giotto il grido,<br /> +sì che la fama di colui è oscura."<a name="fnanchor_15" id="fnanchor_15"></a><a href="#footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a><br /></p> + +<p>Of Cimabue's great pupil, Dante's friend and contemporary, +Giotto, we know and possess much more. +Through him mediæval Italy first spoke out through +painting, and with no uncertain sound. He was born +some ten years later than Dante. Cimabue–or so the +legend runs, which is told by Leonardo da Vinci +amongst others–found him among the mountains, +guarding his father's flocks and drawing upon the +stones the movements of the goats committed to his +care. He was a typical Florentine craftsman; favoured +by popes, admitted to the familiarity of kings, he remained +to the end the same unspoilt shepherd whom +Cimabue had found. Many choice and piquant tales +are told by the novelists about his ugly presence and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">[67]</a></span> +rare personality, his perpetual good humour, his sharp +and witty answers to king and rustic alike, his hatred +of all pretentiousness, carried to such an extent that he +conceived a rooted objection to hearing himself called +<i>maestro</i>. Padua and Assisi possess some of his very +best work; but Florence can still show much. Two +chapels in Santa Croce are painted by his hand; of the +smaller pictures ascribed to him in churches and galleries, +there is one authentic–the Madonna in the +Accademia; and, perhaps most beautiful of all, the +Campanile which he designed and commenced still rises +in the midst of the city. Giotto died in 1336; his +work was carried on by Andrea Pisano and practically +finished by Francesco Talenti.</p> + +<p>Andrea di Ugolino Pisano (1270-1348), usually +simply called Andrea Pisano, is similarly the father of +Florentine sculpture. Vasari's curiously inaccurate +account of him has somewhat blurred his real figure +in the history of art. His great achievements are the +casting of the first gate of the Baptistery in bronze, +his work–apparently from Giotto's designs–in the +lower series of marble reliefs round the Campanile, +and his continuation of the Campanile itself after +Giotto's death. He is said by Vasari to have built +the Porta di San Frediano.</p> + +<p>There is little individuality in the followers of +Giotto, who carried on his tradition and worked in +his manner. They are very much below their master, +and are often surpassed by the contemporary painters +of Siena, such as Simone Martini and Ambrogio +Lorenzetti. Taddeo Gaddi and his son, Agnolo, +Giovanni di Milano, Bernardo Daddi, are their leaders; +the chief title to fame of the first-named being the +renowned Ponte Vecchio. But their total achievement, +in conjunction with the Sienese, was of heroic +magnitude. They covered the walls of churches and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">[68]</a></span> +chapels, especially those connected with the Franciscans +and Dominicans, with the scenes of Scripture, +with the lives of Madonna and her saints; they set +forth in all its fullness the whole Gospel story, for +those who could neither read nor write; they conceived +vast allegories of human life and human destinies; +they filled the palaces of the republics with painted +parables of good government. "By the grace of +God," says a statute of Sienese painters, "we are +the men who make manifest to the ignorant and unlettered +the miraculous things achieved by the power +and virtue of the Faith." At Siena, at Pisa and at +Assisi, are perhaps the greatest works of this school; +but here, in Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella, +there is much, and of a very noble and characteristic +kind. Spinello Aretino (1333-1410) may be regarded +as the last of the Giotteschi; you may see +his best series of frescoes in San Miniato, setting forth +with much skill and power the life of the great Italian +monk, whose face Dante so earnestly prayed to behold +unveiled in Paradise.</p> + +<p>This heroic age of sculpture and painting culminated +in Andrea Orcagna (1308-1368), Andrea Pisano's +great pupil. Painter and sculptor, architect and +poet, Orcagna is at once the inheritor of Niccolò and +Giovanni Pisano, and of Giotto. The famous frescoes +in the Pisan Campo Santo are now known to be +the work of some other hand; his paintings in Santa +Croce, with their priceless portraits, have perished; +and, although frequently consulted in the construction +of the Duomo, it is tolerably certain that he was not +the architect of any of the Florentine buildings once +ascribed to him. The Strozzi chapel of St Thomas +in Santa Maria Novella, the oratory of the Madonna +in San Michele in Orto, contain all his extant works; +and they are sufficient to prove him, next to Giotto,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">[69]</a></span> +the greatest painter of his century, with a feeling for +grace and beauty even above Giotto's, and only less +excellent in marble. Several of his poems have been +preserved, mostly of a slightly satirical character; one, +a sonnet on the nature of love, <i>Molti volendo dir che fosse +Amore</i>, has had the honour of being ascribed to Dante.</p> + +<p>With the third quarter of the century, the first great +epoch of Italian letters closes also. On the overthrow +of the House of Suabia at Benevento, the centre of +culture had shifted from Sicily to Tuscany, from +Palermo to Florence. The prose and poetry of this +epoch is almost entirely Tuscan, although the second +of its greatest poets, Francesco Petrarca, comparatively +seldom set foot within its boundaries. "My old nest +is restored to me," he wrote to the Signoria, when +they sent Boccaccio to invite his friend to return to +Florence, "I can fly back to it, and I can fold there +my wandering wings." But, save for a few flying +visits, Petrarch had little inclination to attach himself +to one city, when he felt that all Italy was his country.</p> + +<p>Dante had set forth all that was noblest in mediæval +thought in imperishable form, supremely in his <i>Divina +Commedia</i>, but appreciably and nobly in his various +minor works as well, both verse and prose. Villani +had started historical Italian prose on its triumphant +course. Petrarch and Boccaccio, besides their great +gifts to Italian literature, in the ethereal poetry of the +one, painting every varying mood of the human soul, +and the licentious prose of the other, hymning the +triumph of the flesh, stand on the threshold of +the Renaissance. Other names crowd in upon us +at each stage of this epoch. Apart from his rare +personality, Guido Cavalcanti's <i>ballate</i> are his chief +title to poetic fame, but, even so, less than the monument +of glory that Dante has reared to him in the +<i>Vita Nuova</i>, in the <i>De Vulgari Eloquentia</i>, in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">[70]</a></span> +<i>Divina Commedia</i>. Dino Compagni, the chronicler +of the Whites and Blacks, was only less admirable +as a patriot than as a historian. Matteo Villani, the +brother of Giovanni, and Matteo's son, Filippo, carried +on the great chronicler's work. Fra Jacopo Passavanti, +the Dominican prior of Santa Maria Novella, in the +middle of the century, showed how the purest Florentine +vernacular could be used for the purpose of simple +religious edification. Franco Sacchetti, politician, +novelist and poet, may be taken as the last Florentine +writer of this period; he anticipates the popular +lyrism of the Quattrocento, rather in the same way +as a group of scholars who at the same time gathered +round the Augustinian, Luigi Marsili, in his cell at +Santo Spirito heralds the coming of the humanists. +It fell to Franco Sacchetti to sing the dirge of this +heroic period of art and letters, in his elegiac canzoni +on the deaths of Petrarch and Boccaccio:–</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"Sonati sono i corni</span><br /> +d'ogni parte a ricolta;<br /> +la stagione è rivolta:<br /> +se tornerà non so, ma credo tardi."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_11" id="illo_11"></a> +<img src="images/illus084_tmb.jpg" width="150" height="240" alt="CROSS OF THE FLORENTINE PEOPLE" title="" /> +<p class="caption">CROSS OF THE FLORENTINE PEOPLE<br /> +(FROM OLD HOUSE ON NORTH SIDE OF DUOMO)</p> +<a href="images/illus084_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">[71]</a></p> +<h2 class="p6"><a name="chapter_iii" id="chapter_iii"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> +<h3><i>The Medici and the Quattrocento</i></h3> + +<p class="blockquot"> +"Tiranno è nome di uomo di mala vita, e pessimo fra +tutti gli altri uomini, che per forza sopra tutti vuol regnare, +massime quello che di cittadino è fatto tiranno."–<i>Savonarola.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"The Renaissance of the fifteenth century was in many +things great, rather by what it designed or aspired to do, +than by what it actually achieved."–<i>Walter Pater.</i></p> + +<p><i><span class="dropcap">N</span>ON già Salvestro ma Salvator mundi</i>, "thou that +with noble wisdom hast saved thy country." +Thus in a sonnet does Franco Sacchetti hail Salvestro +dei Medici, the originator of the greatness of his house. +In 1378, while the hatred between the Parte Guelfa +and the adherents of the Otto della Guerra–the rivalry +between the Palace of the Party and the Palace of the +Signory–was at its height, the Captains of the Party +conspired to seize upon the Palace of the Priors and +take possession of the State. Their plans were frustrated +by Salvestro dei Medici, a rich merchant and +head of his ambitious and rising family, who was then +Gonfaloniere of Justice. He proposed to restore the +Ordinances against the magnates, and, when this petition +was rejected by the Signoria and the Colleges,<a name="fnanchor_16" id="fnanchor_16"></a><a href="#footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> he +appealed to the Council of the People. The result was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">[72]</a></span> +a riot, followed by a long series of tumults throughout +the city; the <i>Arti Minori</i> came to the front in arms; +and, finally, the bloody revolution known as the Tumult +of the Ciompi burst over Florence. These Ciompi, +the lowest class of artizans and all those who were not +represented in the Arts, headed by those who were +subject to the great Arte della Lana, had been much +favoured by the Duke of Athens, and had been given +consuls and a standard with an angel painted upon it. +On the fall of the Duke, these Ciompi, or <i>popolo +minuto</i>, had lost these privileges, and were probably +much oppressed by the consuls of the Arte della Lana. +Secretly instigated by Salvestro–who thus initiated +the Medicean policy of undermining the Republic by +means of the populace–they rose <i>en masse</i> on July +20th, captured the Palace of the Podestà, burnt the +houses of their enemies and the Bottega of the Arte +della Lana, seized the standard of the people, and, +with it and the banners of the Guilds displayed, came +into the Piazza to demand a share in the government. +On July 22nd they burst into the Palace of the Priors, +headed by a wool-comber, Michele di Lando, carrying +in his hands the great Gonfalon; him they acclaimed +Gonfaloniere and lord of the city.</p> + +<p>This rough and half-naked wool-comber, whose +mother made pots and pans and whose wife sold +greens, is one of the heroes of Florentine history; and +his noble simplicity throughout the whole affair is in +striking contrast with the self-seeking and intrigues +of the rich aristocratic merchants whose tool, to some +extent, he appears to have been. The pious historian, +Jacopo Nardi, likens him to the heroes of ancient +Rome, Curius and Fabricius, and ranks him as a +patriot and deliverer of the city, far above even +Farinata degli Uberti. The next day the Parliament +was duly summoned in the Piazza, Michele confirmed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">[73]</a></span> +in his office, and a Balìa (or commission) given to him, +together with the Eight and the Syndics of the Arts, +to reform the State and elect the new Signoria–in +which the newly constituted Guilds of the populace +were to have a third with those of the greater and +minor Arts. But, before Michele's term of office +was over, the Ciompi were in arms again, fiercer than +ever and with more outrageous demands, following the +standards of the Angel and some of the minor Arts (who +appear to have in part joined them). From Santa +Maria Novella, their chosen head-quarters, on the last +day of August they sent two representatives to overawe +the Signoria. But Michele di Lando, answering their +insolence with violence, rode through the city with the +standard of Justice floating before him, while the great +bell of the Priors' tower called the Guilds to arms; and +by evening the populace had melted away, and the +government of the people was re-established. The new +Signoria was greeted in a canzone by Sacchetti, in which +he declares that Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance +are once more reinstated in the city.</p> + +<p>For the next few years the Minor Arts predominated +in the government. Salvestro dei Medici +kept in the background, but was presently banished. +Michele di Lando seemed contented to have saved the +State, and took little further share in the politics of +the city. He appears later on to have been put under +bounds at Chioggia; but to have returned to Florence +before his death in 1401, when he was buried in Santa +Croce. There were still tumults and conspiracies, +resulting in frequent executions and banishments; while, +without, inglorious wars were carried on by the companies +of mercenary soldiers. This is the epoch in +which the great English captain, Hawkwood, entered +the service of the Florentine State. In 1382, after +the execution of Giorgio Scali and the banishment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">[74]</a></span> +Tommaso Strozzi (noble burghers who headed the +populace), the newly constituted Guilds were abolished, +and the government returned to the greater Arts, who +now held two-thirds of the offices–a proportion which +was later increased to three-quarters.</p> + +<p>The period which follows, from 1382 to 1434, +sees the close of the democratic government of +Florence. The Republic, nominally still ruled by +the greater Guilds, is in reality sustained and swayed +by the <i>nobili popolani</i> or <i>Ottimati</i>, members of wealthy +families risen by riches or talent out of these greater +Guilds into a new kind of burgher aristocracy. The +struggle is now no longer between the Palace of the +Signory and the Palace of the Party–for the days of +the power of the Parte Guelfa are at an end–but +between the Palace and the Piazza. The party of +the Minor Arts and the Populace is repressed and +ground down with war taxes; but behind them the +Medici lurk and wait–first Vieri, then Giovanni di +Averardo, then Cosimo di Giovanni–ever on the +watch to put themselves at their head, and through +them overturn the State. The party of the Ottimati +is first led by Maso degli Albizzi, then by Niccolò +da Uzzano, and lastly by Rinaldo degli Albizzi and +his adherents–illustrious citizens not altogether unworthy +of the great Republic that they swayed–the +sort of dignified civic patricians whose figures, a little +later, were to throng the frescoes of Masaccio and +Ghirlandaio. But they were divided among themselves, +persecuted their adversaries with proscription +and banishment, thus making the exiles a perpetual +source of danger to the State, and they were hated by +the populace because of the war taxes. These wars +were mainly carried on by mercenaries–who were +now more usually Italians than foreigners–and, in +spite of frequent defeats, generally ended well for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">[75]</a></span> +Florence. Arezzo was purchased in 1384. A fierce +struggle was carried on a few years later (1390-1402) +with the "great serpent," Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti, +who hoped to make himself King of Italy by violence as +he had made himself Duke of Milan by treachery, and +intended to be crowned in Florence. Pisa was finally +and cruelly conquered in 1406; Cortona was obtained +as the result of a prolonged war with King Ladislaus +of Naples in 1414, in which the Republic had seemed +once more in danger of falling into the hands of a +foreign tyrant; and in 1421 Leghorn was sold to +the Florentines by the Genoese, thus opening the sea +to their merchandise.</p> + +<p>The deaths of Giovanni Galeazzo and Ladislaus +freed the city from her most formidable external foes; +and for a while she became the seat of the Papacy, the +centre of Christendom. In 1419, after the schism, +Pope Martin V. took up his abode in Florence; the +great condottiere, Braccio, came with his victorious +troops to do him honour; and the deposed John +XXIII. humbled himself before the new Pontiff, and +was at last laid to rest among the shadows of the +Baptistery. In his <i>Storia Florentina</i> Guicciardini declares +that the government at this epoch was the +wisest, the most glorious and the happiest that the +city had ever had. It was the dawn of the Renaissance, +and Florence was already full of artists and +scholars, to whom these <i>nobili popolani</i> were as generous +and as enlightened patrons as their successors, the +Medici, were to be. Even Cosimo's fervent admirer, +the librarian Vespasiano Bisticci, endorses Guicciardini's +verdict: "In that time," he says, "from 1422 +to 1433, the city of Florence was in a most blissful +state, abounding with excellent men in every faculty, +and it was full of admirable citizens."</p> + +<p>Maso degli Albizzi died in 1417; and his successors<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">[76]</a></span> +in the oligarchy–the aged Niccolò da Uzzano, +who stood throughout for moderation, and the fiery +but less competent Rinaldo degli Albizzi–were no +match for the rising and unscrupulous Medici. With +the Albizzi was associated the noblest and most +generous Florentine of the century, Palla Strozzi. +The war with Filippo Visconti, resulting in the disastrous +rout of Zagonara, and an unjust campaign +against Lucca, in which horrible atrocities were committed +by the Florentine commissioner, Astorre Gianni, +shook their government. Giovanni dei Medici, the +richest banker in Italy, was now the acknowledged +head of the opposition; he had been Gonfaloniere in +1421, but would not put himself actively forward, +although urged on by his sons, Cosimo and Lorenzo. +He died in 1429; Niccolò da Uzzano followed him +to the grave in 1432; and the final struggle between +the fiercer spirits, Rinaldo and Cosimo, was at hand. +"All these citizens," said Niccolò, shortly before his +death, "some through ignorance, some through malice, +are ready to sell this republic; and, thanks to their +good fortune, they have found the purchaser."</p> + +<p>Shortly before this date, Masaccio painted all the +leading spirits of the time in a fresco in the cloisters of +the Carmine. This has been destroyed, but you may +see a fine contemporary portrait of Giovanni in the +Uffizi. The much admired and famous coloured bust +in the Bargello, called the portrait of Niccolò da +Uzzano by Donatello, has probably nothing to do +either with Niccolò or with Donatello. Giovanni has +the air of a prosperous and unpretending Florentine +tradesman, but with a certain obvious parade of his +lack of pushfulness.</p> + +<p>In 1433 the storm broke. A Signory hostile to +Cosimo being elected, he was summoned to the Palace +and imprisoned in an apartment high up in the Tower,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">[77]</a></span> +a place known as the Alberghettino. Rinaldo degli +Albizzi held the Piazza with his soldiery, and Cosimo +heard the great bell ringing to call the people to +Parliament, to grant a Balìa to reform the government +and decide upon his fate. But he was too powerful at +home and abroad; his popularity with those whom he had +raised from low estate, and those whom he had relieved +by his wealth, his influence with the foreign powers, such +as Venice and Ferrara, were so great that his foes dared +not take his life; and, indeed, they were hardly the +men to have attempted such a crime. Banished to +Padua (his brother Lorenzo and other members of his +family being put under bounds at different cities), he +was received everywhere, not as a fugitive, but as a +prince; and the library of the Benedictines, built by +Michelozzo at his expense, once bore witness to his +stay in Venice. Hardly a year had passed when a +new Signory was chosen, favourable to the Medici; +Rinaldo degli Albizzi, after a vain show of resistance, +laid down his arms on the intervention of Pope Eugenius, +who was then at Santa Maria Novella, and was banished +for ever from the city with his principal adherents. +And finally, in a triumphant progress from Venice, +"carried back to his country upon the shoulders of +all Italy," as he said, Cosimo and his brother Lorenzo +entered Florence on October 6th, 1434, rode past the +deserted palaces of the Albizzi to the Palace of the +Priors, and next day returned in triumph to their own +house in the Via Larga.</p> + +<p>The Republic had practically fallen; the head of +the Medici was virtually prince of the city and of her +fair dominion. But Florence was not Milan or Naples, +and Cosimo's part as tyrant was a peculiar one. The +forms of the government were, with modifications, +preserved; but by means of a Balìa empowered to +elect the chief magistrates for a period of five years,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_78" id="page_78">[78]</a></span> +and then renewed every five years, he secured that the +Signoria should always be in his hands, or in those of +his adherents. The grand Palace of the Priors was +still ostensibly the seat of government; but, in reality, +the State was in the firm grasp of the thin, dark-faced +merchant in the Palace in the Via Larga, which we +now know as the Palazzo Riccardi. Although in the +earlier part of his reign he was occasionally elected +Gonfaloniere, he otherwise held no office ostensibly, +and affected the republican manner of a mere wealthy +citizen. His personality, combined with the widely +ramifying banking relations of the Medici, gave him an +almost European influence. His popularity among the +mountaineers and in the country districts, from which +armed soldiery were ever ready to pour down into the +city in his defence, made him the fitting man for the +ever increasing external sway of Florence. The forms +of the Republic were preserved, but he consolidated his +power by a general levelling and disintegration, by +severing the nerves of the State and breaking the power +of the Guilds. He had certain hard and cynical +maxims for guidance: "Better a city ruined than a +city lost," "States are not ruled by Pater-Nosters," +"New and worthy citizens can be made by a few ells +of crimson cloth." So he elevated to wealth and power +men of low kind, devoted to and dependent on himself; +crushed the families opposed to him, or citizens who +seemed too powerful, by wholesale banishments, or by +ruining them with fines and taxation, although there was +comparatively little blood shed. He was utterly ruthless +in all this, and many of the noblest Florentine +citizens fell victims. One murder must be laid to his +charge, and it is one of peculiar, for him, unusual atrocity. +Baldaccio d'Anghiari, a young captain of infantry, who +promised fair to take a high place among the condottieri +of the day, was treacherously invited to speak with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_79" id="page_79">[79]</a></span> +Gonfaloniere in the Palace of the Priors, and there +stabbed to death by hireling assassins from the hills, +and his body flung ignominiously into the Piazza. +Cosimo's motive is said to have been partly jealousy +of a possible rival, Neri Capponi, who had won popularity +by his conquest of the Casentino for Florence in +1440, and who was intimate with Baldaccio; and +partly desire to gratify Francesco Sforza, whose +treacherous designs upon Milan he was furthering by +the gold wrung from his over-taxed Florentines, and +to whose plans Baldaccio was prepared to offer an +obstacle.</p> + +<p>Florence was still for a time the seat of the Papacy. +In January 1439, the Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople, +and the Emperor of the East, John Paleologus, +came to meet Pope Eugenius for the Council of +Florence, which was intended to unite the Churches +of Christendom. The Patriarch died here, and is +buried in Santa Maria Novella. In the Riccardi +Palace you may see him and the Emperor, forced, +as it were, to take part in the triumph of the Medici +in Benozzo Gozzoli's fresco–riding with them in the +gorgeous train, that sets out ostensibly to seek the Babe +of Bethlehem, and evidently has no intention of finding +Him. Pope Eugenius returned to Rome in 1444; +and in 1453 Mahomet II. stormed Constantinople, and +Greek exiles thronged to Rome and Florence. In +1459, marvellous pageants greeted Pius II. in the +city, on his way to stir up the Crusade that never +went.</p> + +<p>In his foreign policy Cosimo inaugurated a totally +new departure for Florence; he commenced a line of +action which was of the utmost importance in Italian +politics, and which his son and grandson carried still +further. The long wars with which the last of the +Visconti, Filippo Maria, harassed Italy and pressed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_80" id="page_80">[80]</a></span> +Florence hard (in the last of these Rinaldo degli +Albizzi and the exiles approached near enough to +catch a distant glimpse of the city from which they +were relentlessly shut out), ended with his death in +1447. Cosimo dei Medici now allied himself with +the great condottiere, Francesco Sforza, and aided him +with money to make good his claims upon the Duchy +of Milan. Henceforth this new alliance between +Florence and Milan, between the Medici and the +Sforza, although most odious in the eyes of the +Florentine people, became one of the chief factors +in the balance of power in Italy. Soon afterwards +Alfonso, the Aragonese ruler of Naples, entered into +this triple alliance; Venice and Rome to some extent +being regarded as a double alliance to counterbalance +this. To these foreign princes Cosimo was almost as +much prince of Florence as they of their dominions; +and by what was practically a <i>coup d'état</i> in 1459, +Cosimo and his son Piero forcibly overthrew the last +attempt of their opponents to get the Signoria out of +their hands, and, by means of the creation of a new +and permanent Council of a hundred of their chief +adherents, more firmly than ever secured their hold +upon the State.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_12" id="illo_12"></a> +<img src="images/illus094_tmb.jpg" width="400" height="180" alt="FLORENCE IN THE DAYS OF LORENZO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">FLORENCE IN THE DAYS OF LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT<br /> +From an engraving, of about 1490, in the Berlin Museum</p> +<a href="images/illus094_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>In his private life Cosimo was the simplest and most +unpretentious of tyrants, and lived the life of a wealthy +merchant-burgher of the day in its nobler aspects. He +was an ideal father, a perfect man of business, an +apparently kindly fellow-citizen to all. Above all +things he loved the society of artists and men of +letters; Brunelleschi and Michelozzo, Donatello and +Fra Lippo Lippi–to name only a few more intimately +connected with him–found in him the most generous +and discerning of patrons; many of the noblest Early +Renaissance churches and convents in Florence and its +neighbourhood are due to his munificence–San Lorenzo<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_81" id="page_81">[81]</a></span> +and San Marco and the Badia of Fiesole are the most +typical–and he even founded a hospital in Jerusalem. +To a certain extent this was what we should now call +"conscience money." His friend and biographer, +Vespasiano Bisticci, writes: "He did these things +because it appeared to him that he held money, not +over well acquired; and he was wont to say that to +God he had never given so much as to find Him on +his books a debtor. And likewise he said: I know +the humours of this city; fifty years will not pass before +we are driven out; but the buildings will remain." +The Greeks, who came to the Council of Florence or +fled from the in-coming Turk, stimulated the study of +their language and philosophy–though this had really +commenced in the days of the Republic, before the +deaths of Petrarch and Boccaccio–and found in Cosimo +an ardent supporter. He founded great libraries in San +Marco and in the Badia of Fiesole, the former with +part of the codices collected by the scholar Niccolò +Niccoli; although he had banished the old Palla Strozzi, +the true renovator of the Florentine University, into +hopeless exile. Into the Neo-Platonism of the Renaissance +Cosimo threw himself heart and soul. "To +Cosimo," writes Burckhardt, "belongs the special +glory of recognising in the Platonic philosophy the +fairest flower of the ancient world of thought, of inspiring +his friends with the same belief, and thus of +fostering within humanistic circles themselves another +and a higher resuscitation of antiquity." In a youth of +Figline, Marsilio Ficino, the son of a doctor, Cosimo +found a future high priest of this new religion of love +and beauty; and bidding him minister to the minds of +men rather than to their bodies, brought him into his +palace, and gave him a house in the city and a beautiful +farm near Careggi. Thus was founded the famous +Platonic Academy, the centre of the richest Italian<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_82" id="page_82">[82]</a></span> +thought of the century. As his end drew near, Cosimo +turned to the consolations of religion, and would pass +long hours in his chosen cell in San Marco, communing +with the Dominican Archbishop, Antonino, and Fra +Angelico, the painter of mediæval Paradise. And with +these thoughts, mingled with the readings of Marsilio's +growing translation of Plato, he passed away at his villa +at Careggi in 1464, on the first of August. Shortly +before his death he had lost his favourite son, Giovanni; +and had been carried through his palace, in the Via +Larga, sighing that it was now too large a house for +so small a family. Entitled by public decree <i>Pater +Patriae</i>, he was buried at his own request without any +pompous funeral, beneath a simple marble in front of +the high altar of San Lorenzo.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_13" id="illo_13"></a> +<img src="images/illus097_tmb.jpg" width="287" height="400" alt="THE BADIA OF FIESOLE" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE BADIA OF FIESOLE</p> +<a href="images/illus097_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Cosimo was succeeded, not without some opposition +from rivals to the Medici within their own party, by +his son Piero. Piero's health was in a shattered condition–il +Gottoso, he was called–and for the most +part he lived in retirement at Careggi, occasionally +carried into Florence in his litter, leaving his brilliant +young son Lorenzo to act as a more ornamental figure-head +for the State. The personal appearance of Piero +is very different to that of his father or son; in his +portrait bust by Mino da Fiesole in the Bargello, and +in the picture by Bronzino in the National Gallery, +there is less craft and a certain air of frank and manly +resolution. In his daring move in support of Galeazzo +Maria Sforza, when, on the death of Francesco, it +seemed for a moment that the Milanese dynasty was +tottering, and his promptness in crushing the formidable +conspiracy of the "mountain" against himself, Piero +showed that sickness had not destroyed his faculty of +energetic action at the critical moment. He completely +followed out his father's policy, drawing still +tighter the bonds which united Florence with Milan<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_85" id="page_85">[85]</a></span> +and Naples, lavishing money on the decoration of the +city and the corruption of the people. The opposition +was headed by Luca Pitti, Agnolo Acciaiuoli, Dietisalvi +Neroni and others, who had been reckoned as +Cosimo's friends, but who were now intriguing with +Venice and Ferrara to overthrow his son. Hoping to +eclipse the Medici in their own special field of artistic +display and wholesale corruption, Luca Pitti commenced +that enormous palace which still bears the +name of his family, filled it with bravos and refugees, +resorted to all means fair or foul to get money to build +and corrupt. It seemed for a moment that the adherents +of the Mountain (as the opponents of the Medici +were called, from this highly situated Pitti Palace) +and the adherents of the Plain (where the comparatively +modest Medicean palace–now the Palazzo +Riccardi–stood in the Via Larga) might renew +the old factions of Blacks and Whites. But in the +late summer of 1466 the party of the Mountain was +finally crushed; they were punished with more mercy +than the Medici generally showed, and Luca Pitti was +practically pardoned and left to a dishonourable old age +in the unfinished palace, which was in after years to +become the residence of the successors of his foes. +About the same time Filippo Strozzi and other exiles +were allowed to return, and another great palace began +to rear its walls in the Via Tornabuoni, in after years +to be a centre of anti-Medicean intrigue.</p> + +<p>The brilliancy and splendour of Lorenzo's youth–he +who was hereafter to be known in history as the +Magnificent–sheds a rich glow of colour round the +closing months of Piero's pain-haunted life. Piero himself +had been content with a Florentine wife, Lucrezia +dei Tornabuoni, and he had married his daughters +to Florentine citizens, Guglielmo Pazzi and Bernardo +Rucellai; but Lorenzo must make a great foreign<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_86" id="page_86">[86]</a></span> +match, and was therefore given Clarice Orsini, the +daughter of a great Roman noble. The splendid +pageant in the Piazza Santa Croce, and the even more +gorgeous marriage festivities in the palace in the Via +Larga, were followed by a triumphal progress of the +young bridegroom through Tuscany and the Riviera to +Milan, to the court of that faithful ally of his house, +but most abominable monster, Giovanni Maria Sforza. +Piero died on December 3rd, 1469, and, like Cosimo, +desired the simple burial which his sons piously gave +him. His plain but beautiful monument designed by +Verrocchio is in the older sacristy of San Lorenzo, +where he lies with his brother Giovanni.</p> + +<p>"The second day after his death," writes Lorenzo +in his diary, "although I, Lorenzo, was very young, +in fact only in my twenty-first year, the leading men of +the city and of the ruling party came to our house to +express their sorrow for our misfortune, and to persuade +me to take upon myself the charge of the government +of the city, as my grandfather and father had +already done. This proposal being contrary to the +instincts of my age, and entailing great labour and +danger, I accepted against my will, and only for the +sake of protecting my friends, and our own fortunes, +for in Florence one can ill live in the possession of +wealth without control of the government."<a name="fnanchor_17" id="fnanchor_17"></a><a href="#footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>These two youths, Lorenzo and Giuliano, were now, +to all intents and purposes, lords and masters of Florence. +Lorenzo was the ruling spirit; outwardly, in +spite of his singularly harsh and unprepossessing appearance, +devoted to the cult of love and beauty, delighting +in sport and every kind of luxury, he was inwardly as +hard and cruel as tempered steel, and firmly fixed from +the outset upon developing the hardly defined prepotency +of his house into a complete personal despotism.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_87" id="page_87">[87]</a></span> +You may see him as a gallant boy in Benozzo Gozzoli's +fresco in the palace of his father and grandfather, +riding under a bay tree, and crowned with roses; and +then, in early manhood, in Botticelli's famous Adoration +of the Magi; and lastly, as a fully developed, +omniscient and all-embracing tyrant, in that truly terrible +picture by Vasari in the Uffizi, constructed out of +contemporary materials–surely as eloquent a sermon +against the iniquity of tyranny as the pages of Savonarola's +<i>Reggimento di Firenze</i>. Giuliano was a kindlier +and gentler soul, completely given up to pleasure and +athletics; he lives for us still in many a picture from +the hand of Sandro Botticelli, sometimes directly portrayed, +as in the painting which Morelli bequeathed to +Bergamo, more often idealised as Mars or as Hermes; +his love for the fair Simonetta inspired Botticellian +allegories and the most finished and courtly stanzas of +Poliziano. The sons of both these brothers were +destined to sit upon the throne of the Fisherman.</p> + +<p>A long step in despotism was gained in 1488, when +the two great Councils of the People and the Commune +were deprived of all their functions, which were now +invested in the thoroughly Medicean Council of the +Hundred. The next year Lorenzo's friend and ally, +Galeazzo Maria Sforza, with his Duchess and courtiers, +came to Florence. They were sumptuously received in +the Medicean palace. The licence and wantonness of +these Milanese scandalised even the lax Florentines, +and largely added to the growing corruption of the +city. The accidental burning of Santo Spirito during +the performance of a miracle play was regarded as a +certain sign of divine wrath. During his stay in +Florence the Duke, in contrast with whom the worst +of the Medici seems almost a saint, sat to one of the +Pollaiuoli for the portrait still seen in the Uffizi; by +comparison with him even Lorenzo looks charming;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_88" id="page_88">[88]</a></span> +at the back of the picture there is a figure of Charity–but +the Duke has very appropriately driven it to the +wall. Unpopular though this Medicean-Sforza alliance +was in Florence, it was undoubtedly one of the safe-guards +of the harmony which, superficially, still existed +between the five great powers of Italy. When Galeazzo +Maria met the fate he so richly deserved, and was +stabbed to death in the Church of San Stefano at +Milan on December 20th, 1476, Pope Sixtus gave +solemn utterance to the general dismay: <i>Oggi è morta +la pace d'Italia.</i></p> + +<p>But Sixtus and his nephews did not in their hearts +desire peace in Italy, and were plotting against Lorenzo +with the Pazzi, who, although united to the Medici by +marriage, had secret and growing grievances against +them. On the morning of Sunday April 26th, 1478, +the conspirators set upon the two brothers at Mass +in the Duomo; Giuliano perished beneath nineteen +dagger-stabs; Lorenzo escaped with a slight wound +in the neck. The Archbishop Salviati of Pisa in the +meantime attempted to seize the Palace of the Priors, +but was arrested by the Gonfaloniere, and promptly +hung out of the window for his trouble. Jacopo +Pazzi rode madly through the streets with an armed +force, calling the people to arms, with the old shout of +<i>Popolo e Libertà</i>, but was only answered by the ringing +cries of <i>Palle, Palle</i>.<a name="fnanchor_18" id="fnanchor_18"></a><a href="#footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The vengeance taken by the +people upon the conspirators was so prompt and terrible +that Lorenzo had little left him to do (though that +little he did to excess, punishing the innocent with the +guilty); and the result of the plot simply was to leave +him alone in the government, securely enthroned above +the splash of blood. The Pope appears not to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_89" id="page_89">[89]</a></span> +been actually privy to the murder, but he promptly took +up the cause of the murderers. It was followed by a +general break-up of the Italian peace and a disastrous +war, carried on mainly by mercenary soldiers, in which +all the powers of Italy were more or less engaged; and +Florence was terribly hard pressed by the allied forces +of Naples and Rome. The plague broke out in the +city; Lorenzo was practically deserted by his allies, +and on the brink of financial ruin. Then was it that +he did one of the most noteworthy, perhaps the noblest, +of the actions of his life, and saved himself and the +State by voluntarily going to Naples and putting himself +in the power of King Ferrante, an infamous tyrant, +who would readily have murdered his guest, if it had +seemed to his advantage to do so. But, like all the +Italians of the Renaissance, Ferrante was open to reason, +and the eloquence of the Magnifico won him over to +grant an honourable peace, with which Lorenzo returned +to Florence in March 1480. "If Lorenzo was great +when he left Florence," writes Machiavelli, "he returned +much greater than ever; and he was received +with such joy by the city as his great qualities and his +fresh merits deserved, seeing that he had exposed his +own life to restore peace to his country." Botticelli's +noble allegory of the olive-decked Medicean Pallas, +taming the Centaur of war and disorder, appears to have +been painted in commemoration of this event. In the +following August the Turks landed in Italy and stormed +Otranto, and the need of union, in the face of "the +common enemy Ottoman," reconciled the Pope to +Florence, and secured for the time an uneasy peace +among the powers of Italy.</p> + +<p>Lorenzo's power in Florence and influence throughout +Italy was now secure. By the institution in 1480 +of a Council of Seventy, a permanent council to manage +and control the election of the Signoria (with two<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_90" id="page_90">[90]</a></span> +special committees drawn from the Seventy every six +months, the <i>Otto di pratica</i> for foreign affairs and +the <i>Dodici Procuratori</i> for internal), the State was +firmly established in his hands–the older councils +still remaining, as was usual in every Florentine reformation +of government. Ten years later, in 1490, this +council showed signs of independence; and Lorenzo +therefore reduced the authority of electing the Signoria +to a small committee with a reforming Balìa of seventeen, +of which he was one. Had he lived longer, he +would undoubtedly have crowned his policy either by +being made Gonfaloniere for life, or by obtaining some +similar constitutional confirmation of his position as +head of the State. Externally his influence was +thrown into the scale for peace, and, on the death +of Sixtus IV. in 1484, he established friendly relations +and a family alliance with the new Pontiff, +Innocent VIII. Sarzana with Pietrasanta were won +back for Florence, and portions of the Sienese territory +which had been lost during the war with Naples and +the Church; a virtual protectorate was established +over portions of Umbria and Romagna, where the +daggers of assassins daily emptied the thrones of +minor tyrants. Two attempts on his life failed. In +the last years of his foreign policy and diplomacy he +showed himself truly the magnificent. East and West +united to do him honour; the Sultan of the Turks and +the Soldan of Egypt sent ambassadors and presents; +the rulers of France and Germany treated him as an +equal. Soon the torrent of foreign invasion was to +sweep over the Alps and inundate all the "Ausonian" +land; Milan and Naples were ready to rend each +other; Ludovico Sforza was plotting his own rise +upon the ruin of Italy, and already intriguing with +France; but, for the present, Lorenzo succeeded in +maintaining the balance of power between the five<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_91" id="page_91">[91]</a></span> +great Italian states, which seemed as though they might +present a united front for mutual defence against the +coming of the barbarians.</p> + +<p><i>Sarebbe impossibile avesse avuto un tiranno migliore e +più piacevole</i>, writes Guicciardini: "Florence could not +have had a better or more delightful tyrant." The +externals of life were splendid and gorgeous indeed in +the city where Lorenzo ruled, but everything was in his +hands and had virtually to proceed from him. His +spies were everywhere; marriages might only be +arranged and celebrated according to his good pleasure; +the least sign of independence was promptly +and severely repressed. By perpetual festivities and +splendid shows, he strove to keep the minds of the +citizens contented and occupied; tournaments, pageants, +masques and triumphs filled the streets; and +the strains of licentious songs, of which many were +Lorenzo's own composition, helped to sap the morality +of that people which Dante had once dreamed of as +<i>sobria e pudica</i>. But around the Magnifico were +grouped the greatest artists and scholars of the age, +who found in him an enlightened Maecenas and most +charming companion. <i>Amava maravigliosamente qualunque +era in una arte eccellente</i>, writes Machiavelli of +him; and that word–<i>maravigliosamente</i>–so entirely +characteristic of Lorenzo and his ways, occurs again +and again, repeated with studied persistence, in the +chapter which closes Machiavelli's History. He was +said to have sounded the depths of Platonic philosophy; +he was a true poet, within certain limitations; +few men have been more keenly alive to beauty in all +its manifestations, physical and spiritual alike. Though +profoundly immoral, <i>nelle cose veneree maravigliosamente +involto</i>, he was a tolerable husband, and the fondest of +fathers with his children, whom he adored. The +delight of his closing days was the elevation of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_92" id="page_92">[92]</a></span> +favourite son, Giovanni, to the Cardinalate at the age +of fourteen; it gave the Medici a voice in the Curia +like the other princes of Europe, and pleased all +Florence; but more than half Lorenzo's joy proceeded +from paternal pride and love, and the letter of +advice which he wrote for his son on the occasion +shows both father and boy in a very amiable, even +edifying light. And yet this same man had ruined +the happiness of countless homes, and had even seized +upon the doweries of Florentine maidens to fill his own +coffers and pay his mercenaries.</p> + +<p>But the <i>bel viver italiano</i> of the Quattrocento, with +all its loveliness and all its immorality–more lovely +and far less immoral in Florence than anywhere else–was +drawing to an end. A new prophet had arisen, +and, from the pulpits of San Marco and Santa Maria +del Fiore, the stern Dominican, Fra Girolamo +Savonarola, denounced the corruption of the day and +announced that speedy judgment was at hand; the +Church should be chastised, and that speedily, and +renovation should follow. Prodigies were seen. The +lions tore and rent each other in their cages; lightning +struck the cupola of the Duomo on the side towards +the Medicean palace; while in his villa at Careggi the +Magnifico lay dying, watched over by his sister Bianca +and the poet Poliziano. A visit from the young Pico +della Mirandola cheered his last hours. He received +the Last Sacraments, with every sign of contrition and +humility. Then Savonarola came to his bedside. +There are two accounts of what happened between +these two terrible men, the corruptor of Florence and +the prophet of renovation, and they are altogether +inconsistent. The ultimate source of the one is apparently +Savonarola's fellow-martyr, Fra Silvestro, +an utterly untrustworthy witness; that of the +other, Lorenzo's intimate, Poliziano. According to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_93" id="page_93">[93]</a></span> +Savonarola's biographers and adherents, Lorenzo, +overwhelmed with remorse and terror, had sent for +the Frate to give him the absolution which his courtly +confessor dared not refuse (<i>io non ho mai trovato +uno che sia vero frate, se non lui</i>); and when the +Dominican, seeming to soar above his natural height, +bade him restore liberty to Florence, the Magnifico +sullenly turned his back upon him and shortly afterwards +died in despair.<a name="fnanchor_19" id="fnanchor_19"></a><a href="#footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> According to Poliziano, an +eyewitness and an absolutely whole-hearted adherent +of the Medici, Fra Girolamo simply spoke a few +words of priestly exhortation to the dying man; then, +as he turned away, Lorenzo cried, "Your blessing, +father, before you depart" (<i>Heus, benedictionem, Pater, +priusquam a nobis proficisceris</i>) and the two together +repeated word for word the Church's prayers for the +departing; then Savonarola returned to his convent, +and Lorenzo passed away in peace and consolation. +Reverently and solemnly the body was brought from +Careggi to Florence, rested for a while in San Marco, +and was then buried, with all external simplicity, with +his murdered brother in San Lorenzo. It was the +beginning of April 1492, and the Magnifico was only +in his forty-fourth year. The words of old Sixtus +must have risen to the lips of many: <i>Oggi è morta la +pace d'Italia</i>. "This man," said Ferrante of Naples, +"lived long enough to make good his own title to +immortality, but not long enough for Italy."</p> + +<p>Lorenzo left three sons–Piero, who virtually succeeded +him in the same rather undefined princedom; +the young Cardinal Giovanni; and Giuliano. Their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_94" id="page_94">[94]</a></span> +father was wont to call Piero the "mad," Giovanni +the "wise," Giuliano the "good"; and to a certain +extent their after-lives corresponded with his characterisation. +There was also a boy Giulio, Lorenzo's +nephew, an illegitimate child of Giuliano the elder by +a girl of the lower class; him Lorenzo left to the +charge of Cardinal Giovanni–the future Pope Clement +to the future Pope Leo. Piero had none of his father's +abilities, and was not the man to guide the ship of +State through the storm that was rising; he was a wild +licentious young fellow, devoted to sport and athletics, +with a great shock of dark hair; he was practically +the only handsome member of his family, as you may +see in a peculiarly fascinating Botticellian portrait in +the Uffizi, where he is holding a medallion of his great +grandfather Cosimo, and gazing out of the picture with +a rather pathetic expression, as if the Florentines who +set a price upon his head had misunderstood him.</p> + +<p>Piero's folly at once began to undo his father's +work. A part of Lorenzo's policy had been to keep +his family united, including those not belonging to the +reigning branch. There were two young Medici then +in the city, about Piero's own age; Lorenzo and +Giovanni di Pier Francesco, the grandsons of Cosimo's +brother Lorenzo (you may see Giovanni with his +father in a picture by Filippino Lippi in the Uffizi). +Lorenzo the Magnificent had made a point of keeping +on good terms with them, for they were beloved of the +people. Giovanni was destined, in a way, to play the +part of Banquo to the Magnificent's Macbeth, had there +been a Florentine prophet to tell him, "Thou shalt get +kings though thou be none." But Piero disliked the +two; at a dance he struck Giovanni, and then, when the +brothers showed resentment, he arrested both and, not +daring to take their lives, confined them to their villas. +And these were times when a stronger head than<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_95" id="page_95">[95]</a></span> +Piero's might well have reeled. Italy's day had +ended, and she was now to be the battle-ground for +the gigantic forces of the monarchies of Europe. That +same year in which Lorenzo died, Alexander VI. +was elected to the Papacy he had so shamelessly +bought. A mysterious terror fell upon the people; an +agony of apprehension consumed their rulers throughout +the length and breadth of the land. In 1494 the +crash came. The old King Ferrante of Naples died, +and his successor Alfonso prepared to meet the torrent +of French arms which Ludovico Sforza, the usurping +Duke of Milan, had invited into Italy.</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<p>In art and in letters, as well as in life and general +conduct, this epoch of the Quattrocento is one of the +most marvellous chapters in the history of human +thought; the Renaissance as a wave broke over Italy, +and from Italy surged on to the bounds of Europe. +And of this "discovery by man of himself and of the +world," Florence was the centre; in its hothouse of +learning and culture the rarest personalities flourished, +and its strangest and most brilliant flower, in whose +hard brilliancy a suggestion of poison lurked, was +Lorenzo the Magnificent himself.</p> + +<p>In both art and letters, the Renaissance had fully +commenced before the accession of the Medici to +power. Ghiberti's first bronze gates of the Baptistery +and Masaccio's frescoes in the Carmine were executed +under the regime of the <i>nobili popolani</i>, the Albizzi and +their allies. Many of the men whom the Medici +swept relentlessly from their path were in the fore-front +of the movement, such as the noble and generous +Palla Strozzi, one of the reformers of the Florentine +Studio, who brought the Greek, Emanuel Chrysolaras, +at the close of the fourteenth century, to make Florence +the centre of Italian Hellenism. Palla lavished his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_96" id="page_96">[96]</a></span> +wealth in the hunting of codices, and at last, when +banished on Cosimo's return, died in harness at Padua +at the venerable age of ninety-two. His house had +always been full of learned men, and his reform of +the university had brought throngs of students to +Florence. Put under bounds for ten years at Padua, +he lived the life of an ancient philosopher and of +exemplary Christian virtue. Persecuted at the end +of every ten years with a new sentence, the last–of +ten more years–when he was eighty-two; robbed +by death of his wife and sons; he bore all with the +utmost patience and fortitude, until, in Vespasiano's +words, "arrived at the age of ninety-two years, in +perfect health of body and of mind, he gave up his +soul to his Redeemer like a most faithful and good +Christian."</p> + +<p>In 1401, the first year of the fifteenth century, the +competition was announced for the second gates of the +Baptistery, which marks the beginning of Renaissance +sculpture; and the same year witnessed the birth of +Masaccio, who, in the words of Leonardo da Vinci, +"showed with his perfect work how those painters +who follow aught but Nature, the mistress of the +masters, laboured in vain," Morelli calls this Quattrocento +the epoch of "character"; "that is, the period +when it was the principal aim of art to seize and +represent the outward appearances of persons and +things, determined by inward and moral conditions." +The intimate connection of arts and crafts is characteristic +of the Quattrocento, as also the mutual +interaction of art with art. Sculpture was in advance +of painting in the opening stage of the century, and, +indeed, influenced it profoundly throughout; about the +middle of the century they met, and ran henceforth +hand in hand. Many of the painters and sculptors, as, +notably, Ghiberti and Botticelli, had been apprentices<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_97" id="page_97">[97]</a></span> +in the workshops of the goldsmiths; nor would the +greatest painters disdain to undertake the adornment of +a <i>cassone</i>, or chest for wedding presents, nor the most +illustrious sculptor decline a commission for the button +of a prelate's cope or some mere trifle of household +furniture. The medals in the National Museum and +the metal work on the exterior of the Strozzi Palace +are as typical of the art of Renaissance Florence as the +grandest statues and most elaborate altar-pieces.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_14" id="illo_14"></a> +<img src="images/illus110_tmb.jpg" width="400" height="201" alt=""IN THE SCULPTOR'S WORKSHOP" (Nanni di Banco)" title="" /> +<p class="caption">"IN THE SCULPTOR'S WORKSHOP"<br /><span class="smcap">By Nanni di Banco</span><br /> +(For the Guild of Masters in Stone and Timber)</p> +<a href="images/illus110_fs50.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>With the work of the individual artists we shall +become better acquainted in subsequent chapters. +Here we can merely name their leaders. In architecture +and sculpture respectively, Filippo Brunelleschi +(1377-1446) and Donatello (1386-1466) are the +ruling spirits of the age. Their mutual friendship and +brotherly rivalry almost recall the loves of Dante and +Cavalcanti in an earlier day. Although Lorenzo +Ghiberti (1378-1455) justly won the competition for +the second gates of the Baptistery, it is now thought +that Filippo ran his successful rival much more closely +than the critics of an earlier day supposed. Mr +Perkins remarks that "indirectly Brunelleschi was +the master of all the great painters and sculptors of +his time, for he taught them how to apply science +to art, and so far both Ghiberti and Donatello were +his pupils, but the last was almost literally so, since +the great architect was not only his friend, but also his +counsellor and guide." Contemporaneous with these +three <i>spiriti magni</i> in their earlier works, and even +to some extent anticipating them, is Nanni di Banco +(died in 1421), a most excellent master, both in large +monumental statues and in bas-reliefs, whose works +are to be seen and loved outside and inside the Duomo, +and in the niches round San Michele in Orto. A +pleasant friendship united him with Donatello, although +to regard him as that supreme master's pupil and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_98" id="page_98">[98]</a></span> +follower, as Vasari does, is an anachronism. To this +same earlier portion of the Quattrocento belong Leo +Battista Alberti (1405-1472), a rare genius, but a +wandering stone who, as an architect, accomplished +comparatively little; Michelozzo Michelozzi (1396-1472), +who worked as a sculptor with Ghiberti and +Donatello, but is best known as the favoured architect +of the Medici, for whom he built the palace so often +mentioned in these pages, and now known as the +Palazzo Riccardi, and the convent of San Marco; +and Luca della Robbia (1399-1482), that beloved +master of marble music, whose enamelled terra-cotta +Madonnas are a perpetual fund of the purest delight. +To Michelozzo and Luca in collaboration we owe the +bronze gates of the Duomo sacristy, a work only +inferior to Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise."</p> + +<p>Slightly later come Donatello's great pupils, Desiderio +da Settignano (1428-1464), Andrea Verrocchio +(1435-1488), and Antonio Pollaiuolo (1429-1498). +The two latter are almost equally famous as +painters. Contemporaneous with them are Mino da +Fiesole, Bernardo and Antonio Rossellino, Giuliano +da San Gallo, Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano, of +whom the last-named was the first architect of the Strozzi +Palace. The last great architect of the Quattrocento +is Simone del Pollaiuolo, known as Cronaca (1457-1508); +and its last great sculptor is Andrea della +Robbia, Luca's nephew, who was born in 1435, and +lived on until 1525. Andrea's best works–and they +are very numerous indeed, in the same enamelled terra-cotta–hardly +yield in charm and fascination to those +of Luca himself; in some of them, devotional art seems +to reach its last perfection in sculpture. Giovanni, +Andrea's son, and others of the family carried on the +tradition–with cruder colours and less delicate feeling.</p> + +<p>Masaccio (1401-1428), one of "the inheritors of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_99" id="page_99">[99]</a></span> +unfulfilled renown," is the first great painter of the +Renaissance, and bears much the same relation to the +fifteenth as Giotto to the fourteenth century. Vasari's +statement that Masaccio's master, Masolino, was +Ghiberti's assistant appears to be incorrect; but it +illustrates the dependence of the painting of this epoch +upon sculpture. Masaccio's frescoes in the Carmine, +which became the school of all Italian painting, were +entirely executed before the Medicean regime. The +Dominican, Fra Angelico da Fiesole (1387-1455), +seems in his San Marco frescoes to bring the denizens +of the Empyrean, of which the mediæval mystics +dreamed, down to earth to dwell among the black +and white robed children of St Dominic. The Carmelite, +Fra Lippo Lippi (1406-1469), the favourite +of Cosimo, inferior to the angelical painter in spiritual +insight, had a keener eye for the beauty of the external +world and a surer touch upon reality. His buoyant +humour and excellent colouring make "the glad +monk's gift" one of the most acceptable that the +Quattrocento has to offer us. Andrea del Castagno +(died in 1457) and Domenico Veneziano (died in +1461), together with Paolo Uccello (died in 1475), +were all absorbed in scientific researches with an eye +to the extension of the resources of their art; but the +two former found time to paint a few masterpieces +in their kind–especially a Cenacolo by Andrea in +Santa Appollonia, which is the grandest representation +of its sublime theme, until the time that Leonardo da +Vinci painted on the walls of the Dominican convent +at Milan. Problems of the anatomical construction +of the human frame and the rendering of movement +occupied Antonio Pollaiuolo (1429-1498) and +Andrea Verrocchio (1435-1488); their work was +taken up and completed a little later by two greater +men, Luca Signorelli of Cortona and Leonardo da<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100" id="page_100">[100]</a></span> +Vinci.</p> + +<p>The Florentine painting of this epoch culminates in +the work of two men–Sandro di Mariano Filipepi, +better known as Sandro Botticelli (1447-1510), and +Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494). If the greatest +pictures were painted poems, as some have held, then +Sandro Botticelli's masterpieces would be among the +greatest of all time. In his rendering of religious +themes, in his intensely poetic and strangely wistful +attitude towards the fair myths of antiquity, and in his +Neo-Platonic mingling of the two, he is the most complete +and typical exponent of the finest spirit of the +Quattrocento, to which, in spite of the date of his death, +his art entirely belongs. Domenico's function, on the +other hand, is to translate the external pomp and +circumstance of his times into the most uninspired of +painted prose, but with enormous technical skill and +with considerable power of portraiture; this he effected +above all in his ostensibly religious frescoes in Santa +Maria Novella and Santa Trinità. Elsewhere he +shows a certain pathetic sympathy with humbler life, +as in his Santa Fina frescoes at San Gemignano, and +in the admirable Adoration of the Shepherds in the +Accademia; but this is a less characteristic vein. Filippino +Lippi (1457-1504), the son of the Carmelite and +the pupil of Botticelli, has a certain wayward charm, +especially in his earlier works, but as a rule falls much +below his master. He may be regarded as the last +direct inheritor of the traditions of Masaccio. Associated +with these are two lesser men, who lived considerably +beyond the limits of the fifteenth century, but +whose artistic methods never went past it; Piero di +Cosimo (1462-1521) and Lorenzo di Credi (1459-1537). +The former (called after Cosimo Rosselli, +his master) was one of the most piquant personalities in +the art world of Florence, as all readers of <i>Romola</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_101" id="page_101">[101]</a></span> +know. As a painter, he has been very much overestimated; +at his best, he is a sort of Botticelli, with +the Botticellian grace and the Botticellian poetry almost +all left out. He was magnificent at designing pageants; +and of one of his exploits in this kind, we shall hear +more presently. Lorenzo di Credi, Verrocchio's favourite +pupil, was later, like Botticelli and others, to fall +under the spell of Fra Girolamo; his pictures breathe +a true religious sentiment and are very carefully finished; +but for the most part, though there are exceptions, they +lack virility.</p> + +<p>Before this epoch closed, the two greatest heroes of +Florentine art had appeared upon the scenes, but their +great work lay still in the future. Leonardo da Vinci +(born in 1452) had learned to paint in the school of +Verrocchio; but painting was to occupy but a small +portion of his time and labour. His mind roamed +freely over every field of human activity, and plunged +deeply into every sphere of human thought; nor is he +adequately represented even by the greatest of the +pictures that he has left. There is nothing of him +now in Florence, save a few drawings in the Uffizi +and an unfinished picture of the Epiphany. Leonardo +finished little, and, with that little, time and man have +dealt hardly. Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in +the Casentino in 1475, and nurtured among the stone +quarries of Settignano. At the age of thirteen, his +father apprenticed him to the Ghirlandaii, Domenico +and his brother David; and, with his friend and fellow-student, +Francesco Granacci, the boy began to frequent +the gardens of the Medici, near San Marco, where in +the midst of a rich collection of antiquities Donatello's +pupil and successor, Bertoldo, directed a kind of Academy. +Here Michelangelo attracted the attention of +Lorenzo himself, by the head of an old satyr which he +had hammered out of a piece of marble that fell to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102">[102]</a></span> +hand; and the Magnifico took him into his household. +This youthful period in the great master's career was +occupied in drinking in culture from the Medicean circle, +in studying the antique and, of the moderns, especially +the works of Donatello and Masaccio. But, with the +exception of a few early fragments from his hand, +Michelangelo's work commenced with his first visit +to Rome, in 1496, and belongs to the following +epoch.</p> + +<p>Turning from art to letters, the Quattrocento is +an intermediate period between the mainly Tuscan +literary movement of the fourteenth century and the +general Italian literature of the sixteenth. The first +part of this century is the time of the discovery of the +old authors, of the copying of manuscripts (printing +was not introduced into Florence until 1471), of the +eager search for classical relics and antiquities, the +comparative neglect of Italian when Latinity became +the test of all. Florence was the centre of the +Humanism of the Renaissance, the revival of Grecian +culture, the blending of Christianity and Paganism, the +aping of antiquity in theory and in practice. In the +pages of Vespasiano we are given a series of lifelike +portraits of the scholars of this epoch, who thronged to +Florence, served the State as Secretary of the Republic +or occupied chairs in her newly reorganised university, +or basked in the sun of Strozzian or Medicean patronage. +Niccolò Niccoli, who died in 1437, is one of +the most typical of these scholars; an ardent collector +of ancient manuscripts, his library, purchased after his +death by Cosimo dei Medici, forms the nucleus of +the Biblioteca Laurenziana. His house was adorned +with all that was held most choice and precious; he +always wore long sweeping red robes, and had his table +covered with ancient vases and precious Greek cups +and the like. In fact he played the ancient sage to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_103" id="page_103">[103]</a></span> +such perfection that simply to watch him eat his dinner +was a liberal education in itself! <i>A vederlo in tavola, +così antico come era, era una gentilezza.</i></p> + +<p>Vespasiano tells a delightful yarn of how one fine +day this Niccolò Niccoli, "who was another Socrates +or another Cato for continence and virtue," was taking +a constitutional round the Palazzo del Podestà, when +he chanced to espy a youth of most comely aspect, +one who was entirely devoted to worldly pleasures and +delights, young Piero Pazzi. Calling him and learning +his name, Niccolò proceeded to question him as to +his profession. "Having a high old time," answered +the ingenuous youth: <i>attendo a darmi buon tempo</i>. +"Being thy father's son and so handsome," said the +Sage severely, "it is a shame that thou dost not set +thyself to learn the Latin language, which would be a +great ornament to thee; and if thou dost not learn +it, thou wilt be esteemed of no account; yea, when +the flower of thy youth is past, thou shalt find thyself +without any <i>virtù</i>." Messer Piero was converted on +the spot; Niccolò straightway found him a master and +provided him with books; and the pleasure-loving +youth became a scholar and a patron of scholars. +Vespasiano assures us that, if he had lived, <i>lo inconveniente +che seguitò</i>–so he euphoniously terms the +Pazzi conspiracy–would never have happened.</p> + +<p>Leonardo Bruni is the nearest approach to a really +great figure in the Florentine literary world of the +first half of the century. His translations of Plato +and Aristotle, especially the former, mark an epoch. +His Latin history of Florence shows genuine critical +insight; but he is, perhaps, best known at the present +day by his little Life of Dante in Italian, a charming +and valuable sketch, which has preserved for us some +fragments of Dantesque letters and several bits of +really precious information about the divine poet,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104">[104]</a></span> +which seem to be authentic and which we do not find +elsewhere. Leonardo appears to have undertaken it +as a kind of holiday task, for recreation after the work +of composing his more ponderous history. As Secretary +of the Republic he exercised considerable political +influence; his fame was so great that people came to +Florence only to look at him; on his death in 1444, +he was solemnly crowned on the bier as poet laureate, +and buried in Santa Croce with stately pomp and +applauded funeral orations. Leonardo's successors, +Carlo Marsuppini (like him, an Aretine by birth) and +Poggio Bracciolini–the one noted for his frank +paganism, the other for the foulness of his literary +invective–are less attractive figures; though the latter +was no less famous and influential in his day. Giannozzo +Manetti, who pronounced Bruni's funeral oration, was noted for +his eloquence and incorruptibility, +and stands out prominently amidst the scholars +and humanists by virtue of his nobleness of character; +like that other hero of the new learning, Palla Strozzi, +he was driven into exile and persecuted by the +Mediceans.</p> + +<p>Far more interesting are the men of light and +learning who gathered round Lorenzo dei Medici +in the latter half of the century. This is the epoch of +the Platonic Academy, which Marsilio Ficino had +founded under the auspices of Cosimo. The discussions +held in the convent retreat among the forests +of Camaldoli, the meetings in the Badia at the foot of +Fiesole, the mystical banquets celebrated in Lorenzo's +villa at Careggi in honour of the anniversary of Plato's +birth and death, may have added little to the sum of +man's philosophic thought; but the Neo-Platonic religion +of love and beauty, which was there proclaimed +to the modern world, has left eternal traces in the +poetic literature both of Italy and of England.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105" id="page_105">[105]</a></span> +Spenser and Shelley might have sat with the nine +guests, whose number honoured the nine Muses, at the +famous Platonic banquet at Careggi, of which Marsilio +Ficino himself has left us an account in his commentary +on the <i>Symposium</i>. You may read a later +Italian echo of it, when Marsilio Ficino had passed +away and his academy was a thing of the past, in the +impassioned and rapturous discourse on love and beauty +poured forth by Pietro Bembo, at that wonderful daybreak +which ends the discussions of Urbino's courtiers +in Castiglione's treatise. In a creed that could find +one formula to cover both the reception of the Stigmata +by St Francis and the mystical flights of the Platonic +Socrates and Plotinus; that could unite the Sibyls and +Diotima with the Magdalene and the Virgin Martyrs; +many a perplexed Italian of that epoch might find +more than temporary rest for his soul.</p> + +<p>Simultaneously with this new Platonic movement +there came a great revival of Italian literature, alike +in poetry and in prose; what Carducci calls <i>il rinascimento +della vita italiana nella forma classica</i>. The +earlier humanists had scorned, or at least neglected +the language of Dante; and the circle that surrounded +Lorenzo was undoubtedly instrumental in this Italian +reaction. Cristoforo Landini, one of the principal +members of the Platonic Academy, now wrote the +first Renaissance commentary upon the <i>Divina Commedia</i>; +Leo Battista Alberti, also a leader in these +Platonic disputations, defended the dignity of the +Italian language, as Dante himself had done in an +earlier day. Lorenzo himself compiled the so-called +<i>Raccolta Aragonese</i> of early Italian lyrics, and sent +them to Frederick of Aragon, together with a letter +full of enthusiasm for the Tuscan tongue, and with +critical remarks on the individual poets of the thirteenth +and fourteenth centuries. Upon the popular poetry of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_106" id="page_106">[106]</a></span> +Tuscany Lorenzo himself, and his favourite Angelo +Ambrogini of Montepulciano, better known as Poliziano, +founded a new school of Italian song. Luigi Pulci, +the gay scoffer and cynical sceptic, entertained the +festive gatherings in the Medicean palace with his wild +tales, and, in his <i>Morgante Maggiore</i>, was practically +the first to work up the popular legends of Orlando +and the Paladins into a noteworthy poem–a poem of +which Savonarola and his followers were afterwards to +burn every copy that fell into their hands.</p> + +<p>Poliziano is at once the truest classical scholar, and, +with the possible exception of Boiardo (who belongs +to Ferrara, and does not come within the scope of +the present volume), the greatest Italian poet of the +fifteenth century. He is, indeed, the last and most +perfect fruit of Florentine Humanism. His father, +Benedetto Ambrogini, had been murdered in Montepulciano +by the faction hostile to the Medici; and the +boy Angelo, coming to Florence, and studying under +Ficino and his colleagues, was received into Lorenzo's +household as tutor to the younger Piero. His lectures +at the Studio attracted students from all Europe, and +his labours in the field of textual criticism won a fame +that has lasted to the present day. In Italian he +wrote the <i>Orfeo</i> in two days for performance at Mantua, +when he was eighteen, a lyrical tragedy which stamps +him as the father of Italian dramatic opera; the scene +of the descent of Orpheus into Hades contains lyrical +passages of great melodiousness. Shortly before the +Pazzi conspiracy, he composed his famous <i>Stanze</i> in +celebration of a tournament given by Giuliano dei +Medici, and in honour of the <i>bella Simonetta</i>. There +is absolutely no "fundamental brain work" about these +exquisitely finished stanzas; but they are full of dainty +mythological pictures quite in the Botticellian style, +overladen, perhaps, with adulation of the reigning<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107">[107]</a></span> +house and its <i>ben nato Lauro</i>. In his lyrics he gave +artistic form to the <i>rispetti</i> and <i>strambotti</i> of the people, +and wrote exceedingly musical <i>ballate</i>, or <i>canzoni a +ballo</i>, which are the best of their kind in the whole +range of Italian poetry. There is, however, little +genuine passion in his love poems for his lady, Madonna +Ippolita Leoncina of Prato; though in all that he +wrote there is, as Villari puts it, "a fineness of taste +that was almost Greek."</p> + +<p>Lorenzo dei Medici stands second to his friend as a +poet; but he is a good second. His early affection +for the fair Lucrezia Donati, with its inevitable +sonnets and a commentary somewhat in the manner +of Dante's <i>Vita Nuova</i>, is more fanciful than earnest, +although Poliziano assures us of</p> + +<p class="poem">"La lunga fedeltà del franco Lauro."</p> + +<p>But Lorenzo's intense love of external nature, his +power of close observation and graphic description, are +more clearly shown in such poems as the <i>Caccia col +Falcone</i> and the <i>Ambra</i>, written among the woods and +hills in the country round his new villa of Poggio +a Caiano. Elsewhere he gives free scope to the +animal side of his sensual nature, and in his famous +<i>Canti carnascialeschi</i>, songs to be sung at carnival and +in masquerades, he at times revelled in pruriency, less +for its own sake than for the deliberate corruption +of the Florentines. And, for a time, their music +drowned the impassioned voice of Savonarola, whose +stern cry of warning and exhortation to repentance had +for the nonce passed unheeded.</p> + +<p>There is extant a miracle play from Lorenzo's hand, +the acts of the martyrs Giovanni and Paolo, who +suffered in the days of the emperor Julian. Two sides +of Lorenzo's nature are ever in conflict–the Lorenzo +of the ballate and the carnival songs–the Lorenzo of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_108" id="page_108">[108]</a></span> +the <i>laude</i> and spiritual poems, many of which have the +unmistakable ring of sincerity. And, in the story of +his last days and the summoning of Savonarola to his +bed-side, the triumph of the man's spiritual side is seen +at the end; he is, indeed, in the position of the dying +Julian of his own play:–</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"Fallace vita! O nostra vana cura!</span><br /> +Lo spirto è già fuor del mio petto spinto:<br /> +O Cristo Galileo, tu hai vinto."</p> + +<p>Such was likewise the attitude of several members of +the Medicean circle, when the crash came. Poliziano +followed his friend and patron to the grave, in September +1494; his last hours received the consolations of +religion from Savonarola's most devoted follower, Fra +Domenico da Pescia (of whom more anon); after +death, he was robed in the habit of St Dominic and +buried in San Marco. Pico della Mirandola, too, had +been present at the Magnifico's death-bed, though not +there when the end actually came; he too, in 1494, +received the Dominican habit in death, and was buried +by Savonarola's friars in San Marco. Marsilio Ficino +outlived his friends and denied Fra Girolamo; he died +in 1499, and lies at rest in the Duomo.</p> + +<p>Of all these Medicean Platonists, Pico della Mirandola +is the most fascinating. A young Lombard noble +of almost feminine beauty, full of the pride of having +mastered all the knowledge of his day, he first came to +Florence in 1480 or 1482, almost at the very moment +in which Marsilio Ficino finished his translation of +Plato. He became at once the chosen friend of all +the choicest spirits of Lorenzo's circle. Not only +classical learning, but the mysterious East and the +sacred lore of the Jews had rendered up their treasures +for his intellectual feast; his mysticism shot far beyond +even Ficino; all knowledge and all religions were to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_109" id="page_109">[109]</a></span> +him a revelation of the Deity. Not only to Lorenzo +and his associates did young Pico seem a phœnix of +earthly and celestial wisdom, <i>uomo quasi divino</i> as +Machiavelli puts it; but even Savonarola in his +<i>Triumphus Crucis</i>, written after Pico's death, declares +that, by reason of his loftiness of intellect and the sublimity +of his doctrine, he should be numbered amongst +the miracles of God and Nature. Pico had been +much beloved of many women, and not always a +Platonic lover, but, towards the close of his short +flower-like life, he burnt "fyve bokes that in his +youthe of wanton versis of love with other lyke +fantasies he had made," and all else seemed absorbed +in the vision of love Divine. "The substance that I +have left," he told his nephew, "I intend to give out +to poor people, and, fencing myself with the crucifix, +barefoot walking about the world, in every town and +castle I purpose to preach of Christ." Savonarola, to +whom he had confided all the secrets of his heart, was +not the only martyr who revered the memory of the +man whom Lorenzo the Magnificent had loved. +Thomas More translated his life and letters, and +reckoned him a saint. He would die at the time of +the lilies, so a lady had told Pico; and he died indeed +on the very day that the golden lilies on the royal +standard of France were borne into Florence through +the Porta San Frediano–consoled with wondrous +visions of the Queen of Heaven, and speaking as though +he beheld the heavens opened.</p> + +<p>A month or two earlier, the pen had dropped from +the hand of Matteo Maria Boiardo, as he watched the +French army descending the Alps; and he brought his +unfinished <i>Orlando Innamorato</i> to an abrupt close, too +sick at heart to sing of the vain love of Fiordespina +for Brandiamante:–<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"Mentre che io canto, o Dio Redentore,</span><br /> +Vedo l'Italia tutta a fiamma e foco,<br /> +Per questi Galli, che con gran valore<br /> +Vengon, per disertar non so che loco."</p> + +<p>"Whilst I sing, Oh my God, I see all Italy in flame +and fire, through these Gauls, who with great valour +come, to lay waste I know not what place." On this +note of vague terror, in the onrush of the barbarian +hosts, the Quattrocento closes.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_15" id="illo_15"></a> +<img src="images/illus124_tmb.jpg" width="300" height="388" alt="ARMS OF THE PAZZI" title="" /> +<p class="caption">ARMS OF THE PAZZI</p> +<a href="images/illus124_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_111" id="page_111">[111]</a></p> +<h2 class="p6"><a name="chapter_iv" id="chapter_iv"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> +<h3><i>From Fra Girolamo to Duke Cosimo</i></h3> + +<p class="blockquot">"Vedendo lo omnipotente Dio multiplicare li peccati +della Italia, maxime nelli capi così ecclesiastici come seculari, +non potendo più sostenere, determinò purgare la Chiesa sua +per uno gran flagello. Et perchè come è scripto in Amos +propheta, Non faciet Dominus Deus verbum nisi revelaverit +secretum suum ad servos suos prophetas: volse per la salute +delli suoi electi acciò che inanzi al flagello si preparassino +ad sofferire, che nella Italia questo flagello fussi prenuntiato. +Et essendo Firenze in mezzo la Italia come il core in mezzo +il corpo, s'è dignato di eleggere questa città; nella quale +siano tale cose prenuntiate: acciò che per lei si sparghino +negli altri luoghi."–<i>Savonarola.</i></p> + +<p><i><span class="dropcap">G</span>LADIUS Domini super terram cito et velociter</i>, +"the Sword of the Lord upon the earth soon +and speedily." These words rang ever in the ears +of the Dominican friar who was now to eclipse the +Medicean rulers of Florence. Girolamo Savonarola, +the grandson of a famous Paduan physician who had +settled at the court of Ferrara, had entered the order +of St Dominic at Bologna in 1474, moved by the +great misery of the world and the wickedness of men, +and in 1481 had been sent to the convent of San +Marco at Florence. The corruption of the Church, +the vicious lives of her chief pastors, the growing +immorality of the people, the tyranny and oppression +of their rulers, had entered into his very soul–had +found utterance in allegorical poetry, in an ode <i>De +Ruina Mundi</i>, written whilst still in the world, in +another, <i>De Ruina Ecclesiae</i>, composed in the silence +of his Bolognese cloister–that cloister which, in better<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112">[112]</a></span> +days, had been hallowed by the presence of St Dominic +and the Angelical Doctor, Thomas Aquinas. And +he believed himself set by God as a watchman in the +centre of Italy, to announce to the people and princes +that the sword was to fall upon them: "If the sword +come, and thou hast not announced it," said the spirit +voice that spoke to him in the silence as the dæmon to +Socrates, "and they perish unwarned, I will require their +blood at thy hands and thou shalt bear the penalty."</p> + +<p>But at first the Florentines would not hear him; +the gay dancings and the wild carnival songs of their +rulers drowned his voice; courtly preachers like the +Augustinian of Santo Spirito, Fra Mariano da Gennazano, +laid more flattering unction to their souls. +Other cities were more ready; San Gemignano first +heard the word of prophecy that was soon to resound +beneath the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, even as, +some two hundred years before, she had listened to +the speech of Dante Alighieri. At the beginning +of 1490, the Friar returned to Florence and San +Marco; and, on Sunday, August 1st, expounding the +Apocalypse in the Church of San Marco, he first +set forth to the Florentines the three cardinal points +of his doctrine; first, the Church was to be renovated; +secondly, before this renovation, God would send a +great scourge upon all Italy; thirdly, these things +would come speedily. He preached the following +Lent in the Duomo; and thenceforth his great work +of reforming Florence, and announcing the impending +judgments of God, went on its inspired way. "Go +to Lorenzo dei Medici," he said to the five citizens +who came to him, at the Magnifico's instigation, to +urge him to let the future alone in his sermons, "and +bid him do penance for his sins, for God intends to +punish him and his"; and when elected Prior of San +Marco in this same year, 1491, he would neither<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113">[113]</a></span> +enter Lorenzo's palace to salute the patron of the +convent, nor welcome him when he walked among +the friars in the garden.</p> + +<p>Fra Girolamo was preaching the Lent in San +Lorenzo, when the Magnifico died; and, a few days +later, he saw a wondrous vision, as he himself tells +us in the <i>Compendium Revelationum</i>. "In 1492," he +says, "while I was preaching the Lent in San Lorenzo +at Florence, I saw, on the night of Good Friday, two +crosses. First, a black cross in the midst of Rome, +whereof the head touched the heaven and the arms +stretched forth over all the earth; and above it were +written these words, <i>Crux irae Dei</i>. After I had +beheld it, suddenly I saw the sky grow dark, and +clouds fly through the air; winds, flashes of lightning +and thunderbolts drove across, hail, fire and swords +rained down, and slew a vast multitude of folk, so +that few remained on the earth. And after this, there +came a sky right calm and bright, and I saw another +cross, of the same greatness as the first but of gold, +rise up over Jerusalem; the which was so resplendent +that it illumined all the world, and filled it all with +flowers and joy; and above it was written, <i>Crux misericordiae +Dei</i>. And I saw all generations of men and +women come from all parts of the world, to adore +it and embrace it."</p> + +<p>In the following August came the simoniacal election +of Roderigo Borgia to the Papacy, as Alexander VI.; +and in Advent another vision appeared to the prophet +in his cell, which can only be told in Fra Girolamo's +own words:–</p> + +<p>"I saw then in the year 1492, the night before the +last sermon which I gave that Advent in Santa +Reparata, a hand in Heaven with a sword, upon the +which was written: <i>The sword of the Lord upon the +earth, soon and speedily</i>; and over the hand was written,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114">[114]</a></span> +<i>True and just are the judgments of the Lord.</i> And +it seemed that the arm of that hand proceeded from +three faces in one light, of which the first said: <i>The +iniquity of my sanctuary crieth to me from the earth.</i> +The second replied: <i>Therefore will I visit with a rod +their iniquities, and with stripes their sins.</i> The third +said: <i>My mercy will I not remove from it, nor will +I harm it in my truth, and I will have mercy upon the +poor and the needy.</i> In like manner the first answered: +<i>My people have forgotten my commandments days without +number.</i> The second replied: <i>Therefore will I grind +and break in pieces and will not have mercy.</i> The third +said: <i>I will be mindful of those who walk in my precepts.</i> +And straightway there came a great voice from all the +three faces, over all the world, and it said: <i>Hearken, +all ye dwellers on the earth; thus saith the Lord: I, +the Lord, am speaking in my holy zeal. Behold, the +days shall come and I will unsheath my sword upon you. +Be ye converted therefore unto me, before my fury be +accomplished; for when the destruction cometh, ye shall +seek peace and there shall be none.</i> After these words +it seemed to me that I saw the whole world, and that +the Angels descended from Heaven to earth, arrayed +in white, with a multitude of spotless stoles on their +shoulders and red crosses in their hands; and they +went through the world, offering to each man a white +robe and a cross. Some men accepted them and +robed themselves with them. Some would not accept +them, although they did not impede the others who +accepted them. Others would neither accept them +nor permit that the others should accept them; and +these were the tepid and the sapient of this world, +who made mock of them and strove to persuade the +contrary. After this, the hand turned the sword +down towards the earth; and suddenly it seemed that +all the air grew dark with clouds, and that it rained<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115">[115]</a></span> +down swords and hail with great thunder and lightning +and fire; and there came upon the earth pestilence +and famine and great tribulation. And I saw the +Angels go through the midst of the people, and give +to those who had the white robe and the cross in +their hands a clear wine to drink; and they drank +and said: <i>How sweet in our mouths are thy words, O +Lord.</i> And the dregs at the bottom of the chalice +they gave to drink to the others, and they would not +drink; and it seemed that these would fain have been +converted to penitence and could not, and they said: +<i>Wherefore dost thou forget us, Lord?</i> And they +wished to lift up their eyes and look up to God, but +they could not, so weighed down were they with +tribulations; for they were as though drunk, and it +seemed that their hearts had left their breasts, and +they went seeking the lusts of this world and found +them not. And they walked like senseless beings +without heart. After this was done, I heard a very +great voice from those three faces, which said: <i>Hear +ye then the word of the Lord: for this have I waited +for you, that I may have mercy upon you. Come ye +therefore to me, for I am kind and merciful, extending +mercy to all who call upon me. But if you will not, +I will turn my eyes from you for ever.</i> And it turned +then to the just, and said: <i>But rejoice, ye just, and +exult, for when my short anger shall have passed, I +will break the horns of sinners, and the horns of the +just shall be exalted.</i> And suddenly everything disappeared, +and it was said to me: <i>Son, if sinners had +eyes, they would surely see how grievous and hard is +this pestilence, and how sharp the sword.</i>"<a name="fnanchor_20" id="fnanchor_20"></a><a href="#footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>The French army, terrible beyond any that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_116" id="page_116">[116]</a></span> +Italians had seen, and rendered even more terrible by +the universal dread that filled all men's minds at this +moment, entered Italy. On September 9th, 1494, +Charles VIII. arrived at Asti, where he was received +by Ludovico and his court, while the Swiss sacked and +massacred at Rapallo. Here was the new Cyrus whom +Savonarola had foretold, the leader chosen by God to +chastise Italy and reform the Church. While the +vague terror throughout the land was at its height, +Savonarola, on September 21st, ascended the pulpit +of the Duomo, and poured forth so terrible a flood of +words on the text <i>Ecce ego adducam aquas diluvii super +terram</i>, that the densely packed audience were overwhelmed +in agonised panic. The bloodless mercenary +conflicts of a century had reduced Italy to helplessness; +the Aragonese resistance collapsed, and, sacking and +slaughtering as they came, the French marched unopposed +through Lunigiana upon Tuscany. Piero dei +Medici, who had favoured the Aragonese in a half-hearted +way, went to meet the French King, surrendered +Sarzana and Pietrasanta, the fortresses which +his father had won back for Florence, promised to cede +Pisa and Leghorn, and made an absolute submission. +"Behold," cried Savonarola, a few days later, "the +sword has descended, the scourge has fallen, the +prophecies are being fulfilled; behold, it is the Lord +who is leading on these armies." And he bade the +citizens fast and pray throughout the city: it was for +the sins of Italy and of Florence that these things had +happened; for the corruption of the Church, this tempest +had arisen.</p> + +<p>It was the republican hero, Piero Capponi, who +now gave utterance to the voice of the people. "Piero +dei Medici," he said in the Council of the Seventy +called by the Signoria on November 4th, "is no longer +fit to rule the State: the Republic must provide for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117">[117]</a></span> +itself: the moment has come to shake off this baby +government." They prepared for defence, but at the +same time sent ambassadors to the "most Christian +King," and amongst these ambassadors was Savonarola. +In the meantime Piero dei Medici returned to Florence +to find his government at an end; the Signoria refused +him admittance into the palace; the people assailed +him in the Piazza. He made a vain attempt to regain +the State by arms, but the despairing shouts of <i>Palle, +Palle,</i> which his adherents and mercenaries raised, were +drowned in the cries of <i>Popolo e Libertà</i>, as the citizens, +as in the old days of the Republic, heard the great bell +of the Palace tolling and saw the burghers once more +in arms. On the 9th of November Piero and Giuliano +fled through the Porta di San Gallo; the Cardinal +Giovanni, who had shown more courage and resource, +soon followed, disguised as a friar. There was some +pillage done, but little bloodshed. The same day +Pisa received the French troops, and shook off the +Florentine yoke–an example shortly followed by +other Tuscan cities. Florence had regained her +liberty, but lost her empire. But the King had +listened to the words of Savonarola–words preserved +to us by the Friar himself in his <i>Compendium Revelationum</i>–who +had hailed him as the Minister of Christ, +but warned him sternly and fearlessly that, if he abused +his power over Florence, the strength which God had +given him would be shattered.</p> + +<p>On November 17th Charles, clad in black velvet +with mantle of gold brocade and splendidly mounted, +rode into Florence, as though into a conquered city, +with lance levelled, through the Porta di San Frediano. +With him was that priestly Mars, the terrible Cardinal +della Rovere (afterwards Julius II.), now bent upon the +deposition of Alexander VI. as a simoniacal usurper; +and he was followed by all the gorgeous chivalry of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118" id="page_118">[118]</a></span> +France, with the fierce Swiss infantry, the light Gascon +skirmishers, the gigantic Scottish bowmen–<i>uomini +bestiali</i> as the Florentines called them–in all about +12,000 men. The procession swept through the gaily +decked streets over the Ponte Vecchio, wound round +the Piazza della Signoria, and then round the Duomo, +amidst deafening cries of <i>Viva Francia</i> from the enthusiastic +people. But when the King descended and +entered the Cathedral, there was a sad disillusion–<i>parve +al popolo un poco diminuta la fama</i>, as the good +apothecary Luca Landucci tells us–for, when off his +horse, he appeared a most insignificant little man, +almost deformed, and with an idiotic expression of +countenance, as his bust portrait in the Bargello still +shows. This was not quite the sort of Cyrus that +they had expected from Savonarola's discourses; but +still, within and without Santa Maria del Fiore, the +thunderous shouts of <i>Viva Francia</i> continued, until he +was solemnly escorted to the Medicean palace which +had been prepared for his reception.</p> + +<p>That night, and each following night during the +French occupation, Florence shone so with illuminations +that it seemed mid-day; every day was full of +feasting and pageantry; but French and Florentines +alike were in arms. The royal "deliverer"–egged +on by the ladies of Piero's family and especially by +Alfonsina, his young wife–talked of restoring the +Medici; the Swiss, rioting in the Borgo SS. Apostoli, +were severely handled by the populace, in a way +that showed the King that the Republic was not to +be trifled with. On November 24th the treaty was +signed in the Medicean (now the Riccardi) palace, +after a scene never forgotten by the Florentines. Discontented +with the amount of the indemnity, the King +exclaimed in a threatening voice, "I will bid my +trumpets sound" (<i>io farò dare nelle trombe</i>). Piero<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_119" id="page_119">[119]</a></span> +Capponi thereupon snatched the treaty from the royal +secretary, tore it in half, and exclaiming, "And we +will sound our bells" (<i>e noi faremo dare nelle campane</i>), +turned with his colleagues to leave the room. Charles, +who knew Capponi of old (he had been Florentine +Ambassador in France), had the good sense to laugh +it off, and the Republic was saved. There was to be +an alliance between the Republic and the King, who +was henceforth to be called "Restorer and Protector of +the Liberty of Florence." He was to receive a substantial +indemnity. Pisa and the fortresses were for +the present to be retained, but ultimately restored; the +decree against the Medici was to be revoked, but they +were still banished from Tuscany. But the King +would not go. The tension every day grew greater, +until at last Savonarola sought the royal presence, +solemnly warned him that God's anger would fall +upon him if he lingered, and sent him on his +way. On November 28th the French left Florence, +everyone, from Charles himself downwards, shamelessly +carrying off everything of value that they could +lay hands on, including the greater part of the +treasures and rarities that Cosimo and Lorenzo had +collected.</p> + +<p>It was now that all Florence turned to the voice +that rang out from the Convent of San Marco and the +pulpit of the Duomo; and Savonarola became, in some +measure, the pilot of the State. Mainly through his +influence, the government was remodelled somewhat on +the basis of the Venetian constitution with modifications. +The supreme authority was vested in the +<i>Greater Council</i>, which created the magistrates and +approved the laws; and it elected the <i>Council of Eighty</i>, +with which the Signoria was bound to consult, which, +together with the Signoria and the Colleges, made +appointments and discussed matters which could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120">[120]</a></span> +be debated in the Greater Council. A law was also +passed, known as the "law of the six beans," which +gave citizens the right of appeal from the decisions of +the Signoria or the sentences of the <i>Otto di guardia +e balìa</i> (who could condemn even to death by six votes +or "beans")–not to a special council to be chosen +from the Greater Council, as Savonarola wished, but +to the Greater Council itself. There was further a +general amnesty proclaimed (March 1495). Finally, +since the time-honoured calling of parliaments had been +a mere farce, an excuse for masking revolution under +the pretence of legality, and was the only means left +by which the Medici could constitutionally have overthrown +the new regime, it was ordained (August) that +no parliament should ever again be held under pain +of death. "The only purpose of parliament," said +Savonarola, "is to snatch the sovereign power from +the hands of the people." So enthusiastic–to use +no harsher term–did the Friar show himself, that he +declared from the pulpit that, if ever the Signoria +should sound the bell for a parliament, their houses +should be sacked, and that they themselves might be +hacked to pieces by the crowd without any sin being +thereby incurred; and that the Consiglio Maggiore +was the work of God and not of man, and that whoever +should attempt to change this government should +for ever be accursed of the Lord. It was now that +the Sala del Maggior Consiglio was built by Cronaca +in the Priors' Palace, to accommodate this new government +of the people; and the Signoria set up in the +middle of the court and at their gate the two bronze +statues by Donatello, which they took from Piero's +palace–the <i>David</i>, an emblem of the triumphant +young republic that had overthrown the giant of +tyranny, the <i>Judith</i> as a warning of the punishment that +the State would inflict upon whoso should attempt its<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_121" id="page_121">[121]</a></span> +restoration; <i>exemplum salutis publicae cives posuere</i>, +1495, ran the new inscription put by these stern +theocratic republicans upon its base.</p> + +<p>But in the meantime Charles had pursued his +triumphant march, had entered Rome, had conquered +the kingdom of Naples almost without a blow. Then +fortune turned against him; Ludovico Sforza with +the Pope formed an Italian league, including Venice, +with hope of Germany and Spain, to expel the French +from Italy–a league in which all but Florence and +Ferrara joined. Charles was now in full retreat to +secure his return to France, and was said to be marching +on Florence with Piero dei Medici in his company–no +reformation of the Church accomplished, no restoration +of Pisa to his ally. The Florentines flew to +arms. But Savonarola imagined that he had had a +special Vision of the Lilies vouchsafed to him by the +Blessed Virgin, which pointed to an alliance with +France and the reacquisition of Pisa.<a name="fnanchor_21" id="fnanchor_21"></a><a href="#footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> He went forth +to meet the King at Poggibonsi, June 1495, overawed +the fickle monarch by his prophetic exhortation, +and at least kept the French out of Florence. A +month later, the battle of Fornovo secured Charles' +retreat and occasioned (what was more important to +posterity) Mantegna's Madonna of the Victory. And +of the lost cities and fortresses, Leghorn alone was +recovered.</p> + +<p>But all that Savonarola had done, or was to do, in +the political field was but the means to an end–the +reformation and purification of Florence. It was to be +a united and consecrated State, with Christ alone for +King, adorned with all triumphs of Christian art and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122">[122]</a></span> +sacred poetry, a fire of spiritual felicity to Italy and all +the earth. In Lent and Advent especially, his voice +sounded from the pulpit, denouncing vice, showing the +beauty of righteousness, the efficacy of the sacraments, +and interpreting the Prophets, with special reference to +the needs of his times. And for a while Florence +seemed verily a new city. For the wild licence of the +Carnival, for the Pagan pageantry that the Medicean +princes had loved, for the sensual songs that had once +floated up from every street of the City of Flowers–there +were now bonfires of the vanities in the public +squares; holocausts of immoral books, indecent pictures, +all that ministered to luxury and wantonness (and much, +too, that was very precious!); there were processions +in honour of Christ and His Mother, there were new +mystical lauds and hymns of divine love. A kind of +spiritual inebriation took possession of the people and +their rulers alike. Tonsured friars and grave citizens, +with heads garlanded, mingled with the children and +danced like David before the Ark, shouting, "<i>Viva +Cristo e la Vergine Maria nostra regina.</i>" They had +indeed, like the Apostle, become fools for Christ's +sake. "It was a holy time," writes good Luca +Landucci, "but it was short. The wicked have prevailed +over the good. Praised be God that I saw +that short holy time. Wherefore I pray God that +He may give it back to us, that holy and pure living. +It was indeed a blessed time." Above all, the children +of Florence were the Friar's chosen emissaries and +agents in the great work he had in hand; he organised +them into bands, with standard-bearers and officers like +the time-honoured city companies with their gonfaloniers, +and sent them round the city to seize +vanities, forcibly to stop gambling, to collect alms +for the poor, and even to exercise a supervision over +the ladies' dresses. <i>Ecco i fanciugli del Frate</i>, was an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123">[123]</a></span> +instant signal for gamblers to take to flight, and for the +fair and frail ladies to be on their very best behaviour. +They proceeded with olive branches, like the children +of Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday; they +made the churches ring with their hymns to the +Madonna, and even harangued the Signoria on the +best method of reforming the morals of the citizens. +"Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou +hast perfected praise," quotes Landucci: "I have +written these things because they are true, and I have +seen them and have felt their sweetness, and some of +my own children were among these pure and blessed +bands."<a name="fnanchor_22" id="fnanchor_22"></a><a href="#footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>But the holy time was short indeed. Factions were +still only too much alive. The <i>Bigi</i> or <i>Palleschi</i> were +secretly ready to welcome the Medici back; the +<i>Arrabbiati</i>, the powerful section of the citizens who, +to some extent, held the traditions of the so-called +<i>Ottimati</i> or <i>nobili popolani</i>, whom the Medici had overthrown, +were even more bitter in their hatred to the +<i>Frateschi</i> or <i>Piagnoni</i>, as the adherents of the Friar +were called, though prepared to make common cause +with them on the least rumour of Piero dei Medici +approaching the walls. The <i>Compagnacci</i>, or "bad +companions," dissolute young men and evil livers, were +banded together under Doffo Spini, and would gladly +have taken the life of the man who had curtailed their +opportunities for vice. And to these there were now +added the open hostility of Pope Alexander VI., and +the secret machinations of his worthy ally, the Duke +of Milan. The Pope's hostility was at first mainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_124" id="page_124">[124]</a></span> +political; he had no objection whatever to Savonarola +reforming faith and morals (so long as he did not ask +Roderigo Borgia to reform himself), but could not +abide the Friar declaring that he had a special mission +from God and the Madonna to oppose the Italian league +against France. At the same time the Pope would +undoubtedly have been glad to see Piero dei Medici +restored to power. But in the early part of 1496, it +became a war to the death between these two–the +Prophet of Righteousness and the Church's Caiaphas–a +war which seemed at one moment about to convulse +all Christendom, but which ended in the funeral pyre +of the Piazza della Signoria.</p> + +<p>On Ash Wednesday, February 17th, Fra Girolamo, +amidst the vastest audience that had yet flocked to hear +his words, ascended once more the pulpit of Santa +Maria del Fiore. He commenced by a profession of +most absolute submission to the Church of Rome. "I +have ever believed, and do believe," he said, "all that +is believed by the Holy Roman Church, and have ever +submitted, and do submit, myself to her.... I rely +only on Christ and on the decisions of the Church of +Rome." But this was a prelude to the famous series +of sermons on Amos and Zechariah which he preached +throughout this Lent, and which was in effect a +superb and inspired denunciation of the wickedness of +Alexander and his Court, of the shameless corruption +of the Papal Curia and the Church generally, which +had made Rome, for a while, the sink of Christendom. +Nearly two hundred years before, St Peter had said +the same thing to Dante in the Heaven of the Fixed +Stars:–</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"Quegli ch'usurpa in terra il loco mio,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">il loco mio, il loco mio, che vaca</span><br /> +<span class="i1">nella presenza del Figliuol di Dio,</span><br /> +fatto ha del cimitero mio cloaca<br /> +<span class="i1">del sangue e della puzza, onde il perverso</span><br /> +<span class="i1">che cadde di quassù, laggiù si placa."<a name="fnanchor_23" id="fnanchor_23"></a><a href="#footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></span><br /></p> + +<p>These were, perhaps, the most terrible of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_125" id="page_125">[125]</a></span> +Savonarola's sermons and prophecies. Chastisement +was to come upon Rome; she was to be girdled +with steel, put to the sword, consumed with fire. +Italy was to be ravaged with pestilence and famine; +from all sides the barbarian hordes would sweep down +upon her. Let them fly from this corrupted Rome, +this new Babylon of confusion, and come to repentance. +And for himself, he asked and hoped for nothing but +the lot of the martyrs, when his work was done. These +sermons echoed through all Europe; and when the +Friar, after a temporary absence at Prato, returned to +the pulpit in May with a new course of sermons on +Ruth and Micah, he was no less daring; as loudly as +ever he rebuked the hideous corruption of the times, +the wickedness of the Roman Court, and announced +the scourge that was at hand:–</p> + +<p>"I announce to thee, Italy and Rome, that the Lord +will come forth out of His place. He has awaited +thee so long that He can wait no more. I tell thee +that God will draw forth the sword from the sheath; +He will send the foreign nations; He will come forth +out of His clemency and His mercy; and such bloodshed +shall there be, so many deaths, such cruelty, that +thou shalt say: O Lord, Thou hast come forth out of +Thy place. Yea, the Lord shall come; He will come +down and tread upon the high places of the earth. I +say to thee, Italy and Rome, that the Lord will tread +upon thee. I have bidden thee do penance; thou art +worse than ever. The feet of the Lord shall tread +upon thee; His feet shall be the horses, the armies of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126">[126]</a></span> +the foreign nations that shall trample upon the great +men of Italy; and soon shall priests, friars, bishops, +cardinals and great masters be trampled down....</p> + +<p>"Trust not, Rome, in saying: Here we have the +relics, here we have St Peter and so many bodies of +martyrs. God will not suffer such iniquities! I warn +thee that their blood cries up to Christ to come and +chastise thee."<a name="fnanchor_24" id="fnanchor_24"></a><a href="#footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>But, in the meanwhile, the state of Florence was +dark and dismal in the extreme. Pestilence and +famine ravaged her streets; the war against Pisa +seemed more hopeless every day; Piero Capponi had +fallen in the field in September; and the forces of the +League threatened her with destruction, unless she +deserted the French alliance. King Charles showed +no disposition to return; the Emperor Maximilian, +with the Venetian fleet, was blockading her sole +remaining port of Leghorn. A gleam of light came +in October, when, at the very moment that the +miraculous Madonna of the Impruneta was being borne +through the streets in procession by the Piagnoni, a +messenger brought the news that reinforcements and +provisions had reached Leghorn from Marseilles; and +it was followed in November by the dispersion of the +imperial fleet by a tempest. At the opening of 1497 +a Signory devoted to Savonarola, and headed by +Francesco Valori as Gonfaloniere, was elected; and +the following carnival witnessed an even more emphatic +burning of the vanities in the great Piazza, while the +sweet voices of the "children of the Friar" seemed +to rise louder and louder in intercession and in praise. +Savonarola was at this time living more in seclusion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127">[127]</a></span> +broken in health, and entirely engaged upon his great +theological treatise, the <i>Triumphus Crucis</i>; but in +Lent he resumed his pulpit crusade against the corruption +of the Church, the scandalous lives of her chief +pastors, in a series of sermons on Ezekiel; above all in +one most tremendous discourse on the text: "And +in all thy abominations and thy fornications thou hast +not remembered the days of thy youth." In April, +relying upon the election of a new Signoria favourable +to the Mediceans (and headed by Bernardo del Nero +as Gonfaloniere), Piero dei Medici–who had been +leading a most degraded life in Rome, and committing +every turpitude imaginable–made an attempt to surprise +Florence, which merely resulted in a contemptible +fiasco. This threw the government into the hands of +the Arrabbiati, who hated Savonarola even more than +the Palleschi did, and who were intriguing with the +Pope and the Duke of Milan. On Ascension Day +the Compagnacci raised a disgraceful riot in the Duomo, +interrupted Savonarola's sermon, and even attempted to +take his life. Then at last there came from Rome the +long-expected bull of excommunication, commencing, +"We have heard from many persons worthy of belief +that a certain Fra Girolamo Savonarola, at this present +said to be vicar of San Marco in Florence, hath +disseminated pernicious doctrines to the scandal and +great grief of simple souls." It was published on June +18th in the Badia, the Annunziata, Santa Croce, +Santa Maria Novella, and Santo Spirito, with the +usual solemn ceremonies of ringing bells and dashing +out of the lights–in the last-named church, especially, +the monks "did the cursing in the most orgulist wise +that might be done," as the compiler of the <i>Morte +Darthur</i> would put it.</p> + +<p>The Arrabbiati and Compagnacci were exultant, but +the Signoria that entered office in July seemed disposed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128" id="page_128">[128]</a></span> +to make Savonarola's cause their own. A fresh plot +was discovered to betray Florence to Piero dei Medici, +and five of the noblest citizens in the State–the aged +Bernardo del Nero, who had merely known of the +plot and not divulged it, but who had been privy to +Piero's coming in April while Gonfaloniere, among +them–were beheaded in the courtyard of the Bargello's +palace, adjoining the Palazzo Vecchio. In this +Savonarola took no share; he was absorbed in tending +those who were dying on all sides from the plague and +famine, and in making the final revision of his <i>Triumph +of the Cross</i>, which was to show to the Pope and all +the world how steadfastly he held to the faith of the +Church of Rome.<a name="fnanchor_25" id="fnanchor_25"></a><a href="#footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> The execution of these conspirators +caused great indignation among many in the city. They +had been refused the right of appeal to the Consiglio +Maggiore, and it was held that Fra Girolamo might +have saved them, had he so chosen, and that his ally, +Francesco Valori, who had relentlessly hounded them +to their deaths, had been actuated mainly by personal +hatred of Bernardo del Nero.</p> + +<p>But Savonarola could not long keep silence, and in +the following February, 1498, on Septuagesima Sunday, +he again ascended the pulpit of the Duomo. +Many of his adherents, Landucci tells us, kept away +for fear of the excommunication: "I was one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129" id="page_129">[129]</a></span> +those who did not go there." Not faith, but charity +it is that justifies and perfects man–such was the +burden of the Friar's sermons now: if the Pope gives +commands which are contrary to charity, he is no +instrument of the Lord, but a broken tool. The +excommunication is invalid, the Lord will work a +miracle through His servant when His time comes, +and his only prayer is that he may die in defence of +the truth. On the last day of the Carnival, after communicating +his friars and a vast throng of the laity, +Savonarola addressed the people in the Piazza of San +Marco, and, holding on high the Host, prayed that +Christ would send fire from heaven upon him that +should swallow him up into hell, if he were deceiving +himself, and if his words were not from God. There +was a more gorgeous burning of the Vanities than ever; +but all during Lent the unequal conflict went on, and +the Friar began to talk of a future Council. This was +the last straw. An interdict would ruin the commerce +of Florence; and on the 17th of March the Signoria +bowed before the storm, and forbade Savonarola to +preach again. On the following morning, the third +Sunday in Lent, he delivered his last sermon:–</p> + +<p>"If I am deceived, Christ, Thou hast deceived me, +Thou. Holy Trinity, if I am deceived, Thou hast +deceived me. Angels, if I am deceived, ye have +deceived me. Saints of Paradise, if I am deceived, +ye have deceived me. But all that God has said, or +His angels or His saints have said, is most true, and it +is impossible that they should lie; and, therefore, it is +impossible that, when I repeat what they have told me, +I should lie. O Rome, do all that thou wilt, for I +assure thee of this, that the Lord is with me. O +Rome, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. +Thou shalt be purified yet.... Italy, Italy, the +Lord is with me. Thou wilt not be able to do aught.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130">[130]</a></span> +Florence, Florence, that is, ye evil citizens of Florence, +arm yourselves as ye will, ye shall be conquered this +time, and ye shall not be able to kick against the pricks, +for the Lord is with me, as a strong warrior." "Let +us leave all to the Lord; He has been the Master of +all the Prophets, and of all the holy men. He is the +Master who wieldeth the hammer, and, when He hath +used it for His purpose, putteth it not back into the +chest, but casteth it aside. So did He unto Jeremiah, +for when He had used him as much as He wished, He +cast him aside and had him stoned. So will it be also +with this hammer; when He shall have used it in His +own way, He will cast it aside. Yea, we are content, +let the Lord's will be done; and by the more suffering +that shall be ours here below, so much the greater shall +the crown be hereafter, there on high."</p> + +<p>"We will do with our prayers what we had to do +with our preaching. O Lord, I commend to Thee +the good and the pure of heart; and I pray Thee, +look not at the negligence of the good, because human +frailty is great, yea, their frailty is great. Bless, Lord, +the good and pure of heart. Lord, I pray Thee that +Thou delay no longer in fulfilling Thy promises."</p> + +<p>It was now, in the silence of his cell, that Savonarola +prepared his last move. He would appeal to the princes +of Christendom–the Emperor, Ferdinand and Isabella +of Spain, Henry VII. of England, the King of Hungary, +and above all, that "most Christian King" +Charles VIII. of France–to summon a general +council, depose the simoniacal usurper who was polluting +the chair of Peter, and reform the Church. He +was prepared to promise miracles from God to confirm +his words. These letters were written, but never sent; +a preliminary message was forwarded from trustworthy +friends in Florence to influential persons in each court +to prepare them for what was coming; and the despatch<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_131" id="page_131">[131]</a></span> +to the Florentine ambassador in France was intercepted +by the agents of the Duke of Milan. It was at once +placed in the hands of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza in +Rome, and the end was now a matter of days. The +Signoria was hostile, and the famous ordeal by fire lit +the conflagration that freed the martyr and patriot. +On Sunday, March 25th, the Franciscan Francesco +da Puglia, preaching in Santa Croce and denouncing +Savonarola, challenged him to prove his doctrines by a +miracle, to pass unscathed through the fire. He was +himself prepared to enter the flames with him, or at +least said that he was. Against Savonarola's will his +lieutenant, Fra Domenico, who had taken his place in +the pulpit, drew up a series of conclusions (epitomising +Savonarola's teaching and declaring the nullity of the +excommunication), and declared himself ready to enter +the fire to prove their truth.</p> + +<p>Huge was the delight of the Compagnacci at the +prospect of such sport, and the Signoria seized upon it +as a chance of ending the matter once for all. +Whether the Franciscans were sincere, or whether it +was a mere plot to enable the Arrabbiati and Compagnacci +to destroy Savonarola, is still a matter of +dispute. The Piagnoni were confident in the coming +triumph of their prophet; champions came forward +from both sides, professedly eager to enter the flames–although +it was muttered that the Compagnacci and +their Doffo Spini had promised the Franciscans that +no harm should befall them. Savonarola misliked it, +but took every precaution that, if the ordeal really +came off, there should be no possibility of fraud or +evasion. Of the amazing scene in the Piazza on +April 7th, I will speak in the following chapter; +suffice it to say here that it ended in a complete fiasco, +and that Savonarola and his friars would never have +reached their convent alive, but for the protection of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132">[132]</a></span> +the armed soldiery of the Signoria. Hounded home +under the showers of stones and filth from the infuriated +crowd, whose howls of execration echoed +through San Marco, Fra Girolamo had the <i>Te Deum</i> +sung, but knew in his heart that all was lost. That +very same day his Cyrus, the champion of his prophetic +dreams, Charles VIII. of France, was struck down +by an apoplectic stroke at Amboise; and, as though +in judgment for his abandonment of what the prophet +had told him was the work of the Lord, breathed his +last in the utmost misery and ignominy.</p> + +<p>The next morning, Palm Sunday, April 8th, +Savonarola preached a very short sermon in the +church of San Marco, in which he offered himself in +sacrifice to God and was prepared to suffer death for +his flock. <i>Tanto fu sempre questo uomo simile a sè +stesso</i>, says Jacopo Nardi. Hell had broken loose by +the evening, and the Arrabbiati and Compagnacci, +stabbing and hewing as they came, surged round the +church and convent. In spite of Savonarola and Fra +Domenico, the friars had weapons and ammunition in +their cells, and there was a small band of devout laymen +with them, prepared to hold by the prophet to +the end. From vespers till past midnight the attack +and defence went on; in the Piazza, in the church, +and through the cloisters raged the fight, while riot +and murder wantoned through the streets of the city. +Francesco Valori, who had escaped from the convent +in the hope of bringing reinforcements, was brutally +murdered before his own door. The great bell of the +convent tolled and tolled, animating both besieged +and besiegers to fresh efforts, but bringing no relief +from without. Savonarola, who had been prevented +from following the impulses of his heart and delivering +himself up to the infernal crew that thirsted for his +blood in the Piazza, at last gathered his friars round<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133">[133]</a></span> +him before the Blessed Sacrament, in the great hall of +the Greek library, solemnly confirmed his doctrine, +exhorted them to embrace the Cross alone, and then, +together with Fra Domenico, gave himself into the +hands of the forces of the Signoria. The entire +cloisters were already swarming with his exultant foes. +"The work of the Lord shall go forward without +cease," he said, as the mace-bearers bound him and +Domenico, "my death will but hasten it on." +Buffeted and insulted by the Compagnacci and the +populace, amidst the deafening uproar, the two +Dominicans were brought to the Palazzo Vecchio. +It seemed to the excited imaginations of the Piagnoni +that the scenes of the first Passiontide at Jerusalem +were now being repeated in the streets of fifteenth +century Florence.</p> + +<p>The Signoria had no intention of handing over their +captives to Rome, but appointed a commission of +seventeen–including Doffo Spini and several of +Savonarola's bitterest foes–to conduct the examination +of the three friars. The third, Fra Silvestro, a +weak and foolish visionary, had hid himself on the +fatal night, but had been given up on the following +day. Again and again were they most cruelly tortured–but +in all essentials, though ever and anon they wrung +some sort of agonised denial from his lips, Savonarola's +testimony as to his divine mission was unshaken. Fra +Domenico, the lion-hearted soul whom the children of +Florence had loved, and to whom poets like Poliziano +had turned on their death-beds, was as heroic on the +rack or under the torment of the boot as he had been +throughout his career. Out of Fra Silvestro the +examiners could naturally extort almost anything they +pleased. And a number of laymen and others, supposed +to have been in their counsels, were similarly +"examined," and their shrieks rang through the Bargello;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134">[134]</a></span> +but with little profit to the Friar's foes. So they +falsified the confessions, and read the falsification aloud +in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, to the bewilderment +of all Savonarola's quondam disciples who were there. +"We had believed him to be a prophet," writes Landucci +in his diary, "and he confessed that he was not +a prophet, and that he had not received from God the +things that he preached; and he confessed that many +things in his sermons were the contrary to what he had +given us to understand. And I was there when this +process was read, whereat I was astounded, stupified, +and amazed. Grief pierced my soul, when I saw so +great an edifice fall to the ground, through being sadly +based upon a single lie. I expected Florence to be a +new Jerusalem, whence should proceed the laws and +splendour and example of goodly living, and to see the +renovation of the Church, the conversion of the infidels +and the consolation of the good. And I heard the very +contrary, and indeed took the medicine: <i>In voluntate +tua, Domine, omnia sunt posita.</i>"</p> + +<p>A packed election produced a new Signoria, crueller +than the last. They still refused to send the friars +to Rome, but invited the Pope's commissioners to +Florence. These arrived on May 19th–the +Dominican General, Torriani, a well-intentioned man, +and the future Cardinal Romolino, a typical creature +of the Borgias and a most infamous fellow. It was +said that they meant to put Savonarola to death, even +if he were a second St John the Baptist. The torture +was renewed without result; the three friars were sentenced +to be hanged and then burnt. Fra Domenico +implored that he might be cast alive into the fire, in +order that he might suffer more grievous torments for +Christ, and desired only that the friars of Fiesole, of +which convent he was prior, might bury him in some +lowly spot, and be loyal to the teachings of Fra<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135" id="page_135">[135]</a></span> +Girolamo. On the morning of May 23rd, Savonarola +said his last Mass in the Chapel of the Priors, and +communicated his companions. Then they were led +out on to the Ringhiera overlooking the Piazza, from +which a temporary <i>palchetto</i> ran out towards the centre +of the square to serve as scaffold. Here, the evening +before, the gallows had been erected, beam across beam; +but a cry had arisen among the crowd, <i>They are going +to crucify him.</i> So it had been hacked about, in order +that it might not seem even remotely to resemble a +cross. But in spite of all their efforts, Jacopo Nardi +tells us, that gallows still seemed to represent the figure +of the Cross.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_16" id="illo_16"></a> +<img src="images/illus148_tmb.jpg" width="400" height="338" alt="THE DEATH OF SAVONAROLA" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE DEATH OF SAVONAROLA<br /> +(From an old, but quite contemporary, representation)</p> +<a href="images/illus148_fs40.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>The guards of the Signoria kept back the crowds +that pressed thicker and thicker round the scaffold, +most of them bitterly hostile to the Friars and heaping +every insult upon them. When Savonarola was stripped +of the habit of Saint Dominic, he said, "Holy dress, +how much did I long to wear thee; thou wast granted +to me by the grace of God, and to this day I have +kept thee spotless. I do not now leave thee, thou art +taken from me." They were now degraded by the +Bishop of Vasona, who had loved Fra Girolamo in +better days; then in the same breath sentenced and +absolved by Romolino, and finally condemned by the +Eight–or the seven of them who were present–as +representing the secular arm. The Bishop, in degrading +Savonarola, stammered out: <i>Separo te ab Ecclesia +militante atque triumphante</i>; to which the Friar calmly +answered, in words which have become famous: <i>Militante, +non triumphante; hoc enim tuum non est.</i> Silvestro +suffered first, then Domenico. There was a +pause before Savonarola followed; and in the sudden +silence, as he looked his last upon the people, a voice +cried: "Now, prophet, is the time for a miracle." +And then another voice: "Now can I burn the man<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136">[136]</a></span> +who would have burnt me"; and a ruffian, who had +been waiting since dawn at the foot of the scaffold, +fired the pile before the executioner could descend +from his ladder. The bodies were burnt to ashes +amidst the ferocious yells of the populace, and thrown +into the Arno from the Ponte Vecchio. "Many fell +from their faith," writes Landucci. A faithful few, +including some noble Florentine ladies, gathered up +relics, in spite of the crowd and the Signory, and +collected what floated on the water. It was the vigil +of Ascension Day.</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<p>Savonarola's martyrdom ends the story of mediæval +Florence. The last man of the Middle Ages–born +out of his due time–had perished. A portion of the +prophecy was fulfilled at once. The people of Italy +and their rulers alike were trampled into the dust +beneath the feet of the foreigners–the Frenchmen, +the Switzers, the Spaniards, the Germans. The new +King of France, Louis XII., who claimed both the +Duchy of Milan and the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, +entered Milan in 1499; and, after a brief restoration, +Ludovico Sforza expiated his treasons by being sold by +the Swiss to a lingering life-in-death in a French dungeon. +The Spaniards followed; and in 1501 the +troops of Ferdinand the Catholic occupied Naples. +Like the dragon and the lion in Leonardo's drawing, +Spain and France now fell upon each other for the +possession of the spoils of conquered Italy; the Emperor +Maximilian and Pope Julius II. joined in the fray; +fresh hordes of Swiss poured into Lombardy. The +battle of Pavia in 1525 gave the final victory to Spain; +and, in 1527, the judgment foretold by Savonarola fell +upon Rome, when the Eternal City was devastated by +the Spaniards and Germans, nominally the armies of +the Emperor Charles V. The treaty of Câteau-Cambresis<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137">[137]</a></span> +in 1559 finally forged the Austrian and +Spanish fetters with which Italy was henceforth bound.</p> + +<p>The death of Savonarola did not materially alter the +affairs of the Republic. The Greater Council kept its +hold upon the people and city, and in 1502 Piero di +Tommaso Soderini was elected Gonfaloniere for life. +The new head of the State was a sincere Republican and +a genuine whole-hearted patriot; a man of blameless +life and noble character, but simple-minded almost to +a fault, and of abilities hardly more than mediocre. +Niccolò Machiavelli, who was born in 1469 and had +entered political life in 1498, shortly after Savonarola's +death, as Secretary to the Ten (the Dieci di Balìa), +was much employed by the Gonfaloniere both in war +and peace, especially on foreign legations; and, although +he sneered at Soderini after his death for his simplicity, +he co-operated faithfully and ably with him during his +administration. It was under Soderini that Machiavelli +organised the Florentine militia. Pisa was finally reconquered +for Florence in 1509; and, although Machiavelli +cruelly told the Pisan envoys that the Florentines +required only their obedience, and cared nothing for +their lives, their property, nor their honour, the conquerors +showed unusual magnanimity and generosity in +their triumph.</p> + +<p>These last years of the Republic are very glorious in +the history of Florentine art. In 1498, just before the +French entered Milan, Leonardo da Vinci had finished +his Last Supper for Ludovico Sforza; in the same +year, Michelangelo commenced his Pietà in Rome which +is now in St Peter's; in 1499, Baccio della Porta +began a fresco of the Last Judgment in Santa Maria +Nuova, a fresco which, when he entered the Dominican +order at San Marco and became henceforth known as +Fra Bartolommeo, was finished by his friend, Mariotto +Albertinelli. These three works, though in very different<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_138" id="page_138">[138]</a></span> +degrees, represent the opening of the Cinquecento +in painting and sculpture. While Soderini ruled, both +Leonardo and Michelangelo were working in Florence, +for the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, and Michelangelo's +gigantic David–the Republic preparing to +meet its foes–was finished in 1504. This was the +epoch in which Leonardo was studying those strange +women of the Renaissance, whose mysterious smiles +and wonderful hair still live for us in his drawings; +and it was now that he painted here in Florence his +Monna Lisa, "the embodiment of the old fancy, the +symbol of the modern idea." At the close of 1504 +the young Raphael came to Florence (as Perugino +had done before him), and his art henceforth shows +how profoundly he felt the Florentine influence. We +know how he sketched the newly finished David, +studied Masaccio's frescoes, copied bits of Leonardo's +cartoon, was impressed by Bartolommeo's Last Judgment. +Although it was especially Leonardo that he +took for a model, Raphael found his most congenial +friend and adviser in the artist friar of San Marco; +and there is a pleasant tradition that he was himself +influential in persuading Fra Bartolommeo to resume +the brush. Leonardo soon went off to serve King +Francis I. in France; Pope Julius summoned both +Michelangelo and Raphael to Rome. These men +were the masters of the world in painting and sculpture, +and cannot really be confined to one school. Purely +Florentine painting in the Cinquecento now culminated +in the work of Fra Bartolommeo (1475-1517) and +Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531), who had both been +the pupils of Piero di Cosimo, although they felt other +and greater influences later. After Angelico, Fra +Bartolommeo is the most purely religious of all the +Florentine masters; and, with the solitary exception +of Andrea del Sarto, he is their only really great<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_139" id="page_139">[139]</a></span> +colourist. Two pictures of his at Lucca–one in the +Cathedral, the other now in the Palazzo Pubblico–are +among the greatest works of the Renaissance. In +the latter especially, "Our Lady of Mercy," he +shows himself the heir in painting of the traditions of +Savonarola. Many of Bartolommeo's altar-pieces have +grown very black, and have lost much of their effect +by being removed from the churches for which they +were painted; but enough is left in Florence to show +his greatness. With him was associated that gay +Bohemian and wild liver, Mariotto Albertinelli (1474-1515), +who deserted painting to become an innkeeper, +and who frequently worked in partnership with the +friar. Andrea del Sarto, the tailor's son who loved +not wisely but too well, is the last of a noble line +of heroic craftsmen. Although his work lacks all +inspiration, he is one of the greatest of colourists. +"Andrea del Sarto," writes Mr Berenson, "approached, +perhaps, as closely to a Giorgione or a Titian as could +a Florentine, ill at ease in the neighbourhood of +Leonardo and Michelangelo." He entirely belongs +to these closing days of the Republic; his earliest +frescoes were painted during Soderini's gonfalonierate; +his latest just before the great siege.</p> + +<p>In the Carnival of 1511 a wonderfully grim pageant +was shown to the Florentines, and it was ominous of +coming events. It was known as the <i>Carro della +Morte</i>, and had been designed with much secrecy by +Piero di Cosimo. Drawn by buffaloes, a gigantic +black chariot, all painted over with dead men's bones +and white crosses, slowly passed through the streets. +Upon the top of it, there stood a large figure of Death +with a scythe in her hand; all round her, on the +chariot, were closed coffins. When at intervals the +Triumph paused, harsh and hoarse trumpet-blasts +sounded; the coffins opened, and horrible figures,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140">[140]</a></span> +attired like skeletons, half issued forth. "We are +dead," they sang, "as you see. So shall we see you +dead. Once we were even as you are, soon shall you +be as we." Before and after the chariot, rode a great +band of what seemed to be mounted deaths, on the +sorriest steeds that could be found. Each bore a great +black banner with skull and cross-bones upon it, and +each ghastly cavalier was attended by four skeletons +with black torches. Ten black standards followed the +Triumph; and, as it slowly moved on, the whole +procession chanted the <i>Miserere</i>. Vasari tells us that +this spectacle, which filled the city with terror and +wonder, was supposed to signify the return of the +Medici to Florence, which was to be "as it were, a +resurrection from death to life."</p> + +<p>And, sure enough, in the following year the +Spaniards under Raimondo da Cardona fell upon +Tuscany, and, after the horrible sack and massacre +of Prato, reinstated the Cardinal Giovanni dei Medici +and Giuliano in Florence–their elder brother, Piero, +had been drowned in the Garigliano eight years before. +Piero Soderini went into exile, the Greater Council +was abolished, and, while the city was held by their +foreign troops, the Medici renewed the old pretence of +summoning a parliament to grant a balìa to reform the +State. At the beginning of 1513 two young disciples +of Savonarola, Pietro Paolo Boscoli and Agostino +Capponi, resolved to imitate Brutus and Cassius, and to +liberate Florence by the death of the Cardinal and his +brother. Their plot was discovered, and they died on +the scaffold. "Get this Brutus out of my head for +me," said Boscoli to Luca della Robbia, kinsman of +the great sculptor, "that I may meet my last end +like a Christian"; and, to the Dominican friar who +confessed him, he said, "Father, the philosophers +have taught me how to bear death manfully; do you<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_141" id="page_141">[141]</a></span> +help me to bear it out of love for Christ." In this +same year the Cardinal Giovanni was elected Pope, +and entered upon his splendid and scandalous pontificate +as Leo X. "Let us enjoy the Papacy," was his +maxim, "since God has given it to us."</p> + +<p>Although Machiavelli was ready to serve the Medici, +he had been deprived of his posts at the restoration, +imprisoned and tortured on suspicion of being concerned +in Boscoli's conspiracy, and now, released in +the amnesty granted by the newly elected Pope, was +living in poverty and enforced retirement at his villa +near San Casciano. It was now that he wrote his +great books, the <i>Principe</i> and the <i>Discorsi sopra la prima +deca di Tito Livio</i>. Florence was ruled by the Pope's +nephew, the younger Lorenzo, son of Piero by +Alfonsina Orsini. The government was practically +what it had been under the Magnificent, save that this +new Lorenzo, who had married a French princess, +discarded the republican appearances which his grandfather +had maintained, and surrounded himself with +courtiers and soldiers. For him and for Giuliano, the +Pope cherished designs of carving out large princedoms +in Italy; and Machiavelli, in dedicating his <i>Principe</i> +first to Giuliano, who died in 1516, and then to +Lorenzo, probably dreamed that some such prince as +he described might drive out the foreigner and unify +the nation. In his nobler moments Leo X., too, +seems to have aspired to establish the independence of +Italy. When Lorenzo died in 1519, leaving one +daughter, who was afterwards to be the notorious +Queen of France, there was no direct legitimate male +descendant of Cosimo the elder left; and the Cardinal +Giulio, son of the elder Giuliano, governed Florence +with considerable mildness, and even seemed disposed +to favour a genuine republican government, until a plot +against his life hardened his heart. It was to him that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142">[142]</a></span> +Machiavelli, who was now to some extent received +back into favour, afterwards dedicated his <i>Istorie +Fiorentine</i>. In 1523 the Cardinal Giulio, in spite of +his illegitimate birth, became Pope Clement VII., +that most hapless of Pontiffs, whose reign was so +surpassingly disastrous to Italy. In Florence the +Medici were now represented by two young bastards, +Ippolito and Alessandro, the reputed children of the +younger Giuliano and the younger Lorenzo respectively; +while the Cardinal Passerini misruled the State +in the name of the Pope. But more of the true +Medicean spirit had passed into the person of a +woman, Clarice, the daughter of Piero (and therefore +the sister of the Duke Lorenzo), who was married to +the younger Filippo Strozzi, and could ill bear to see +her house end in these two base-born lads. And +elsewhere in Italy Giovanni delle Bande Nere (as he +was afterwards called, from the mourning of his +soldiers for his death) was winning renown as a +captain; he was the son of that Giovanni dei Medici +with whom Piero had quarrelled, by Caterina Sforza, +the Lady of Forlì, and had married Maria Salviati, +a grand-daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent. But +the Pope would rather have lost Florence than that it +should fall into the hands of the younger line.</p> + +<p>But the Florentine Republic was to have a more +glorious sunset. In 1527, while the imperial troops +sacked Rome, the Florentines for the third time +expelled the Medici and re-established the Republic, +with first Niccolò Capponi and then Francesco Carducci +as Gonfaloniere. In this sunset Machiavelli +died; Andrea del Sarto painted the last great +Florentine fresco; Michelangelo returned to serve +the State in her hour of need. The voices of the +Piagnoni were heard again from San Marco, and +Niccolò Capponi in the Greater Council carried a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143">[143]</a></span> +resolution electing Jesus Christ king of Florence. +But the plague fell upon the city; and her liberty +was the price of the reconciliation of Pope and +Emperor. From October 1529 until August 1530, +their united forces–first under the Prince of Orange +and then under Ferrante Gonzaga–beleaguered Florence. +Francesco Ferrucci, the last hope of the +Republic, was defeated and slain by the imperialists +near San Marcello; and then, betrayed by her own +infamous general Malatesta Baglioni, the city capitulated +on the understanding that, although the form of +the government was to be regulated and established by +the Emperor, her liberty was preserved. The sun +had indeed set of the most noble Republic in all +history.</p> + +<p>Alessandro dei Medici, the reputed son of Lorenzo +by a mulatto woman, was now made hereditary ruler of +Florence by the Emperor, whose illegitimate daughter +he married, and by the Pope. For a time, the Duke +behaved with some decency; but after the death of +Clement in 1534, he showed himself in his true light +as a most abominable tyrant, and would even have +murdered Michelangelo, who had been working upon +the tombs of Giuliano and Lorenzo. "It was certainly +by God's aid," writes Condivi, "that he happened to +be away from Florence when Clement died." Alessandro +appears to have poisoned his kinsman, the +Cardinal Ippolito, the other illegitimate remnant of +the elder Medicean line, in whom he dreaded a possible +rival. Associated with him in his worst excesses was +a legitimate scion of the younger branch of the house, +Lorenzino–the <i>Lorenzaccio</i> of Alfred de Musset's +drama–who was the grandson of the Lorenzo di +Pier Francesco mentioned in the previous chapter.<a name="fnanchor_26" id="fnanchor_26"></a><a href="#footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> +On January 5th, 1537, this young man–a reckless<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144" id="page_144">[144]</a></span> +libertine, half scholar and half madman–stabbed the +Duke Alessandro to death with the aid of a bravo, +and fled, only to find a dishonourable grave some ten +years later in Venice.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_17" id="illo_17"></a> +<img src="images/illus158_tmb.jpg" width="400" height="295" alt="THE DAWN" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE DAWN<br /> +<span class="smcap">By Michelangelo</span></p><a href="images/illus158_fs45.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Florence now fell into the hands of the ablest and +most ruthless of all her rulers, Cosimo I. (the son of +Giovanni delle Bande Nere), who united Medicean +craft with the brutality of the Sforzas, conquered +Siena, and became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. +At the opening of his reign the Florentine exiles, +headed by the Strozzi and by Baccio Valori, attempted +to recover the State, but were defeated by Cosimo's +mercenaries. Their leaders were relentlessly put to +death; and Filippo Strozzi, after prolonged torture, +was either murdered in prison or committed suicide. +A word will be said presently, in chapter ix., on +Cosimo's descendants, the Medicean Grand Dukes +who reigned in Tuscany for two hundred years.</p> + +<p>The older generation of artists had passed away with +the Republic. After the siege Michelangelo alone +remained, compelled to labour upon the Medicean +tombs in San Lorenzo, which have become a monument, +less to the tyrants for whom he reared them, +than to the <i>saeva indignatio</i> of the great master himself +at the downfall of his country. A madrigal of +his, written either in the days of Alessandro or at +the beginning of Cosimo's reign, expresses what was +in his heart. Symonds renders it:–</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"Lady, for joy of lovers numberless</span><br /> +Thou wast created fair as angels are;<br /> +Sure God hath fallen asleep in heaven afar,<br /> +When one man calls the bliss of many his."</p> + +<p>But the last days and last works of Michelangelo +belong to the story of Rome rather than to that of +Florence. Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo (1494-1557), +who had been Andrea del Sarto's scholar, and whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145">[145]</a></span> +earlier works had been painted before the downfall +of the Republic, connects the earlier with the later +Cinquecento; but of his work, as of that of his pupil +Angelo Bronzino (1502-1572), the portraits alone +have any significance for us now. Giorgio Vasari +(1512-1574), although painter and architect–the +Uffizi and part of the Palazzo Vecchio are his work–is +chiefly famous for his delightful series of biographies +of the artists themselves. Benvenuto Cellini +(1500-1571), that most piquant of personalities, and +the Fleming Giambologna or Giovanni da Bologna +(1524-1608), the master of the flying Mercury, are +the last noteworthy sculptors of the Florentine school. +When Michelangelo–<i>Michel, più che mortale, Angel +divino</i>, as Ariosto calls him–passed away on February +18th, 1564, the Renaissance was over as far as Art +was concerned. And not in Art only. The dome +of St Peter's, that was slowly rising before Michelangelo's +dying eyes, was a visible sign of the new spirit +that was moving within the Church itself, the spirit +that reformed the Church and purified the Papacy, and +which brought about the renovation of which Savonarola +had prophesied.</p> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_146" id="page_146">[146]</a></p> +<h2 class="p6"><a name="chapter_v" id="chapter_v"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3><i>The Palazzo Vecchio–The Piazza della Signoria–The Uffizi</i></h3> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"Ecco il Palagio de' Signori si bello</span><br /> +che chi cercasse tutto l'universo,<br /> +non credo ch'é trovasse par di quello."<br /> +<span class="i10">–<i>Antonio Pucci.</i></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_18" id="illo_18"></a> +<img src="images/illus161_tmb.jpg" width="257" height="400" alt="THE PALAZZO VECCHIO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE PALAZZO VECCHIO</p> +<a href="images/illus161_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>T the eastern corner of the Piazza della Signoria–that +great square over which almost all the +history of Florence may be said to have passed–rises +the Palazzo Vecchio, with its great projecting parapets +and its soaring tower: the old Palace of the Signoria, +originally the Palace of the Priors, and therefore of +the People. It is often stated that the square battlements +of the Palace itself represent the Guelfs, while +the forked battlements of the tower are in some mysterious +way connected with the Ghibellines, who can +hardly be said to have still existed as a real party in +the city when they were built; there is, it appears, +absolutely no historical foundation for this legend. The +Palace was commenced by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1298, +when, in consequence of the hostility between the +magnates and the people, it was thought that the +Priors were not sufficiently secure in the Palace of +the Cerchi; and it may be taken to represent the whole +course of Florentine history, from this government of +the Secondo Popolo, through Savonarola's Republic +and the Medicean despotism, down to the unification of +Italy. Its design and essentials, however, are Arnolfo's<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149">[149]</a></span> +and the people's, though many later architects, besides +Vasari, have had their share in the completion of the +present building. Arnolfo founded the great tower of +the Priors upon an older tower of a family of magnates, +the Foraboschi, and it was also known as the Torre +della Vacca. When, in those fierce democratic days, +its great bell rang to summon a Parliament in the +Piazza, or to call the companies of the city to arms, +it was popularly said that "the cow" was lowing. The +upper part of the tower belongs to the fifteenth century. +Stupendous though the Palazzo is, it would have been +of vaster proportions but for the prohibition given to +Arnolfo to raise the house of the Republic where the +dwellings of the Uberti had once stood–<i>ribelli di +Firenze e Ghibellini</i>. Not even the heroism of Farinata +could make this stern people less "fierce against my +kindred in all its laws," as that great Ghibelline puts it +to Dante in the <i>Inferno</i>.</p> + +<p>The present steps and platform in front of the Palace +are only the remnants of the famous Ringhiera constructed +here in the fourteenth century, and removed in +1812. On it the Signoria used to meet to address the +crowd in the Piazza, or to enter upon their term of +office. Here, at one time, the Gonfaloniere received +the Standard of the People, and here, at a somewhat +later date, the batons of command were given to the +condottieri who led the mercenaries in the pay of the +Republic. Here the famous meeting took place at +which the Duke of Athens was acclaimed <i>Signore a +vita</i> by the mob; and here, a few months later, his +Burgundian followers thrust out the most unpopular of +his agents to be torn to pieces by the besiegers. Here +the Papal Commissioners and the Eight sat on the day +of Savonarola's martyrdom, as told in the last chapter.</p> + +<p>The inscription over the door, with the monogram +of Christ, was placed here by the Gonfaloniere Niccolò<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_150" id="page_150">[150]</a></span> +Capponi in February 1528, in the last temporary restoration +of the Republic; it originally announced that +Jesus Christ had been chosen King of the Florentine +People, but was modified by Cosimo I. The huge +marble group of Hercules and Cacus on the right, by +Baccio Bandinelli, is an atrocity; in Benvenuto Cellini's +autobiography there is a rare story of how he and +Baccio wrangled about it in the Duke's presence, on +which occasion Bandinelli was stung into making a +foul–but probably true–accusation against Cellini, +which might have had serious consequences. The +Marzocco on the left, the emblematical lion of Florence, +is a copy from Donatello.</p> + +<p>The court is the work of Michelozzo, commenced +in 1434, on the return of the elder Cosimo from exile. +The stucco ornamentations and grotesques were executed +in 1565, on the occasion of the marriage of Francesco +dei Medici, son of Cosimo I., with Giovanna of Austria; +the faded frescoes are partly intended to symbolise the +ducal exploits, partly views of Austrian cities in compliment +to the bride. The bronze boy with a dolphin, +on the fountain in the centre of the court, was made by +Andrea Verrocchio for Lorenzo the Magnificent; it is +an exquisite little work, full of life and motion–"the +little boy who for ever half runs and half flits across +the courtyard of the Palace, while the dolphin ceaselessly +struggles in the arms, whose pressure sends the +water spurting from the nostrils."<a name="fnanchor_27" id="fnanchor_27"></a><a href="#footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>On the first floor is the <i>Sala del Consiglio Grande</i>, +frequently called the <i>Salone dei Cinquecento</i>. It was +mainly constructed in 1495 by Simone del Pollaiuolo, +called Cronaca from his capacity of telling endless +stories about Fra Girolamo. Here the Greater +Council met, which the Friar declared was the work +of God and not of man. And here it was that, in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_151" id="page_151">[151]</a></span> +famous sermon preached before the Signoria and chief +citizens on August 20th, 1496, he cried: "I want no +hats, no mitres great or small; nought would I have +save what Thou hast given to Thy saints–death; +a red hat, a hat of blood–this do I desire." It was +supposed that the Pope had offered to make him a +cardinal. In this same hall on the evening of May +22nd, 1498, the evening before their death, Savonarola +was allowed an hour's interview with his two companions; +it was the first time that they had met since +their arrest, and in the meanwhile Savonarola had been +told that the others had recanted, and Domenico and +Silvestro had been shown what purported to be their +master's confession, seeming, in part at least, to abjure +the cause for which Fra Domenico was yearning to +shed his blood. A few years later, in 1503, the +Gonfaloniere Piero Soderini intrusted the decoration +of these walls to Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo; +and it was then that this hall, so consecrated to liberty, +became <i>la scuola del mondo</i>, the school of all the world +in art; and Raphael himself was among the most +ardent of its scholars. Leonardo drew his famous +scene of the Battle of the Standard, and appears to +have actually commenced painting on the wall. Michelangelo +sketched the cartoon of a group of soldiers +bathing in the Arno, suddenly surprised by the sound +of the trumpet calling them to arms; but he did not +proceed any further. These cartoons played the same +part in the art of the Cinquecento as Masaccio's Carmine +frescoes in that of the preceding century; it is the +universal testimony of contemporaries that they were +the supremely perfect works of the Renaissance. +Vasari gives a full description of each–but no traces +of the original works now remain. One episode from +Leonardo's cartoon is preserved in an engraving by +Edelinck after a copy, which is hardly likely to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_152" id="page_152">[152]</a></span> +been a faithful one, by Rubens; and there is an earlier +engraving as well. A few figures are to be seen in +a drawing at Venice, doubtfully ascribed to Raphael. +Drawings and engravings of Michelangelo's soldiers +have made a portion of his composition familiar–enough +at least to make the world realise something +of the extent of its loss.</p> + +<p>On the restoration of the Medici in 1512, the hall +was used as a barracks for their foreign soldiers; and +Vasari accuses Baccio Bandinelli of having seized the +opportunity to destroy Michelangelo's cartoon–which +hardly seems probable. The frescoes which now cover +the walls are by Vasari and his school, the statues of +the Medici partly by Bandinelli, whilst that of Fra +Girolamo is modern. It was in this hall that the +first Parliament of United Italy met, during the +short period when Florence was the capital. The +adjoining rooms, called after various illustrious members +of the Medicean family, are adorned with pompous +uninspiring frescoes of their exploits by Vasari; in +the Salotto di Papa Clemente there is a representation +of the siege of Florence by the papal and imperial +armies, which gives a fine idea of the magnitude of the +third walls of the city, Arnolfo's walls, though even +then the towers had been in part shortened.</p> + +<p>On the second floor, the hall prettily known as the +Sala dei Gigli contains some frescoes by Domenico +Ghirlandaio, executed about 1482. They represent +St Zenobius in his majesty, enthroned between +Eugenius and Crescentius, with Roman heroes as it +were in attendance upon this great patron of the +Florentines. In a lunette, painted in imitation of +bas-relief, there is a peculiarly beautiful Madonna and +Child with Angels, also by Domenico Ghirlandaio. +This room is sometimes called the Sala del Orologio, +from a wonderful old clock that once stood here. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_153" id="page_153">[153]</a></span> +following room, into which a door with marble framework +by Benedetto da Maiano leads, is the audience +chamber of the Signoria; it was originally to have +been decorated by Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Perugino, +and Filippino Lippi–but the present frescoes are by +Salviati in the middle of the sixteenth century. Here, +on the fateful day of the <i>Cimento</i> or Ordeal, the two +Franciscans, Francesco da Puglia and Giuliano +Rondinelli, consulted with the Priors and then passed +into the Chapel to await the event. Beyond is the +Priors' Chapel, dedicated to St Bernard and decorated +with frescoes in imitation of mosaic by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio +(Domenico's son). Here on the morning of +his martyrdom Savonarola said Mass, and, before +actually communicating, took the Host in his hands +and uttered his famous prayer:–</p> + +<p>"Lord, I know that Thou art that very God, the +Creator of the world and of human nature. I know +that Thou art that perfect, indivisible and inseparable +Trinity, distinct in three Persons, Father, Son, and +Holy Ghost. I know that Thou art that Eternal +Word, who didst descend from Heaven to earth in +the womb of the Virgin Mary. Thou didst ascend +the wood of the Cross to shed Thy precious Blood +for us, miserable sinners. I pray Thee, my Lord; +I pray Thee, my Salvation; I pray Thee, my Consoler; +that such precious Blood be not shed for me +in vain, but may be for the remission of all my sins. +For these I crave Thy pardon, from the day that I +received the water of Holy Baptism even to this +moment; and I confess to Thee, Lord, my guilt. +And so I crave pardon of Thee for what offence I +have done to this city and all this people, in things +spiritual and temporal, as well as for all those things +wherein of myself I am not conscious of having erred. +And humbly do I crave pardon of all those persons<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_154" id="page_154">[154]</a></span> +who are here standing round. May they pray to God +for me, and may He make me strong up to the last +end, so that the enemy may have no power over me. +Amen."</p> + +<p>Beyond the Priors' chapel are the apartments of +Duke Cosimo's Spanish wife, Eleonora of Toledo, +with a little chapel decorated by Bronzino. It was in +these rooms that the Duchess stormed at poor Benvenuto +Cellini, when he passed through to speak with +the Duke–as he tells us in his autobiography. +Benvenuto had an awkward knack of suddenly appearing +here whenever the Duke and Duchess were +particularly busy; but their children were hugely delighted +at seeing him, and little Don Garzia especially +used to pull him by the cloak and "have the most +pleasant sport with me that such a <i>bambino</i> could +have."</p> + +<p>A room in the tower, discovered in 1814, is +supposed to be the Alberghettino, in which the elder +Cosimo was imprisoned in 1433, and in which +Savonarola passed his last days–save when he was +brought down to the Bargello to be tortured. Here +the Friar wrote his meditations upon the <i>In te, Domine, +speravi</i> and the <i>Miserere</i>–meditations which became +famous throughout Christendom. The prayer, quoted +above, is usually printed as a pendant to the <i>Miserere</i>.</p> + +<p>On the left of the palace, the great fountain with +Neptune and his riotous gods and goddesses of the +sea, by Bartolommeo Ammanati and his contemporaries, +is a characteristic production of the later Cinquecento. +No less characteristic, though in another way, is the +equestrian statue in bronze of Cosimo I., as first Grand +Duke of Tuscany, by Giovanni da Bologna; the +tyrant sits on his steed, gloomily guarding the Palace +and Piazza where he has finally extinguished the last +sparks of republican liberty. It was finished in 1594,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_155" id="page_155">[155]</a></span> +in the days of his son Ferdinand I., the third Grand +Duke.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the Via Gondi, adjoining the +custom-house and now incorporated in the Palazzo +Vecchio, was the palace of the Captain, the residence +of the Bargello and Executor of Justice. It was here +that the Pazzi conspirators were hung out of the +windows in 1478; here that Bernardo del Nero and +his associates were beheaded in 1497; and here, in +the following year, the examination of Savonarola and +his adherents was carried on. Near here, too, stood +in old times the Serraglio, or den of the lions, which +was also incorporated by Vasari into the Palace; the +Via del Leone, in which Vasari's rather fine rustica +façade stands, is named from them still.</p> + +<p>The Piazza saw the Pisan captives forced ignominiously +to kiss the Marzocco in 1364, and to build +the so-called Tetto dei Pisani, which formerly stood +on the west, opposite the Palace. In this Piazza, too, +the people assembled in parliament at the sounding of +the great bell. In the fifteenth century, this simply +meant that whatever party in the State desired to alter +the government, in their own favour, occupied the +openings of the Piazza with troops; and the noisy +rabble that appeared on these occasions, to roar out +their assent to whatever was proposed, had but little +connection with the real People of Florence. Among +the wildest scenes that this Piazza has witnessed were +those during the rising of the Ciompi in 1378, when +again and again the populace surged round the Palace +with their banners and wild cries, until the terrified +Signoria granted their demands. Here, too, took place +Savonarola's famous burnings of the Vanities in Carnival +time; large piles of these "lustful things" were surmounted +by allegorical figures of King Carnival, or of +Lucifer and the seven deadly sins, and then solemnly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_156" id="page_156">[156]</a></span> +fired; while the people sang the <i>Te Deum</i>, the bells +rang, and the trumpets and drums of the Signoria +pealed out their loudest. But sport of less serious +kind went on here too–tournaments and shows of +wild beasts and the like–things that the Florentines +dearly loved, and in which their rulers found it politic +to fool them to the top of their bent. For instance, +on June 25th, 1514, there was a <i>caccia</i> of a specially +magnificent kind; a sort of glorified bull-fight, in +which a fountain surrounded by green woods was constructed +in the middle of the Piazza, and two lions, with +bears and leopards, bulls, buffaloes, stags, horses, and +the like were driven into the arena. Enormous prices +were paid for seats; foreigners came from all countries, +and four Roman cardinals were conspicuous, including +Raphael's Bibbiena, disguised as Spanish gentlemen. +Several people were killed by the beasts. It was +always a sore point with the Florentines that their +lions were such unsatisfactory brutes and never distinguished +themselves on these occasions; they were +no match for your Spanish bull, at a time when, in +politics, the bull's master had yoked all Italy to his +triumphal car.</p> + +<p>The <i>Loggia dei Priori</i>, now called the <i>Loggia dei +Lanzi</i> after the German lancers of Duke Cosimo who +were stationed here, was originally built for the Priors +and other magistrates to exercise public functions, with +all the display that mediæval republics knew so well +how to use. It is a kind of great open vaulted hall; +a throne for a popular government, as M. Reymond +calls it. Although frequently known as the Loggia of +Orcagna, it was commenced in 1376 by Benci di Cione +and Simone Talenti, and is intermediate in style between +Gothic and Renaissance (in contrast to the pure +Gothic of the Bigallo). The sculptures above, frequently +ascribed to Agnolo Gaddi and representing the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157">[157]</a></span> +Virtues, are now assigned to Giovanni d'Ambrogio and +Jacopo di Piero, and were executed between 1380 and +1390. Among the numerous statues that now stand +beneath its roof (and which include Giambologna's +Rape of the Sabines) are two of the finest bronzes in +Florence: Donatello's <i>Judith and Holofernes</i>, cast for +Cosimo the elder, and originally in the Medicean +Palace, but, on the expulsion of the younger Piero, +set up on the Ringhiera with the threatening inscription: +<i>exemplum Salutis Publicae</i>; and Benvenuto +Cellini's <i>Perseus with the head of Medusa</i>, cast in +1553 for the Grand Duke Cosimo (then only Duke), +and possibly intended as a kind of despotic counter-blast +to the Judith. The pedestal (with the exception +of the bas-relief in front, of which the original is in the +Bargello) is also Cellini's. Cellini gives us a rare +account of the exhibiting of this Perseus to the people, +while the Duke himself lurked behind a window over +the door of the palace to hear what was said. He +assures us that the crowd gazed upon him–that is, the +artist, not the statue–as something altogether miraculous +for having accomplished such a work, and that +two noblemen from Sicily accosted him as he walked +in the Piazza, with such ceremony as would have been +too much even towards the Pope. He took a holiday +in honour of the event, sang psalms and hymns the +whole way out of Florence, and was absolutely convinced +that the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of art had been reached.</p> + +<p>But it is of Savonarola, and not of Benvenuto Cellini, +that the Loggia reminds us; for here was the scene of +the <i>Cimento di Fuoco</i>, the ordeal of fire, on April 7th, +1498. An immense crowd of men filled the Piazza; +women and children were excluded, but packed every +inch of windows, roofs, balconies. The streets and +entrances were strongly held by troops, while more +were drawn up round the Palace under Giovacchino<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158" id="page_158">[158]</a></span> +della Vecchia. The platform bearing the intended +pyre–a most formidable death-trap, which was to be +fired behind the champions as soon as they were well +within it–ran out from the Ringhiera towards the +centre of the Piazza. In spite of the strict proclamation +to armed men not to enter, Doffo Spini appeared with +three hundred Compagnacci, "all armed like Paladins," +says Simone Filipepi,<a name="fnanchor_28" id="fnanchor_28"></a><a href="#footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> "in favour of the friars of St +Francis." They entered the Piazza with a tremendous +uproar, and formed up under the Tetto dei Pisani, +opposite the Palace. Simone says that there was a +pre-arranged plot, in virtue of which they only waited +for a sign from the Palace to cut the Dominicans and +their adherents to pieces. The Loggia was divided +into two parts, the half nearer the Palace assigned to +the Franciscans, the other, in which a temporary altar +had been erected, to the Dominicans. In front of the +Loggia the sun flashed back from the armour of a +picked band of soldiers, under Marcuccio Salviati, +apparently intended as a counter demonstration to +Doffo Spini and his young aristocrats. The Franciscans +were first on the field, and quietly took their +station. Their two champions entered the Palace, and +were seen no more during the proceedings. Then with +exultant strains of the <i>Exsurgat Deus</i>, the Dominicans +slowly made their way down the Corso degli Adimari +and through the Piazza in procession, two and two. +Their fierce psalm was caught up and re-echoed by +their adherents as they passed. Preceded by a Crucifix, +about two hundred of these black and white "hounds<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159">[159]</a></span> +of the Lord" entered the field of battle, followed by +Fra Domenico in a rich cope, and then Savonarola in +full vestments with the Blessed Sacrament, attended by +deacon and sub-deacon. A band of devout republican +laymen, with candles and red crosses, brought up the +rear. Savonarola entered the Loggia, set the Sacrament +on the altar, and solemnly knelt in adoration.</p> + +<p>Then, while Fra Girolamo stood firm as a column, +delay after delay commenced. The Dominican's cope +might be enchanted, or his robe too for the matter of +that, so Domenico was hurried into the Palace and his +garments changed. The two Franciscan stalwarts remained +in the Priors' chapel. In the meanwhile a +storm passed over the city. A rush of the Compagnacci +and populace towards the Loggia was driven +back by Salviati's guard. Domenico returned with +changed garments, and stood among the Franciscans; +stones hurtled about him; he would enter the fire with +the Crucifix–this was objected to; then with the +Sacrament–this was worse. Domenico was convinced +that he would pass through the ordeal scathless, +and that the Sacrament would not protect him if +his cause were not just; but he was equally convinced +that it was God's will that he should not enter the fire +without it. Evening fell in the midst of the wrangling, +and at last the Signoria ordered both parties to go home. +Only the efforts of Salviati and his soldiery saved Savonarola +and Domenico from being torn to pieces at the +hands of the infuriated mob, who apparently concluded +that they had been trifled with. "As the Father Fra +Girolamo issued from the Loggia with the Most Holy +Sacrament in his hands," says Simone Filipepi, who +was present, "and Fra Domenico with his Crucifix, +the signal was given from the Palace to Doffo Spini to +carry out his design; but he, as it pleased God, would +do nothing." The Franciscans of Santa Croce were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160">[160]</a></span> +promised an annual subsidy of sixty pieces of silver for +their share in the day's work: "Here, take the price +of the innocent blood you have betrayed," was their +greeting when they came to demand it.</p> + +<p>In after years, Doffo Spini was fond of gossiping +with Botticelli and his brother, Simone Filipepi, and +made no secret of his intention of killing Savonarola on +this occasion. Yet, of all the Friar's persecutors, he +was the only one that showed any signs of penitence +for what he had done. "On the ninth day of April, +1503," writes Simone in his Chronicle, "as I, Simone +di Mariano Filipepi, was leaving my house to go to +vespers in San Marco, Doffo Spini, who was in the +company of Bartolommeo di Lorenzo Carducci, saluted +me. Bartolommeo turned to me, and said that Fra +Girolamo and the Piagnoni had spoilt and undone the +city; whereupon many words passed between him and +me, which I will not set down here. But Doffo interposed, +and said that he had never had any dealings with +Fra Girolamo, until the time when, as a member of the +Eight, he had to examine him in prison; and that, if +he had heard Fra Girolamo earlier and had been intimate +with him, 'even as Simone here'–turning to +me–'I would have been a more ardent partisan of his +than even Simone, for nothing save good was ever seen +in him even unto his death.'"</p> + +<p class="center"><big><b><span class="smcap">The Uffizi</span></b></big></p> + +<p>Beyond the Palazzo Vecchio, between the Piazza +and the Arno, stands the Palazzo degli Uffizi, which +Giorgio Vasari reared in the third quarter of the sixteenth +century, for Cosimo I. It contains the Archives, +the Biblioteca Nazionale (which includes the Palatine +and Magliabecchian Libraries, and, like all similar institutions +in Italy, is generously thrown open to all<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_161" id="page_161">[161]</a></span> +comers without reserve), and, above all, the great +picture gallery commenced by the Grand Dukes, +usually simply known as the Uffizi and now officially +the Galleria Reale degli Uffizi, which, together with +its continuation in the Pitti Palace across the river, is +undoubtedly the finest collection of pictures in the +world.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_19" id="illo_19"></a> +<img src="images/illus175_tmb.jpg" width="311" height="400" alt="LOOKING THROUGH VASARI'S LOGGIA, UFFIZI" title="" /> +<p class="caption">LOOKING THROUGH VASARI'S LOGGIA, UFFIZI</p> +<a href="images/illus175_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Leaving the double lines of illustrious Florentines, +men great in the arts of war and peace, in their marble +niches watching over the pigeons who throng the Portico, +we ascend to the picture gallery by the second<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162">[162]</a></span> +door to the left.<a name="fnanchor_29" id="fnanchor_29"></a><a href="#footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p class="center"><big><b><span class="smcap">Ritratti dei Pittori–Primo Corridore.</span></b></big></p> + +<p>On the way up, four rooms on the right contain the +Portraits of the Painters, many of them painted by +themselves. In the further room, Filippino Lippi by +himself, fragment of a fresco (286). Raphael (288) +at the age of twenty-three, with his spiritual, almost +feminine beauty, painted by himself at Urbino during +his Florentine period, about 1506. This is Raphael +before the worldly influence of Rome had fallen upon +him, the youth who came from Urbino and Perugia to +the City of the Lilies with the letter of recommendation +from Urbino's Duchess to Piero Soderini, to sit at +the feet of Leonardo and Michelangelo, and wander +with Fra Bartolommeo through the cloisters of San +Marco. Titian (384), "in which he appears, painted +by himself, on the confines of old age, vigorous and +ardent still, fully conscious, moreover, though without +affectation, of pre-eminent genius and supreme artistic +rank" (Mr C. Phillips). Tintoretto, by himself +(378); Andrea del Sarto, by himself (1176); a +genuine portrait of Michelangelo (290), but of course +not by himself; Rubens, by himself (228). An +imaginary portrait of Leonardo da Vinci (292), of a +much later period, may possibly preserve some tradition +of the "magician's" appearance; the Dosso Dossi is +doubtful; those of Giorgione and Bellini are certainly +apocryphal. In the second room are two portraits of +Rembrandt by himself. In the third room Angelica +Kauffmann and Vigée Le Brun are charming in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_163" id="page_163">[163]</a></span> +way. In the fourth room, English visitors cannot fail +to welcome several of their own painters of the nineteenth +century, including Mr Watts.</p> + +<p>Passing the Medicean busts at the head of the stairs, +the famous Wild Boar and the two Molossian Hounds, +we enter the first or eastern corridor, containing paintings +of the earlier masters, mingled with ancient busts +and sarcophagi. The best specimens of the Giotteschi +are an Agony in the Garden (8), wrongly ascribed to +Giotto himself; an Entombment (27), ascribed to a +Giotto di Stefano, called Giottino, a painter of whom +hardly anything but the nickname is known; an Annunciation (28), +ascribed to Agnolo Gaddi; and an +altar-piece by Giovanni da Milano (32). There are +some excellent early Sienese paintings; a Madonna +and Child with Angels, by Pietro Lorenzetti, 1340 (15); +the Annunciation, by Simone Martini and +Lippo Memmi (23); and a very curious picture of +the Hermits of the Thebaid (16), a kind of devout +fairy-land painted possibly by one of the Lorenzetti, +in the spirit of those delightfully naïve <i>Vite del Santi +Padri</i>. Lorenzo Monaco, or Don Lorenzo, a master +who occupies an intermediate position between the +Giotteschi and the Quattrocento, is represented by the +Mystery of the Passion (40), a symbolical picture +painted in 1404, of a type that Angelico brought to +perfection in a fresco in San Marco; the Adoration +of the Magi (39, the scenes in the frame by a later +hand), and Madonna and Saints (41). The portrait +of Giovanni dei Medici (43) is by an unknown hand +of the Quattrocento. Paolo Uccello's Battle (52) is +mainly a study in perspective. The Annunciation (53), +by Neri di Bicci di Lorenzo, is a fair example of +one of the least progressive painters of the Quattrocento. +The pictures by Alessio Baldovinetti (56 and +60) and Cosimo Rosselli (63 and 65) are tolerable<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164">[164]</a></span> +examples of very uninteresting fifteenth century masters. +The allegorical figures of the Virtues (69-73), ascribed +to Piero Pollaiuolo, are second-rate; and the same may +be said of an Annunciation (such is the real subject +of 81) and the Perseus and Andromeda pictures (85, +86, 87) by Piero di Cosimo. But the real gem of +this corridor is the Madonna and Child (74), which +Luca Signorelli painted for Lorenzo dei Medici, a +picture which profoundly influenced Michelangelo; the +splendidly modelled nude figures of men in the background +transport us into the golden age.</p> + +<p class="center"><big><b><span class="smcap">Tribuna.</span></b></big></p> + +<p>The famous Tribuna is supposed to contain the +masterpieces of the whole collection, though the lover +of the Quattrocento will naturally seek his best-loved +favourites elsewhere. Of the five ancient sculptures in +the centre of the hall the best is that of the crouching +barbarian slave, who is preparing his knife to flay +Marsyas. It is a fine work of the Pergamene school. +The celebrated Venus dei Medici is a typical Græco-Roman +work, the inscription at its base being a comparatively +modern forgery. It was formerly absurdly +overpraised, and is in consequence perhaps too much +depreciated at the present day. The remaining three–the Satyr, +the Wrestlers, and the young Apollo–have +each been largely and freely restored.</p> + +<p>Turning to the pictures, we have first the Madonna +del Cardellino (1129), painted by Raphael during his +Florentine period when under the influence of Fra +Bartolommeo, in 1506 or thereabouts, and afterwards +much damaged and restored: still one of the most +beautiful of his early Madonnas. The St. John the +Baptist (1127), ascribed to Raphael, is only a school +piece, though from a design of the master's. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165">[165]</a></span> +Madonna del Pozzo (1125), in spite of its hard and +over-smooth colouring, was at one time attributed to +Raphael; its ascription to Francia Bigio is somewhat +conjectural. The portrait of a Lady wearing a wreath +(1123), and popularly called the Fornarina, originally +ascribed to Giorgione and later to Raphael, is believed +to be by Sebastiano del Piombo. Then come a +lady's portrait, ascribed to Raphael (1120); another +by a Veronese master, erroneously ascribed to Mantegna, +and erroneously said to represent the Duchess +Elizabeth of Urbino (1121); Bernardino Luini's +Daughter of Herodias (1135), a fine study of a +female Italian criminal of the Renaissance; Perugino's +portrait of Francesco delle Opere, holding a scroll +inscribed <i>Timete Deum</i>, an admirable picture painted in +oils about the year 1494, and formerly supposed to be +a portrait of Perugino by himself (287); portrait of +Evangelista Scappa, ascribed to Francia (1124); and +a portrait of a man, by Sebastiano del Piombo (3458). +Raphael's Pope Julius II. (1131) is a grand and terrible +portrait of the tremendous warrior Pontiff, whom +the Romans called a second Mars. Vasari says that +in this picture he looks so exactly like himself that +"one trembles before him as if he were still alive." +Albert Dürer's Adoration of the Magi (1141) and +Lucas van Leyden's Mystery of the Passion (1143) +are powerful examples of the religious painting of the +North, that loved beauty less for its own sake than did +the Italians. The latter should be compared with +similar pictures by Don Lorenzo and Fra Angelico. +Titian's portrait of the Papal Nuncio Beccadelli +(1116), painted in 1552, although a decidedly fine +work, has been rather overpraised.</p> + +<p>Michelangelo's Holy Family (1139) is the only +existing easel picture that the master completed. It +was painted for the rich merchant, Angelo Doni (who<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166" id="page_166">[166]</a></span> +haggled in a miserly fashion over the price and was in +consequence forced to pay double the sum agreed upon), +about 1504, in the days of the Gonfaloniere Soderini, +when Michelangelo was engaged upon the famous +cartoon for the Sala del Maggior Consiglio. Like +Luca Signorelli, Michelangelo has introduced naked +figures, apparently shepherds, into his background. +"In the Doni Madonna of the Uffizi," writes Walter +Pater, "Michelangelo actually brings the pagan +religion, and with it the unveiled human form, the +sleepy-looking fauns of a Dionysiac revel, into the +presence of the Madonna, as simpler painters had +introduced other products of the earth, birds or +flowers; and he has given to that Madonna herself +much of the uncouth energy of the older and more +primitive 'Mighty Mother.'" The painters introduced +into their pictures what they loved best, in earth +or sky, as votive offerings to the Queen of Heaven; +and what Signorelli and Michelangelo best loved was +the human form. This is reflected in the latter's own +lines:–</p> + +<p class="poem">Nè Dio, sua grazia, mi si mostra altrove,<br /> +più che'n alcun leggiadro e mortal velo,<br /> +e quel sol amo, perchè'n quel si specchia.</p> + +<p>"Nor does God vouchsafe to reveal Himself to me +anywhere more than in some lovely mortal veil, and +that alone I love, because He is mirrored therein."</p> + +<p>In the strongest possible contrast to Michelangelo's +picture are the two examples of the softest +master of the Renaissance–Correggio's Repose on +the Flight to Egypt (1118), and his Madonna adoring +the Divine Child (1134). The former, with its +rather out of place St. Francis of Assisi, is a work of +what is known as Correggio's transition period, 1515-1518, +after he had painted his earlier easel pictures +and before commencing his great fresco work at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167">[167]</a></span> +Parma; the latter, a more characteristic picture, is +slightly later and was given by the Duke of Mantua to +Cosimo II. The figures of Prophets by Fra Bartolommeo +(1130 and 1126), the side-wings of a picture +now in the Pitti Gallery, are not remarkable in any +way. The Madonna and Child with the Baptist and +St. Sebastian (1122) is a work of Perugino's better +period.</p> + +<p>There remain the two famous Venuses of Titian. +The so-called Urbino Venus (1117)–a motive to +some extent borrowed, and slightly coarsened in the +borrowing, from Giorgione's picture at Dresden–is +much the finer of the two. It was painted for +Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, +and, although not a portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga, +who was then a middle-aged woman, it was certainly +intended to conjure up the beauty of her youth. +What Eleonora really looked like at this time, you +can see in the first of the two Venetian rooms, where +Titian's portrait of her, painted at about the same +date, hangs. The Venus and Cupid (1108) is a +later work; the goddess is the likeness of a model +who very frequently appears in the works of Titian +and Palma.</p> + +<p class="center"><b><big><span class="smcap">Scuola Toscana.</span></big></b></p> + +<p>On the left we pass out of the Tribuna to three +rooms devoted to the Tuscan school.</p> + +<p>The first contains the smaller pictures, including +several priceless Angelicos and Botticellis. Fra +Angelico's Naming of St. John (1162), Marriage +of the Blessed Virgin to St. Joseph (1178), and +her Death (1184), are excellent examples of his +delicate execution and spiritual expression in his +smaller, miniature-like works. Antonio Pollaiuolo's +Labours of Hercules (1153) is one of the masterpieces<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168">[168]</a></span> +of this most uncompromising realist of the +Quattrocento. Either by Antonio or his brother +Piero, is also the portrait of that monster of iniquity, +Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (30). +Sandro Botticelli's Calumny (1182) is supposed to +have been painted as a thankoffering to a friend +who had defended him from the assaults of slanderous +tongues; it is a splendid example of his dramatic +intensity, the very statues in their niches taking part +in the action. The subject–taken from Lucian's +description of a picture by Apelles of Ephesus–was +frequently painted by artists of the Renaissance, +and there is a most magnificent drawing of the same +by Andrea Mantegna at the British Museum, which +was copied by Rembrandt. On the judgment-seat +sits a man with ears like those of Midas, into which +Ignorance and Suspicion on either side ever whisper. +Before him stands Envy,–a hideous, pale, and +haggard man, seeming wasted by some slow disease. +He is making the accusation and leading Calumny, +a scornful Botticellian beauty, who holds in one +hand a torch and with the other drags her victim +by the hair to the judge's feet. Calumny is tended +and adorned by two female figures, Artifice and +Deceit. But Repentance slowly follows, in black +mourning habit; while naked Truth–the Botticellian +Venus in another form–raises her hand in appeal to +the heavens.</p> + +<p>The rather striking portrait of a painter (1163) is +usually supposed to be Andrea Verrocchio, by Lorenzo +di Credi, his pupil and successor; Mr Berenson, however, +considers that it is Perugino and by Domenico +Ghirlandaio. On the opposite wall are two very early +Botticellis, Judith returning from the camp of the +Assyrians (1156) and the finding of the body of +Holofernes (1158), in a scale of colouring differing<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169">[169]</a></span> +from that of his later works. The former is one of +those pictures which have been illumined for us by +Ruskin, who regards it as the only picture that is true +to Judith; "The triumph of Miriam over a fallen +host, the fire of exulting mortal life in an immortal +hour, the purity and severity of a guardian angel–all +are here; and as her servant follows, carrying indeed +the head, but invisible–(a mere thing to be carried–no +more to be so much as thought of)–she looks only +at her mistress, with intense, servile, watchful love. +Faithful, not in these days of fear only, but hitherto in +all her life, and afterwards for ever." Walter Pater +has read the picture in a different sense, and sees in it +Judith "returning home across the hill country, when +the great deed is over, and the moment of revulsion +come, and the olive branch in her hand is becoming a +burden."</p> + +<p>The portrait of Andrea del Sarto by himself (280) +represents him in the latter days of his life, and was +painted on a tile in 1529, about a year before his +death, with some colours that remained over after he +had finished the portrait of one of the Vallombrosan +monks; his wife kept it by her until her death. The +very powerful likeness of an old man in white cap and +gown (1167), a fresco ascribed to Masaccio, is more +probably the work of Filippino Lippi. The famous +Head of Medusa (1159) must be seen with grateful +reverence by all lovers of English poetry, for it was +admired by Shelley and inspired him with certain +familiar and exceedingly beautiful stanzas; but as for +its being a work of Leonardo da Vinci, it is now +almost universally admitted to be a comparatively late +forgery, to supply the place of the lost Medusa of +which Vasari speaks. The portrait (1157), also ascribed +to Leonardo, is better, but probably no more +authentic. Here is a most dainty little example of Fra<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_170" id="page_170">[170]</a></span> +Bartolommeo's work on a small scale (1161), representing +the Circumcision and the Nativity, with the +Annunciation in grisaille on the back. Botticelli's +St. Augustine (1179) is an early work, and, like the +Judith, shows his artistic derivation from Fra Lippo +Lippi, to whom indeed it was formerly ascribed. His +portrait of Piero di Lorenzo dei Medici (1154), a +splendid young man in red cap and flowing dark hair, +has been already referred to in chapter iii.; it was +formerly supposed to be a likeness of Pico della +Mirandola. It was painted before Piero's expulsion +from Florence, probably during the life-time of the +Magnificent, and represents him before he degenerated +into the low tyrannical blackguard of later years; he +apparently wishes to appeal to the memory of his +great-grandfather Cosimo, whose medallion he holds, +to find favour with his unwilling subjects. The portraits +of Duke Cosimo's son and grandchild, Don +Garzia and Donna Maria (1155 and 1164), by +Bronzino, should be noted. Finally we have the +famous picture of Perseus freeing Andromeda, by +Piero di Cosimo (1312). It is about the best +specimen of his fantastic conceptions to be seen in +Florence, and the monster itself is certainly a triumph +of a somewhat unhealthy imagination nourished in +solitude on an odd diet.</p> + +<p>In the second room are larger works of the great +Tuscans. The Adoration of the Magi (1252) is one of +the very few authentic works of Leonardo; it was one of +his earliest productions, commenced in 1478, and, like +so many other things of his, never finished. The St. +Sebastian (1279) is one of the masterpieces of that wayward +Lombard or rather Piedmontese–although we +now associate him with Siena–who approached nearest +of all to the art of Leonardo, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, +known still as Sodoma. Ridolfo Ghirlandaio's Miracles<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171" id="page_171">[171]</a></span> +of Zenobius (1277 and 1275) are excellent works by +a usually second-rate master. The Visitation with its +predella, by Mariotto Albertinelli (1259), painted in +1503, is incomparably the greatest picture that Fra +Bartolommeo's wild friend and fellow student ever +produced, and one in which he most nearly approaches +the best works of Bartolommeo himself. "The +figures, however," Morelli points out, "are less refined +and noble than those of the Frate, and the foliage of +the trees is executed with miniature-like precision, +which is never the case in the landscapes of the latter." +Andrea del Sarto's genial and kindly St. James with +the orphans (1254), is one of his last works; it was +painted to serve as a standard in processions, and has +consequently suffered considerably. Bronzino's Descent +of Christ into Hades (1271), that "heap of cumbrous +nothingnesses and sickening offensivenesses," as Ruskin +pleasantly called it, need only be seen to be loathed. +The so-called Madonna delle Arpie, or our Lady of +the Harpies, from the figures on the pedestal beneath +her feet (1112), is perhaps the finest of all Andrea del +Sarto's pictures; the Madonna is a highly idealised +likeness of his own wife Lucrezia, and some have +tried to recognise the features of the painter himself in +the St. John:–</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"You loved me quite enough, it seems to-night.</span><br /> +This must suffice me here. What would one have?<br /> +In heaven, perhaps, new chances, one more chance–<br /> +Four great walls in the New Jerusalem<br /> +Meted on each side by the Angel's reed,<br /> +For Leonard, Rafael, Agnolo and me<br /> +To cover–the three first without a wife,<br /> +While I have mine! So–still they overcome<br /> +Because there's still Lucrezia,–as I choose."</p> + +<p>The full-length portrait of Cosimo the Elder (1267), +the Pater Patriae (so the flattery of the age hailed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172" id="page_172">[172]</a></span> +man who said that a city destroyed was better than a +city lost), was painted by Pontormo from some +fifteenth century source, as a companion piece to his +portrait here of Duke Cosimo I. (1270). The +admirable portrait of Lorenzo the Magnificent by +Vasari (1269) is similarly constructed from contemporary +materials, and is probably the most valuable +thing that Vasari has left to us in the way of painting. +The unfinished picture by Fra Bartolommeo (1265), +representing our Lady enthroned with St. Anne, the +guardian of the Republic, watching over her and +interceding for Florence, while the patrons of the +city gather round for her defence, was intended for +the altar in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio of the +Palazzo Vecchio; it is conceived in something of the +same spirit that made the last inheritors of Savonarola's +tradition and teaching fondly believe that Angels would +man the walls of Florence, rather than that she should +again fall into the hands of her former tyrants, the +Medici. The great Madonna and Child with four +Saints and two Angels scattering flowers, by Filippino +Lippi (1268), was painted in 1485 for the room in +the Palazzo Vecchio in which the Otto di Pratica +held their meetings. The Adoration of the Magi +(1257), also by Filippino Lippi, painted in 1496, +apart from its great value as a work of art, has a +curious historical significance; the Magi and their +principal attendants, who are thus pushing forwards +to display their devotion to Our Lady of Florence +and the Child whom the Florentines were to elect +their King, are the members of the younger branch +of the Medici, who have returned to the city now +that Piero has been expelled, and are waiting their +chance. See how they have already replaced the +family of the elder Cosimo, who occupy this same +position in a similar picture painted some eighteen<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173">[173]</a></span> +years before by Sandro Botticelli, Filippino's master. +At this epoch they had ostentatiously altered their +name of Medici and called themselves Popolani, but +were certainly intriguing against Fra Girolamo. The +old astronomer kneeling to our extreme left is the +elder Piero Francesco, watching the adventurous game +for a throne that his children are preparing; the most +prominent figure in the picture, from whose head a +page is lifting the crown, is Pier Francesco's son, +Giovanni, who will soon woo Caterina Sforza, the +lady of Forlì, and make her the mother of Giovanni +delle Bande Nere; and the precious vessel which he +is to offer to the divine Child is handed to him by +the younger Pier Francesco, the father of Lorenzaccio, +that "Tuscan Brutus" whose dagger was to make +Giovanni's grandson, Cosimo, the sole lord of Florence +and her empire.<a name="fnanchor_30" id="fnanchor_30"></a><a href="#footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>Granacci's Madonna of the Girdle (1280), over +the door, formerly in San Piero Maggiore, is a good +example of a painter who imitated most of his contemporaries +and had little individuality. On easels +in the middle of the room are (3452) Venus, by +Lorenzo di Credi, a conscientious attempt to follow +the fashion of the age and handle a subject quite alien +to his natural sympathies–for Lorenzo di Credi was +one of those who sacrificed their studies of the nude +on Savonarola's pyre of the Vanities; and (3436) an +Adoration of the Magi, a cartoon of Sandro Botticelli's, +coloured by a later hand, marvellously full of life in +movement, intense and passionate, in which–as though +the painter anticipated the Reformation–the followers +of the Magi are fighting furiously with each other in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174">[174]</a></span> +their desire to find the right way to the Stable of +Bethlehem!</p> + +<p>The third room of the Tuscan School contains some +of the truest masterpieces of the whole collection. The +Epiphany, by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1295), painted +in 1487, is one of that prosaic master's best easel +pictures. The wonderful Annunciation (1288), in +which the Archangel has alighted upon the flowers +in the silence of an Italian twilight, with a mystical +landscape of mountains and rivers, and far-off cities +in the background, may possibly be an early work of +Leonardo da Vinci, to whom it is officially assigned, +but is ascribed by contemporary critics to Leonardo's +master, Andrea Verrocchio. The least satisfactory +passage is the rather wooden face and inappropriate +action of the Madonna; Leonardo would surely not +have made her, on receiving the angelic salutation, +put her finger into her book to keep the place. After +Three Saints by one of the Pollaiuoli (1301) and two +smaller pictures by Lorenzo di Credi (1311 and 1313), +we come to Piero della Francesca's grand portraits of +Federigo of Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, and his +wife, Battista Sforza (1300); on the reverse, the +Duke and Duchess are seen in triumphal cars surrounded +with allegorical pageantry. Federigo is always, +as here, represented in profile, because he lost his right +eye and had the bridge of his nose broken in a tournament. +The three predella scenes (1298) are characteristic +examples of the minor works of Piero's great +pupil, Luca Signorelli of Cortona.</p> + +<p>On the opposite wall are four Botticellian pictures. +The Magnificat (1267 <i>bis</i>)–Sandro's most famous +and familiar tondo–in which the Madonna rather +sadly writes the Magnificat, while Angels cluster +round to crown their Queen, to offer ink and book, +or look into the thing that she has written, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_175" id="page_175">[175]</a></span> +the Dove hovers above her, is full of the haunting +charm, the elusive mystery, the vague yearning, +which makes the fascination of Botticelli to-day. +She already seems to be anticipating the Passion of +that Child–so unmistakably divine–who is guiding +her hand. The Madonna of the Pomegranate (1289) +is a somewhat similar, but less beautiful tondo; the +Angel faces, who are said to be idealised portraits +of the Medicean children, have partially lost their +angelic look. The Fortitude (1299) is one of +Sandro's earliest paintings, and its authenticity has +been questioned; she seems to be dreading, almost +shrinking from some great battle at hand, of which +no man can foretell the end. The Annunciation +(1316) is rather Botticellian in conception; but the +colouring and execution generally do not suggest the +master himself. Antonio Pollaiuolo's Prudence +(1306) is a harsh companion to Sandro's Fortitude. +The tondo (1291) of the Holy Family, by Luca +Signorelli, is one of his best works in this kind; +the colouring is less heavy than is usual with him, +and the Child is more divine. Of the two carefully +finished Annunciations by Lorenzo di Credi (1314, +1160), the latter is the earlier and finer. Fra +Filippo's little Madonna of the Sea (1307), with +her happy boy-like Angel attendants, is one of the +monk's most attractive and characteristic works; +perhaps the best of all his smaller pictures. And +we have left to the last Fra Angelico's divinest +dream of the Coronation of the Madonna in the +Empyrean Heaven of Heavens (1290), amidst exultant +throngs of Saints and Angels absorbed in the +Beatific Vision of Paradise. It is the pictorial +equivalent of Bernard's most ardent sermons on the +Assumption of Mary and of the mystic musings of +John of Damascus. Here are "the Angel choirs<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_176" id="page_176">[176]</a></span> +of Angelico, with the flames on their white foreheads +waving brighter as they move, and the sparkles +streaming from their purple wings like the glitter +of many suns upon a sounding sea, listening in the +pauses of alternate song, for the prolonging of the +trumpet blast, and the answering of psaltery and +cymbal, throughout the endless deep, and from all +the star shores of heaven."<a name="fnanchor_31" id="fnanchor_31"></a><a href="#footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p class="center"><b><big><span class="smcap">Sala di maestri diversi Italiani.</span></big></b></p> + +<p>In the small room which opens out of the Tribune, +on the opposite side to these three Tuscan rooms, +are two perfect little gems of more northern Italian +painting. Mantegna's Madonna of the Quarries (1025), +apart from its nobility of conception and grand austerity +of sentiment, is a positive marvel of minute drawing +with the point of the <i>pennello</i>. Every detail in the +landscape, with the winding road up to the city +on the hill, the field labourers in the meadow, the +shepherds and travellers, on the left, and the stone-cutterss +among the caverns on the right, preparing +stone for the sculptors and architects of Florence +and Rome, is elaborately rendered with exquisite +delicacy and finish. It was painted at Rome in +1488, while Mantegna was working on his frescoes +(now destroyed) for Pope Innocent VIII. in a chapel +of the Vatican. The other is a little Madonna and +Child with two Angels playing musical instruments, +by Correggio (1002), a most exquisite little picture +in an almost perfect state of preservation, formerly +ascribed to Titian, but entirely characteristic of Correggio's +earliest period when he was influenced by +Mantegna and the Ferrarese.</p> + +<p>Beyond are the Dutch, Flemish, German, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177">[177]</a></span> +French pictures which do not come into our present +scope–though they include several excellent works as, +notably, a little Madonna by Hans Memlinc and two +Apostles by Albert Dürer. The cabinet of the gems +contains some of the treasures left by the Medicean +Grand Dukes, including work by Cellini and Giovanni +da Bologna.</p> + +<p class="center"><b><big><span class="smcap">Scuola Veneta.</span></big></b></p> + +<p>Crossing the short southern corridor, with some +noteworthy ancient sculptury, we pass down the long +western corridor. Out of this open first the two +rooms devoted to the Venetian school. In the first, to +seek the best only, are Titian's portraits of Francesco +Maria della Rovere, third Duke of Urbino, and +Eleonora Gonzaga, his duchess (605 and 599), +painted in 1537. A triptych by Mantegna (1111)–the +Adoration of the Kings, between the Circumcision +and the Ascension–is one of the earlier works of the +great Paduan master; the face of the Divine Child +in the Circumcision is marvellously painted. The +Madonna by the Lake by Giovanni Bellini (631), +also called the Allegory of the Tree of Life, is an +exceedingly beautiful picture, one of Bellini's later +works. Titian's Flora (626), an early work of the +master, charming in its way, has been damaged and +rather overpraised. In the second room, are three +works by Giorgione; the Judgment of Solomon and +the Ordeal of Moses (630 and 621), with their +fantastic costumes and poetically conceived landscapes, +are very youthful works indeed; the portrait of a +Knight of Malta (622) is more mature, and one of the +noblest of Venetian portraits. Florence thus possesses +more authentic works of this wonderful, almost mythical, +Venetian than does Venice herself. Here, too, is +usually–except when it is in request elsewhere for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178">[178]</a></span> +copyist–Titian's Madonna and Child with the boy +John Baptist, and the old Antony Abbot, leaning on his +staff and watching the flower play (633)–the most +beautiful of Titian's early Giorgionesque Madonnas.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_20" id="illo_20"></a> +<img src="images/illus193_tmb.jpg" width="304" height="400" alt="Venus" title="" /> +<p class="caption">VENUS<br /> +<span class="smcap">By Sandro Botticelli</span></p><a href="images/illus193_fs75.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p class="center"><b><big><span class="smcap">Sala di Lorenzo Monaco.</span></big></b></p> + +<p>The following passage leads to the Sala di Lorenzo +Monaco, the room which bears the name of the austere +monk of Camaldoli, and, hallowed by the presence of +Fra Angelico's Madonna, seems at times almost to +re-echo still with the music of the Angel choir; but to +which the modern worshipper turns to adore the Venus +of the Renaissance rising from the Sea. For here is +Sandro Botticelli's famous Birth of Venus (39), the +most typical picture of the Quattrocento, painted for +Lorenzo dei Medici and in part inspired by certain +lines of Angelo Poliziano. But let all description be +left to the golden words of Walter Pater in his +<i>Renaissance</i>:–</p> + +<p>"At first, perhaps, you are attracted only by a +quaintness of design, which seems to recall all at once +whatever you have read of Florence in the fifteenth +century; afterwards you may think that this quaintness +must be incongruous with the subject, and that +the colour is cadaverous or at least cold. And yet, the +more you come to understand what imaginative colouring +really is, that all colour is no mere delightful quality +of natural things, but a spirit upon them by which they +become expressive to the spirit, the better you will like +this peculiar quality of colour; and you will find that +quaint design of Botticelli's a more direct inlet into the +Greek temper than the works of the Greeks themselves, +even of the finest period. Of the Greeks +as they really were, of their difference from ourselves, +of the aspects of their outward life, we know far<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179">[179]</a></span> +more than Botticelli, or his most learned contemporaries; +but for us long familiarity has taken off +the edge of the lesson, and we are hardly conscious of +what we owe to the Hellenic spirit. But in pictures +like this of Botticelli's you have a record of the first +impression made by it on minds turned back towards +it, in almost painful aspiration, from a world in which +it had been ignored so long; and in the passion, the +energy, the industry of realisation, with which Botticelli +carries out his intention, is the exact measure of +the legitimate influence over the human mind of the +imaginative system of which this is the central myth. +The light is indeed cold–mere sunless dawn; but a +later painter would have cloyed you with sunshine; +and you can see the better for that quietness in the +morning air each long promontory, as it slopes down +to the water's edge. Men go forth to their labours +until the evening; but she is awake before them, and +you might think that the sorrow in her face was at the +thought of the whole long day of love yet to come. +An emblematical figure of the wind blows hard across +the grey water, moving forward the dainty-lipped +shell on which she sails, the sea 'showing his teeth' +as it moves in thin lines of foam, and sucking in, one +by one, the falling roses, each severe in outline, plucked +off short at the stalk, but embrowned a little, as Botticelli's +flowers always are. Botticelli meant all that +imagery to be altogether pleasurable; and it was partly +an incompleteness of resources, inseparable from the art +of that time, that subdued and chilled it; but his predilection +for minor tones counts also; and what is +unmistakable is the sadness with which he has conceived +the goddess of pleasure, as the depositary of a +great power over the lives of men."</p> + +<p>In this same room are five other masterpieces of +early Tuscan painting. Don Lorenzo's Coronation<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180">[180]</a></span> +of the Madonna (1309), though signed and dated +1413, may be regarded as the last great altar-piece of +the school of Giotto and his followers. It has been +terribly repainted. The presence in the most prominent +position of St. Benedict and St. Romuald in their white +robes shows that it was painted for a convent of +Camaldolese monks. The predella, representing the +Adoration of the Magi and scenes from the life of St. +Benedict, includes a very sweet little picture of the +last interview of the saint with his sister Scholastica, +when, in answer to her prayers, God sent such a storm +that her brother, although unwilling to break his +monastic rule, was forced to spend the night with her. +"I asked you a favour," she told him, "and you +refused it me; I asked it of Almighty God, and He +has granted it to me." In Browning's poem, Don +Lorenzo is one of the models specially recommended +to Lippo Lippi by his superiors:–</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"You're not of the true painters, great and old;</span><br /> +Brother Angelico's the man, you'll find;<br /> +Brother Lorenzo stands his single peer;<br /> +Fag on at flesh, you'll never make the third."</p> + +<p>The Madonna and Child with St. Francis and St. +John Baptist, St. Zenobius and St. Lucy (1305), is +one of the very few authentic works by Domenico +Veneziano, one of the great innovators in the painting +of the fifteenth century.</p> + +<p>Sandro Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi (1286), +painted for Santa Maria Novella, is enthusiastically +praised by Vasari. It is not a very characteristic +work of the painter's, but contains admirable portraits +of the Medici and their court. The first king, kneeling +up alone before the Divine Child, is Cosimo the +Elder himself, according to Vasari, "the most faithful<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181" id="page_181">[181]</a></span> +and animated likeness of all now known to exist of +him"; the other two kings are his two sons, Piero +il Gottoso in the centre, Giovanni di Cosimo on the +right. The black-haired youth with folded hands, +standing behind Giovanni, is Giuliano, who fell in +the Pazzi conspiracy. On the extreme left, standing +with his hands resting upon the hilt of his sword, +is Lorenzo the Magnificent, who avenged Giuliano's +death; behind Lorenzo, apparently clinging to him +as though in anticipation or recollection of the conspiracy, +is Angelo Poliziano. The rather sullen-looking +personage, with a certain dash of sensuality +about him, on our extreme right, gazing out of the +picture, is Sandro himself. This picture, which was +probably painted slightly before or shortly after the +murder of Giuliano, has been called "the Apotheosis +of the Medici"; it should be contrasted with the +very different Nativity, now in the National Gallery, +which Sandro painted many years later, in 1500, +and which is full of the mystical aspirations of the +disciples of Savonarola.</p> + +<p>The Madonna and Child with Angels, two Archangels +standing guard and two Bishops kneeling in +adoration (1297), is a rich and attractive work by +Domenico Ghirlandaio. Fra Angelico's Tabernacle +(17), Madonna and Child with the Baptist and St. +Mark, and the famous series of much-copied Angels, +was painted for the Guild of Flax-merchants, whose +patron was St. Mark. The admirable Predella (1294) +represents St. Mark reporting St. Peter's sermons, and +St. Mark's martyrdom, together with the Adoration of +the Magi.</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<p>Passing down the corridor, we come to the entrance +to the passage which leads across the Ponte Vecchio +to the Pitti Palace. There are some fine Italian<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182">[182]</a></span> +engravings on the way down. The halls of the +Inscriptions and Cameos contain ancient statues as +well, including the so-called dying Alexander, and +some of those so over-praised by Shelley. Among +the pictures in the Sala del Baroccio, is a very genial +lady with a volume of Petrarch's sonnets, by Andrea +del Sarto (188). Here, too, are some excellent portraits +by Bronzino; a lady with a missal (198); a rather +pathetic picture of Eleonora of Toledo, the wife of +Cosimo I., with Don Garzia–the boy with whom +Cellini used to romp (172); Bartolommeo Panciatichi +(159); Lucrezia Panciatichi (154), a peculiarly sympathetic +rendering of an attractive personality. Sustermans' +Galileo (163) is also worth notice. The +Duchess Eleonora died almost simultaneously with +her sons, Giovanni and Garzia, in 1562, and there +arose in consequence a legend that Garzia had murdered +Giovanni, and had, in his turn, been killed by +his own father, and that Eleonora had either also been +murdered by the Duke or died of grief. Like many +similar stories of the Medicean princes, this appears to +be entirely fictitious.</p> + +<p>The Hall of Niobe contains the famous series of +statues representing the destruction of Niobe and her +children at the hands of Apollo and Artemis. They +are Roman or Græco-Roman copies of a group assigned +by tradition to the fourth century <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>, and +which was brought from Asia Minor to Rome in the +year 35 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span> The finest of these statues is that of +Niobe's son, the young man who is raising his cloak +upon his arm as a shield; he was originally protecting +a sister, who, already pierced by the fatal arrow, leaned +against his knee as she died.</p> + +<p>In a room further on there is an interesting series of +miniature portraits of the Medici, from Giovanni di +Averardo to the family of Duke Cosimo. Six of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183">[183]</a></span> +later ones are by Bronzino.</p> + +<p>At the end of the corridor, by Baccio Bandinelli's +copy of the Laocoön, are three rooms containing the +drawings and sketches of the Old Masters. It would +take a book as long as the present to deal adequately +with them. Many of the Florentine painters, who +were always better draughtsmen than they were +colourists, are seen to much greater advantage in their +drawings than in their finished pictures. Besides a +most rich collection of the early men and their +successors, from Angelico to Bartolommeo, there are +here several of Raphael's cartoons for Madonnas and +two for his St. George and the Dragon; many of the +most famous and characteristic drawings of Leonardo +da Vinci (and it is from his drawings alone that we +can now get any real notion of this "Magician of the +Renaissance"); and some important specimens of +Michelangelo. Here, too, is Andrea Mantegna's +terrible Judith, conceived in the spirit of some Roman +heroine, which once belonged to Vasari and was +highly valued by him. It is dated 1491, and should +be compared with Botticelli's rendering of the same +theme.</p> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_184" id="page_184">[184]</a></p> +<h2 class="p6"><a name="chapter_vi" id="chapter_vi"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> +<h3><i>Or San Michele and the Sesto di San Piero</i></h3> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"Una figura della Donna mia</span><br /> +s'adora, Guido, a San Michele in Orto,<br /> +che di bella sembianza, onesta e pia,<br /> +de' peccatori è gran rifugio e porto."<br /> +<span class="i6">(<i>Guido Cavalcanti</i> to <i>Guido Orlandi</i>.)</span></p> + +<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>T the end of the bustling noisy Via Calzaioli, the +Street of the Stocking-makers, rises the Oratory +of Our Lady, known as San Michele in Orto, "St. +Michael in the Garden." Around its outer walls, +enshrined in little temples of their own, stand great +statues of saints in marble and bronze by the hands of +the greatest sculptors of Florence–the canonised +patrons of the Arts or Guilds, keeping guard over the +thronging crowds that pass below. This is the grand +monument of the wealth and taste, devotion and +charity, of the commercial democracy of the Middle +Ages.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_21" id="illo_21"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185"></a></span> +<img src="images/illus201_tmb.jpg" width="262" height="400" alt="ORCAGNA'S TABERNACLE, OR SAN MICHELE" title="" /> +<p class="caption">ORCAGNA'S TABERNACLE, OR SAN MICHELE</p> +<a href="images/illus201_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>The ancient church of San Michele in Orto was +demolished by order of the Commune in the thirteenth +century, to make way for a piazza for the grain and +corn market, in the centre of which Arnolfo di +Cambio built a loggia in 1280. Upon one of the +pilasters of this loggia there was painted a picture of +the Madonna, held in highest reverence by the frequenters +of the market; a special company or sodality +of laymen was formed, the <i>Laudesi</i> of Our Lady of Or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187">[187]</a></span> +San Michele, who met here every evening to sing +<i>laudi</i> in her honour, and who were distinguished even +in mediæval Florence, where charity was always on +a heroic scale, by their munificence towards the poor. +"On July 3rd, 1292," so Giovanni Villani writes, +"great and manifest miracles began to be shown forth +in the city of Florence by a figure of Holy Mary +which was painted on a pilaster of the loggia of San +Michele in Orto, where the grain was sold; the sick +were healed, the deformed made straight, and the +possessed visibly delivered in great numbers. But the +preaching friars, and the friars minor likewise, through +envy or some other cause, would put no faith in it, +whereby they fell into much infamy with the Florentines. +And so greatly grew the fame of these miracles +and merits of Our Lady that folk flocked hither in +pilgrimage from all parts of Tuscany at her feasts, +bringing divers waxen images for the wonders worked, +wherewith a great part of the loggia in front of and +around the said figure was filled." In spite of ecclesiastical +scepticism, this popular devotion ever increased; +the company of the Laudesi, amongst whom, says +Villani, was a good part of the best folk in Florence, +had their hands always full of offerings and legacies, +which they faithfully distributed to the poor.</p> + +<p>The wonderful tidings roused even Guido Cavalcanti +from his melancholy musings among the tombs. As a +sceptical philosopher, he had little faith in miracles, +but an <i>esprit fort</i> of the period could not allow himself +to be on the same side as the friars. A delightful +<i>via media</i> presented itself; the features of the Madonna +in the picture bore a certain resemblance to his lady, +and everything was at once made clear. So he took +up his pen, and wrote a very beautiful sonnet to his +friend, Guido Orlandi. It begins: "A figure of my +Lady is adored, Guido, in San Michele in Orto,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_188" id="page_188">[188]</a></span> +which, with her fair semblance, pure and tender, is +the great refuge and harbour of sinners." And after +describing (with evident devotional feeling, in spite of +the obvious suggestion that it is the likeness of his +lady that gives the picture its miraculous powers) the +devotion of the people and the wonders worked +on souls and bodies alike, he concludes: "Her fame +goeth through far off lands: but the friars minor say +it is idolatry, for envy that she is not their neighbour." +But Orlandi professed himself much shocked at his +friend's levity. "If thou hadst said, my friend, of +Mary," so runs the double sonnet of his answer, +"Loving and full of grace, thou art a red rose planted +in the garden; thou wouldst have written fittingly. +For she is the Truth and the Way, she was the +mansion of our Lord, and is the port of our salvation." +And he bids the greater Guido imitate the publican; +cast the beam out of his own eye and let the mote +alone in those of the friars: "The friars minor know +the divine Latin scripture, and the good preachers are +the defenders of the faith; their preaching is our +medicine."</p> + +<p>One of the most terrible faction fights in Florentine +history raged round the loggia and oratory on June +10th, 1304. The Cavalcanti and their allies were +heroically holding their own, here and in Mercato +Vecchio, against the overwhelming forces of the Neri +headed by the Della Tosa, Sinibaldo Donati and +Boccaccio Adimari, when Neri Abati fired the houses +round Or San Michele; the wax images in Our +Lady's oratory flared up, the loggia was burned to +the ground, and all the houses along Calimara and +Mercato Nuovo and beyond down to the Ponte +Vecchio were utterly destroyed. The young nobles +of the Neri faction galloped about with flaming torches +to assail the houses of their foes; the Podestà with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189">[189]</a></span> +his troops came into Mercato Nuovo, stared at the +blaze, but did nothing but block the way. In this +part of the town was all the richest merchandise of +Florence, and the loss was enormous. The Cavalcanti, +against whom the iniquitous plot was specially aimed, +were absolutely ruined, and left the city without further +resistance.</p> + +<p>The pilaster with Madonna's picture had survived +the fire, and the <i>Laudesi</i> still met round it to sing her +praises. But in 1336 the Signoria proposed to erect +a grand new building on the site of the old loggia, +which should serve at once for corn exchange and +provide a fitting oratory for this new and growing +cult of the Madonna di Orsanmichele. The present +edifice, half palace and half church, was commenced +in 1337, and finished at the opening of the fifteenth +century. The actual building was in the hands of the +Commune, who delegated their powers to the Arte di +Por Sta. Maria or Arte della Seta. The Parte Guelfa +and the Greater Guilds were to see to the external +decoration of the pilasters, upon each of which tabernacles +were made to receive the images of the Saints +before which each of the Arts should come in state, to +make offerings on the feasts of their proper patrons; +while the shrine itself, and the internal decorations of +the loggia (as it was still called), were left in the +charge and care of the <i>Laudesi</i> themselves, the Compagnia +of Orsanmichele, which was thoroughly organised +under its special captains. It is uncertain whom +the Arte della Seta employed as architect; Vasari +says that Taddeo Gaddi gave the design, others say +Orcagna (who worked for the Laudesi inside), and +more recently Francesco Talenti has been suggested. +Benci di Cione and Simone di Francesco Talenti, +who also worked at the same epoch upon the Duomo, +were among the architects employed later. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190">[190]</a></span> +closing in of the arcades, for the better protection of +the tabernacle, took away the last remnants of its +original appearance as an open loggia; and, shortly +before, the corn market itself was removed to the +present Piazza del Grano, and thus the "Palatium" +became the present church. The extremely beautifully +sculptured windows are the work of Simone di +Francesco Talenti.</p> + +<p>There are fourteen of these little temples or niches, +partly belonging to the Greater and partly to the +Lesser Arts. It will be seen that, while the seven +Greater Arts have each their niche, only six out of +the fourteen Minor Arts are represented. Over the +niches are <i>tondi</i> with the insignia of each Art. The +statues were set up at different epochs, and are not +always those that originally stood here–altered in one +case from significant political motives, in others from +the desire of the guilds to have something more +thoroughly up to date–the rejected images being +made over to the authorities of the Duomo for their +unfinished façade, or sent into exile among the friars +of Santa Croce. In 1404 the Signoria decreed that, +within ten years from that date, the Arts who had +secured their pilasters should have their statues in +position, on pain of losing the right. But this does +not seem to have been rigidly enforced.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_22" id="illo_22"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191" id="page_191">[191]</a></span> +<img src="images/illus207_tmb.jpg" width="258" height="400" alt="WINDOW OF OR SAN MICHELE" title="" /> +<p class="caption">WINDOW OF OR SAN MICHELE</p> +<a href="images/illus207_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Beginning at the corner of the northern side, facing +towards the Duomo, we have the minor Art of the +Butchers represented by Donatello's St. Peter in marble, +an early and not very excellent work of the master, +about 1412 (in a tabernacle of the previous century); +the <i>tondo</i> above containing their arms, a black goat on +a gold field, is modern. Next comes the marble +St. Philip, the patron saint of the minor Art of the +Shoemakers, by Nanni di Banco, of 1408, a beautiful +and characteristic work of this too often neglected<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_193" id="page_193"></a></span> +sculptor. Then, also by Nanni di Banco, the <i>Quattro +incoronati</i>, the "four crowned martyrs," who, being +carvers by profession, were put to death under +Diocletian for refusing to make idols, and are the +patrons of the masters in stone and wood, a minor Art +which included sculptors, architects, bricklayers, carpenters, +and masons; the bas-relief under the shrine, +also by Nanni, is a priceless masterpiece of realistic +Florentine democratic art, and shows us the mediæval +craftsmen at their work, the every-day life of the men +who made Florence the dream of beauty which she +became; above it are the arms of the Guild, in an +ornate and beautiful medallion, by Luca della +Robbia. The following shrine, that of the Art of +makers of swords and armour, had originally Donatello's +famous St. George in marble, of 1415, which +is now in the Bargello; the present bronze (inappropriate +for a minor Art, according to the precedent +of the others) is a modern copy; the bas-relief +below, of St. George slaying the dragon, is still +Donato's. On the western wall, opposite the old +tower of the Guild of Wool, comes first a bronze +St. Matthew, made together with its tabernacle by +Ghiberti and Michelozzo for the greater Guild of +Money-changers and Bankers (Arte del Cambio), +and finished in 1422. The Annunciation above is +by Niccolò of Arezzo, at the close of the Trecento. +The very beautiful bronze statue of St. Stephen, by +Ghiberti, represents the great Guild of Wool, Arte +della Lana; originally they had a marble St. Stephen, +but, seeing what excellent statues had been made for +the Cambio and the Calimala Guilds, they declared +that since the Arte della Lana claimed to be always +mistress of the other Arts, she must excel in this +also; so sent their St. Stephen away to the Cathedral, +and assigned the new work to Ghiberti (1425).<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194" id="page_194">[194]</a></span> +Then comes the marble St. Eligius, by Nanni di +Banco (1415), for the minor Art of the Maniscalchi, +which included farriers, iron-smiths, knife-makers, +and the like; the bas-relief below, also by Nanni, +represents the Saint (San Lò he is more familiarly +called, or St. Eloy in French) engaged in shoeing +a demoniacal horse.</p> + +<p>On the southern façade, we have St. Mark in +marble for the minor Art of Linaioli and Rigattieri, +flax merchants and hucksters, by Donatello, (about +1412).<a name="fnanchor_32" id="fnanchor_32"></a><a href="#footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The Arte dei Vaiai e Pellicciai, furriers, +although a greater Guild, seems to have been contented +with the rather insignificant marble St. James, +which follows, of uncertain authorship, and dating +from the end of the Trecento; the bas-relief seems +later. The next shrine, that of the Doctors and +Apothecaries, the great Guild to which Dante belonged +and which included painters and booksellers, +is empty; the Madonna herself is their patroness, +but their statue is now inside the church; the +Madonna and Child in the medallion above are by +Luca della Robbia. The next niche is that of the +great Arte della Seta or Arte di Por Santa Maria, +the Guild of the Silk-merchants, to which embroiderers, +goldsmiths and silversmiths were attached; +the bronze statue of their patron, St. John the Evangelist, +is by Baccio da Montelupo (1515), and replaces +an earlier marble now in the Bargello; the +medallion above with their arms, a gate on a shield +supported by two cherubs, is by Luca della Robbia.</p> + +<p>Finally, on the façade in the Via Calzaioli, the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195">[195]</a></span> +shrine is that of the Arte di Calimala or Arte dei +Mercatanti, who carried on the great commerce in +foreign cloth, the chief democratic guild of the latter +half of the thirteenth century, but which, together with +the Arte della Lana, began somewhat to decline +towards the middle of the Quattrocento; their bronze +St. John Baptist is Ghiberti's, but hardly one of his +better works (1415). The large central tabernacle +was originally assigned to the Parte Guelfa, the only +organisation outside of the Guilds that was allowed to +share in this work; for them, Donatello made a bronze +statue of their patron, St. Louis of Toulouse, and +either Donatello himself or Michelozzo prepared, in +1423, the beautiful niche for him which is still here. +But, owing to the great unpopularity of the Parte +Guelfa and their complete loss of authority under +the new Medicean regime, this tabernacle was taken +from them in 1459 and made over to the Università +dei Mercanti or Magistrato della Mercanzia, a board +of magistrates who presided over all the Guilds; the +arms of this magistracy were set up in the present +medallion by Luca della Robbia in 1462; Donatello's +St. Louis was sent to the friars minor; and, some +years later, Verrocchio cast the present masterly group +of Christ and St. Thomas. Landucci, in his diary for +1483, tells us how it was set up, and that the bronze +figure of the Saviour seemed to him the most beautiful +that had ever been made. Last of all, the bronze +statue of St. Luke was set up by Giovanni da Bologna +in 1601, for the Judges and Notaries, who, like the +silk-merchants, discarded an earlier marble. It must +be observed that the substitution of the Commercial +Tribunal for the tyrannical Parte Guelfa completes +the purely democratic character of the whole monument.</p> + +<p>Entering the interior, we pass from the domains of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196">[196]</a></span> +the great commercial guilds and their patrons to those +of the <i>Laudesi</i> of Santa Maria. It is rich and subdued +in colour, the vaults and pilasters covered with faded +frescoes. It is divided into two parts, the one ending +in the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin, the other in the +chapel and altar of St. Anne, her mother and the deliveress +of the Republic. These two record the two +great events of fourteenth century Florentine history–the +expulsion of the Duke of Athens and the Black +Death. It was after this great plague that, in consequence +of the Compagnia having had great riches left +to them, "to the honour of the Holy Virgin Mary and +for the benefit of the poor," the Captains of Orsanmichele, +as the heads of these Laudesi were called, summoned +Orcagna, in 1349, to the "work of the +pilaster," as it was officially styled, to enclose what +remained of the miraculous picture in a glorious tabernacle. +He took ten years over it, finishing it in 1359, +while the railing by Pietro di Migliore was completed +in 1366. It was approximately at this epoch that it +was decided to find another place for the market, and +to close the arcades of the loggia, <i>per adornamento e +salvezza del tabernacolo di Nostra Donna</i>.</p> + +<p>It is goldsmith's work on a gigantic scale, this +marble reliquary of the archangelic painter. "A +miracle of loveliness," wrote Lord Lindsay, "and +though clustered all over with pillars and pinnacles, +inlaid with the richest marbles, lapis-lazuli, and mosaic +work, it is chaste in its luxuriance as an Arctic iceberg–worthy +of her who was spotless among women." +The whole is crowned with a statue of St. Michael, +and the miraculous picture is enclosed in an infinite +wealth and profusion of statues and arabesques, angels +and prophets, precious stones and lions' heads. Scenes +in bas-relief from Our Lady's life alternate with +prophets and allegorical representations of the virtues,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_197" id="page_197">[197]</a></span> +some of these latter being single figures of great beauty +and some psychological insight in the rendering–for +instance, Docilitas, Solertia, Justitia, Fortitudo–while +marble Angels cluster round their Queen's tabernacle in +eager service and loving worship. At the back is the +great scene beneath which, to right and left, the series +begins and ends–the death of Madonna and her +Assumption, or rather, Our Lady of the Girdle, the +giving of that celestial gift to the Thomas who had +doubted, the mystical treasure which Tuscan Prato +still fondly believes that her Duomo holds. This is +perhaps the first representation of this mystery in +Italian sculpture, and is signed and dated: <i>Andreas +Cionis pictor Florentinus oratorii archimagister extitit +hujus, 1359.</i> The figure with a small divided beard, +talking with a man in a big hat and long beard, is +Orcagna's own portrait. The miraculous painting +itself is within the tabernacle. The picture in front, +the Madonna and Child with goldfinch, adored by +eight Angels, is believed to be either by Orcagna himself +or Bernardo Daddi<a name="fnanchor_33" id="fnanchor_33"></a><a href="#footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>; it is decidedly more primitive +than their authenticated works, probably because +it is a comparatively close rendering of the original +composition.</p> + +<p>On the side altar on the right is the venerated +Crucifix before which St. Antoninus used to pray. +At one time the Dominicans were wont to come hither +in procession on the anniversary of his death. In his +Chronicle of Florence, Antoninus defends the friars +from the accusations of Villani with respect to their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_198" id="page_198">[198]</a></span> +scepticism about the miraculous picture. On the opposite +side altar is the marble statue of Mother and +Child from the tabernacle of the Medici e Speziali. It +was executed about the year 1399; Vasari ascribes it +to a Simone di Firenze, who may possibly be Simone +di Francesco Talenti.</p> + +<p>The altar of St. Anne at the east end of the left half +of the nave is one of the Republic's thank-offerings for +their deliverance from the tyranny of Walter de +Brienne. Public thanksgiving had been held here, +before Our Lady's picture, as early as 1343, while the +"Palatium" was still in building; but in the following +year, 1344, at the instance of the captains of Or San +Michele and others, the Signoria decreed that "for the +perpetual memory of the grace conceded by God to +the Commune and People of Florence, on the day of +blessed Anne, Mother of the glorious Virgin, by the +liberation of the city and the citizens, and by the destruction +of the pernicious and tyrannical yoke," solemn +offerings should be made on St. Anne's feast day by +the Signoria and the consuls of the Arts, before her +statue in Or San Michele, and that on that day all +offices and shops should be closed, and no one be +subject to arrest for debt. The present statue on this +votive altar, representing the Madonna (here perhaps +symbolising her faithful city of Florence) seated on the +lap of St. Anne, who is thus protecting her and her +Divine Child, was executed by Francesco da Sangallo +in 1526, and replaces an older group in wood; although +highly praised by Vasari, it will strike most +people as not quite worthy of the place or the occasion. +The powerful and expressive head of St. Anne is the +best part of the group.</p> + +<p>The beneficent energies of these Laudesi and their +captains spread far beyond the limits of this church +and shrine. The great and still existing company of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_199" id="page_199">[199]</a></span> +the Misericordia was originally connected with them; +and the Bigallo for the foundling children was raised +by them at the same time as their Tabernacle here. +They contributed generously to the construction of +the Duomo, and decorated chapels in Santa Croce +and the Carmine. Sacchetti and Giovanni Boccaccio +were among their officers; and it was while Boccaccio +was serving as one of their captains in 1350 that they +sent a sum of money by his hands to Dante's daughter +Beatrice, in her distant convent at Ravenna. They +appear to have spent all they had in the defence of +Florentine liberty during the great siege of 1529.</p> + +<p>The imposing old tower that rises opposite San +Michele in the Calimala is the Torrione of the Arte +della Lana, copiously adorned with their arms–the +Lamb bearing the Baptist's cross. It was erected at +the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth +century, and in it the consuls of the Guild had their +meetings. It was stormed and sacked by the Ciompi +in 1378. The heavy arch that connects the tower +with the upper storey of Or San Michele, and rather +disfigures the building, is the work of Buontalenti in +the latter half of the sixteenth century. The large +vaulted hall into which it leads, intended originally +for the storage of grain and the like, is now known +as the Sala di Dante, and witnesses the brilliant +gatherings of Florentines and foreigners to listen to +the readings of the <i>Divina Commedia</i> given under the +auspices of the <i>Società Dantesca Italiana</i>.</p> + +<p>This is the part of the city where the Arts had +their wealth and strength; the very names of the streets +show it; Calimala and Pellicceria, for instance, which +run from the Mercato Vecchio to the Via Porta +Rossa. The Mercato Vecchio, the centre of the city +both in Roman and mediæval times, around which the +houses and towers of the oldest families clustered–Elisei,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_200" id="page_200">[200]</a></span> +Caponsacchi, Nerli, Vecchietti, and the rest of +whom Dante's <i>Paradiso</i> tells–is now a painfully unsightly +modern square, with what appears to be a +triumphal arch bearing the inscription: <i>L'antico centro +della città da secolare squallore a vita nuova restituita</i>(!). +Passing down the Calimala to the Via Porta +Rossa and the Mercato Nuovo, near where the former +enters the Via Calzaioli, the site is still indicated of +the Calimala Bottega where the government of the +Arts was first organised, as told in chapter i. Near +here and in the Mercato Nuovo, the Cavalcanti had +their palaces. In the Via Porta Rossa the Arte della +Seta had their warehouses; the gate from which they +took their second name, and which is represented on +their shield, is of course the Por Santa Maria, Our +Lady's Gate of the old walls or Cerchia Antica, +which was somewhere about the middle of the present +Via Por Santa Maria. The Church of Santa Maria +sopra la Porta, between the Mercato Nuovo and the +Via delle Terme, is the present San Biagio (now used +by the firemen); adjoining it is the fine old palace of +the dreaded captains of the Parte Guelfa. The Via +Porta Rossa contains some mediæval houses and the +lower portions of a few grand old towers still standing; +as already said, in the first circle of walls there was a +postern gate, at the end of the present street, opposite +Santa Trinità. In the Mercato Nuovo, where a copy +of the ancient boar–which figures in Hans Andersen's +familiar story–seems to watch the flower market, the +arcades were built by Battista del Tasso for Cosimo I. +Here, too, modernisation has destroyed much. Hardly +can we conjure up now that day of the great fire in +1304, when the nobles of the "black" faction +galloped through the crowd of plunderers, with their +blazing torches throwing a lurid glow on the steel-clad +Podestà with his soldiers drawn up here idly to gaze<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_203" id="page_203">[203]</a></span> +upon the flames! A house that once belonged to the +Cavalcanti is still standing in Mercato Nuovo, marked +by the Cross of the People; the branch of the family +who lived here left the magnates and joined the people, +as the Cross indicates, changing their name from Cavalcanti +to Cavallereschi.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_23" id="illo_23"></a> +<img src="images/illus217_tmb.jpg" width="265" height="400" alt="TOWER OF THE ARTE DELLA LANA" title="" /> +<p class="caption">TOWER OF THE ARTE DELLA LANA</p> +<a href="images/illus217_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>The little fourteenth century church of St. Michael, +now called San Carlo, which stands opposite San +Michele in Orto on the other side of the Via Calzaioli, +was originally a votive chapel to Saint Anne, built at +the expense of the captains of the Laudesi on a site +purchased by the Commune. It was begun in 1349 +by Fioraventi and Benci di Cione, simultaneously with +Orcagna's tabernacle, continued by Simone di Francesco +Talenti, and completed at the opening of the +fifteenth century. The captains intended to have +the ceremonial offerings made here instead of in the +Loggia; but the thing fell through owing to a disagreement +with the Arte di Por Santa Maria, and the +votive altar remained in the Loggia.</p> + +<p>Between San Carlo and the Duomo the street has +been completely modernised. Of old it was the Corso +degli Adimari, surrounded by the houses and towers +of this fierce Guelf clan, who were at deadly feud with +the Donati. Cacciaguida in the <i>Paradiso</i> (canto xvi.) +describes them as "the outrageous tribe that playeth +dragon after whoso fleeth, and to whoso showeth +tooth–or purse–is quiet as a lamb." One of their +towers still stands on the left. On the right the +place is marked where the famous loggia, called the +Neghittosa, once stood, which belonged to the branch +of the Adimari called the Cavicciuli, who, in spite of +their hatred to the Donati, joined the Black Guelfs. +One of them, Boccaccio or Boccaccino Adimari, +seized upon Dante's goods when he was exiled, and +exerted his influence to prevent his being recalled.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_204" id="page_204">[204]</a></span> +In this loggia, too, Filippo Argenti used to sit, the +<i>Fiorentino spirito bizzarro</i> whom Dante saw rise before +him covered with mire out of the marshy lake of Styx. +He is supposed to have ridden a horse shod with +silver, and there is a rare story in the <i>Decameron</i> of a +mad outburst of bestial fury on his part in this very +loggia, on account of a mild practical joke on the +part of Ciacco, a bon vivant of the period whom +Dante has sternly flung into the hell of gluttons. On +this occasion Filippo, who was an enormously big, +strong, and sinewy man, beat a poor little dandy called +Biondello within an inch of his life. In this same +loggia, on August 4th, 1397, a party of young +Florentine exiles, who had come secretly from +Bologna with the intention of killing Maso degli +Albizzi, took refuge, after a vain attempt to call the +people to arms. From the highest part of the loggia, +seeing a great crowd assembling round them, they +harangued the mob, imploring them not stupidly to +wait to see their would-be deliverers killed and themselves +thrust back into still more grievous servitude. +When not a soul moved, "finding out too late how +dangerous it is to wish to set free a people that +desires, happen what may, to be enslaved," as Machiavelli +cynically puts it, they escaped into the Duomo, +where, after a vain attempt at defending themselves, +they were captured by the Captain, put to the question +and executed. There were about ten of them in all, including +three of the Cavicciuli and Antonio dei Medici.</p> + +<p>On November 9th, 1494, when the Florentines +rose against Piero dei Medici and his brothers, the +young Cardinal Giovanni rode down this street with +retainers and a few citizens shouting, <i>Popolo e libertà</i>, +pretending that he was going to join the insurgents. +But when he got to San Michele in Orto, the people +turned upon him from the piazza with their pikes and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_205" id="page_205">[205]</a></span> +lances, with loud shouts of "Traitor!" upon which +he fled back in great dread. Landucci saw him at +the windows of his palace, on his knees with clasped +hand, commending himself to God. "When I saw +him," he says, "I grew very sorry for him (<i>m'inteneri +assai</i>); and I judged that he was a good and +sensible youth."</p> + +<p>To the east of the Via Calzaioli lies the Sesto di +San Piero Maggiore, which, at the end of the thirteenth +century, received the pleasant name of the +Sesto di Scandali. It lies on either side of the Via +del Corso, which with its continuations ran from east +to west through the old city. In the Via della Condotta, +at the corner of the Vicolo dei Cerchi, still +stands the palace which belonged to a section of this +family (the section known as the White Cerchi to +distinguish them from Messer Vieri's branch, the +Black Cerchi, who were even more "white" in +politics, in spite of their name); in this palace the +Priors sat before Arnolfo built the Palazzo Vecchio, +which became the seat of government in 1299. It was +there, not here, that Dante and his colleagues, on June +15th, 1300, entered upon office, and the same day +confirmed the sentences which had been passed under +their predecessors against the three traitors who had +conspired to betray Florence to Pope Boniface; and +then, a few days later, passed the decree by which +Corso Donati and Guido Cavalcanti were sent into +exile. Later the vicars of Robert of Anjou for a time +resided here, and the administrators appointed to assess +the confiscated goods of "rebels." At the corner of +the Via dei Cerchi, where it joins the Via dei Cimatori, +are traces of the loggia of the Cerchi; the same corner +affords a picturesque glimpse of the belfrey of the +Badia and the tower of the Podesta's palace.</p> + +<p>There was another great palace of the Cerchi, referred<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_206" id="page_206">[206]</a></span> +to in the <i>Paradiso</i>, which had formerly belonged +to the Ravignani and the Conti Guidi, the acquisition +of which by Messer Vieri had excited the envy of the +Donati. This palace is described by Dante (<i>Parad.</i> +xvi.) as being <i>sopra la porta</i>, that is, over the inner +gate of St. Peter, the gate of the first circuit in +Cacciaguida's day. No trace of it remains, but it +was apparently on the north side of the Corso where +it now joins the Via del Proconsolo. "Over the +gate," says Cacciaguida, "which is now laden with +new felony of such weight that there will soon be a +wrecking of the ship, were the Ravignani, whence is +descended the Count Guido, and whoever has since +taken the name of the noble Bellincione." Here the +daughter of Bellincione Berti, the <i>alto Bellincion</i>, lived,–the +beautiful and good Gualdrada, whom we can +dimly discern as a sweet and gracious presence in that +far-off early Florence of which the <i>Paradiso</i> sings; +she was the ancestress of the great lords of the Casentino, +the Conti Guidi. The principal houses of the +Donati appear to have been on the Duomo side of the +Corso, just before the Via dello Studio now joins it; +but they had possessions on the other side as well. +Giano della Bella had his house almost opposite to +them, on the southern side. A little further on, at +the corner where the Corso joins the Via del Proconsolo, +Folco Portinari lived, the father, according +to tradition, of Dante's Beatrice: "he who had been +the father of so great a marvel, as this most noble +Beatrice was manifestly seen to be." Folco's sons +joined the Bianchi; one of them, Pigello, was +poisoned during Dante's priorate; an elder son, +Manetto Portinari (the friend of Dante and Cavalcanti), +afterwards ratted and made his peace with the +Neri. All the family are included, together with the +Giuochi who lived opposite to them, in a sentence<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_207" id="page_207">[207]</a></span> +passed against Dante and his sons in 1315, from which +Manetto Portinari is +excepted by name. +The building which +now occupies the site +of the Casa Portinari +was once the Salviati +Palace.</p> + +<div class="figright"><a name="illo_24" id="illo_24"></a> +<img src="images/illus223_tmb.jpg" width="290" height="400" alt="HOUSE OF DANTE" title="" /> +<p class="caption">HOUSE OF DANTE</p> +<a href="images/illus223_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>In the little Piazza +di San Martino is +shown the Casa di +Dante, which undoubtedly +belonged +to the Alighieri, and +in which Dante is +said to have been +born. It has been +completely modernised. +The Alighieri +had also a house in +the Via Santa Margherita, +which runs +from the Piazza San +Martino to the Corso, +opposite the little +church of Santa Margherita. +Hard by, +in the Piazza dei +Donati a section of +that family had a +house and garden; +and here Dante saw +and wooed Gemma, +the daughter of Manetto Donati. The old tower +which seems to watch over Dante's house from +the other side of the Piazza San Martino, the Torre<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_208" id="page_208">[208]</a></span> +della Castagna, belonged in Dante's days to the monks +of the Badia; in it, in 1282, the Priors of the +Arts held their first meeting, when the government +of the Republic was placed in their hands. At the +corner of the Piazza, opposite Dante's house, lived +the Sacchetti, the family from which the novelist, +Franco, sprang. They were in deadly feud with Geri +del Bello, the cousin of Dante's father, who lived in +the house next to Dante's; and, shortly before the +year of Dante's vision, the Sacchetti murdered Geri. +He seems to have deserved his fate, and Dante places +him among the sowers of discord in Hell, where he +points at Dante and threatens him vehemently. "His +violent death," says the poet in <i>Inferno</i> xxix, "which +is not yet avenged for him, by any that is a partner +of his shame, made him indignant; therefore, as I +suppose, he went away without speaking to me; and +in that he has made me pity him the more." Thirty +years after the murder, Geri's nephews broke into the +house of the Sacchetti and stabbed one of the family +to death; and the two families were finally reconciled +in 1342, on which occasion Dante's half-brother, +Francesco Alighieri, was the representative of the +Alighieri. Many years later, Dante's great-grandson, +Leonardo Alighieri, came from Verona to Florence. +"He paid me a visit," writes Leonardo Bruni, +"as a friend of the memory of his great-grandfather, +Dante. And I showed him Dante's house, and that of +his forebears, and I pointed out to him many particulars +with which he was not acquainted, because he and his +family had been estranged from their fatherland. And +so does Fortune roll this world around, and change its +inhabitants up and down as she turns her wheel."</p> + +<p>Beyond the Via del Proconsolo the Borgo, now +called of the Albizzi, was originally the Borgo di +San Piero–a suburb of the old city, but included<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_209" id="page_209">[209]</a></span> +in the second walls of the twelfth century. The +present name records the brief, but not inglorious +period of the rule of the oligarchy or Ottimati, +before Cosimo dei Medici obtained complete possession +of the State. It was formerly called the Corso di +Por San Piero. The first palace on the right (De +Rast or Quaratesi) was built for the Pazzi by +Brunelleschi, and still shows their armorial bearings +by Donatello. They had another palace further on, +on the left, opposite the Via dell'Acqua. Still +further on (past the Altoviti palace, with its caricatures) +is the palace of the Albizzi family, on the left, +as you approach the Piazza. Here Maso degli +Albizzi, and then Rinaldo, lived and practically ruled +the state. Giuliano dei Medici alighted here in +1512. At the end of the Borgo degli Albizzi is +now the busy, rather picturesque little Piazza di San +Piero Maggiore, usually full of stalls and trucks. +St. Peter's Gate in Dante's time lay just beyond the +church, to the left. In this Piazza also the Donati +had houses; and it was through this gate that Corso +Donati burst into Florence with his followers on the +morning of November 5th, 1301; "and he entered +into the city like a daring and bold cavalier," as +Dino Compagni–who loves a strong personality even +on the opposite side to his own–puts it. The +Bianchi in the Sesto largely outnumbered his forces, +but did not venture to attack him, while the populace +bawled <i>Viva il Barone</i> to their hearts' content. He +incontinently seized that tall tower of the Corbizzi +that still rises opposite to the façade of the church, +at the southern corner of the Piazza in the Via del +Mercatino, and hung out his banner from it. Seven +years later he made his last stand in this square and +round this tower, as we have told in chapter ii. +Of the church of San Piero Maggiore, only the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_210" id="page_210">[210]</a></span> +seventeenth century façade remains; but of old it +ranked as the third of the Florentine temples. According +to the legend, it was on his way to this +church that San Zenobio raised the French child to +life in the Borgo degli Albizzi, opposite the spot +where the Palazzo Altoviti now stands. It is said +to have been the only church in Florence free from +the taint of simony in the days of St. Giovanni Gualberto, +and of old had the privilege of first receiving +the new Archbishops when they entered Florence. The +Archbishop went through a curious and beautiful +ceremony of mystic marriage with the Abbess of the +Benedictine convent attached to the church, who +apparently personified the diocese of Florence. Every +year on Easter Monday the canons of the Duomo +came here in procession; and on St. Peter's day the +captains of the Parte Guelfa entered the Piazza in +state to make a solemn offering, and had a race run +in the Piazza Santa Croce after the ceremony. The +artists, Lorenzo di Credi, Mariotto Albertinelli, Piero +di Cosimo and Luca della Robbia were buried here. +Two of the best pictures that the church contained–a +Coronation of the Madonna ascribed to Orcagna +and the famous Assumption said by Vasari to have +been painted by Botticelli for Matteo Palmieri (which +was supposed to inculcate heretical neoplatonic doctrines +concerning the human soul and the Angels in the +spheres), are now in the National Gallery of +London.</p> + +<p>It was in this Piazza that the conspirators resolved +to assassinate Maso degli Albizzi. Their spies watched +him leave his palace, walk leisurely towards the church +and then enter an apothecary's shop, close to San +Piero. They hurried off to tell their associates, but +when the would-be assassins arrived on the scene, +they found that Maso had given them the slip and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_211" id="page_211">[211]</a></span> +left the shop.</p> + +<p>Turning down the Via del Mercatino and back +to the Badia along the Via Pandolfini, we pass the +palace which once belonged to Francesco Valori, +Savonarola's formidable adherent. Here it was on +that terrible Palm Sunday, 1498, when Hell broke +loose, as Landucci puts it, that Valori's wife was +shot dead at a window, while her husband in the +street below, on his way to answer the summons of +the Signoria, was murdered near San Procolo by +the kinsmen of the men whom he had sent to the +scaffold.</p> + +<p>The Badia shares with the Baptistery and San +Miniato the distinction of being the only Florentine +churches mentioned by Dante. In Cacciaguida's days +it was close to the old Roman wall; from its campanile +even in Dante's time, Florence still "took tierce and +nones "; and, at the sound of its bells, the craftsmen +of the Arts went to and from their work. Originally +founded by the Countess Willa in the tenth century, +the Badia di San Stefano (as it was called) that Dante +and Boccaccio knew was the work of Arnolfo di +Cambio; but it was entirely rebuilt in the seventeenth +century, with consequent destruction of priceless +frescoes by Giotto and Masaccio. The present +graceful campanile is of the fourteenth century. The +relief in the lunette over the chief door, rather in the +manner of Andrea della Robbia, is by Benedetto +Buglione. In the left transept is the monument by +Mino da Fiesole of Willa's son Hugo, Margrave of +Tuscany, who died on St. Thomas' day, 1006. +Dante calls him the great baron; his anniversary was +solemnly celebrated here, and he was supposed to have +conferred knighthood and nobility upon the Della Bella +and other Florentine families. "Each one," says +Cacciaguida, "who beareth aught of the fair arms of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_212" id="page_212">[212]</a></span> +the great baron, whose name and worth the festival of +Thomas keepeth living, from him derived knighthood +and privilege" (<i>Paradiso</i> xvi.). In a chapel to the +left of this monument is Filippino Lippi's picture of +the Madonna appearing to St. Bernard, painted in +1480, one of the most beautiful renderings of an +exceedingly poetical subject. For Dante, Bernard is +<i>colui ch'abbelliva di Maria, come del sole stella mattutina</i>, +"he who drew light from Mary, as the morning star +from the sun." Filippino has introduced the portrait +of the donor, on the right, Francesco di Pugliese. +The church contains two other works by Mino da +Fiesole, a Madonna and (in the right transept) the +sepulchral monument of Bernardo Giugni, who served +the State as ambassador to Milan and Venice in the +days of Cosimo and Piero dei Medici. At the +entrance to the cloisters Francesco Valori is buried.</p> + +<p>It was in the Badia (and not in the Church of +San Stefano, near the Via Por Santa Maria, as usually +stated) that Boccaccio lectured upon the <i>Divina Commedia</i> +in 1373. Benvenuto da Imola came over from +Bologna to attend his beloved master's readings, and +was much edified. But the audience were not equally +pleased, and Boccaccio had to defend himself in verse. +One of the sonnets he wrote on this occasion, <i>Se Dante +piange, dove ch'el si sia</i>, has been admirably translated +by Dante Rossetti:–</p> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_213" id="page_213">[213]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>If Dante mourns, there wheresoe'er he be,<br /> +<span class="i1">That such high fancies of a soul so proud</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Should be laid open to the vulgar crowd,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">(As, touching my Discourse, I'm told by thee),</span></p> + +<p>This were my grievous pain; and certainly<br /> +<span class="i1">My proper blame should not be disavow'd;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Though hereof somewhat, I declare aloud</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Were due to others, not alone to me.</span></p> + +<p>False hopes, true poverty, and therewithal<br /> +<span class="i1">The blinded judgment of a host of friends,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">And their entreaties, made that I did thus.</span></p> + +<p>But of all this there is no gain at all<br /> +<span class="i1">Unto the thankless souls with whose base ends</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Nothing agrees that's great or generous.</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_25" id="illo_25"></a> +<img src="images/illus229_tmb.jpg" width="150" height="234" alt="ARMS OF THE SESTO DI SAN PIERO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">ARMS OF THE SESTO DI SAN PIERO</p> +<a href="images/illus229_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_214" id="page_214">[214]</a></p> +<h2 class="p6"><a name="chapter_vii" id="chapter_vii"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> +<h3><i>From the Bargello past Santa Croce</i></h3> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"Non ha l'ottimo artista alcun concetto,</span><br /> +ch'un marmo solo in sé non circonscriva<br /> +col suo soverchio; e solo a quello arriva<br /> +la man che ubbidisce all'intelletto."<br /> +<span class="i10">–<i>Michelangelo Buonarroti.</i></span></p> + +<p><span class="dropcap">E</span>VEN as the Palazzo Vecchio or Palace of the +Priors is essentially the monument of the <i>Secondo +Popolo</i>, so the Palazzo del Podestà or Palace of the +Commune belongs to the <i>Primo Popolo</i>; it was commenced +in 1255, in that first great triumph of the +democracy, although mainly finished towards the +middle of the following century. Here sat the +Podestà, with his assessors and retainers, whom he +brought with him to Florence–himself always an +alien noble. Originally he was the chief officer of the +Republic, for the six months during which he held +office, led the burgher forces in war, and acted as chief +justice in peace; but he gradually sunk in popular estimation +before the more democratic Captain of the +People (who was himself, it will be remembered, normally +an alien Guelf noble). A little later, both +Podestà and Captain were eclipsed by the Gonfaloniere +of Justice. In the fifteenth century the Podestà was +still the president of the chief civil and criminal court +of the city, and his office was only finally abolished +during the Gonfalonierate of Piero Soderini at the +beginning of the Cinquecento. Under the Medicean<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_215" id="page_215">[215]</a></span> +grand dukes the Bargello, or chief of police, resided +here–hence the present name of the palace; and it is +well to repeat, once for all, that when the Bargello, or +Court of the Bargello, is mentioned in Florentine +history–in grim tales of torture and executions and +the like–it is not this building, but the residence of +the Executore of Justice, now incorporated into the +Palazzo Vecchio, that is usually meant.</p> + +<p>It was in this Palace of the Podestà, however, that +Guido Novello resided and ruled the city in the name +of King Manfred, during the short period of Ghibelline +tyranny that followed Montaperti, 1260-1266, and which +the Via Ghibellina, first opened by him, recalls. The +Palace was broken into by the populace in 1295, just +before the fall of Giano della Bella, because a Lombard +Podestà had unjustly acquitted Corso Donati for the +death of a burgher at the hands of his riotous retainers. +Here, too, was Cante dei Gabbrielli of +Gubbio installed by Charles of Valois, in November +1301, and from its gates issued the Crier of the +Republic that summoned Dante Alighieri and his +companions in misfortune to appear before the +Podestà's court. In one of those dark vaulted rooms +on the ground floor, now full of a choice collection of +mediæval arms and armour, Cante's successor, Fulcieri +da Calvoli, tortured those of the Bianchi who fell into his +cruel hands. "He sells their flesh while it is still alive," +says Dante in the <i>Purgatorio</i>, "then slayeth them like +a worn out brute: many doth he deprive of life, and +himself of honour." Some died under the torments, +others were beheaded.</p> + +<p>"Messer Donato Alberti," writes Dino Compagni, +"mounted vilely upon an ass, in a peasant's smock, was +brought before the Podestà. And when he saw him, +he asked him: 'Are you Messer Donato Alberti?' +He replied: 'I am Donato. Would that Andrea da<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_216" id="page_216">[216]</a></span> +Cerreto were here before us, and Niccola Acciaioli, +and Baldo d'Aguglione, and Jacopo da Certaldo, who +have destroyed Florence.'<a name="fnanchor_34" id="fnanchor_34"></a><a href="#footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Then he was fastened to +the rope and the cord adjusted to the pulley, and so +they let him stay; and the windows and doors of the +Palace were opened, and many citizens called in under +other pretexts, that they might see him tortured and +derided."</p> + +<p>In the rising of the Ciompi, July 1378, the palace +was forced to surrender to the insurgents after an +assault of two hours. They let the Podestà escape, +but burnt all books and papers, especially those of the +hated Arte della Lana. At night as many as the +palace could hold quartered themselves here.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_26" id="illo_26"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_217" id="page_217"></a></span> +<img src="images/illus233_tmb.jpg" width="253" height="400" alt="BARGELLO COURTYARD AND STAIRCASE" title="" /> +<p class="caption">BARGELLO COURTYARD AND STAIRCASE</p> +<a href="images/illus233_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>The beautiful court and stairway, surrounded by +statues and armorial bearings, the ascent guarded by +the symbolical lion of Florence and leading to an open +loggia, is the work of Benci di Cione and Neri di +Fioraventi, 1333-1345. The palace is now the +National Museum of Sculpture and kindred arts and +crafts. Keeping to the left, round the court itself, we +see a marble St. Luke by Niccolò di Piero Lamberti, +of the end of the fourteenth century, from the niche of +the Judges and Notaries at Or San Michele; a magnificent +sixteenth century portalantern in beaten iron; +the old marble St. John Evangelist, contemporaneous +with the St. Luke, and probably by Piero di Giovanni +Tedesco, from the niche of the Arte della Seta at Or +San Michele; some allegorical statues by Giovanni da +Bologna and Vincenzo Danti, in rather unsuccessful +imitation of Michelangelo; a dying Adonis, questionably +ascribed to Michelangelo. And, finally +(numbered 18), there stands Michelangelo's so-called<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_219" id="page_219">[219]</a></span> +"Victory," the triumph of the ideal over outworn +tyranny and superstition; a radiant youth, but worn +and exhausted by the struggle, rising triumphantly over +a shape of gigantic eld, so roughly hewn as to seem +lost in the mist from which the young hero has +gloriously freed himself.<a name="fnanchor_35" id="fnanchor_35"></a><a href="#footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>Also on the ground floor, to the left, are two rooms +full of statuary. The first contains nothing important, +save perhaps the Madonna and Child with St. Peter +and St. Paul, formerly above the Porta Romana. In +the second room, a series of bas-reliefs by Benedetto da +Rovezzano, begun in 1511 and terribly mutilated by +the imperial soldiery during the siege, represent scenes +connected with the life and miracles of St. Giovanni +Gualberto, including the famous trial of Peter Igneus, +who, in order to convict the Bishop of Florence of +simony, passed unharmed through the ordeal of fire. +Here is the unfinished bust of Brutus (111) by +Michelangelo, one of his latest works, and a significant +expression of the state of the man's heart, when he +was forced to rear sumptuous monuments for the new +tyrants who had overthrown his beloved Republic. +Then a chimney-piece by Benedetto da Rovezzano +from the Casa Borgherini, one of the most sumptuous +pieces of domestic furniture of the Renaissance; a very +beautiful tondo of the Madonna and Child with the +little St. John (123) by Michelangelo, made for +Bartolommeo Pitti early in the Cinquecento; the mask +of a grinning faun with gap-teeth, traditionally shown +as the head struck out by the boy Michelangelo in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_220" id="page_220">[220]</a></span> +first visit to the Medici Gardens, when he attracted the +attention of Lorenzo the Magnificent–but probably a +comparatively modern work suggested by Vasari's +story; a sketch in marble for the martyrdom of St. +Andrew, supposed to be a juvenile work of Michelangelo's, +but also doubtful. Here too is Michelangelo's +drunken Bacchus (128), an exquisitely-modelled +intoxicated vine-crowned youth, behind +whom a sly little satyr lurks, nibbling grapes. It is +one of the master's earliest works, very carefully and +delicately finished, executed during his first visit to +Rome, for Messer Jacopo Galli, probably about 1497. +Of this statue Ruskin wrote, while it was still in the +Uffizi: "The white lassitude of joyous limbs, panther-like, +yet passive, fainting with their own delight, that +gleam among the Pagan formalisms of the Uffizi, far +away, separating themselves in their lustrous lightness +as the waves of an Alpine torrent do by their dancing +from the dead stones, though the stones be as white as +they." Shelley, on the contrary, found it "most +revolting," "the idea of the deity of Bacchus in the +conception of a Catholic." Near it is a tondo of the +Virgin and Child with the Baptist, by Andrea +Ferrucci.</p> + +<p>At the top of the picturesque and richly ornamented +staircase, to the right of the loggia on the first floor, +opens a great vaulted hall, where the works of Donatello, +casts and originals, surround a cast of his great +equestrian monument to Gattamelata at Padua–a hall +of such noble proportions that even Gattamelata looks +insignificant, where he sits his war-horse between the +Cross of the People and the Lily of the Commune. +Here the general council of the Commune met–the +only council (besides the special council of the Podestà) +in which the magnates could sit and vote, and it was +here, on July 6th, 1295, that Dante Alighieri first +entered public life; he spoke in support of the modifications<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_221" id="page_221">[221]</a></span> +of the Ordinances of Justice–which may have +very probably been a few months before he definitely +associated himself with the People by matriculating in +the Arte dei Medici e Speziali. Among the casts and +copies that fill this room, there are several original and +splendid works of Donatello; the Marzocco, or symbolical +lion of Florence protecting the shield of the +Commune, which was formerly in front of the Palace +of the Priors; the bronze David, full of Donatello's +delight in the exuberance of youthful manhood just +budding; the San Giovannino or little St. John; +the marble David, inferior to the bronze, but heralding +Michelangelo; the bronze bust of a youth, called +the son of Gattamelata; Love trampling upon a snake +(bronze); St. George in marble from Or San Michele, +an idealised condottiere of the Quattrocento; St. John +the Baptist from the Baptistery; and a bronze relief of +the Crucifixion. The coloured bust is now believed +by many critics to be neither the portrait of Niccolò da +Uzzano nor by Donatello; it is possibly a Roman hero +by some sculptor of the Seicento.</p> + +<p>The next room is the audience chamber of the +Podestà. Besides the Cross and the Lilies on the +windows, its walls and roof are covered with the +gold lion on azure ground, the arms of the Duke +of Athens. They were cancelled by decree of the +Republic in 1343, and renewed in 1861; as a patriotically +worded tablet on the left, under the window, +explains. Opening out of this is the famous Chapel of +the Podestà–famous for the frescoes on its walls–once +a prison. From out of these terribly ruined +frescoes stands the figure of Dante (stands out, alas, +because completely repainted–a mere <i>rifacimento</i> with +hardly a trace of the original work left) in what was +once a <i>Paradiso</i>; the dim figures on either side are +said to represent Brunette Latini and either Corso<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_222" id="page_222">[222]</a></span> +Donati or Guido Cavalcanti. In spite of a very +pleasant fable, it is absolutely certain that this is not +a contemporaneous portrait of Dante (although it may +be regarded as an authentic likeness, to some extent) +and was not painted by Giotto; the frescoes were +executed by some later follower of Giotto (possibly by +Taddeo Gaddi, who painted the lost portraits of Dante +and Guido in Santa Croce) after 1345. The two +paintings below on either side, Madonna and Child +and St. Jerome, are votive pictures commissioned by +pious Podestàs in 1490 and 1491, the former by +Sebastiano Mainardi, the brother-in-law of Domenico +Ghirlandaio.</p> + +<p>The third room contains small bronze works by +Tuscan masters of the Quattrocento. In the centre, +Verrocchio's David (22), cast for Lorenzo dei +Medici, one of the masterpieces of the fifteenth +century. Here are the famous trial plates for the +great competition for the second bronze gates of the +Baptistery, announced in 1401, the Sacrifice of +Abraham, by Brunelleschi and Ghiberti respectively; +the grace and harmony of Ghiberti's composition +(12) contrast strongly with the force, almost violence, +the dramatic action and movement of Brunelleschi's +(13). Ghiberti's, unlike his rival's, is in one single +piece; but, until lately, there has been a tendency to +underrate the excellence of Brunelleschi's relief. +Here, too, are Ghiberti's reliquary of St. Hyacinth, +executed in 1428, with two beautiful floating Angels +(21); several bas-reliefs by Bertoldo, Donatello's +pupil and successor; the effigy of Marino Soccino, +a lawyer of Siena, by the Sienese sculptor Il Vecchietta +(16); and, in a glass case, Orpheus by Bertoldo, +Hercules and Antæus by Antonio Pollaiuolo, and +Love on a Scallop Shell by Donatello. The following<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_223" id="page_223">[223]</a></span> +room contains mostly bronzes by later masters, especially +Cellini, Giovanni da Bologna, Vincenzo Danti. +The most noteworthy of its contents are Daniele +Ricciarelli's striking bust of Michelangelo (37); +Cellini's bronze sketch for Perseus (38), his bronze +bust of Duke Cosimo I. (39), his wax model for +Perseus (40), the liberation of Andromeda, from the +pedestal of the statue in the Loggia dei Lanzi (42); +and above all, Giovanni da Bologna's flying Mercury +(82), showing what exceedingly beautiful mythological +work could still be produced when the golden days +of the Renaissance were over. It was cast in 1565, +and, like many of the best bronzes of this epoch, was +originally placed on a fountain in one of the Medicean +villas.</p> + +<p>On the second floor, first a long room with seals, +etc., guarded by Rosso's frescoed Justice. Here, and +in the room on the left, is a most wonderful array +of the works in enamelled terra cotta of the Della +Robbias–Luca and Andrea, followed by Giovanni +and their imitators. In the best work of Luca and +Andrea–and there is much of their very best and +most perfect work in these two rooms–religious +devotion received its highest and most perfect expression +in sculpture. Their Madonnas, Annunciations, +Nativities and the like, are the sculptural +counterpart to Angelico's divinest paintings, though +never quite attaining to his spiritual insight and supra-sensible +gaze upon life. Andrea's work is more +pictorial in treatment than Luca's, has less vigour +and even at times a perceptible trace of sentimentality; +but in sheer beauty his very best creations do not +yield to those of his great master and uncle. Both +Luca and Andrea kept to the simple blue and white–in +the best part of their work–and surrounded their +Madonnas with exquisite festoons of fruit and leaves:<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_224" id="page_224">[224]</a></span> +"wrought them," in Pater's words, "into all sorts of +marvellous frames and garlands, giving them their +natural colours, only subdued a little, a little paler +than nature."</p> + +<p>To the right of the first Della Robbia room, are +two more rooms full of statuary, and one with a +collection of medals, including that commemorating +Savonarola's Vision of the Sword of the Lord. In +the first room–taking merely the more important–we +may see Music, wrongly ascribed to Orcagna, +probably earlier (139); bust of Charles VIII. of +France (164), author uncertain; bust in terra cotta +of a young warrior, by Antonio Pollaiuolo (161), as +grandly insolent and confident as any of Signorelli's +savage youths in the Orvieto frescoes. Also, bust of +Matteo Palmieri, the humanist and suspected heretic, +by Antonio Rossellino (160); bust of Pietro Mellini +by Benedetto da Maiano (153); portrait of a young +lady, by Matteo Civitali of Lucca (142); a long +relief (146) ascribed to Verrocchio and representing +the death of a lady of the Tornabuoni family in +child-birth, which Shelley greatly admired and described +at length, under the impression that he was +studying a genuine antique: "It is altogether an +admirable piece," he says, "quite in the spirit of +Terence." The uncompromising realism of the male +portraiture of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries +is fully illustrated in this room, and there is at the +same time a peculiar tenderness and winsomeness in +representing young girls, which is exceedingly attractive.</p> + +<p>In the next room there are many excellent portraits +of this kind, named and unnamed. Of more important +works, we should notice the San Giovannino by Antonio +Rossellino, and a tondo by the same master +representing the Adoration of the Shepherds; Andrea +Verrocchio's Madonna and Child; Verrocchio's Lady<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_225" id="page_225">[225]</a></span> +with the Bouquet (181), with those exquisite hands of +which Gabriele D'Annunzio has almost wearied the +readers of his <i>Gioconda</i>; by Matteo Civitali of Lucca, +Faith gazing ecstatically upon the Sacrament. By +Mino da Fiesole are a Madonna and Child, and +several portrait busts–of the elder Piero dei Medici +(234) and his brother Giovanni di Cosimo (236), +and of Rinaldo della Luna. We should also notice +the statues of Christ and three Apostles, of the school +of Andrea Pisano; portrait of a girl by Desiderio da +Settignano; two bas-reliefs by Luca della Robbia, +representing the Liberation and Crucifixion of St. +Peter, early works executed for a chapel in the Duomo; +two sixteenth century busts, representing the younger +Giuliano dei Medici and Giovanni delle Bande Nere; +and, also, a curious fourteenth century group (222) +apparently representing the coronation of an emperor +by the Pope's legate.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the room are St. John Baptist by +Benedetto da Maiano; Bacchus, by Jacopo Sansovino; +and Michelangelo's second David (224), +frequently miscalled Apollo, made for Baccio Valori +after the siege of Florence, and pathetically different +from the gigantic David of his youth, which had been +chiselled more than a quarter of a century before, in all +the passing glory of the Republican restoration.</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<p>When the Duke of Athens made himself tyrant of +Florence, King Robert urged him to take up his abode +in this palace, as Charles of Calabria had done, and +leave the Palace of the People to the Priors. The +advice was not taken, and, when the rising broke out, +the palace was easily captured, before the Duke and +his adherents in the Palazzo Vecchio were forced to +surrender. Passing along the Via Ghibellina, we presently +come on the right to what was originally the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_226" id="page_226">[226]</a></span> +<i>Stinche</i>, a prison for nobles, <i>in qua carcerentur et custodiantur +magnates</i>, so called from a castle of the Cavalcanti +captured by the Neri in 1304, from which the prisoners +were imprisoned here: it is now a part of the Teatro +Pagliano. Later it became the place of captivity of +the lowest criminals, and a first point of attack in +risings of the populace. It contains, in a lunette on +the stairs, a contemporary fresco representing the expulsion +of the Duke of Athens on St. Anne's Day, +1343. St. Anne is giving the banners of the People +and of the Commune to a group of stern Republican +warriors, while with one hand she indicates the Palace +of the Priors, fortified with the tyrant's towers and +battlements. By its side rises a great throne, from +which the Duke is shrinking in terror from the Angel +of the wrath of God; a broken sword lies at his feet; +the banner of Brienne lies dishonoured in the dust, +with the scales of justice that he profaned and the +book of the law that he outraged. In so solemn and +chastened a spirit could the artists of the Trecento +conceive of their Republic's deliverance. The fresco was +probably painted by either Giottino or Maso di Banco; +it was once wrongly ascribed to Cennino Cennini, +who wrote the <i>Treatise on Painting</i>, which was the +approved text-book in the studios and workshops of the +earlier masters.</p> + +<p>Further down the Via Ghibellina is the Casa +Buonarroti, which once belonged to Michelangelo, +and was bequeathed by his family to the city. It is +entirely got up as a museum now, and not in the least +suggestive of the great artist's life, though a tiny little +study and a few letters and other relics are shown. +There are, however, a certain number of his drawings +here, including a design for the façade of San Lorenzo, +which is of very questionable authenticity, and a +Madonna. Two of his earliest works in marble are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_227" id="page_227">[227]</a></span> +preserved here, executed at that epoch of his youth +when he frequented the house and garden of Lorenzo +the Magnificent. One is a bas-relief of the Madonna +and Child–somewhat in the manner of Donatello–with +two Angels at the top of a ladder. The other +is a struggle of the Centaurs and Lapithae, a subject +suggested to the boy by Angelo Poliziano, full of +motion and vigour and wonderfully modelled. Vasari +says, "To whoso considers this work, it does not +seem from the hand of a youth, but from that of an +accomplished and past master in these studies, and +experienced in the art." The former is in the fifth +room, the latter in the antechamber. There are also +two models for the great David; a bust of the master +in bronze by Ricciarelli, and his portrait by his +pupil, Marcello Venusti. A predella representing the +legend of St. Nicholas is by Francesco Pesellino, +whose works are rare. In the third room (among +the later allegories and scenes from the master's life) +is a large picture supposed to have been painted by +Jacopo da Empoli from a cartoon by Michelangelo, +representing the Holy Family with the four Evangelists; +it is a peculiarly unattractive work. The +cartoon, ascribed to Michelangelo, is in the British +Museum; and I would suggest that it was originally +not a religious picture at all, but an allegory of +Charity. The cross in the little Baptist's hand does +not occur in the cartoon.</p> + +<p>Almost at the end of the Via Ghibellina are the +Prisons which occupy the site of the famous convent +of <i>Le Murate</i>. In this convent Caterina Sforza, the +dethroned Lady of Forlì and mother of Giovanni +delle Bande Nere, ended her days in 1509. Here +the Duchessina, or "Little Duchess," as Caterina +dei Medici was called, was placed by the Signoria +after the expulsion of the Medici in 1527, in order to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_228" id="page_228">[228]</a></span> +prevent Pope Clement VII. from using her for the +purpose of a political marriage which might endanger +the city. They seem to have feared especially the +Prince of Orange. The result was that the convent +became a centre of Medicean intrigue; and the +Signoria, when the siege commenced, sent Salvestro +Aldobrandini to take her away. When Salvestro +arrived, after he had been kept waiting for some time, +the little Duchess came to the grill of the parlour, +dressed as a nun, and said that she intended to take +the habit and stay for ever "with these my reverend +mothers." According to Varchi, the poor little girl–she +was barely eleven years old, had lost both +parents in the year of her birth, and was practically +alone in the city where the cruellest threats had been +uttered against her–was terribly frightened and cried +bitterly, "not knowing to what glory and felicity her +life had been reserved by God and the Heavens." +But Messer Salvestro and Messer Antonio de' Nerli +did all they could to comfort and reassure her, and +took her to the convent of Santa Lucia in the Via di +San Gallo; "in which monastery," says Nardi, "she +was received and treated with the same maternal love +by those nuns, until the end of the war."</p> + +<p>In the centre of the oblong Piazza di Santa Croce +rises the statue and monument of Dante Alighieri, +erected on the occasion of the sixth centenary of his +birth, in those glowing early days of the first completion +of Italian unity; at its back stand the great +Gothic church and convent, which Arnolfo di Cambio +commenced for the Franciscans in 1294, while Dante +was still in Florence–the year before he entered +political life.</p> + +<p>The great Piazza was a centre of festivities and +stirring Florentine life, and has witnessed many +historical scenes, in old times and in new, from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_229" id="page_229">[229]</a></span> +tournaments and jousts of the Middle Ages and early +Renaissance to the penitential processions of the +victims of the Inquisition in the days of the Medicean +Grand Dukes, from the preaching of San Bernardino +of Siena to the missionary labours of the Jesuit +Segneri. On Christmas Day, 1301, Niccolò dei +Cerchi was passing through this Piazza with a few +friends on horseback on his way to his farm and mill–for +that was hardly a happy Christmas for Guelfs +of the white faction in Florence–while a friar was +preaching in the open air, announcing the birth of +Christ to the crowd; when Simone Donati with a +band of mounted retainers gave chase, and, when he +overtook him, killed him. In the scuffle Simone +himself received a mortal wound, of which he died +the same night. "Although it was a just judgment," +writes Villani, "yet was it held a great loss, for the +said Simone was the most accomplished and virtuous +squire in Florence, and of the greatest promise, and +he was all the hope of his father, Messer Corso." +It was in the convent of Santa Croce that the Duke +of Athens took up his abode in 1342, with much +parade of religious simplicity, when about to seize +upon the lordship of Florence; here, on that fateful +September 8th, he assembled his followers and adherents +in the Piazza, whence they marched to the +Parliament at the Palazzo Vecchio, where he was +proclaimed Signor of Florence for life. But in +the following year, when he attempted to celebrate +Easter with great pomp and luxury, and held grand +jousts in this same Piazza for many days, the people +sullenly held aloof and very few citizens entered the +lists.</p> + +<p>Most gorgeous and altogether successful was the +tournament given here by Lorenzo dei Medici in +1467, to celebrate his approaching marriage with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_230" id="page_230">[230]</a></span> +Clarice Orsini, when he jousted against all comers in +honour of the lady of his sonnets and odes, Lucrezia +Donati. There was not much serious tilting about +it, but a magnificent display of rich costumes and +precious jewelled caps and helmets, and a glorious +procession which must have been a positive feast of +colour. "To follow the custom," writes Lorenzo +himself, "and do like others, I gave a tournament on +the Piazza Santa Croce at great cost and with much +magnificence; I find that about 10,000 ducats were +spent on it. Although I was not a very vigorous +warrior, nor a hard hitter, the first prize was adjudged +to me, a helmet inlaid with silver and a figure of +Mars as the crest."<a name="fnanchor_36" id="fnanchor_36"></a><a href="#footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> He sent a long account of the +proceedings to his future bride, who answered: "I +am glad that you are successful in what gives you +pleasure, and that my prayer is heard, for I have no +other wish than to see you happy." Luca Pulci, +the luckless brother of Luigi, wrote a dull poem on +the not very inspiring theme. A few years later, at +the end of January 1478, a less sumptuous entertainment +of the same sort was given by Giuliano dei +Medici; and it was apparently on this occasion that +Poliziano commenced his famous stanzas in honour of +Giuliano and his lady love, Simonetta,–stanzas which +were interrupted by the daggers of the Pazzi and +their accomplices. It was no longer time for soft +song or courtly sport when prelates and nobles were +hanging from the palace windows, and the thunders +of the Papal interdict were about to burst over the +city and her rulers.</p> + +<p>Entering the Church through the unpleasing +modern façade (which is, however, said to have followed +the design of Cronaca himself, the architect +of the exceedingly graceful convent of San Salvadore<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_231" id="page_231">[231]</a></span> +al Monte on the other side of the river), we catch a +glow of colour from the east end, from the stained +glass and frescoes in the choir. The vast and +spacious nave of Arnolfo–like his Palazzo Vecchio, +partly spoiled by Vasari–ends rather abruptly in the +line of ten chapels with, in the midst of them, one +very high recess which represents the apse and choir, +thus giving the whole the T shape which we find in +the Italian Gothic churches which were reared for +the friars preachers and friars minor. The somewhat +unsightly appearance, which many churches of +this kind present in Italy, is due to the fact that +Arnolfo and his school intended every inch of wall to +be covered with significant fresco paintings, and this +coloured decoration was seldom completely carried +out, or has perished in the course of time. Fergusson +remarks that "an Italian Church without its +coloured decoration is only a framed canvas without +harmony or meaning."</p> + +<p>Santa Croce is, in the words of the late Dean of +Westminster, "the recognised shrine of Italian +genius." On the pavement beneath our feet, outstretched +on their tombstones, lie effigies of grave +Florentine citizens, friars of note, prelates, scholars, +warriors; in their robes of state or of daily life, in +the Franciscan garb or in armour, with arms folded +across their breasts, or still clasping the books they +loved and wrote (in this way the humanists, such as +Leonardo Bruni, were laid out in state after death); +the knights have their swords by their sides, which +they had wielded in defence of the Republic, and their +hands clasped in prayer. Here they lie, waiting the +resurrection. Has any echo of the Risorgimento +reached them? In their long sleep, have they +dreamed aught of the movement that has led Florence +to raise tablets to the names of Cavour and Mazzini<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_232" id="page_232">[232]</a></span> +upon these walls? The tombs on the floor of the +nave are mostly of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; +the second from the central door is that of +Galileo dei Galilei, like the other scholars lying with +his hands folded across the book on his breast, the +ancestor of the immortal astronomer: "This Galileo +of the Galilei was, in his time, the head of philosophy +and medicine; who also in the highest magistracy loved +the Republic marvellously." About the middle of +the nave is the tomb of John Catrick, Bishop of +Exeter, who had come to Florence on an embassy +from Henry V. of England to Pope Martin V., in +1419. But those on the floor at the end of the right +aisle and in the short right transept are the earliest and +most interesting to the lover of early Florentine history; +notice, for instance, the knightly tomb of a +warrior of the great Ghibelline house of the Ubaldini, +dated 1358, at the foot of the steps to the chapel at +the end of the right transept; and there is a similar +one, only less fine, on the opposite side. Larger and +more pretentious tombs and monuments of more recent +date, to the heroes of Italian life and thought, pass in +series along the side walls of the whole church, between +the altars of the south and north (right and +left) aisles.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_27" id="illo_27"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_233" id="page_233"></a></span> +<img src="images/illus249_tmb.jpg" width="251" height="400" alt="SANTA CROCE" title="" /> +<p class="caption">SANTA CROCE</p> +<a href="images/illus249_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Over the central door, below the window whose +stained glass is said to have been designed by Ghiberti, +is Donatello's bronze statue of King Robert's canonised +brother, the Franciscan Bishop St. Louis of Toulouse. +This St. Louis, the patron saint of the Parte Guelfa, +had been ordered by the captains of the Party for their +niche at San Michele in Orto, from which he was +irreverently banished shortly after the restoration of +Cosimo dei Medici, when the Parte Guelfa was forced +to surrender its niche. On the left of the entrance +should be noticed with gratitude the tomb of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_235" id="page_235">[235]</a></span> +historian of the Florentine Republic, the Italian +patriot, Gino Capponi.</p> + +<p>In the right aisle are the tomb and monument of +Michelangelo, designed by Giorgio Vasari; on the +pillar opposite to it, over the holy water stoop, a +beautiful Madonna and Child in marble by Bernardo +Rossellino, beneath which lies Francesco Nori, who +was murdered whilst defending Lorenzo dei Medici +in the Pazzi conspiracy; the comparatively modern +monument to Dante, whose bones rest at Ravenna +and for whom Michelangelo had offered in vain to +raise a worthy sepulchre. Two sonnets by the great +sculptor supply to some extent in verse what he was +not suffered to do in marble: I quote the finer of the +two, from Addington Symonds' excellent translation:–</p> + +<p class="poem"> +From Heaven his spirit came, and, robed in clay,<br /> +<span class="i1">The realms of justice and of mercy trod:</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Then rose a living man to gaze on God,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">That he might make the truth as clear as day.</span><br /> +For that pure star, that brightened with its ray<br /> +<span class="i1">The undeserving nest where I was born,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">The whole wide world would be a prize to scorn:</span><br /> +<span class="i1">None but his Maker can due guerdon pay.</span><br /> +I speak of Dante, whose high work remains<br /> +<span class="i1">Unknown, unhonoured by that thankless brood</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Who only to just men deny their wage.</span><br /> +Were I but he! Born for like lingering pains,<br /> +<span class="i1">Against his exile coupled with his good</span><br /> +<span class="i1">I'd gladly change the world's best heritage.</span></p> + +<p>Then comes Canova's monument to Vittorio Alfieri, +the great tragic dramatist of Italy (died 1803); +followed by an eighteenth century monument to +Machiavelli (died 1527), and the tomb of Padre +Lanzi, the Jesuit historian of Italian art. The pulpit +by a pillar in the nave is considered the most beautiful +pulpit in Italy, and is, perhaps, Benedetto da Maiano's +finest work; the bas-reliefs in marble represent scenes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_236" id="page_236">[236]</a></span> +from the life of St. Francis and the martyrdom of +some of his friars, with figures of the virtues below. +Beyond Padre Lanzi's grave, over the tomb of the +learned Franciscan Fra Benedetto Cavalcanti, are two +exceedingly powerful figures of saints in fresco, the +Baptist and St. Francis; they have been ascribed to +various painters, but are almost certainly the work of +Domenico Veneziano, and closely resemble the figures +of the same saints in his undoubtedly genuine picture +in the Sala di Lorenzo Monaco in the Uffizi. The +adjacent Annunciation by Donatello, in <i>pietra serena</i>, +was also made for the Cavalcanti; its fine Renaissance +architectural setting is likewise Donatello's work. +Above it are four lovely wooden Putti, who seem +embracing each other for fear of tumbling off from +their height; originally there were six, and the other +two are preserved in the convent. M. Reymond has +shown that this Annunciation is not an early work of +the master's, as Vasari and others state, but is of the +same style and period as the Cantoria of the Duomo, +about 1435. Lastly, at the end of the right aisle is +the splendid tomb of Leonardo Bruni (died 1444), +secretary of the Republic, translator of Plato, historian +of Florence, biographer of Dante,–the outstretched +recumbent figure of the grand old humanist, watched +over by Mary and her Babe with the Angels, by +Bernardo Rossellino. A worthy monument to a +noble soul, whose memory is dear to every lover of +Dante. Yet we may, not without advantage, contrast +it with the simpler Gothic sepulchres on the floor +of the transepts,–the marble slabs that cover the +bones of the old Florentines who, in war and peace, +did the deeds of which Leonardo and his kind wrote.</p> + +<p>The tombs and monuments in the left aisle are less +interesting. Opposite Leonardo Bruni's tomb is that +of his successor, Carlo Marsuppini, called Carlo Aretino<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_237" id="page_237">[237]</a></span> +(died 1453), by Desiderio da Settignano; he was a +good Greek scholar, a fluent orator and a professed +Pagan, but accomplished no literary work of any +value; utterly inferior as a man and as an author to +Leonardo, he has an even more gorgeous tomb. In +this aisle there are modern monuments to Vespasiano +Bisticci and Donatello; and, opposite to Michelangelo's +tomb, that of Galileo himself (died 1642), +with traces of old fourteenth century frescoes round +it, which may, perhaps, symbolise for us the fleeting +phantoms of mediæval thought fading away before the +advance of science.</p> + +<p>In the central chapel of the left or northern transept +is the famous wooden Crucifix by Donatello, +which gave rise to the fraternal contest between him +and Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi told his friend that +he had put upon his cross a contadino and not a +figure like that of Christ. "Take some wood then," +answered the nettled sculptor, "and try to make one +thyself." Filippo did so; and when it was finished +Donatello was so stupefied with admiration, that he +let drop all the eggs and other things that he was +carrying for their dinner. "I have had all I want +for to-day," he exclaimed; "if you want your share, +take it: to thee is it given to carve Christs and to +me to make contadini." The rival piece may still +be seen in Santa Maria Novella, and there is not +much to choose between them. Donatello's is, perhaps, +somewhat more realistic and less refined.</p> + +<p>The first two chapels of the left transept (fifth +and fourth from the choir, respectively,) contain +fourteenth century frescoes; a warrior of the Bardi +family rising to judgment, the healing of Constantine's +leprosy and other miracles of St. Sylvester, ascribed to +Maso di Banco; the martyrdom of St. Lawrence and the +martyrdom of St. Stephen, by Bernardo Daddi (the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_238" id="page_238">[238]</a></span> +painter to whom it is attempted to ascribe the famous +Last Judgment and Triumph of Death in the Pisan +Campo Santo). All these imply a certain Dantesque +selection; these subjects are among the examples +quoted for purposes of meditation or admonition in +the <i>Divina Commedia</i>. The coloured terracotta relief +is by Giovanni della Robbia. The frescoes of the +choir, by Agnolo Gaddi, are among the finest works +of Giotto's school. They set forth the history of +the wood of the True Cross, which, according to +the legend, was a shoot of the tree of Eden planted +by Seth on Adam's grave; the Queen of Sheba prophetically +adored it, when she came to visit Solomon +during the building of the Temple; cast into the +pool of Bethsaida, the Jews dragged it out to make +the Cross for Christ; then, after it had been buried +on Mount Calvary for three centuries, St. Helen discovered +it by its power of raising the dead to life. +These subjects are set forth on the right wall; on +the left, we have the taking of the relic of the Cross +by the Persians under Chosroes, and its recovery by +the Emperor Heraclius. In the scene where the +Emperor barefooted carries the Cross into Jerusalem, +the painter has introduced his own portrait, near one +of the gates of the city, with a small beard and a red +hood. Vasari thinks poorly of these frescoes; but +the legend of the True Cross is of some importance +to the student of Dante, whose profound allegory of +the Church and Empire in the Earthly Paradise, at the +close of the <i>Purgatorio</i>, is to some extent based upon it.</p> + +<p>The two Gothic chapels to the right of the choir +contain Giotto's frescoes–both chapels were originally +entirely painted by him–rescued from the whitewash +under which they were discovered, and, in part at +least, most terribly "restored." The frescoes in the +first, the Bardi Chapel, illustrating the life of St.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_239" id="page_239">[239]</a></span> +Francis, have suffered most; all the peculiar Giottesque +charm of face has disappeared, and, instead, the +restorer has given us monotonous countenances, almost +deadly in their uniformity and utter lack of expression. +Like all mediæval frescoes dealing with St. Francis, +they should be read with the <i>Fioretti</i> or with Dante's +<i>Paradiso</i>, or with one of the old lives of the Seraphic +Father in our hands. On the left (beginning at the +top) we have his renunciation of the world in the +presence of his father and the Bishop of Assisi–<i>innanzi +alla sua spirital corte, et coram patre</i>, as Dante +puts it; on the right, the confirmation of the order +by Pope Honorius; on the left, the apparition of +St. Francis to St. Antony of Padua; on the right, +St. Francis and his followers before the Soldan–<i>nella +presenza del Soldan superba</i>–in the ordeal of +fire; and, below it, St. Francis on his death-bed, +with the apparition to the sleeping bishop to assure +him of the truth of the Stigmata. Opposite, left, +the body is surrounded by weeping friars, the incredulous +judge touching the wound in the side, while +the simplest of the friars, at the saint's head, sees +his soul carried up to heaven in a little cloud. This +conception of saintly death was, perhaps, originally +derived from Dante's dream of Beatrice in the <i>Vita +Nuova</i>: "I seemed to look towards heaven, and +to behold a multitude of Angels who were returning +upwards, having before them an exceedingly white +cloud; and these Angels were singing together +gloriously." It became traditional in early Italian +painting. On the window wall are four great Franciscans. +St. Louis the King (one whom Dante does +not seem to have held in honour), a splendid figure, +calm and noble, in one hand the sceptre and in the +other the Franciscan cord, his royal robe besprinkled +with the golden lily of France over the armour of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_240" id="page_240">[240]</a></span> +the warrior of the Cross; his face absorbed in celestial +contemplation. He is the Christian realisation of +the Platonic philosopher king; "St. Louis," says +Walter Pater, "precisely because his whole being +was full of heavenly vision, in self banishment from +it for a while, led and ruled the French people so +magnanimously alike in peace and war." Opposite +him is St. Louis of Toulouse, with the royal crown +at his feet; below are St. Elizabeth of Hungary, +with her lap full of flowers; and, opposite to her, +St. Clare, of whom Dante's Piccarda tells so sweetly +in the <i>Paradiso</i>–that lady on high whom "perfected +life and lofty merit doth enheaven." On the vaulted +roof of the chapel are the glory of St. Francis and +symbolical representations of the three vows–Poverty, +Chastity, Obedience; not rendered as in Giotto's +great allegories at Assisi, of which these are, as it +were, his own later simplifications, but merely as the +three mystical Angels that met Francis and his friars +on the road to Siena, crying "Welcome, Lady +Poverty." The picture of St. Francis on the altar, +ascribed by Vasari to Cimabue, is probably by some +unknown painter at the close of the thirteenth century.</p> + +<p>The frescoes in the following, the Chapel of the +Peruzzi, are very much better preserved, especially in +the scene of Herod's feast. Like all Giotto's genuine +work, they are eloquent in their pictorial simplicity of +diction; there are no useless crowds of spectators, as +in the later work of Ghirlandaio and his contemporaries. +On the left is the life of St. John the +Baptist–the Angel appearing to Zacharias, the birth +and naming of the Precursor, the dance of the daughter +of Herodias at Herod's feast. This last has suffered +less from restoration than any other work of Giotto's +in Florence; both the rhythmically moving figure of +the girl herself and that of the musician are very<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_241" id="page_241">[241]</a></span> +beautiful, and the expression on Herod's face is worthy +of the psychological insight of the author of the Vices +and Virtues in the Madonna's chapel at Padua. +Ruskin talks of "the striped curtain behind the table +being wrought with a variety and fantasy of playing +colour which Paul Veronese could not better at his best." +On the right wall is the life of the Evangelist, John +the Divine, or rather its closing scenes; the mystical +vision at Patmos, the seer <i>dormendo con la faccia arguta</i>, +like the solitary elder who brought up the rear of the +triumphal pageant in Dante's Earthly Paradise; the +raising of Drusiana from the dead; the assumption of +St. John. The curious legend represented in this last +fresco–that St. John was taken up body and soul, +<i>con le due stole</i>, into Heaven after death, and that +his disciples found his tomb full of manna–was, of +course, based upon the saying that went abroad among +the brethren, "that that disciple should not die"; it is +mentioned as a pious belief by St. Thomas, but is very +forcibly repudiated by Giotto's great friend, Dante; +in the <i>Paradiso</i> St. John admonishes him to tell the +world that only Christ and the Blessed Virgin rose +from the dead. "In the earth my body is earth, +and shall be there with the others, until our number be +equalled with the eternal design."</p> + +<p>In the last chapel of the south transept, there are +two curious frescoes apparently of the beginning of the +fourteenth century, in honour of St. Michael; they +represent his leading the Angelic hosts against the +forces of Lucifer, and the legend of his apparition at +Monte Gargano. The frescoes in the chapel at the +end of the transept, the Baroncelli chapel, representing +scenes in the life of the Blessed Virgin, are by Giotto's +pupil, Taddeo Gaddi; they are similar to his work at +Assisi. The Assumption opposite was painted by +Sebastiano Mainardi from a cartoon by Domenico<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_242" id="page_242">[242]</a></span> +Ghirlandaio. In the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament +there are more frescoed lives of saints by +Taddeo's son, Agnolo Gaddi, less admirable than his +work in the choir; and statues of two Franciscans, of +the Della Robbia school. The monument of the +Countess of Albany may interest English admirers +of the Stuarts, but hardly concerns the story of +Florence.</p> + +<p>From the right transept a corridor leads off to +the chapel of the Noviciate and the Sacristy. The +former, built by Michelozzo for Cosimo, contains some +beautiful terracotta work of the school of the Della +Robbia, a tabernacle by Mino da Fiesole, and a Coronation +of the Blessed Virgin ascribed to Giotto. This +Coronation was originally the altar piece of the Baroncelli +chapel, and is an excellent picture, although its +authenticity is not above suspicion; the signature is +almost certainly a forgery; this title of <i>Magister</i> was +Giotto's pet aversion, as we know from Boccaccio, and +he never used it. Opening out of the Sacristy is a +chapel, decorated with beautiful frescoes of the life +of the Blessed Virgin and St. Mary Magdalene, now +held to be the work of Taddeo Gaddi's Lombard +pupil, Giovanni da Milano. There is, as has already +been said, very little individuality in the work of +Giotto's followers, but these frescoes are among the +best of their kind.</p> + +<p>The first Gothic cloisters belong to the epoch of +the foundation of the church, and were probably designed +by Arnolfo himself; the second, early Renaissance, +are Brunelleschi's. The Refectory, which is +entered from the first cloisters, contains a fresco of +the Last Supper–one of the earliest renderings of +this theme for monastic dining-rooms–which used +to be assigned to Giotto, and is probably by one of +his scholars. This room had the invidious honour of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_243" id="page_243">[243]</a></span> +being the seat of the Inquisition, which in Florence +had always–save for a very brief period in the +thirteenth century–been in the hands of the Franciscans, +and not the Dominicans. It never had any real +power in Florence–the <i>bel viver fiorentino</i>, which, +even in the days of tyranny, was always characteristic +of the city, was opposed to its influence. The beautiful +chapel of the Pazzi was built by Brunelleschi; +its frieze of Angels' heads is by Donatello and +Desiderio; within are Luca della Robbia's Apostles +and Evangelists. Jacopo Pazzi had headed the conspiracy +against the Medici in 1478, and, after +attempting to raise the people, had been captured in +his escape, tortured and hanged. It was said that he +had cried in dying that he gave his soul to the devil; +he was certainly a notorious gambler and blasphemer. +When buried here, the peasants believed that he brought +a curse upon their crops; so the rabble dug him up, +dragged the body through the streets, and finally with +every conceivable indignity threw it into the Arno.</p> + +<p>Behind Santa Croce two streets of very opposite +names and traditions meet, the <i>Via Borgo Allegri</i> +(which also intersects the Via Ghibellina) and the +<i>Via dei Malcontenti</i>; the former records the legendary +birthday of Italian painting, the latter the mournful +processions of poor wretches condemned to death.</p> + +<p>According to the tradition, Giovanni Cimabue had +his studio in the former street, and it was here that, +in Dante's words, he thought to hold the field in +painting: <i>Credette Cimabue nella pittura tener lo campo.</i> +Here, according to Vasari, he was visited by Charles +the Elder of Anjou, and his great Madonna carried +hence in procession with music and lighted candles, +ringing of bells and waving of banners, to Santa +Maria Novella; while the street that had witnessed +such a miracle was ever after called <i>Borgo Allegri</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_244" id="page_244">[244]</a></span> +"the happy suburb:" "named the Glad Borgo from +that beauteous face," as Elizabeth Barrett Browning +puts it. Unfortunately there are several little things +that show that this story needs revision of some kind. +When Charles of Anjou came to Florence, the first +stone of Santa Maria Novella had not yet been laid, +and the picture now shown there as Cimabue's appears +to be a Sienese work. The legend, however, is very +precious, and should be devoutly held. The king in +question was probably another Angevin Charles–Carlo +Martello, grandson of the elder Charles and +titular King of Hungary, Dante's friend, who was +certainly in Florence for nearly a month in the spring +of 1295, and made himself exceedingly pleasant. +Vasari has made a similar confusion in the case of two +emperors of the name of Frederick. The picture has +doubtless perished, but the Joyous Borgo has not +changed its name.</p> + +<p>The Via dei Malcontenti leads out into the broad +Viale Carlo Alberto, which marks the site of +Arnolfo's wall. It formerly ended in a postern gate, +known as the Porta della Giustizia, beyond which +was a little chapel–of which no trace is left–and +the place where the gallows stood. The condemned +were first brought to a chapel which stood in the +Via dei Malcontenti, near the present San Giuseppe, +and then taken out to the chapel beyond the gate, +where the prayers for the dying were said over them +by the friars, after which they were delivered to the +executioner.<a name="fnanchor_37" id="fnanchor_37"></a><a href="#footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> In May 1503, as Simone Filipepi tells +us, a man was beheaded here, whom the people +apparently regarded as innocent; when he was dead, +they rose up and stoned the executioner to death. +And this was the same executioner who, five years +before, had hanged Savonarola and his companions in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_245" id="page_245">[245]</a></span> +the Piazza, and had insulted their dead bodies to +please the dregs of the populace. The tower, of +which the mutilated remains still stand here, the +<i>Torre della Zecca Vecchia</i>, formerly called the <i>Torre +Reale</i>, was originally a part of the defences of a bridge +which it was intended to build here in honour of +King Robert of Naples in 1317, and guarded the +Arno at this point. After the siege, during which +the Porta della Giustizia was walled up, Duke +Alessandro incorporated the then lofty Torre Reale +into a strong fortress which he constructed here, the +Fortezza Vecchia. In later days, offices connected +with the Arte del Cambio and the Mint were established +in its place, whence the present name of the +Torre della Zecca Vecchia.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_28" id="illo_28"></a> +<img src="images/illus261_tmb.jpg" width="400" height="295" alt="OLD HOUSES ON THE ARNO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">OLD HOUSES ON THE ARNO</p> +<a href="images/illus261_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_246" id="page_246">[246]</a></p> +<h2 class="p6"><a name="chapter_viii" id="chapter_viii"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> +<h3><i>The Baptistery, the Campanile, and the Duomo</i></h3> + +<p class="blockquot"> +"There the traditions of faith and hope, of both the Gentile +and Jewish races, met for their beautiful labour: the Baptistery +of Florence is the last building raised on the earth by the descendants +of the workmen taught by Dædalus: and the Tower +of Giotto is the loveliest of those raised on earth under the inspiration +of the men who lifted up the tabernacle in the wilderness. +Of living Greek work there is none after the Florentine +Baptistery; of living Christian work, none so perfect as the +Tower of Giotto."–<i>Ruskin.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Il non mai abbastanza lodato tempio di Santa Maria del +Fiore."–<i>Vasari.</i></p> + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>O the west of the Piazza del Duomo stands the +octagonal building of black and white marble–"<i>l'antico +vostro Batisteo</i>" as Cacciaguida calls it to +Dante–which, in one shape or another, may be said +to have watched over the history of Florence from the +beginning. "It is," says Ruskin, "the central building +of Etrurian Christianity–of European Christianity." +Here, in old pagan times, stood the Temple of Mars, +with the shrine and sanctuary of the God of War. +This was the Cathedral of Florence during a portion +at least of the early history of the Republic, before the +great Gothic building rose that now overshadows it to +the east.</p> + +<p>Villani and other early writers all suppose that this +present building really was the original Temple of Mars, +converted into a church for St. John the Baptist. Villani +tells us that, after the founding of Florence by +Julius Cæsar and other noble Romans, the citizens of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_247" id="page_247">[247]</a></span> +this new Rome decided to erect a marvellous temple to +the honour of Mars, in thanksgiving for the victory +which the Romans had won over the city of Fiesole; +and for this purpose the Senate sent them the best and +most subtle masters that there were in Rome. Black +and white marble was brought by sea and then up the +Arno, with columns of various sizes; stone and other +columns were taken from Fiesole, and the temple was +erected in the place where the Etruscans of Fiesole +had once held their market:–</p> + +<p> +"Right noble and beauteous did they make it with +eight faces, and when they had done it with great diligence, +they consecrated it to their god Mars, who was +the god of the Romans; and they had him carved in +marble, in the shape of a knight armed on horseback. +They set him upon a marble column in the midst of that +temple, and him did they hold in great reverence and +adored as their god, what time Paganism lasted in Florence. +And we find that the said temple was commenced +at the time that Octavian Augustus reigned, +and that it was erected under the ascendency of such a +constellation that it will last well nigh to eternity."</p> + +<p>There is much difference of opinion as to the real +date of construction of the present building. While +some authorities have assigned it to the eleventh or +even to the twelfth century, others have supposed that +it is either a Christian temple constructed in the sixth +century on the site of the old Temple of Mars, or the +original Temple converted into Christian use. It +has indeed been recently urged that it is essentially a +genuine Roman work of the fourth century, very +analogous in structure to the Pantheon at Rome, on +the model of which it was probably built. The little +apse to the south-west–the part which contains the +choir and altar–is certainly of the twelfth century. +There was originally a round opening at the centre of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_248" id="page_248">[248]</a></span> +the dome–like the Pantheon–and under this opening, +according to Villani, the statue of Mars stood. It was +closed in the twelfth century. The dome served Brunelleschi +as a model for the cupola of Santa Maria del +Fiore. The lantern was added in the sixteenth century. +Although this building, so sacrosanct to the +Florentines, had been spared by the Goths and Lombards, +it narrowly escaped destruction at the hands of +the Tuscan Ghibellines. In 1249, when the Ghibellines, +with the aid of the Emperor Frederick II., had +expelled the Guelfs, the conquerors endeavoured to +destroy the Baptistery by means of the tower called +the Guardamorto, which stood in the Piazza towards +the entrance of the Corso degli Adimari, and watched +over the tombs of the dead citizens who were buried +round San Giovanni. This device of making the tower +fall upon the church failed. "As it pleased God," +writes Villani, "through the reverence and miraculous +power of the blessed John, the tower, when it fell, +manifestly avoided the holy Church, and turned back +and fell across the Piazza; whereat all the Florentines +wondered, and the People greatly rejoiced."</p> + +<p>At the close of the thirteenth century, in those +golden days of Dante's youth and early manhood, +there were steps leading up to the church, and it was +surrounded by these tombs. Many of the latter seem +to have been old pagan sarcophagi adopted for use by +the Florentine aristocracy. Here Guido Cavalcanti +used to wander in his solitary musings and speculations–trying +to find out that there was no God, as his +friends charitably suggested–and Boccaccio tells a +most delightful story of a friendly encounter between +him and some young Florentine nobles, who objected +to his unsociable habits. In 1293, Arnolfo di Cambio +levelled the Piazza, removed the tombs, and plastered +the pilasters in the angles of the octagonal with slabs<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_249" id="page_249">[249]</a></span> +of black and white marble of Prato, as now we see. +The similar decoration of the eight faces of the church +is much earlier.</p> + +<p>The interior is very dark indeed–so dark that the +mosaics, which Dante must in part have looked upon, +would need a very bright day to be visible. At +present they are almost completely concealed by the +scaffolding of the restorers.<a name="fnanchor_38" id="fnanchor_38"></a><a href="#footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Over the whole church +preside the two Saints whom an earlier Florentine +worshipper of Mars could least have comprehended–the +Baptist and the Magdalene. And the spirit of +Dante haunts it as he does no other Florentine +building–<i>il mio bel San Giovanni</i>, he lovingly calls +it. "In your ancient Baptistery," his ancestor tells +him in the fifteenth Canto of the <i>Paradiso</i>, "I became +at once a Christian and Cacciaguida." And, indeed, +the same holds true of countless generations of Florentines–among +them the keenest intellects and most +subtle hands that the world has known–all baptised +here. But it has memories of another kind. The +shameful penance of oblation to St. John–if Boccaccio's +tale be true, and if the letter ascribed to Dante is +authentic–was rejected by him; but many another +Florentine, with bare feet and lighted candle, has +entered here as a prisoner in penitential garb. The +present font–although of early date–was placed here +in the seventeenth century, to replace the very famous +one which played so large a part in Dante's thoughts. +Here had he been baptised–here, in one of the most +pathetic passages of the <i>Paradiso</i>, did he yearn, before +death came, to take the laurel crown:–</p> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_250" id="page_250">[250]</a></p> +<p class="poem"> +Se mai continga che il poema sacro,<br /> +<span class="i1">al quale ha posto mano e cielo e terra,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">sì che m'ha fatto per più anni macro,</span><br /> +vinca la crudeltà, che fuor mi serra<br /> +<span class="i1">del bello ovil, dov'io dormii agnello,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">nimico ai lupi che gli danno guerra;</span><br /> +con altra voce omai, con altro vello<br /> +<span class="i1">ritornerò poeta, ed in sul fonte</span><br /> +<span class="i1">del mio battesmo prenderò il cappello;</span><br /> +però che nella Fede, che fa conte<br /> +<span class="i1">l'anime a Dio, quivi entra' io.<a name="fnanchor_39" id="fnanchor_39"></a><a href="#footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></span><br /></p> + +<p>This ancient font, which stood in the centre of the +church, appears to have had round holes or <i>pozzetti</i> in +its outer wall, in which the priests stood to baptise; +and Dante tells us in the <i>Inferno</i> that he broke one of +these <i>pozzetti</i>, to save a boy from being drowned or +suffocated. The boy saved was apparently not being +baptised, but was playing about with others, and had +either tumbled into the font itself or climbed head foremost +into one of the <i>pozzetti</i>. When the divine poet +was exiled, charitable people said that he had done this +from heretical motives–just as they had looked with +suspicion upon his friend Guido's spiritual wanderings +in the same locality.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_29" id="illo_29"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_251" id="page_251"></a></span> +<img src="images/illus267_tmb.jpg" width="257" height="400" alt="THE BAPTISTERY" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE BAPTISTERY</p> +<a href="images/illus267_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Though the old font has gone, St. John, to the left of +the high altar, still keeps watch over all the Florentine +children brought to be baptised–to be made <i>conti</i>, known +to God, and to himself in God. Opposite to him is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_253" id="page_253">[253]</a></span> +the great type of repentance after baptism, St. Mary +Magdalene, a wooden statue by Donatello. What a +contrast is here with those pagan Magdalenes of the +Renaissance–such as Titian and Correggio painted! +Fearfully wasted and haggard, this terrible figure of +asceticism–when once the first shock of repulsion is +got over–is unmistakably a masterpiece of the sculptor; +it is as though one of the Penitential Psalms had taken +bodily shape.</p> + +<p>On the other side of the church stands the tomb of +the dethroned Pope, John XXIII., Baldassarre Cossa, +one of the earliest works in the Renaissance style, +reared by Michelozzo and Donatello, 1424-1427, for +Cosimo dei Medici. The fallen Pontiff rests at last in +peace in the city which had witnessed his submission to +his successful rival, Martin V., and which had given a +home to his closing days; here he lies, forgetful of +councils and cardinals:–</p> + +<p class="blockquot"> +"After life's fitful fever he sleeps well."</p> + +<p>The recumbent figure in bronze is the work of Donatello, +as also the Madonna and Child that guard his last +slumber. Below, are Faith, Hope, and Charity–the +former by Michelozzo (to whom also the architectural +part of the monument is due), the two latter by Donatello. +It is said that Pope Martin V. objected to the +inscription, "quondam papa," and was answered in the +words of Pilate: <i>quod scripsi, scripsi</i>.</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<p>But the glory of the Baptistery is in its three +bronze gates, the finest triumph of bronze casting. +On November 6th, 1329, the consuls of the Arte +di Calimala, who had charge of the works of San +Giovanni, ordained that their doors should be of +metal and as beautiful as possible. The first of the +three, now the southern gate opposite the Bigallo<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_254" id="page_254">[254]</a></span> +(but originally the <i>porta di mezzo</i> opposite the Duomo), +was assigned by them to Andrea Pisano on January +9th, 1330; he made the models in the same year, as +the inscription on the gate itself shows; the casting +was finished in 1336. Vasari's statement that Giotto +furnished the designs for Andrea is now entirely +discredited. These gates set before us, in twenty-eight +reliefs, twenty scenes from the life of the Baptist +with eight symbolical virtues below–all set round with +lions' heads. Those who know the work of the +earlier Pisan masters, Niccolò and Giovanni, will at +once perceive how completely Andrea has freed himself +from the traditions of the school of Pisa; instead +of filling the whole available space with figures on +different planes and telling several stories at once, +Andrea composes his relief of a few figures on the +same plane, and leaves the background free. There +are never any unnecessary figures or mere spectators; +the bare essentials of the episode are set before us as +simply as possible, whether it be Zacharias writing +the name of John or the dance of the daughter of +Herodias, which may well be compared with Giotto's +frescoes in Santa Croce. Most perfect of all are the +eight figures of the Virtues in the eight lower panels, +and they should be compared with Giotto's allegories +at Padua. We have Hope winged and straining +upwards towards a crown, Faith with cross and sacramental +cup, Charity and Prudence, above; Fortitude, +Temperance and Justice below; and then, to complete +the eight, Dante's favourite virtue, the maiden Humility. +The Temperance, with Giotto and Andrea +Pisano, is not the mere opposite of Gluttony, with +pitcher of water and cup (as we may see her presently +in Santa Maria Novella); but it is the cardinal virtue +which, St. Thomas says, includes "any virtue whatsoever +that puts in practice moderation in any matter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_255" id="page_255">[255]</a></span> +and restrains appetite in its tendency in any direction." +Andrea Pisano's Temperance sits next to his Justice, +with the sword and scales; she too has a sword, even +as Justice has, but she is either sheathing it or drawing +it with reluctance.</p> + +<p>The lovely and luxuriant decorative frieze that runs +round this portal was executed by Ghiberti's pupils +in the middle of the fifteenth century. Over the +gate is the beheading of St. John the Baptist–two +second-rate figures by Vincenzo Danti.</p> + +<p>The second or northern gate is more than three-quarters +of a century later, and it is the result of that +famous competition which opened the Quattrocento. +It was assigned to Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1403, and he +had with him his stepfather Bartolo di Michele, and +other assistants (including possibly Donatello). It +was finished and set up gilded in April 1424, at the +main entry between the two porphyry columns, opposite +the Duomo, whence Andrea's gate was removed. It +will be observed that each new gate was first put in +this place of honour, and then translated to make +room for its better. The plan of Ghiberti's is similar +to that of Andrea's gate–in fact it is his style of +work brought to its ultimate perfection. Twenty-eight +reliefs represent scenes from the New Testament, +from the Annunciation to the Descent of the Holy +Spirit, while in eight lower compartments are the four +Evangelists and the four great Latin Doctors. The +scene of the Temptation of the Saviour is particularly +striking, and the figure of the Evangelist John, the +Eagle of Christ, has the utmost grandeur. Over the +door are three finely modelled figures representing +St. John the Baptist disputing with a Levite and a +Pharisee–or, perhaps, the Baptist between two Prophets–by +Giovanni Francesco Rustici (1506-1511), +a pupil of Verrocchio's, who appears to have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_256" id="page_256">[256]</a></span> +influenced by Leonardo da Vinci.</p> + +<p>But in the third or eastern gate, opposite the +Duomo, Ghiberti was to crown the whole achievement +of his life. Mr Perkins remarks: "Had he +never lived to make the second gates, which to the +world in general are far superior to the first, he would +have been known in history as a continuator of the +school of Andrea Pisano, enriched with all those +added graces which belonged to his own style, and +those refinements of technique which the progress +made in bronze casting had rendered perfect."<a name="fnanchor_40" id="fnanchor_40"></a><a href="#footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> In +the meantime the laws of perspective had been understood, +and their science set forth by Brunelleschi; +and when Ghiberti, on the completion of his first +gates, was in January 1425 invited by the consuls of +the Guild (amongst whom was the great anti-Medicean +politician, Niccolò da Uzzano) to model the third +doors, he was full of this new knowledge. "I +strove," he says in his commentaries, "to imitate +nature to the uttermost." The subjects were selected +for him by Leonardo Bruni–ten stories from the +Old Testament which, says Leonardo in his letter to +Niccolò da Uzzano and his colleagues, "should have +two things: first and chiefly, they must be illustrious; +and secondly, they must be significant. Illustrious, +I call those which can satisfy the eye with variety +of design; significant, those which have importance +worthy of memory." For the rest, their main instructions +to him were that he should make the whole +the richest, most perfect and most beauteous work +imaginable, regardless of time and cost.</p> + +<p>The work took more than twenty-five years. The +stories were all modelled in wax by 1440, when the +casting of the bronze commenced; the whole was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_257" id="page_257">[257]</a></span> +finished in 1447, gilded in 1452–the gilding has +happily worn off from all the gates–and finally set +up in June 1452, in the place where Ghiberti's other +gate had been. Among his numerous assistants were +again his stepfather Bartolo, his son Vittorio, and, +among the less important, the painters Paolo Uccello +and Benozzo Gozzoli.</p> + +<p>The result is a series of most magnificent pictures +in bronze. Ghiberti worked upon his reliefs like a +painter, and lavished all the newly-discovered scientific +resources of the painter's art upon them. Whether +legitimate sculpture or not, it is, beyond a doubt, one +of the most beautiful things in the world. "I sought +to understand," he says in his second commentary, +that book which excited Vasari's scorn, "how forms +strike upon the eye, and how the theoretic part +of graphic and pictorial art should be managed. +Working with the utmost diligence and care, I introduced +into some of my compositions as many as +a hundred figures, which I modelled upon different +planes, so that those nearest the eye might appear +larger, and those more remote smaller in proportion." +It is a triumph of science wedded to the most exquisite +sense of beauty. Each of the ten bas-reliefs +contains several motives and an enormous number of +these figures on different planes; which is, in a sense, +going back from the simplicity of Andrea Pisano to +glorify the old manner of Niccolò and Giovanni. In +the first, the creation of man, the creation of woman, +and the expulsion from Eden are seen; in the second, +the sacrifice of Abel, in which the ploughing of Cain's +oxen especially pleased Vasari; in the third, the +story of Noah; in the fourth, the story of Abraham, +a return to the theme in which Ghiberti had won his +first laurels,–the three Angels appearing to Abraham +have incomparable grace and loveliness, and the landscape<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_258" id="page_258">[258]</a></span> +in bronze is a marvel of skill. In the fifth and +sixth, we have the stories of Jacob and Joseph, respectively; +in the seventh and eighth, of Moses and +Joshua; in the ninth and tenth, of David and Solomon. +The latter is supposed to have been imitated +by Raphael, in his famous fresco of the School of +Athens in the Vatican. The architectural backgrounds–dream +palaces endowed with permanent +life in bronze–are as marvellous as the figures and +landscapes. Hardly less beautiful are the minor +ornaments that surround these masterpieces,–the +wonderful decorative frieze of fruits and birds and +beasts that frames the whole, the statuettes alternating +with busts in the double border round the bas-reliefs. +It is the ultimate perfection of decorative art. +Among the statuettes a figure of Miriam, recalling an +Angel of Angelico, is of peculiar loveliness. In the +middle of the whole, in the centre at the lower +corners of the Jacob and Joseph respectively, are +portrait busts of Lorenzo Ghiberti himself and +Bartolo di Michele. Vasari has said the last +word:–</p> + +<p>"And in very truth can it be said that this work +hath its perfection in all things, and that it is the +most beautiful work of the world, or that ever was +seen amongst ancients or moderns. And verily ought +Lorenzo to be truly praised, seeing that one day +Michelangelo Buonarroti, when he stopped to look at +this work, being asked what he thought of it and if +these gates were beautiful, replied: 'They are so +beautiful that they would do well for the Gates of +Paradise.' Praise verily proper, and spoken by one +who could judge them."</p> + +<p>The Baptism of Christ over the portal is an unattractive +work by Andrea Sansovino (circa 1505), +finished by Vincenzo Danti. The Angel is a seventeenth<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_259" id="page_259">[259]</a></span> +century addition. More interesting far, are the +scorched porphyry columns on either side of the gate; +these were part of the booty carried off by the Pisan +galleys from Majorca in 1117, and presented to the +Florentines in gratitude for their having guarded Pisa +during the absence of the troops. Villani says that +the Pisans offered their allies the choice between +these porphyry columns and some metal gates, and +that, on their choosing the columns, they sent them +to Florence covered with scarlet, but that some said +that they scorched them first for envy. It was between +these columns that Cavalcanti was lingering +and musing when the gay cavalcade of Betto Brunelleschi +and his friends, in Boccaccio's novel, swooped +down upon him through the Piazza di Santa +Reparata: "Thou, Guido, wilt none of our fellowship; +but lo now! when thou shalt have found that +there is no God, what wilt thou have done?"</p> + +<p>From the gate which might have stood at the +doors of Paradise, or at least have guarded that +sacred threshold by which Virgil and Dante entered +Purgatory, we cross to the tower which might +fittingly have sounded tierce and nones to the valley +of the Princes. This "Shepherd's Tower," according +to Ruskin, is "the model and mirror of perfect +architecture." The characteristics of Power and +Beauty, he writes in the <i>Seven Lamps of Architecture</i>, +"occur more or less in different buildings, some in +one and some in another. But all together, and all +in their highest possible relative degrees, they exist, as +far as I know, only in one building in the world, +the Campanile of Giotto."</p> + +<p>Like Ghiberti's bronze gates, this exquisitely lovely +tower of marble has beauty beyond words: "That +bright, smooth, sunny surface of glowing jasper, those +spiral shafts and fairy traceries, so white, so faint, so<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_260" id="page_260">[260]</a></span> +crystalline, that their slight shapes are hardly traced +in darkness on the pallor of the eastern sky, that serene +height of mountain alabaster, coloured like a morning +cloud, and chased like a sea-shell." It was commenced +by Giotto himself in 1334, when the first +stone was solemnly laid. When Giotto died in 1336, +the work had probably not risen above the stage of +the lower series of reliefs. Andrea Pisano was +chosen to succeed him, and he carried it on from +1337 to 1342, finishing the first story and bringing +it up to the first of the three stories of windows; it +will be observed that Andrea, who was primarily a +sculptor, unlike Giotto, made provision for the presence +of large monumental statues as well as reliefs in +his decorative scheme. Through some misunderstanding, +Andrea was then deprived of the work, +which was intrusted to Francesco Talenti. Francesco +Talenti carried it on until 1387, making a +general modification in the architecture and decoration; +the three most beautiful windows, increasing in +size as we ascend, with their beautiful Gothic tracery, +are his work. According to Giotto's original plan, +the whole was to have been crowned with a pyramidical +steeple or spire; Vasari says that it was abandoned +"because it was a German thing, and of antiquated +fashion."</p> + +<p>All around the base of the tower runs a wonderful +series of bas-reliefs on a very small scale, setting forth +the whole history of human skill under divine guidance, +from the creation of man to the reign of art, +science, and letters, in twenty-seven exquisitely +"inlaid jewels of Giotto's." At each corner of the +tower are three shields, the red Cross of the People +between the red lilies of the Commune. "This +smallness of scale," says Ruskin of these reliefs +"enabled the master workmen of the tower to execute<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_261" id="page_261">[261]</a></span> +them with their own hands; and for the rest, in the +very finest architecture, the decoration of the most +precious kind is usually thought of as a jewel, and set +with space round it–as the jewels of a crown, or the +clasp of a girdle." These twenty-seven subjects, +with the possible exception of the last five on the +northern side, were designed by Giotto himself; and +are, together with the first bronze door, the greatest +Florentine work in sculpture of the first half of the +fourteenth century. The execution is, in the main, +Andrea Pisano's; but there is a constant tradition +that some of the reliefs are from Giotto's own hand. +Antonio Pucci, in the eighty-fifth canto of his +<i>Centiloquio</i>, distinctly states that Giotto carved the +earlier ones, <i>i primi intagli fe con bello stile</i>, and Pucci +was almost Giotto's contemporary. "Pastoral life," +"Jubal," "Tubal Cain," "Sculpture," "Painting," +are the special subjects which it is most plausible, or +perhaps most attractive, to ascribe to him.</p> + +<p>On the western side we have the creation of Man, +the creation of Woman; and then, thirdly, Adam +and Eve toiling, or you may call it the dignity of +labour, if you will–Giotto's rendering of the thought +which John Ball was to give deadly meaning to, or +ever the fourteenth century closed–</p> + +<p class="poem"> +When Adam delved and Evë span,<br /> +Who was then the gentleman?<br /></p> + +<p>Then come pastoral life, Jabal with his tent, his +flock and dog; Jubal, the maker of stringed and wind +instruments; Tubal Cain, the first worker in metal; +the first vintage, represented by the story of Noah. +On the southern side comes first Astronomy, represented +by either Zoroaster or Ptolemy. Then follow +Building, Pottery, Riding, Weaving, and (according +to Ruskin) the Giving of Law. Lastly Daedalus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_262" id="page_262">[262]</a></span> +symbolising, according to Ruskin, "the conquest of +the element of air"; or, more probably, here as in +Dante (<i>Paradiso</i> viii.), the typical mechanician. +Next, on the eastern side, comes Rowing, symbolising, +according to Ruskin, "the conquest of the +sea"–very possibly intended for Jason and the +Argo, a type adopted in several places by Dante. +The next relief, "the conquest of the earth," probably +represents the slaying of Antæus by Hercules, +and symbolises the "beneficent strength of civilisation, +crushing the savageness of inhumanity." Giotto uses +his mythology much as Dante does–as something only +a little less sacred, and of barely less authority than +theology–and the conquest of Antæus by Hercules +was a solemn subject with Dante too; besides a +reference in the <i>Inferno</i>, he mentions it twice in the +<i>De Monarchia</i> as a special revelation of God's judgment +by way of ordeal, and touches upon it again in +the <i>Convivio, secondo le testimonianze delle scritture</i>. +Here Hercules immediately follows the "conquest +of the sea," as having, by his columns, set sacred +limits to warn men that they must pass no further +(<i>Inferno</i> xxvi.). Brutality being thus overthrown, +we are shown agriculture and trade,–represented by a +splendid team of ploughing bulls and a horse-chariot, +respectively. Then, over the door of the tower, the +Lamb with the symbol of Resurrection, perhaps, as +Ruskin thinks, to "express the law of Sacrifice and +door of ascent to Heaven"; or, perhaps, merely as +being the emblem of the great Guild of wool merchants, +the Arte della Lana, who had charge of the cathedral +works. Then follow the representations of the arts, +commencing with the relief at the corner: Geometry, +regarded as the foundation of the others to follow, +as being <i>senza macula d'errore e certissima</i>. Turning +the corner, the first and second, on the northern side,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_263" id="page_263">[263]</a></span> +represent Sculpture and Painting, and were possibly +carved by Giotto himself. The remaining five are all +later, and from the hand of Luca della Robbia, who +perhaps worked from designs left by Giotto–Grammar, +which may be taken to represent Literature in general, +Arithmetic, the science of numbers (in its great mediæval +sense), Dialectics; closing with Music, in some +respects the most beautiful of the series, symbolised in +Orpheus charming beasts and birds by his strains, and +Harmony. "Harmony of song," writes Ruskin, "in +the full power of it, meaning perfect education in all +art of the Muses and of civilised life; the mystery of +its concord is taken for the symbol of that of a perfect +state; one day, doubtless, of the perfect world."</p> + +<p>Above this fundamental series of bas-reliefs, there +runs a second series of four groups of seven. They +were probably executed by pupils of Andrea Pisano, +and are altogether inferior to those below–the seven +Sacraments on the northern side being the best. Above +are a series of heroic statues in marble. Of these the +oldest are those less easily visible, on the north opposite +the Duomo, representing David and Solomon, with two +Sibyls; M. Reymond ascribes them to Andrea Pisano. +Those opposite the Misericordia are also of the fourteenth +century. On the east are Habakkuk and Abraham, +by Donatello (the latter in part by a pupil), +between two Patriarchs probably by Niccolò d'Arezzo, +the chief sculptor of the Florentine school at the end +of the Trecento. Three of the four statues opposite the +Baptistery are by Donatello; figures of marvellous +strength and vigour. It is quite uncertain whom +they are intended to represent (the "Solomon" and +"David," below the two in the centre, refer to the +older statues which once stood here), but the two +younger are said to be the Baptist and Jeremiah. The +old bald-headed prophet, irreverently called the <i>Zuccone</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_264" id="page_264">[264]</a></span> +or "Bald-head," is one of Donatello's masterpieces, +and is said to have been the sculptor's own favourite +creation. Vasari tells us that, while working upon it, +Donatello used to bid it talk to him, and, when he +wanted to be particularly believed, he used to swear by +it: "By the faith +that I bear to my +Zuccone."</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<div class="figleft"><a name="illo_30" id="illo_30"></a> +<img src="images/illus280_tmb.jpg" width="336" height="400" alt="THE BIGALLO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE BIGALLO</p> +<a href="images/illus280_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>At the end of the +Via Calzaioli, opposite +the Baptistery, +is that little Gothic +gem, the Loggia +called the <i>Bigallo</i>, +erected between +1352 and 1358, +for the "Captains +of Our Lady of +Mercy," while +Orcagna was rearing +his more gorgeous +tabernacle for +the "Captains of +Our Lady of Or +San Michele." Its +architect is unknown; +his manner resembles Orcagna's, to whom the +work has been erroneously ascribed. The Madonna +is by Alberto Arnoldi (1361). The Bigallo was intended +for the public functions of charity of the foundling +hospital, which was founded under the auspices of +the Confraternity of the Misericordia, whose oratory is +on the other side of the way. These Brothers of +Mercy, in their mysterious black robes hiding their +faces, are familiar enough even to the most casual<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_265" id="page_265">[265]</a></span> +visitor to Florence; and their work of succour to +the sick and injured has gone on uninterruptedly +throughout the whole of Florentine history.</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<p>In the last decade of the thirteenth century, when +the People and Commune of Florence were in an unusually +peaceful state, after the tumults caused by the +reforms and expulsion of Giano della Bella had subsided, +the new Cathedral was commenced on the site of +the older church of Santa Reparata. The first stones +and foundations were blessed with great solemnity in +1296; and, in this golden age of the democracy, the +work proceeded apace, until in a document of April +1299, concerning the exemption of Arnolfo di Cambio +from all taxation, it is stated that "by reason of his +industry, experience and genius, the Commune and +People of Florence from the magnificent and visible +beginning of the said work of the said church, commenced +by the same Master Arnolphus, hope to have +a more beautiful and more honourable temple than any +other which there is in the regions of Tuscany."</p> + +<p>But although the original design and beginning were +undoubtedly Arnolfo's, the troublous times that fell +upon Florence appear to have interrupted the work; +and it was almost abandoned for lack of funds until +1334, when Giotto was appointed capo-maestro of the +Commune and of the work of Santa Reparata, as it +was still called. The Cathedral was now in charge of +the Arte della Lana, as the Baptistery was in that of +the Arte di Calimala. It is not precisely known what +Giotto did with it; but the work languished again +after his death, until Francesco Talenti was appointed +capo-maestro, and, in July 1357, the foundations were +laid of the present church of Santa Maria del Fiore, +on a larger and more magnificent scale. Arnolfo's +work appears to have been partly destroyed, partly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_266" id="page_266">[266]</a></span> +enlarged and extended. Other capo-maestri carried +on what Francesco Talenti had commenced, until, in +1378, just at the end of mediæval Florence, the fourth +and last great vault was closed, and the main work +finished.</p> + +<p>The completion of the Cathedral belongs to that intermediate +epoch which saw the decline of the great +democracy and the dawn of the Renaissance, and ran +from 1378 to 1421, in which latter year the third +tribune was finished. Filippo Brunelleschi's dome or +cupola, raised upon a frieze or drum high above the +three great semi-domes, with a large window in each of +the eight sides, was commenced in 1420 and finished +in 1434, the year which witnessed the establishment +of the Medicean regime in Florence. Vasari waxes +most enthusiastic over this work. "Heaven willed," +he writes, "after the earth had been for so many years +without an excellent soul or a divine spirit, that Filippo +should leave to the world from himself the greatest, the +most lofty and the most beauteous construction of all +others made in the time of the moderns and even in +that of the ancients." And Michelangelo imitated it +in St Peter's at Rome, turning back, as he rode away +from Florence, to gaze upon Filippo's work, and declaring +that he could not do anything more beautiful. +Some modern writers have passed a very different +judgment. Fergusson says:–"The plain, heavy, +simple outlined dome of Brunelleschi acts like an +extinguisher, crushing all the lower part of the composition, +and both internally and externally destroying +all harmony between the parts." Brunelleschi also +designed the Lantern, which was commenced shortly +before his death (1446) and finished in 1461. The +palla or ball, which crowns the whole, was added by +Andrea Verrocchio. In the fresco in the Spanish +Chapel of Santa Maria Novella, you shall see the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_269" id="page_269">[269]</a></span> +Catholic Church symbolised by the earlier church of +Santa Reparata; and, as the fresco was executed before +the middle of the fourteenth century, it apparently +represents the designs of Arnolfo and Giotto. Vasari, +indeed, states that it was taken from Arnolfo's model +in wood. "From this painting," he says, "it is obvious +that Arnolfo had proposed to raise the dome immediately +over the piers and above the first cornice, at that +point namely where Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, desiring +to render the building less heavy, interposed the +whole space wherein we now see the windows, before +adding the dome."<a name="fnanchor_41" id="fnanchor_41"></a><a href="#footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_31" id="illo_31"></a> +<img src="images/illus283_tmb.jpg" width="224" height="400" alt="PORTA DELLA MANDORLA, DUOMO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">PORTA DELLA MANDORLA, DUOMO</p> +<a href="images/illus283_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>The Duomo has had three façades. Of the first +façade, the façade of Arnolfo's church before 1357, +only two statues remain which probably formed part of +it; one of Boniface VIII. within the Cathedral, of +which more presently, and a statue of a Bishop in the +sacristy. The second façade, commenced in 1357, and +still in progress in 1420, was left unfinished, and barbarously +destroyed towards the end of the sixteenth +century. A fresco by Poccetti in the first cloister +of San Marco, the fifth to the right of the entrance, representing +the entrance of St. Antoninus into Florence +to take possession of his see, shows this second façade. +Some of the statues that once decorated it still exist. +The Boniface reappeared upon it from the first façade, +between St. Peter and St. Paul; over the principal gate +was Our Lady of the Flower herself, presenting her +Child to give His blessing to the Florentines–and this +is still preserved in the Opera del Duomo–by an unknown +artist of the latter<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_270" id="page_270">[270]</a></span> +half of the fourteenth century; +she was formerly +attended by Zenobius and +Reparata, while Angels +held a canopy over her–these +are lost. Four +Doctors of the Church, +now mutilated and transformed +into poets, are +still to be seen on the +way to Poggio Imperiale–by +Niccolò d'Arezzo +and Piero di Giovanni +Tedesco (1396); some +Apostles, probably by +the latter, and very fine +works, are in the court +of the Riccardi Palace. +The last statues made +for the façade, the four +Evangelists, of the first +fifteen years of the +Quattrocento, are now +within the present +church, in the chapels +of the Tribune of St. +Zenobius. There is a +curious tradition that +Donatello placed Farinata +degli Uberti on the +façade; and few men +would have deserved the +honour better. After +the sixteenth century the +façade remained a desolate +waste down to our own times. The present<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_271" id="page_271">[271]</a></span> +façade, gorgeous but admirable in its way, was designed +by De Fabris, and finished between 1875 and +1887; the first stone was laid by Victor Emmanuel +in 1860. Thus has the United Italy of to-day +completed the work of the great Republic of the +Middle Ages.</p> + +<div class="figleft"><a name="illo_32" id="illo_32"></a> +<img src="images/illus286_tmb.jpg" width="137" height="400" alt="STATUE OF BONIFACE VIII." title="" /> +<p class="caption">STATUE OF BONIFACE VIII.</p> +<a href="images/illus286_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>The four side gates of the Duomo are among the +chief artistic monuments of Florentine sculpture in +the epoch that intervened between the setting of +Andrea Pisano and Orcagna, and the rising of Donatello +and Ghiberti. Nearer the façade, south and +north, the two plainer and earlier portals are always +closed; the two more ornate and later, the gate of +the canons on the south and the gate of the Mandorla +on the north, are the ordinary entrances into the aisles +of the cathedral.</p> + +<p>Earliest of the four is the minor southern portal +near the Campanile, over which the pigeons cluster +and coo. Our Lady of the Pigeons, in the tympanum, +is an excellent work of the school of Nino Pisano +(Andrea's son), rather later than the middle of the +Trecento. The northern minor portal is similar in +style, with sculpture subordinated to polychromatic +decoration, but with beautiful twisted columns, of +which the two outermost rest upon grand mediæval +lions, who are helped to bear them by delicious +little winged <i>putti</i>. Third in order of construction +comes the chief southern portal, the Porta dei Canonici, +belonging to the last decade of the fourteenth century. +The pilasters are richly decorated with sculptured +foliage and figures of animals in the intervals between +the leaves. In the tympanum above, the Madonna and +Child with two adoring Angels–statues of great grace +and beauty–are by Lorenzo di Giovanni d'Ambrogio,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_272" id="page_272">[272]</a></span> +1402. Above are Angels bearing a tondo of the Pietà.</p> + +<p>The Porta della Mandorla is one of the most +perfect examples of Florentine decorative sculpture +that exists. M. Reymond calls it "le produit le +plus pur du génie florentin dans toute l'indépendance +de sa pensée." It was commenced by Giovanni di +Ambrogio, the chief master of the canons' gate; +and finished by Niccolò da Arezzo, in the early +years of the fifteenth century. The decorations of +its pilasters, with nude figures amidst the conventional +foliage between the angels with their wings and scrolls, +are already almost in the spirit of the Renaissance. +The mosaic over the door, representing the Annunciation, +was executed by Domenico Ghirlandaio in +1490. "Amongst modern masters of mosaic," says +Vasari, "nothing has yet been seen better than this. +Domenico was wont to say that painting is mere +design, and that the true painting for eternity is +mosaic." The two small statues of Prophets are +the earliest works of Donatello, 1405-1406. Above +is the famous relief which crowns the whole, and from +which the door takes its name–the glorified Madonna +of the Mandorla. Formerly ascribed to Jacopo della +Quercia, it is now recognised as the work of Nanni +di Banco, whose father Antonio collaborated with +Niccolò da Arezzo on the door. It represents the +Madonna borne up in the Mandorla surrounded by +Angels, three of whom above are hymning her triumph. +With a singularly sweet yet majestic maternal gesture, +she consigns her girdle to the kneeling Thomas on +the left; on the right among the rocks, a bear is +either shaking or climbing a tree. This work, executed +slightly before 1420, is the best example of +the noble manner of the fourteenth century united +to the technical mastery of the fifteenth. Though +matured late, it is the most perfect fruit of the school +of Orcagna. Nanni died before it was quite completed. +The precise symbolism of the bear is not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_273" id="page_273">[273]</a></span> +easy to determine; it occurs also in Andrea Pisano's +relief of Adam and Eve labouring, on the Campanile. +According to St. Buonaventura, the bear is an emblem +of Lust; according to the Bestiaries, of Violence. +The probability is that here it merely represents the +evil one, symbolising the Fall in the Adam and Eve +relief, and now implying that Mary healed the wound +that Eve had dealt the human race–<i>la piaga che +Maria richiuse ed unse</i>.</p> + +<p>The interior is somewhat bare, and the aisles and +vaults are so proportioned and constructed as to +destroy much of the effect of the vast size both of +the whole and of the parts. The nave and aisles lead +to a great octagonal space beneath the dome, where +the choir is placed, extending into three polygonal +apses, those to right and left representing the transepts.</p> + +<p>Over the central door is a fine but restored mosaic +of the Coronation of Madonna, by Giotto's friend and +contemporary, Gaddo Gaddi, which is highly praised +by Vasari. On either side stand two great equestrian +portraits in fresco of condottieri, who served the +Republic in critical times; by Andrea del Castagno is +Niccolò da Tolentino, who fought in the Florentine +pay with average success and more than average +fidelity, and died in 1435, a prisoner in the hands of +Filippo Maria Visconti; by Paolo Uccello is Giovanni +Aguto, or John Hawkwood, a greater captain, but of +more dubious character, who died in 1394. Let it +stand to Hawkwood's credit that St Catherine of +Siena once wrote to him, <i>O carissimo e dolcissimo +fratello in Cristo Gesù</i>. By the side of the entrance +is the famous statue, mutilated but extraordinarily impressive, +of Boniface VIII., ascribed by Vasari to +Andrea Pisano, but which is certainly earlier, and +may possibly, according to M. Reymond, be assigned<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_274" id="page_274">[274]</a></span> +to Arnolfo di Cambio himself. It represents the +terrible Pontiff in the flower of his age; hardly a portrait, +but an idealised rendering of a Papal politician, a +<i>papa re</i> of the Middle Ages. Even so might he have +looked when he received Dante and his fellow-ambassadors +alone, and addressed to them the words +recorded by Dino Compagni: "Why are ye so +obstinate? Humble yourselves before me. I tell +you in very truth that I have no other intention, save +for your peace. Let two of you go back, and they +shall have my benediction if they bring it about that +my will be obeyed."</p> + +<p>As though in contrast with this worldly Pope, on +the first pillars in the aisles are pictures of two ideal +pastors; on the left, St Zenobius enthroned with +Eugenius and Crescentius, by an unknown painter of +the school of Orcagna; on the right, a similar but +comparatively modern picture of St Antoninus giving +his blessing. In the middle of the nave, is the original +resting-place of the body of Zenobius; here the picturesque +blessing of the roses takes place on his feast-day. +The right and left aisles contain some striking +statues and interesting monuments. First on the right +is a statue of a Prophet (sometimes called Joshua), +an early Donatello, said to be the portrait of Giannozzo +Manetti, between the monuments of Brunelleschi +and Giotto; the bust of the latter is by Benedetto +da Maiano, and the inscription by Poliziano. +Opposite these, in the left aisle, is a most life-like and +realistic statue of a Prophet by Donatello, said to be +the portrait of Poggio Bracciolini, between modern +medallions of De Fabris and Arnolfo. Further on, +on the right, are Hezekiah by Nanni di Banco, and +a fine portrait bust of Marsilio Ficino by Andrea +Ferrucci (1520)–the mystic dreamer caught in a rare +moment of inspiration, as on that wonderful day when<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_275" id="page_275">[275]</a></span> +he closed his finished Plato, and saw young Pico della +Mirandola before him. Opposite them, on the left, +are David by Ciuffagni, and a bust of the musician +Squarcialupi by Benedetto da Maiano. On the last +pillars of the nave, right and left, stand later statues of +the Apostles–St Matthew by Vincenzo de' Rossi, +and St James by Jacopo Sansovino.</p> + +<p>Under Brunelleschi's vast dome–the effect of +which is terribly marred by miserable frescoes by +Vasari and Zuccheri–are the choir and the high altar. +The stained glass in the windows in the drum is from +designs of Ghiberti, Donatello (the Coronation), and +Paolo Uccello. Behind the high altar is one of the +most solemn and pathetic works of art in existence–Michelangelo's +last effort in sculpture, the unfinished +Deposition from the Cross; "the strange spectral +wreath of the Florence Pietà, casting its pyramidal, +distorted shadow, full of pain and death, among the +faint purple lights that cross and perish under the +obscure dome of Santa Maria del Fiore."<a name="fnanchor_42" id="fnanchor_42"></a><a href="#footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> It is a +group of four figures more than life-size; the body of +Christ is received in the arms of His mother, who +sustains Him with the aid of St Mary Magdalene and +the standing Nicodemus, who bends over the group at +the back with a countenance full of unutterable love +and sorrow. Although, in a fit of impatience, Michelangelo +damaged the work and allowed it to be patched +up by others, he had intended it for his own sepulchre, +and there is no doubt that the Nicodemus–whose +features to some extent are modelled from his own–represents +his own attitude as death approached. His +sonnet to Giorgio Vasari is an expression of the same +temper, and the most precious commentary upon his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_276" id="page_276">[276]</a></span> +work:–</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Now hath my life across a stormy sea,<br /> +<span class="i1">Like a frail bark reached that wide port where all</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Are bidden, ere the final reckoning fall</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Of good and evil for eternity.</span><br /> +Now know I well how that fond phantasy,<br /> +<span class="i1">Which made my soul the worshipper and thrall</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Of earthly art, is vain; how criminal</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Is that which all men seek unwillingly.</span><br /> +Those amorous thoughts which were so lightly dressed,<br /> +<span class="i1">What are they when the double death is nigh?</span><br /> +<span class="i1">The one I know for sure, the other dread.</span><br /> +Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest<br /> +<span class="i1">My soul that turns to His great Love on high,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Whose arms, to clasp us, on the Cross were spread.</span><br /> +<span class="i8">(<i>Addington Symonds' translation.</i>)</span> +</p> + +<p>The apse at the east end, or tribuna di San Zenobio, +ends in the altar of the Blessed Sacrament, which is +also the shrine of Saint Zenobius. The reliquary which +contains his remains is the work of Lorenzo Ghiberti, +and was finished in 1446; the bronze reliefs set forth +his principal miracles, and there is a most exquisite group +of those flying Angels which Ghiberti realises so wonderfully. +Some of the glass in the windows is also from +his design. The seated statues in the four chapels, +representing the four Evangelists, were originally on +the façade; the St. Luke, by Nanni di Banco, in the +first chapel on the right, is the best of the four; then +follow St. John, a very early Donatello, and, on the +other side, St. Matthew by Ciuffagni and St. Mark by +Niccolò da Arezzo (slightly earlier than the others). +The two Apostles standing on guard at the entrance of +the tribune, St. John and St. Peter, are by Benedetto +da Rovezzano. To right and left are the southern +and northern sacristies. Over the door of the southern +sacristy is a very beautiful bas-relief by Luca della +Robbia, representing the Ascension (1446), like a +Fra Angelico in enamelled terracotta; within the +sacristy are two kneeling Angels also by Luca (1448),<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_277" id="page_277">[277]</a></span> +practically his only isolated statues, of the greatest +beauty and harmony; and also a rather indifferent St. +Michael, a late work of Lorenzo di Credi. Over the +door of the northern sacristy is the Resurrection by +Luca della Robbia (1443), perhaps his earliest extant +work in this enamelled terracotta. The bronze doors +of this northern sacristy are by Michelozzo and Luca +della Robbia, assisted by Maso and Giovanni di Bartolommeo, +and were executed between 1446 and 1467. +They are composed of ten reliefs with decorative heads +at the corners of each, as in Lorenzo Ghiberti's work. +Above are Madonna and Child with two Angels; the +Baptist with two Angels; in the centre the four Evangelists, +each with two Angels; and below, the four +Doctors, each with two Angels. M. Reymond has +shown that the four latter are the work of Michelozzo. +Of Luca's work, the four Evangelists are later than +the two topmost reliefs, and are most beautiful; the +Angels are especially lovely, and there are admirable +decorative heads between. Within, are some characteristic +<i>putti</i> by Donatello.</p> + +<p>The side apses, which represent the right and left +transepts, guarded by sixteenth century Apostles, and +with frescoed Saints and Prophets in the chapels by +Bicci di Lorenzo, are quite uninteresting.</p> + +<p>By the door that leads out of the northern aisle into +the street, is a wonderful picture, painted in honour +of Dante by order of the State in 1465, by Domenico +di Michelino, a pupil of Fra Angelico, whose works, +with this exception, are hardly identified. At the +time that this was painted, the authentic portrait of +Dante still existed in the (now lost) fresco at Santa +Croce, so we may take this as a fairly probable likeness; +it is, at the same time, one of the earliest efforts +to give pictorial treatment to the <i>Purgatorio</i>. Outside +the gates of Florence stands Dante in spirit, clothed +in the simple red robe of a Florentine citizen, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_278" id="page_278">[278]</a></span> +wearing the laurel wreath which was denied to him in +life; in his left hand he holds the open volume of the +<i>Divina Commedia</i>, from which rays of burning light +proceed and illumine all the city. But it is not the +mediæval Florence that the divine singer had known, +which his ghost now revisits, but the Florence of the +Quattrocento–with the completed Cathedral and the +cupola of Brunelleschi rising over it, with the Campanile +and the great tower of the Palazzo della Signoria +completed–the Florence which has just lost Cosimo +dei Medici, Pater Patriae, and may need fresh guidance, +now that great mutations are at hand in Italy. +With his right hand he indicates the gate of Hell +and its antechamber; but it is not the torments of +its true inmates that he would bid the Florentines +mark, but the shameful and degrading lot of the cowards +and neutrals, the trimmers, who would follow no +standard upon earth, and are now rejected by Heaven +and Hell alike; "the crew of caitiffs hateful to God +and to his enemies," who now are compelled, goaded +on by hornets and wasps, to rush for ever after a devil-carried +ensign, "which whirling ran so quickly that it +seemed to scorn all pause." Behind, among the rocks +and precipices of Hell, the monstrous fiends of schism, +treason and anarchy glare through the gate, preparing +to sweep down upon the City of the Lily, if she heeds +not the lesson. In the centre of the picture, in the +distance, the Mountain of Purgation rises over the +shore of the lonely ocean, on the little island where +rushes alone grow above the soft mud. The Angel at +the gate, seated upon the rock of diamond, above the +three steps of contrition, confession, and satisfaction, +marks the brows of the penitent souls with his dazzling +sword, and admits them into the terraces of the +mountain, where Pride, Anger, Envy, Sloth, Avarice, +Gluttony, and Lust (the latter, in the purifying fire<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_279" id="page_279">[279]</a></span> +of the seventh terrace, merely indicated by the flames +on the right) are purged away. On the top of the +mountain Adam and Eve stand in the Earthly Paradise, +which symbolises blessedness of this life, the end +to which an ideal ruler is to lead the human race, and +the state of innocence to which the purgatorial pains +restore man. Above and around sweep the spheres of +the planets, the lower moving heavens, from which the +angelic influences are poured down upon the Universe +beneath their sway.</p> + +<p>Thirteen years after this picture was painted, the +Duomo saw Giuliano dei Medici fall beneath the +daggers of the Pazzi and their confederates on Sunday, +April 26th, 1478. The bell that rang for the Elevation +of the Host was the signal. Giuliano had been +moving round about the choir, and was standing not +far from the picture of Dante, when Bernardo Baroncelli +and Francesco Pazzi struck the first blows. Lorenzo, +who was on the opposite side of the choir, beat off his +assailants with his sword and then fled across into the +northern sacristy, through the bronze gates of Michelozzo +and Luca della Robbia, which Poliziano and the +Cavalcanti now closed against the conspirators. The +boy cardinal, Raffaello Sansoni, whose visit to the +Medicean brothers had furnished the Pazzi with their +chance, fled in abject terror into the other sacristy. Francesco +Nori, a faithful friend of the Medici, was murdered +by Baroncelli in defending his masters' lives; he is very +probably the bare-headed figure kneeling behind Giuliano +in Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi in the Uffizi.<a name="fnanchor_43" id="fnanchor_43"></a><a href="#footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>But of all the scenes that have passed beneath<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_280" id="page_280">[280]</a></span> +Brunelleschi's cupola, the most in accordance with +the spirit of Dante's picture are those connected with +Savonarola. It was here that his most famous and +most terrible sermons were delivered; here, on that +fateful September morning when the French host was +sweeping down through Italy, he gazed in silence +upon the expectant multitude that thronged the building, +and then, stretching forth his hands, cried aloud in +a terrible voice the ominous text of Genesis: "Behold +I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth;" +and here, too, the fatal riot commenced which ended +with the storming of the convent. And here, in a +gentler vein, the children of Florence were wont to +await the coming of their father and prophet. "The +children," writes Simone Filipepi, "were placed all +together upon certain steps made on purpose for them, +and there were about three thousand of them; they +came an hour or two before the sermon; and, in the +meanwhile, some read psalms and others said the +rosary, and often choir by choir they sang lauds and +psalms most devoutly; and when the Father appeared, +to mount up into the pulpit, the said children sang the +<i>Ave Maris Stella</i>, and likewise the people answered +back, in such wise that all that time, from early morning +even to the end of the sermon, one seemed to be +verily in Paradise."</p> + +<p>The Opera del Duomo or Cathedral Museum contains, +besides several works of minor importance +(including the Madonna from the second façade), +three of the great achievements of Florentine sculpture +during the fifteenth century; the two <i>cantorie</i>, or +organ galleries, of Donatello and Luca della Robbia; +the silver altar for the Baptistery, with the statue of +the Baptist by Michelozzo, and reliefs in silver by +Antonio Pollaiuolo and Andrea Verrocchio, representing +the Nativity of the Baptist by the former, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_281" id="page_281">[281]</a></span> +dance of the daughter of Herodias and the Decollation +of the Saint by the latter.</p> + +<p>The two organ galleries, facing each other and +finished almost simultaneously (about 1440), are an +utter contrast both in spirit and in execution. There +is nothing specially angelic or devotional about Donatello's +wonderful frieze of dancing genii, winged boys +that might well have danced round Venus at Psyche's +wedding-feast, but would have been out of place +among the Angels who, as the old mystic puts it, +"rejoiced exceedingly when the most Blessed Virgin +entered the Heavenly City." The beauty of rhythmic +movement, the joy of living and of being young, +exultancy, <i>baldanza</i>–these are what they express for +us. Luca della Robbia's boys and girls, singing +together and playing musical instruments, have less +exuberance and motion, but more grace and repose; +they illustrate in ten high reliefs the verses of the +psalm, <i>Laudate Dominum in sanctis ejus</i>, which is inscribed +upon the Cantoria; and those that dance are +more chastened in their joy, more in the spirit of +David before the Ark. But all are as wrapt and +absorbed in their music, as are Donatello's in their wild +yet harmonious romp.</p> + +<p>In detail and considered separately, Luca's more +perfectly finished groups, with their exquisite purity of +line, are decidedly more lovely than Donatello's more +roughly sketched, lower and flatter bas-reliefs; but, +seen from a distance and raised from the ground, as +they were originally intended, Donatello's are decidedly +more effective as a whole. It is only of late +years that the reliefs have been remounted and set up +in the way we now see; and it is not quite certain +whether their present arrangement, in all respects, exactly +corresponds to what was originally intended by +the masters. It was in this building, the Opera del +Duomo, that Donatello at one time had his school +and studio; and it was here, in the early years of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_282" id="page_282">[282]</a></span> +Cinquecento, that Michelangelo worked upon the +shapeless mass of marble which became the gigantic +David.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus298_tmb.jpg" width="135" height="230" alt="CROSS OF THE FLORENTINE PEOPLE" title="" /> +<p class="caption">CROSS OF THE FLORENTINE PEOPLE<br /> +(FROM OLD HOUSE ON NORTH SIDE OF DUOMO)</p> +<a href="images/illus298_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="illo_33" id="illo_33"></a> +<img src="images/illus299_tmb.jpg" width="400" height="363" alt="ARMS OF THE MEDICI FROM THE BADIA AT FIESOLE." title="" /> +<p class="caption">ARMS OF THE MEDICI FROM THE BADIA AT FIESOLE.</p> +<a href="images/illus299_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_283" id="page_283">[283]</a></p> +<h2><a name="chapter_ix" id="chapter_ix"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<h3><i>The Palazzo Riccardi–San Lorenzo<br /> +San Marco.</i></h3> + +<p class="poem"> +Per molti, donna, anzi per mille amanti,<br /> +creata fusti, e d'angelica forma.<br /> +Or par che'n ciel si dorma,<br /> +s'un sol s'appropria quel ch'è dato a tanti.<br /> +<span class="i8">(<i>Michelangelo Buonarroti</i>).</span></p> + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Via dei Martelli leads from the Baptistery +into the Via Cavour, formerly the historical Via +Larga. Here stands the great Palace of the Medici, +now called the Palazzo Riccardi from the name of +the family to whom the Grand Duke Ferdinand II. +sold it in the seventeenth century.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_284" id="page_284">[284]</a></span></p> + +<p>The palace was begun by Michelozzo for Cosimo +the Elder shortly before his exile, and completed after +his return, when it became in reality the seat of +government of the city, although the Signoria still +kept up the pretence of a republic in the Palazzo +Vecchio. Here Lorenzo the Magnificent was born +on January 1st, 1449, and here the most brilliant and +cultured society of artists and scholars that the world +had seen gathered round him and his family.<a name="fnanchor_44" id="fnanchor_44"></a><a href="#footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Here, +too, after the expulsion of Lorenzo's mad son, Piero, +in 1494, Charles VIII. of France was splendidly +lodged; here Piero Capponi tore the dishonourable +treaty and saved the Republic, and here Fra Girolamo +a few days later admonished the fickle king. On the +return of the Medici, the Cardinal Giovanni, the +younger Lorenzo, and the Cardinal Giulio successively +governed the city here; until in 1527 the people drove +out the young pretenders, Alessandro and Ippolito, +with their guardian, the Cardinal Passerini. It was +on this latter occasion that Piero's daughter, Madonna +Clarice, the wife of the younger Filippo Strozzi, was +carried hither in her litter, and literally slanged these +boys and the Cardinal out of Florence. She is reported, +with more vehemence than delicacy, to have +told her young kinsmen that the house of Lorenzo dei +Medici was not a stable for mules. During the siege, +the people wished to entirely destroy the palace and +rename the place the Piazza dei Muli.</p> + +<p>After the restoration Alessandro carried on his +abominable career here, until, on January 5th, 1537, +the dagger of another Lorenzo freed the world from an +infamous monster. Some months before, Benvenuto +Cellini came to the palace, as he tells us in his autobiography,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_285" id="page_285">[285]</a></span> +to show the Duke the wax models for his +medals which he was making. Alessandro was lying +on his bed, indisposed, and with him was only this +Lorenzino or Lorenzaccio, <i>quel pazzo malinconico +filosafo di Lorenzino</i>, as Benvenuto calls him elsewhere. +"The Duke," writes Benvenuto, "several times signed +to him that he too should urge me to stop; upon +which Lorenzino never said anything else, but: +'Benvenuto, you would do best for yourself to stay.' +To which I said that I wanted by all means to return +to Rome. He said nothing more, and kept continually +staring at the Duke with a most evil eye. +Having finished the medal and shut it up in its case, I +said to the Duke: 'My Lord, be content, for I will +make you a much more beautiful medal than I made +for Pope Clement; for reason wills that I should do +better, since that was the first that ever I made; and +Messer Lorenzo here will give me some splendid +subject for a reverse, like the learned person and +magnificent genius that he is.' To these words the +said Lorenzo promptly answered: 'I was thinking of +nothing else, save how to give thee a reverse that +should be worthy of his Excellency.' The Duke +grinned, and, looking at Lorenzo, said: 'Lorenzo, +you shall give him the reverse, and he shall make it +here, and shall not go away.' Lorenzo replied +hastily, saying: 'I will do it as quickly as I possibly +can, and I hope to do a thing that will astonish the +world.' The Duke, who sometimes thought him a +madman and sometimes a coward, turned over in his +bed, and laughed at the words which he had said to +him. I went away without other ceremonies of leave-taking, +and left them alone together."</p> + +<p>On the fatal night Lorenzino lured the Duke into +his own rooms, in what was afterwards called the +Strada del Traditore, which was incorporated into<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_286" id="page_286">[286]</a></span> +the palace by the Riccardi. Alessandro, tired out +with the excesses of the day, threw himself upon a +bed; Lorenzino went out of the room, ostensibly to +fetch his kinswoman, Caterina Ginori, whose beauty +had been the bait; and he returned with the bravo +Scoroncocolo, with whose assistance he assassinated +him. Those who saw Sarah Bernhardt in the part +of "Lorenzaccio," will not easily forget her rendering +of this scene. Lorenzino published an Apologia, in +which he enumerates Alessandro's crimes, declares +that he was no true offspring of the Medici, and that +his own single motive was the liberation of Florence +from tyranny. He fled first to Constantinople, and +then to Venice, where he was murdered in 1547 by +the agents of Alessandro's successor, Cosimo I., who +transferred the ducal residence from the present palace +first to the Palazzo Vecchio, and then across the river +to the Pitti Palace.</p> + +<p>With the exception of the chapel, the interior of +the Palazzo Riccardi is not very suggestive of the old +Medicean glories of the days of Lorenzo the Magnificent. +There is a fine court, surrounded with +sarcophagi and statues, including some of the old +tombs which stood round the Baptistery and among +which Guido Cavalcanti used to linger, and some +statues of Apostles from the second façade of the +Duomo. Above the arcades are eight fine classical +medallions by Donatello, copied and enlarged from +antique gems. The rooms above have been entirely +altered since the days when Capponi defied King +Charles, and Madonna Clarice taunted Alessandro +and Ippolito; the large gallery, which witnessed these +scenes, is covered with frescoes by Luca Giordano, +executed in the early part of the seventeenth century. +The Chapel–still entirely reminiscent of the better +Medici–was painted by Benozzo Gozzoli shortly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_287" id="page_287">[287]</a></span> +before the death of Cosimo the Elder, with frescoes +representing the Procession of the Magi, in a delightfully +impossible landscape. The two older kings are the +Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople, and John Paleologus, +Emperor of the East, who had visited Florence +twenty years before on the occasion of the Council +(Benozzo, it must be observed, was painting them in +1459, after the fall of Constantinople); the third is +Lorenzo dei Medici himself, as a boy. Behind +follow the rest of the Medicean court, Cosimo himself +and his son, Piero, content apparently to be led +forward by this mere lad; and in their train is +Benozzo Gozzoli himself, marked by the signature on +his hat. The picture of the Nativity itself, round +which Benozzo's lovely Angels–though very earthly +compared with Angelico's–seem still to linger in +attendance, is believed to have been one by Lippo +Lippi, now at Berlin.</p> + +<p>In the chapter <i>Of the Superhuman Ideal</i>, in the +second volume of <i>Modern Painters</i>, Ruskin refers to +these frescoes as the most beautiful instance of the +supernatural landscapes of the early religious painters:–</p> + +<p>"Behind the adoring angel groups, the landscape is +governed by the most absolute symmetry; roses, and +pomegranates, their leaves drawn to the last rib and +vein, twine themselves in fair and perfect order about +delicate trellises; broad stone pines and tall cypresses +overshadow them, bright birds hover here and there +in the serene sky, and groups of angels, hand joined +with hand, and wing with wing, glide and float through +the glades of the unentangled forest. But behind the +human figures, behind the pomp and turbulence of the +kingly procession descending from the distant hills, +the spirit of the landscape is changed. Severer +mountains rise in the distance, ruder prominences and +less flowery vary the nearer ground, and gloomy<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_288" id="page_288">[288]</a></span> +shadows remain unbroken beneath the forest branches."</p> + +<p>Among the manuscripts in the <i>Biblioteca Riccardiana</i>, +which is entered from the Via Ginori at the back of +the palace, is the most striking and plausible of all +existing portraits of Dante. It is at the beginning +of a codex of the Canzoni (numbered 1040), and +appears to have been painted about 1436.</p> + +<p>From the palace where the elder Medici lived, we +turn to the church where they, and their successors of +the younger line, lie in death. In the Piazza San +Lorenzo there is an inane statue of the father of +Cosimo I., Giovanni delle Bande Nere, by Baccio +Bandinelli. Here, in June 1865, Robert Browning +picked up at a stall the "square old yellow Book" +with "the crumpled vellum covers," which gave him +the story of <i>The Ring and the Book</i>:– +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p><span class="i8">"I found this book,</span><br /> +Gave a lira for it, eightpence English just,<br /> +(Mark the predestination!) when a Hand,<br /> +Always above my shoulder, pushed me once,<br /> +One day still fierce 'mid many a day struck calm,<br /> +Across a square in Florence, crammed with booths,<br /> +Buzzing and blaze, noon-tide and market-time,<br /> +Toward Baccio's marble–ay, the basement ledge<br /> +O' the pedestal where sits and menaces<br /> +John of the Black Bands with the upright spear,<br /> +'Twixt palace and church–Riccardi where they lived,<br /> +His race, and San Lorenzo where they lie.</p> + +<p><span class="i8">"That memorable day,</span><br /> +(June was the month, Lorenzo named the Square)<br /> +I leaned a little and overlooked my prize<br /> +By the low railing round the fountain-source<br /> +Close to the statue, where a step descends:<br /> +While clinked the cans of copper, as stooped and rose<br /> +Thick-ankled girls who brimmed them, and made place<br /> +For market men glad to pitch basket down,<br /> +Dip a broad melon-leaf that holds the wet,<br /> +And whisk their faded fresh."</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_34" id="illo_34"></a> +<img src="images/illus305_tmb.jpg" width="279" height="400" alt="THE TOMB OF GIOVANNI AND PIERO DEI MEDICI" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE TOMB OF GIOVANNI AND PIERO DEI MEDICI<br /> +<span class="smcap">By Andrea Verrocchio</span><br /> +(In San Lorenzo)</p> +<a href="images/illus305_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_289" id="page_289">[289]</a></p> +<p>The unsightly bare front of San Lorenzo represents +several fruitless and miserable years of Michelangelo's +life. Pope Leo X. and the Cardinal Giulio dei Medici +commissioned him to make a new façade, in 1516, and +for some years he consumed his time labouring among +the quarries of Carrara and Pietrasanta, getting the +marble for it and for the statues with which it was to +be adorned. In one of his letters he says: "I am +perfectly disposed (<i>a me basta l'animo</i>) to make this +work of the façade of San Lorenzo so that, both in +architecture and in sculpture, it shall be the mirror of +all Italy; but the Pope and the Cardinal must decide +quickly, if they want me to do it or not"; and again, +some time later: "What I have promised to do, I +shall do by all means, and I shall make the most +beautiful work that was ever made in Italy, if God +helps me." But nothing came of it all; and in after +years Michelangelo bitterly declared that Leo had +only pretended that he wanted the façade finished, in +order to prevent him working upon the tomb of Pope +Julius.</p> + +<p>"The ancient Ambrosian Basilica of St. Lawrence," +founded according to tradition by a Florentine widow +named Giuliana, and consecrated by St. Ambrose in +the days of Zenobius, was entirely destroyed by fire +early in the fifteenth century, during a solemn service +ordered by the Signoria to invoke the protection of St. +Ambrose for the Florentines in their war against Filippo +Maria Visconti. Practically the only relic of this Basilica +is the miraculous image of the Madonna in the +right transept. The present church was erected from +the designs of Filippo Brunelleschi, at the cost of the +Medici (especially Giovanni di Averardo, who may be +regarded as its chief founder) and seven other Florentine +families. It is simple and harmonious in structure; +the cupola, which is so visible in distant views of Florence, +looking like a smaller edition of the Duomo,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_290" id="page_290">[290]</a></span> +unlike the latter, rests directly upon the cross. This +appears to be one of the modifications from what Brunelleschi +had intended.</p> + +<p>The two pulpits with their bronze reliefs, right and +left, are the last works of Donatello; they were executed +in part and finished by his pupil, Bertoldo. The +marble singing gallery in the left aisle (near a fresco of +the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, by Bronzino) is also +the joint work of Donatello and Bertoldo. In the +right transept is a marble tabernacle by Donatello's +great pupil, Desiderio da Settignano. Beneath a porphyry +slab in front of the choir, Cosimo the Elder, the +Pater Patriae, lies; Donatello is buried in the same +vault as his great patron and friend. In the Martelli +Chapel, on the left, is an exceedingly beautiful Annunciation +by Fra Filippo Lippi, a fine example of his +colouring (in which he is decidedly the best of all the +early Florentines); Gabriel is attended by two minor +Angels, squires waiting upon this great Prince of the +Archangelic order, who are full of that peculiar mixture +of boyish high spirits and religious sentiment which +gives a special charm of its own to all that Lippo does.</p> + +<p>The <i>Sagrestia Vecchia</i>, founded by Giovanni di +Averardo, was erected by Brunelleschi and decorated +by Donatello for Cosimo the Elder. In the centre is +the marble sarcophagus, adorned with <i>putti</i> and +festoons, containing the remains of Giovanni and his +wife Piccarda, Cosimo's father and mother, by Donatello. +The bronze doors (hardly among his best +works), the marble balustrade before the altar, the +stucco medallions of the Evangelists, the reliefs of +patron saints of the Medici and the frieze of Angels' +heads are all Donatello's; also an exceedingly beautiful +terracotta bust of St. Lawrence, which is one of +his most attractive creations. In the niche on the left +of the entrance is the simple but very beautiful tomb of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_291" id="page_291">[291]</a></span> +the two sons of Cosimo, Piero and Giovanni–who +are united also in Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi as +the two kings–and it serves also as a monument to +Cosimo himself; it was made by Andrea Verrocchio +for Lorenzo and Giuliano, Piero's sons. The remains +of Lorenzo and Giuliano rested together in this sacristy +until they were translated in the sixteenth century. In +spite of a misleading modern inscription, they were +apparently not buried in their father's grave, and the +actual site of their former tomb is unknown. They +now lie together in the <i>Sagrestia Nuova</i>. The simplicity +of these funereal monuments and the <i>pietàs</i> +which united the members of the family so closely, in +death and in life alike, are very characteristic of these +earlier Medicean rulers of Florence.</p> + +<p>The cloisters of San Lorenzo, haunted by needy +and destitute cats, were also designed by Brunelleschi. +To the right, after passing Francesco da San Gallo's +statue of Paolo Giovio, the historian, who died in +1559, is the entrance to the famous Biblioteca +Laurenziana. The nucleus of this library was the +collection of codices formed by Niccolò Niccoli, +which were afterwards purchased by Cosimo the +Elder, and still more largely increased by Lorenzo the +Magnificent; after the expulsion of Piero the younger, +they were bought by the Friars of San Marco, and +then from them by the Cardinal Giovanni, who transferred +them to the Medicean villa at Rome. In accordance +with Pope Leo's wish, Clement VII. (then +the Cardinal Giulio) brought them back to Florence, +and, when Pope, commissioned Michelangelo to design +the building that was to house them. The portico, +vestibule and staircase were designed by him, and, in +judging of their effect, it must be remembered that +Michelangelo professed that architecture was not his +business, and also that the vestibule and staircase were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_292" id="page_292">[292]</a></span> +intended to have been adorned with bronzes and +statues. It was commenced in 1524, before the siege. +Of the numberless precious manuscripts which this +collection contains, we will mention only two classical +and one mediæval; the famous Pandects of Justinian +which the Pisans took from Amalfi, and the +Medicean Virgil of the fourth or fifth century; and +Boccaccio's autograph manuscript of Dante's Eclogues +and Epistles. This latter codex, shown under the +glass at the entrance to the Rotunda, is the only +manuscript in existence which contains Dante's +Epistles to the Italian Cardinals and to a Florentine +Friend. In the first, he defines his attitude towards +the Church, and declares that he is not touching the +Ark, but merely turning to the kicking oxen who are +dragging it out of the right path; in the second, he +proudly proclaims his innocence, rejects the amnesty, +and refuses to return to Florence under dishonourable +conditions. Although undoubtedly in Boccaccio's +handwriting, it has been much disputed of late years as +to whether these two letters are really by Dante. +There is not a single autograph manuscript, nor a +single scrap of Dante's handwriting extant at the +present day.</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<p>From the Piazza Madonna, at the back of San Lorenzo, +we enter a chilly vestibule, the burial vault of less important +members of the families of the Medicean Grand +Dukes, and ascend to the <i>Sagrestia Nuova</i>, where the +last male descendants of Cosimo the Elder and Lorenzo +the Magnificent lie. Although the idea of adding some +such mausoleum to San Lorenzo appears to have originated +with Leo X., this New Sacristy was built by +Michelangelo for Clement VII., commenced while he +was still the Cardinal Giulio and finished in 1524, +before the Library was constructed. Its form was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_293" id="page_293">[293]</a></span> +intended to correspond with that of Brunelleschi's Old +Sacristy, and it was to contain four sepulchral monuments. +Two of these, the only two that were actually +constructed, were for the younger Lorenzo, titular +Duke of Urbino (who died in 1519, the son of Piero +and nephew of Pope Leo), and the younger Giuliano, +Duke of Nemours (who died in 1516, the third son +of the Magnificent and younger brother of Leo). It is +not quite certain for whom the other two monuments +were to have been, but it is most probable that they +were for the fathers of the two Medicean Popes, +Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother the elder +Giuliano, whose remains were translated hither by +Duke Cosimo I. and rediscovered a few years ago. +Michelangelo commenced the statues before the third +expulsion of the Medici, worked on them in secret while +he was fortifying Florence against Pope Clement before +the siege, and returned to them, after the downfall of +the Republic, as the condition of obtaining the Pope's +pardon. He resumed work, full of bitterness at the +treacherous overthrow of the Republic, tormented by +the heirs of Pope Julius II., whose tomb he had been +forced to abandon, suffering from insomnia and shattered +health, threatened with death by the tyrant Alessandro. +When he left Florence finally in 1534, just before the +death of Clement, the statues had not even been put +into their places.</p> + +<p>Neither of the ducal statues is a portrait, but they +appear to represent the active and contemplative lives, +like the Leah and Rachel on the tomb of Pope Julius +II. at Rome. On the right sits Giuliano, holding the +baton of command as Gonfaloniere of the Church. +His handsome sensual features to some extent recall +those of the victorious youth in the allegory in the +Bargello. He holds his baton somewhat loosely, as +though he half realised the baseness of the historical<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_294" id="page_294">[294]</a></span> +part he was doomed to play, and had not got his heart +in it. Opposite is Lorenzo, immersed in profound +thought, "ghastly as a tyrant's dream." What +visions are haunting him of the sack of Prato, of the +atrocities of the barbarian hordes in the Eternal City, +of the doom his house has brought upon Florence? +Does he already smell the blood that his daughter will +shed, fifty years later, on St. Bartholomew's day? +Here he sits, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning puts +it:–</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"With everlasting shadow on his face,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">While the slow dawns and twilights disapprove</span><br /> + The ashes of his long extinguished race,<br /> +<span class="i1">Which never more shall clog the feet of men."</span></p> + +<p>"It fascinates and is intolerable," as Rogers wrote +of this statue. It is, probably, not due to Michelangelo +that the niches in which the dukes sit are too +narrow for them; but the result is to make the tyrants +seem as helpless as their victims, in the fetters of +destiny. Beneath them are four tremendous and +terrible allegorical figures: "those four ineffable +types," writes Ruskin, "not of darkness nor of day–not +of morning nor evening, but of the departure and +the resurrection, the twilight and the dawn of the +souls of men." Beneath Lorenzo are Dawn and +Twilight; Dawn awakes in agony, but her most +horrible dreams are better than the reality which she +must face; Twilight has worked all day in vain, and, +like a helpless Titan, is sinking now into a slumber +where is no repose. Beneath Giuliano are Day and +Night: Day is captive and unable to rise, his mighty +powers are uselessly wasted and he glares defiance; +Night is buried in torturing dreams, but Michelangelo +has forbidden us to wake her:–<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_295" id="page_295">[295]</a></span></p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"Grato mi è il sonno, e più l'esser di sasso;</span><br /> +mentre che il danno e la vergogna dura,<br /> +non veder, non sentir, m'è gran ventura;<br /> +però non mi destar; deh, parla basso!"<a name="fnanchor_45" id="fnanchor_45"></a><a href="#footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>It will be remembered that it was for these two +young men, to whom Michelangelo has thus reared the +noblest sepulchral monuments of the modern world, +that Leo X. desired to build kingdoms and that +Machiavelli wrote one of the masterpieces of Italian +prose–the <i>Principe</i>. Giuliano was the most respectable +of the elder Medicean line; in Castiglione's +<i>Cortigiano</i> he is an attractive figure, the chivalrous +champion of women. It is not easy to get a definite +idea of the character of Lorenzo, who, as we saw in +chapter iv., was virtually tyrant of Florence during his +uncle's pontificate. The Venetian ambassador once +wrote of him that he was fitted for great deeds, and +only a little inferior to Cæsar Borgia–which was intended +for very high praise; but there was nothing in +him to deserve either Michelangelo's monument or +Machiavelli's dedication. He usurped the Duchy of +Urbino, and spent his last days in fooling with a jester. +His reputed son, the foul Duke Alessandro, lies buried +with him here in the same coffin.</p> + +<p>Opposite the altar is the Madonna and Child, by +Michelangelo. The Madonna is one of the noblest +and most beautiful of all the master's works, but the +Child, whom Florence had once chosen for her King, +has turned His face away from the city. A few +years later, and Cosimo I. will alter the inscription +which Niccolò Capponi had set up on the Palazzo +Vecchio. The patron saints of the Medici on either +side, Sts. Cosmas and Damian, are by Michelangelo's +pupils and assistants, Fra Giovanni Angiolo da Montorsoli<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_296" id="page_296">[296]</a></span> +and Raffaello da Montelupo. Beneath these +statues lie Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother, +the elder Giuliano. Their bodies were removed +hither from the Old Sacristy in 1559, and the question +as to their place of burial was finally set at rest, +in October 1895, by the discovery of their bodies. +It is probable that Michelangelo had originally intended +the Madonna for the tomb of his first patron, +Lorenzo.</p> + +<p>In judging of the general effect of this <i>Sagrestia +Nuova</i>, which is certainly somewhat cold, it must be +remembered that Michelangelo intended it to be full of +statues and that the walls were to have been covered +with paintings. "Its justification," says Addington +Symonds, "lies in the fact that it demanded statuary +and colour for its completion." The vault was frescoed +by Giovanni da Udine, but is now whitewashed. In +1562, Vasari wrote to Michelangelo at Rome on +behalf of Duke Cosimo, telling him that "the place is +being now used for religious services by day and night, +according to the intentions of Pope Clement," and that +the Duke was anxious that all the best sculptors and +painters of the newly instituted Academy should work +upon the Sacristy and finish it from Michelangelo's +designs. "He intends," writes Vasari, "that the new +Academicians shall complete the whole imperfect +scheme, in order that the world may see that, while +so many men of genius still exist among us, the noblest +work which was ever yet conceived on earth has not +been left unfinished." And the Duke wants to know +what Michelangelo's own idea is about the statues and +paintings; "He is particularly anxious that you should +be assured of his determination to alter nothing you +have already done or planned, but, on the contrary, to +carry out the whole work according to your conception. +The Academicians, too, are unanimous in their hearty<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_297" id="page_297">[297]</a></span> +desire to abide by this decision."<a name="fnanchor_46" id="fnanchor_46"></a><a href="#footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>In the <i>Cappella dei Principi</i>, gorgeous with its +marbles and mosaics, lie the sovereigns of the younger +line, the Medicean Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the +descendants of the great captain Giovanni delle Bande +Nere. Here are the sepulchral monuments of Cosimo +I. (1537-1574); of his sons, Francesco (1574-1587) +and Ferdinand I. (1587-1609); and of Ferdinand's +son, grandson and great-grandson, Cosimo II. +(1609-1621), Ferdinand II. (1627-1670), Cosimo +III. (1670-1723). The statues are those of Ferdinand +I. and Cosimo II.</p> + +<p>Cosimo I. finally transformed the republic into a +monarchy, created a new aristocracy and established a +small standing army, though he mainly relied upon +Spanish and German mercenaries. He conquered +Siena in 1553, and in 1570 was invested with the +grand ducal crown by Pius V.–a title which the +Emperor confirmed to his successor. Although the +tragedy which tradition has hung round the end of the +Duchess Eleonora and her two sons has not stood the +test of historical criticism, there are plenty of bloody +deeds to be laid to Duke Cosimo's account during his +able and ruthless reign. Towards the close of his life +he married his mistress, Cammilla Martelli, and made +over the government to his son. This son, Francesco, +the founder of the Uffizi Gallery and of the modern +city of Leghorn, had more than his father's vices and +hardly any of his ability; his intrigue with the beautiful +Venetian, Bianca Cappello, whom he afterwards +married, and who died with him, has excited more +interest than it deserves. The Cardinal Ferdinand, +who succeeded him and renounced the cardinalate, was +incomparably the best of the house–a man of magnanimous +character and an enlightened ruler. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_298" id="page_298">[298]</a></span> +shook off the influence of Spain, and built an excellent +navy to make war upon the Turks and Barbary +corsairs. Cosimo II. and Ferdinand II. reigned +quietly and benevolently, with no ability but with +plenty of good intentions. Chiabrera sings their +praises with rather unnecessary fervour. But the +wealth and prosperity of Tuscany was waning, and +Cosimo III., a luxurious and selfish bigot, could do +nothing to arrest the decay. On the death of his +miserable and contemptible successor, Gian Gastone +dei Medici in 1737, the Medicean dynasty was at an +end.</p> + +<p>Stretching along a portion of the Via Larga, and +near the Piazza di San Marco, were the famous +gardens of the Medici, which the people sacked in +1494 on the expulsion of Piero. The Casino +Mediceo, built by Buontalenti in 1576, marks the +site. Here were placed some of Lorenzo's antique +statues and curios; and here Bertoldo had his great +art school, where the most famous painters and sculptors +came to bask in the sun of Medicean patronage, +and to copy the antique. Here the boy Michelangelo +came with his friend Granacci, and here +Andrea Verrocchio first trained the young Leonardo. +In this garden, too, Angelo Poliziano walked with his +pupils, and initiated Michelangelo into the newly revived +Hellenic culture. There is nothing now to +recall these past glories.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_35" id="illo_35"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_299" id="page_299"></a></span> +<img src="images/illus317_tmb.jpg" width="263" height="400" alt="THE WELL OF S. MARCO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE WELL OF S. MARCO</p> +<a href="images/illus317_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>The church of San Marco has been frequently +altered and modernised, and there is little now to +remind us that it was here on August 1, 1489, that +Savonarola began to expound the Apocalypse. Over +the entrance is a Crucifix ascribed by Vasari to +Giotto. On the second altar to the right is a much-damaged +but authentic Madonna and Saints by Fra +Bartolommeo; that on the opposite altar, on the left,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_301" id="page_301">[301]</a></span> +is a copy of the original now in the Pitti Palace. +There are some picturesque bits of old fourteenth +century frescoes on the left wall, and beneath them, +between the second and third altars, lie Pico della +Mirandola and his friend Girolamo Benivieni, and +Angelo Poliziano. The left transept contains the +tomb and shrine of St Antoninus, the good Dominican +Archbishop of Florence, with statues by Giovanni +da Bologna and his followers, and later frescoes. In +the sacristy, which was designed by Brunelleschi, there +is a fine bronze recumbent statue of him. Antoninus +was Prior of San Marco in the days of Angelico, and +Vasari tells us that when Angelico went to Rome, to +paint for Pope Eugenius, the Pope wished to make +the painter Archbishop of Florence: "When the +said friar heard this, he besought his Holiness to find +somebody else, because he did not feel himself apt to +govern people; but that since his Order had a friar +who loved the poor, who was most learned and fit for +rule, and who feared God, this dignity would be +much better conferred upon him than on himself. +The Pope, hearing this, and bethinking him that what +he said was true, granted his request freely; and so +Fra Antonino was made Archbishop of Florence, of +the Order of Preachers, a man truly most illustrious +for sanctity and learning."</p> + +<p>It was in the church of San Marco that Savonarola +celebrated Mass on the day of the Ordeal; here the +women waited and prayed, while the procession set +forth; and hither the Dominicans returned at evening, +amidst the howls and derision of the crowd. Here, +on the next evening, the fiercest of the fighting took +place. The attempt of the enemy to break into the +church by the sacristy door was repulsed. One of +the Panciatichi, a mere boy, mortally wounded, joyfully +received the last sacraments from Fra Domenico<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_302" id="page_302">[302]</a></span> +on the steps of the altar, and died in such bliss, that +the rest envied him. Finally the great door of the +church was broken down; Fra Enrico, a German, +mounted the pulpit and fired again and again into the +midst of the Compagnacci, shouting with each shot, +<i>Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine</i>. Driven from the +pulpit, he and other friars planted their arquebusses +beneath the Crucifix on the high altar, and continued +to fire. The church was now so full of smoke that +the friars could hardly continue the defence, until Fra +Giovacchino della Robbia broke one of the windows +with a lance. At last, when the Signoria threatened +to destroy the whole convent with artillery, Savonarola +ordered the friars to go in procession from the church +to the dormitory, and himself, taking the Blessed +Sacrament from the altar, slowly followed them.</p> + +<p>The convent itself, now officially the <i>Museo di +San Marco</i>, originally a house of Silvestrine monks, +was made over to the Dominicans by Pope Eugenius +IV., at the instance of Cosimo dei Medici and his +brother Lorenzo. They solemnly took possession in +1436, and Michelozzo entirely rebuilt the whole +convent for them, mainly at the cost of Cosimo, +between 1437 and 1452. "It is believed," says +Vasari, "to be the best conceived and the most +beautiful and commodious convent of any in Italy, +thanks to the virtue and industry of Michelozzo." +Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, as the Beato Angelico was +called, came from his Fiesolan convent, and worked +simultaneously with Michelozzo for about eight or nine +years (until the Pope summoned him to Rome in 1445 +to paint in the Vatican), covering with his mystical +dreams the walls that his friend designed. That other +artistic glory of the Dominicans, Fra Bartolommeo, +took the habit here in 1500, though there are now +only a few unimportant works of his remaining in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_303" id="page_303">[303]</a></span> +convent. Never was there such a visible outpouring +of the praying heart in painting, as in the work of +these two friars. And Antoninus and Savonarola +strove to make the spirit world that they painted a +living reality, for Florence and for the Church.</p> + +<p>The first cloister is surrounded by later frescoes, +scenes from the life of St. Antoninus, partly by +Bernardino Poccetti and Matteo Rosselli, at the beginning +of the seventeenth century. They are not of +great artistic value, but one, the fifth on the right of +the entrance, representing the entry of St. Antoninus +into Florence, shows the old façade of the Duomo. +Like gems in this rather indifferent setting, are five +exquisite frescoes by Angelico in lunettes over the +doors; St. Thomas Aquinas, Christ as a pilgrim +received by two Dominican friars, Christ in the tomb, +St. Dominic (spoilt), St. Peter Martyr; also a larger +fresco of St. Dominic at the foot of the Cross. The +second of these, symbolising the hospitality of the +convent rule, is one of Angelico's masterpieces; beneath +it is the entrance to the Foresteria, the guest-chambers. +Under the third lunette we pass into the +great Refectory, with its customary pulpit for the +novice reader: here, instead of the usual Last Supper, +is a striking fresco of St. Dominic and his friars +miraculously fed by Angels, painted in 1536 by +Giovanni Antonio Sogliani (a pupil of Lorenzo di +Credi); the Crucifixion above, with St. Catherine +of Siena and St. Antoninus, is said to be by Fra +Bartolommeo. Here, too, on the right is the original +framework by Jacopo di Bartolommeo da Sete and +Simone da Fiesole, executed in 1433, for Angelico's +great tabernacle now in the Uffizi.</p> + +<p>Angelico's St. Dominic appropriately watches over +the Chapter House, which contains the largest of Fra +Giovanni's frescoes and one of the greatest masterpieces<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_304" id="page_304">[304]</a></span> +of religious art: the Crucifixion with the patron +saints of Florence, of the convent, and of the Medici, +the founders of the religious orders, the representatives +of the zeal and learning of the Dominicans, all +gathered and united in contemplation around the +Cross of Christ. It was ordered by Cosimo dei +Medici, and painted about 1441. On our left are the +Madonna, supported by the Magdalene, the other +Mary, and the beloved Disciple; the Baptist and +St. Mark, representing the city and the convent; +St. Lawrence and St. Cosmas (said by Vasari to be +a portrait of Nanni di Banco, who died twenty years +before), and St. Damian. On our right, kneeling at +the foot of the Cross, is St. Dominic, a masterpiece +of expression and sentiment; behind him St. Augustine +and St. Albert of Jerusalem represent Augustinians +and Carmelites; St. Jerome, St. Francis, St. Bernard, +St. John Gualbert kneel; St. Benedict and St. Romuald +stand behind them, while at the end are St. Peter +Martyr and St. Thomas Aquinas. All the male +heads are admirably characterised and discriminated, +unlike Angelico's women, who are usually either +merely conventionally done or idealised into Angels. +Round the picture is a frieze of prophets, culminating +in the mystical Pelican; below is the great tree of the +Dominican order, spreading out from St. Dominic +himself in the centre, with Popes Innocent V. and +Benedict XI. on either hand. The St. Antoninus was +added later. Vasari tells us that, in this tree, the +brothers of the order assisted Angelico by obtaining +portraits of the various personages represented from +different places; and they may therefore be regarded +as the real, or traditional, likenesses of the great +Dominicans. The same probably applies to the +wonderful figure of Aquinas in the picture itself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_305" id="page_305">[305]</a></span></p> + +<p>Beyond is a second and larger cloister, surrounded +by very inferior frescoes of the life of St. Dominic, +full of old armorial bearings and architectural fragments +arranged rather incongruously. Some of the +lunettes over the cells contain frescoes of the school +of Fra Bartolommeo. The Academy of the Crusca +is established here, in what was once the dormitory +of the Novices. Connected with this cloister was +the convent garden. "In the summer time," writes +Simone Filipepi, "in the evening after supper, the +Father Fra Girolamo used to walk with his friars +in the garden, and he would make them all sit round +him with the Bible in his hand, and here he expounded +to them some fair passage of the Scriptures, sometimes +questioning some novice or other, as occasion arose. +At these meetings there gathered also some fifty or sixty +learned laymen, for their edification. When, by reason +of rain or other cause, it was not possible in the +garden, they went into the <i>hospitium</i> to do the same; +and for an hour or two one seemed verily to be in +Paradise, such charity and devotion and simplicity +appeared in all. Blessed was he who could be +there." Shortly before the Ordeal of Fire, Fra +Girolamo was walking in the garden with Fra +Placido Cinozzi, when an exceedingly beautiful boy +of noble family came to him with a ticket upon which +was written his name, offering himself to pass through +the flames. And thinking that this might not be +sufficient, he fell upon his knees, begging the Friar +that he might be allowed to undergo the ordeal for +him. "Rise up, my son," said Savonarola, "for +this thy good will is wondrously pleasing unto God"; +and, when the boy had gone, he turned to Fra Placido +and said: "From many persons have I had these applications, +but from none have I received so much joy +as from this child, for which may God be praised."</p> + +<p>To the left of the staircase to the upper floor, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_306" id="page_306">[306]</a></span> +the smaller refectory with a fresco of the Last Supper +by Domenico Ghirlandaio, not by any means one of +the painter's best works.</p> + +<p>On the top of the stairs we are initiated into the +spirit of the place by Angelico's most beautiful Annunciation, +with its inscription, <i>Virginis intacte cum +veneris ante figuram, pretereundo cave ne sileatur Ave</i>, +"When thou shalt have come before the image of +the spotless Virgin, beware lest by negligence the +Ave be silent."</p> + +<p>On the left of the stairway a double series of +cells on either side of the corridor leads us to Savonarola's +room. At the head of the corridor is one +of those representations that Angelico repeated so +often, usually with modifications, of St. Dominic at +the foot of the Cross. Each of the cells has a +painted lyric of the life of Christ and His mother, +from Angelico's hand; almost each scene with +Dominican witnesses and auditors introduced,–Dominic, +Aquinas, Peter Martyr, as the case may +be. In these frescoes Angelico was undoubtedly assisted +by pupils, from whom a few of the less excellent +scenes may come; there is an interesting, but altogether +untrustworthy tradition that some were executed +by his brother, Fra Benedetto da Mugello, +who took the Dominican habit simultaneously with +him and was Prior of the convent at Fiesole. Taking +the cells on the left first, we see the <i>Noli me tangere</i> +(1), the Entombment (2), the Annunciation (3), +the Crucifixion (4), the Nativity (5), the Transfiguration +(6), a most wonderful picture. Opposite +the Transfiguration, on the right wall of the corridor, +is a Madonna and Saints, painted by the Friar somewhat +later than the frescoes in the cells (which, it +should be observed, appear to have been painted on +the walls before the cells were actually partitioned<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_307" id="page_307">[307]</a></span> +off)–St. John Evangelist and St. Mark, the three +great Dominicans and the patrons of the Medici. +Then, on the left, the following cells contain the +Mocking of Christ (7), the Resurrection with the +Maries at the tomb (8), the Coronation of the +Madonna (9), one of the grandest of the whole +series, with St. Dominic and St. Francis kneeling +below, and behind them St. Benedict and St. Thomas +Aquinas, St. Peter Martyr and St. Paul the Hermit. +The Presentation in the Temple (10), and the +Madonna and Child with Aquinas and Augustine +(11), are inferior to the rest.</p> + +<p>The shorter passage now turns to the cells occupied +by Fra Girolamo Savonarola; one large cell leading +into two smaller ones (12-14). In the larger are +placed three frescoes by Fra Bartolommeo; Christ and +the two disciples at Emmaus, formerly over the doorway +of the refectory, and two Madonnas–one from +the Dominican convent in the Mugnone being especially +beautiful. Here are also modern busts of Savonarola +by Dupré and Benivieni by Bastianini. In the +first inner cell are Savonarola's portrait, apparently +copied from a medal and wrongly ascribed to Bartolommeo, +his Crucifix and his relics, his manuscripts +and books of devotion, and, in another case, his hair shirt +and rosary, his beloved Dominican garb which he +gave up on the day of his martyrdom. In the inmost +cell are the Cross which he is said to have carried, and a +copy of the old (but not contemporary) picture of his +death, of which the original is in the Corsini Palace.</p> + +<p>The seven small cells on the right (15-21) were +assigned to the Juniors, the younger friars who had +just passed through the Noviciate. Each contains a +fresco by Angelico of St. Dominic at the foot of the +Cross, now scourging himself, now absorbed in contemplation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_308" id="page_308">[308]</a></span> +now covering his face with his hands, but +in no two cases identical. Into one of these cells a +divine apparition was said to have come to one of these +youths, after hearing Savonarola's "most fervent and +most wondrous discourse" upon the mystery of the +Incarnation. The story is told by Simone Filipepi:–</p> + +<p>"On the night of the most Holy Nativity, to a +young friar in the convent, who had not yet sung Mass, +had appeared visibly in his cell on the little altar, whilst +he was engaged in prayer, Our Lord in the form of a +little infant even as when He was born in the stable. +And when the hour came to go into the choir for +matins, the said friar commenced to debate in his mind +whether he ought to go and leave here the Holy Child, +and deprive himself of such sweetness, or not. At +last he resolved to go and to bear It with him; so, having +wrapped It up in his arms and under his cowl as best +he could, all trembling with joy and with fear, he went +down into the choir without telling anyone. But, +when it came to his turn to sing a lesson, whilst he +approached the reading-desk, the Infant vanished from +his arms; and when the friar was aware of this, he +remained so overwhelmed and almost beside himself +that he commenced to wander through the choir, like +one who seeks a thing lost, so that it was necessary +that another should read that lesson."</p> + +<p>Passing back again down the corridor, we see in the +cells two more Crucifixions (22 and 23); the Baptism +of Christ with Madonna as witness (24), the Crucifixion +(25); then, passing the great Madonna fresco, +the Mystery of the Passion (26), in one of those +symbolical representations which seem to have originated +with the Camaldolese painter, Don Lorenzo; +Christ bound to the pillar, with St. Dominic scourging +himself and the Madonna appealing to us (27, perhaps +by a pupil); Christ bearing the Cross (28); two more +Crucifixions (29 and 30), apparently not executed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_309" id="page_309">[309]</a></span> +Angelico himself.</p> + +<p>At the side of Angelico's Annunciation opposite +the stairs, we enter the cell of St. Antoninus (31). +Here is one of Angelico's most beautiful and characteristic +frescoes, Christ's descent into Hades: "the +intense, fixed, statue-like silence of ineffable adoration +upon the spirits in prison at the feet of Christ, side by +side, the hands lifted and the knees bowed, and the +lips trembling together," as Ruskin describes it. Here, +too, is the death mask of Antoninus, his portrait perhaps +drawn from the death mask by Bartolommeo, his manuscripts +and relics; also a tree of saintly Dominicans, +Savonarola being on the main trunk, the third from the +root.</p> + +<p>The next cell on the right (32) has the Sermon on +the Mount and the Temptation in the Wilderness. In +the following (33), also double, besides the frescoed +Kiss of Judas, are two minute pictures by Fra Angelico, +belonging to an earlier stage of his art than the frescoes, +intended for reliquaries and formerly in Santa Maria +Novella. One of them, the <i>Madonna della Stella</i>, is a +very perfect and typical example of the Friar's smaller +works, in their "purity of colour almost shadowless." +The other, the Coronation of the Madonna, is less excellent +and has suffered from retouching. The Agony in the +Garden (in cell 34) contains a curious piece of mediæval +symbolism in the presence of Mary and Martha, +contemplation and action, the Mary being here the +Blessed Virgin. In the same cell is another of the +reliquaries from Santa Maria Novella, the Annunciation +over the Adoration of the Magi, with Madonna +and Child, the Virgin Martyrs, the Magdalene and +St. Catherine of Siena below; the drawing is rather +faulty. In the following cells are the Last Supper +(35), conceived mystically as the institution of the +Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, with the Madonna<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_310" id="page_310">[310]</a></span> +alone as witness; the Deposition from the Cross (36); +and the Crucifixion (37), in which Dominic stands +with out-stretched arms.</p> + +<p>Opposite on the right (38-39) is the great cell +where Pope Eugenius stayed on the occasion of the +consecration of San Marco in 1442; here Cosimo the +Elder, Pater Patriae, spent long hours of his closing +days, in spiritual intercourse with St. Antoninus and +after the latter's death. In the outer compartment +the Medicean saint, Cosmas, joins Madonna and Peter +Martyr at the foot of the Cross. Within are the +Adoration of the Magi and a Pietà, both from +Angelico's hand, and the former, one of his latest +masterpieces, probably painted with reference to the +fact that the convent had been consecrated on the +Feast of the Epiphany. Here, too, is an old terracotta +bust of Antoninus, and a splendid but damaged +picture of Cosimo himself by Jacopo da Pontormo, +incomparably finer than that artist's similarly constructed +work in the Uffizi. Between two smaller +cells containing Crucifixions, both apparently by +Angelico himself (42-43–the former with the Mary +and Martha motive at the foot of the Cross), is the +great Greek Library, built by Michelozzo for Cosimo. +Here Cosimo deposited a portion of the manuscripts +which had been collected by Niccolò Niccoli, with +additions of his own, and it became the first public +library in Italy. Its shelves are now empty and bare, +but it contains a fine collection of illuminated ritual +books from suppressed convents, several of which are, +rather doubtfully, ascribed to Angelico's brother, Fra +Benedetto da Mugello.</p> + +<p>It was in this library that Savonarola exercised for +the last time his functions of Prior of San Marco, and +surrendered to the commissioners of the Signoria, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_311" id="page_311">[311]</a></span> +the night of Palm Sunday, 1498. What happened +had best be told in the words of the Padre Pacifico +Burlamacchi of the same convent, Savonarola's contemporary +and follower. After several fictitious summonses +had come:–</p> + +<p>"They returned at last with the decree of the +Signoria in writing, but with the open promise that +Fra Girolamo should be restored safe and sound, +together with his companions. When he heard this, +he told them that he would obey. But first he retired +with his friars into the Greek Library, where he made +them in Latin a most beautiful sermon, exhorting +them to follow onwards in the way of God with faith, +prayer, and patience; telling them that it was necessary +to go to heaven by the way of tribulations, and +that therefore they ought not in any way to be terrified; +alleging many old examples of the ingratitude of the +city of Florence in return for the benefits received +from their Order. As that of St. Peter Martyr who, +after doing so many marvellous things in Florence, +was slain, the Florentines paying the price of his +blood. And of St. Catherine of Siena, whom many +had sought to kill, after she had borne so many labours +for them, going personally to Avignon to plead their +cause before the Pope. Nor had less happened to +St. Antoninus, their Archbishop and excellent Pastor, +whom they had once wished to throw from the windows. +And that it was no marvel, if he also, after +such sorrows and labourings, was paid at the end in the +same coin. But that he was ready to receive everything +with desire and happiness for the love of his Lord, +knowing that in nought else consisted the Christian life, +save in doing good and suffering evil. And thus, +while all the bye-standers wept, he finished his sermon. +Then, issuing forth from the library, he said to those +laymen who awaited him: 'I will say to you what +Jeremiah said: This thing I expected, but not so soon<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_312" id="page_312">[312]</a></span> +nor so suddenly.' He exhorted them further to live +well and to be fervent in prayer. And having confessed +to the Father Fra Domenico da Pescia, he +took the Communion in the first library. And the +same did Fra Domenico. After eating a little, he +was somewhat refreshed; and he spoke the last words +to his friars, exhorting them to persevere in religion, and +kissing them all, he took his last departure from them. +In the parting one of his children said to him: 'Father, +why dost thou abandon us and leave us so desolate?' +To which he replied: 'Son, have patience, God will +help you'; and he added that he would either see +them again alive, or that after death he would appear +to them without fail. Also, as he departed, he gave +up the common keys to the brethren, with so great +humility and charity, that the friars could not keep +themselves from tears; and many of them wished by all +means to go with him. At last, recommending himself +to their prayers, he made his way towards the door +of the library, where the first Commissioners all armed +were awaiting him; to whom, giving himself into their +hands like a most meek lamb, he said: 'I recommend +to you this my flock and all these other citizens.' And +when he was in the corridor of the library, he said: +'My friars, doubt not, for God will not fail to perfect +His work; and although I be put to death, I shall +help you more than I have done in life, and I will +return without fail to console you, either dead or alive.' +Arrived at the holy water, which is at the exit of the +choir, Fra Domenico said to him: 'Fain would I too +come to these nuptials.' Certain of the laymen, his +friends, were arrested at the command of the Signoria. +When the Father Fra Girolamo was in the first +cloister, Fra Benedetto, the miniaturist, strove ardently +to go with him; and, when the officers thrust him +back, he still insisted that he would go. But the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_313" id="page_313">[313]</a></span> +Father Fra Girolamo turned to him, and said: 'Fra +Benedetto, on your obedience come not, for I and +Fra Domenico have to die for the love of Christ.' +And thus he was torn away from the eyes of his +children."</p> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_314" id="page_314">[314]</a></p> +<h2 class="p6"><a name="chapter_x" id="chapter_x"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3><i>The Accademia delle Belle Arti–The Santissima Annunziata–And other +Buildings</i></h3> + +<p class="blockquot"> +"In Firenze, più che altrove, venivano gli uomini perfetti +in tutte l'arti, e specialmente nella pittura."–<i>Vasari.</i> +</p> + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>URNING southwards from the Piazza di San +Marco into the Via Ricasoli, we come to the +<i>Accademia delle Belle Arti</i>, with its collection of +Tuscan and Umbrian pictures, mostly gathered from +suppressed churches and convents.</p> + +<p>In the central hall, the Tribune of the David, +Michelangelo's gigantic marble youth stands under the +cupola, surrounded by casts of the master's other +works. The young hero has just caught sight of the +approaching enemy, and is all braced up for the immortal +moment. Commenced in 1501 and finished +at the beginning of 1504, out of a block of marble +over which an earlier sculptor had bungled, it was +originally set up in front of the Palazzo Vecchio on +the Ringhiera, as though to defend the great Palace of +the People. It is supposed to have taken five days to +move the statue from the Opera del Duomo, where +Michelangelo had chiselled it out, to the Palace. +When the simple-minded Gonfaloniere, Piero Soderini, +saw it, he told the artist that the nose appeared to +him to be too large; whereupon Michelangelo mounted<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_315" id="page_315">[315]</a></span> +a ladder, pretended to work upon it for a few moments, +dropping a little marble dust all the time, which he had +taken up with him, and then turned round for approval +to the Gonfaloniere, who assured him that he had +now given the statue life. This <i>gigante di Fiorenza</i>, +as it was called, was considerably damaged during the +third expulsion of the Medici in 1527, but retained its +proud position before the Palace until 1873.</p> + +<p>On the right, as we approach the giant, is the <i>Sala +del Beato Angelico</i>, containing a lovely array of Fra +Angelico's smaller paintings. Were we to attempt to +sum up Angelico's chief characteristics in one word, +that word would be <i>onestà</i>, in its early mediaeval +sense as Dante uses it in the <i>Vita Nuova</i>, signifying not +merely purity or chastity, as it came later to mean, but +the outward manifestation of spiritual beauty,–the +<i>honestas</i> of which Aquinas speaks. A supreme expression +of this may be found in the Paradise of his +Last Judgment (266), the mystical dance of saints +and Angels in the celestial garden that blossoms under +the rays of the Sun of Divine Love, and on all the +faces of the blessed beneath the Queen of Mercy on +the Judge's right. The Hell is, naturally, almost a +failure. In many of the small scenes from the lives of +Christ and His Mother, of which there are several +complete series here, some of the heads are absolute +miracles of expression; notice, for instance, the Judas +receiving the thirty pieces of silver, and all the faces in +the Betrayal (237), and, above all perhaps, the Peter +in the Entry into Jerusalem (252), on every line of +whose face seems written: "Lord, why can I not +follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy +sake." The Deposition from the Cross (246), contemplated +by St. Dominic, the Beata Villana and St. +Catherine of Alexandria, appears to be an earlier work +of Angelico's. Here, also, are three great Madonnas<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_316" id="page_316">[316]</a></span> +painted by the Friar as altar pieces for convent +churches; the Madonna and Child surrounded by +Angels and saints, while Cosmas and Damian, the +patrons of the Medici, kneel at her feet (281), was +executed in 1438 for the high altar of San Marco, +and, though now terribly injured, was originally one +of his best pictures; the Madonna and Child, with +two Angels and six saints, Peter Martyr, Cosmas and +Damian, Francis, Antony of Padua, and Louis of +Toulouse (265), was painted for the convent of the +Osservanza near Mugello,–hence the group of Franciscans +on the left; the third (227), in which Cosmas +and Damian stand with St. Dominic on the right of +the Madonna, and St. Francis with Lawrence and +John the Divine on her left, is an inferior work +from his hand.</p> + +<p>Also in this room are four delicious little panels by +Lippo Lippi (264 and 263), representing the Annunciation +divided into two compartments, St. Antony +Abbot and the Baptist; two Monks of the Vallombrosa, +by Perugino (241, 242), almost worthy of +Raphael; and two charming scenes of mediaeval +university life, the School of Albertus Magnus (231) +and the School of St. Thomas Aquinas (247). +These two latter appear to be by some pupil of Fra +Angelico, and may possibly be very early works of +Benozzo Gozzoli. In the first, Albert is lecturing +to an audience, partly lay and partly clerical, amongst +whom is St. Thomas, then a youthful novice but +already distinguished by the halo and the sun upon his +breast; in the second, Thomas himself is now holding +the professorial chair, surrounded by pupils listening or +taking notes, while Dominicans throng the cloisters +behind. On his right sits the King of France; below +his seat the discomforted Averrhoes humbly +places himself on the lowest step, between the heretics–William<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_317" id="page_317">[317]</a></span> +of St. Amour and Sabellius.</p> + +<p>From the left of the David's tribune, we turn into +three rooms containing masterpieces of the Quattrocento +(with a few later works), and appropriately named +after Botticelli and Perugino.</p> + +<p>In the <i>Sala prima del Botticelli</i> is Sandro's famous +<i>Primavera</i>, the Allegory of Spring or the Kingdom +of Venus (80). Inspired in part by Poliziano's +<i>stanze</i> in honour of Giuliano dei Medici and his Bella +Simonetta, Botticelli nevertheless has given to his +strange–not altogether decipherable–allegory, a +vague mysterious poetry far beyond anything that +Messer Angelo could have suggested to him. Through +this weirdly coloured garden of the Queen of Love, +in "the light that never was on sea or land," blind +Cupid darts upon his little wings, shooting, apparently +at random, a flame-tipped arrow which will surely +pierce the heart of the central maiden of those three, +who, in their thin clinging white raiment, personify the +Graces. The eyes of Simonetta–for it is clearly she–rest +for a moment in the dance upon the stalwart +Hermes, an idealised Giuliano, who has turned away +carelessly from the scene. Flora, "pranked and pied +for birth," advances from our right, scattering flowers +rapidly as she approaches; while behind her a wanton +Zephyr, borne on his strong wings, breaks through the +wood to clasp Fertility, from whose mouth the flowers +are starting. Venus herself, the mistress of nature, for +whom and by whom all these things are done, stands +somewhat sadly apart in the centre of the picture; +this is only one more of the numberless springs that +have passed over her since she first rose from the sea, +and she is somewhat weary of it all:–</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"Te, dea, te fugiunt venti, te nubila caeli</span><br /> +Adventumque tuum, tibi suavis daedala tellus<br /> +Summittit flores, tibi rident aequora ponti<br /> +Placatumque nitet diffuso lumine caelum."<a name="fnanchor_47" id="fnanchor_47"></a><a href="#footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>This was one of the pictures painted for Lorenzo the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_318" id="page_318">[318]</a></span> +Magnificent. Botticelli's other picture in this room, +the large Coronation of the Madonna (73) with its +predella (74), was commissioned by the Arte di Por +Sta. Maria, the Guild of Silk-merchants, for an altar +in San Marco; the ring of festive Angels, encircling +their King and Queen, is in one of the master's most +characteristic moods. On either side of the Primavera +are two early works by Lippo Lippi; Madonna adoring +the Divine Child in a rocky landscape, with the little +St. John and an old hermit (79), and the Nativity +(82), with Angels and shepherds, Jerome, Magdalene +and Hilarion. Other important pictures in this room +are Andrea del Sarto's Four Saints (76), one of his +latest works painted for the monks of Vallombrosa +in 1528; Andrea Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ +(71), in which the two Angels were possibly painted +by Verrocchio's great pupil, Leonardo, in his youth; +Masaccio's Madonna and Child watched over by St. +Anne (70), an early and damaged work, the only +authentic easel picture of his in Florence. The three +small predella pictures (72), the Nativity, the martyrdom +of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, St. Anthony of +Padua finding a stone in the place of the dead miser's +heart, by Francesco Pesellino, 1422-1457, the pupil +of Lippo Lippi, are fine examples of a painter who +normally only worked on this small scale and whose +works are very rare indeed. Francesco Granacci, +who painted the Assumption (68), is chiefly interesting +as having been Michelangelo's friend and fellow pupil<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_319" id="page_319">[319]</a></span> +under Ghirlandaio.</p> + +<p>The <i>Sala del Perugino</i> takes its name from three +works of that master which it contains; the great +Vallombrosa Assumption (57), signed and dated +1500, one of the painter's finest altar pieces, with a +very characteristic St. Michael–the Archangel who +was by tradition the genius of the Assumption, as +Gabriel had been of the Annunciation; the Deposition +from the Cross (56); and the Agony in the Garden +(53). But the gem of the whole room is Lippo +Lippi's Coronation of the Madonna (62), one of +the masterpieces of the early Florentine school, which +he commenced for the nuns of Sant' Ambrogio in +1441. The throngs of boys and girls, bearing lilies +and playing at being Angels, are altogether delightful, +and the two little orphans, that are being petted by +the pretty Florentine lady on our right, are characteristic +of Fra Filippo's never failing sympathy with +child life. On the left two admirably characterised +monks are patronised by St. Ambrose, and in the +right corner the jolly Carmelite himself, under the +wing of the Baptist, is welcomed by a little Angel +with the scroll, <i>Is perfecit opus</i>. It will be observed +that "poor brother Lippo" has dressed himself with +greater care for his celestial visit, than he announced +his intention of doing in Robert Browning's poem:–</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_320" id="page_320">[320]</a></span></p> +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i6">"Well, all these</span><br /> +Secured at their devotion, up shall come<br /> +Out of a corner when you least expect,<br /> +As one by a dark stair into a great light,<br /> +Music and talking, who but Lippo! I!–<br /> +Mazed, motionless and moon-struck–I'm the man!<br /> +Back I shrink–what is this I see and hear?<br /> +I, caught up with my monk's things by mistake,<br /> +My old serge gown and rope that goes all round,<br /> +I, in this presence, this pure company!<br /> +Where's a hole, where's a corner for escape?<br /> +Then steps a sweet angelic slip of a thing<br /> +Forward, puts out a soft palm–'Not so fast!'<br /> +Addresses the celestial presence, 'Nay–<br /> +'He made you and devised you, after all,<br /> +'Though he's none of you! Could Saint John there draw–<br /> +'His camel-hair make up a painting-brush?<br /> +'We come to brother Lippo for all that,<br /> +'<i>Iste perfecit opus!</i>'"</p> + +<p>Fra Filippo's Madonna and Child, with Sts. Cosmas +and Damian, Francis and Antony, painted for the +Medicean chapel in Santa Croce (55), is an earlier and +less characteristic work. Over the door is St. Vincent +preaching, by Fra Bartolommeo (58), originally painted +to go over the entrance to the sacristy in San Marco–a +striking representation of a Dominican preacher of +repentance and renovation, conceived in the spirit of +Savonarola, but terribly "restored." The Trinità +(63) is one of Mariotto Albertinelli's best works, +but sadly damaged. The two child Angels (61) by +Andrea del Sarto, originally belonged to his picture of +the Four Saints, in the last room; the Crucifixion, +with the wonderful figure of the Magdalene at the foot +of the Cross (65), ascribed to Luca Signorelli, does +not appear to be from the master's own hand; Ghirlandaio's +predella (67), with scenes from the lives of Sts. +Dionysius, Clement, Dominic, and Thomas Aquinas, +belongs to a great picture which we shall see presently.</p> + +<p>The <i>Sala seconda del Botticelli</i> contains three pictures +ascribed to the master, but only one is authentic–the +Madonna and Child enthroned with six Saints, while +Angels raise the curtain over her throne or hold up +emblems of the Passion (85); it is inscribed with +Dante's line–</p> + +<p class="blockquot"> +"Vergine Madre, Figlia del tuo Figlio."</p> + +<p>The familiar Three Archangels (84), though attributed +to Sandro, is not even a work of his school. There is +a charming little predella picture by Fra Filippo (86),<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_321" id="page_321">[321]</a></span> +representing a miracle of San Frediano, St. Michael +announcing her death to the Blessed Virgin, and a friar +contemplating the mystery of the Blessed Trinity–pierced +by the "three arrows of the three stringed +bow," to adopt Dante's phrase. The Deposition +from the Cross (98), was commenced by Filippino +Lippi for the Annunziata, and finished after his death +in 1504 by Perugino, who added the group of Maries +with the Magdalene and the figure on our right. The +Vision of St. Bernard (97), by Fra Bartolommeo, is +the first picture that the Friar undertook on resuming +his brush, after Raphael's visit to Florence had stirred +him up to new efforts; commenced in 1506, it was left +unfinished, and has been injured by renovations. Here +are two excellent paintings by Lorenzo di Credi (92 +and 94), the former, the Adoration of the Shepherds, +being his very best and most perfectly finished work. +High up are two figures in niches by Filippino Lippi, +the Baptist and the Magdalene (93 and 89), hardly +pleasing. The Resurrection (90), by Raffaellino del +Garbo, is the only authentic work in Florence of a +pupil of Filippino's, who gave great promise which was +never fulfilled.</p> + +<p>At the end of the hall are three Sale <i>dei Maestri +Toscani</i>, from the earliest Primitives down to the +eighteenth century. Only a few need concern us +much.</p> + +<p>The first room contains the works of the earlier +masters, from a pseudo-Cimabue (102), to Luca +Signorelli, whose Madonna and Child with Archangels +and Doctors (164), painted for a church in +Cortona, has suffered from restoration. There are four +genuine, very tiny pictures by Botticelli (157, 158, +161, 162). The Adoration of the Kings (165), by +Gentile da Fabriano, is one of the most delightful old +pictures in Florence; Gentile da Fabriano, an Umbrian<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_322" id="page_322">[322]</a></span> +master who, through Jacopo Bellini, had a considerable +influence upon the early Venetian school, settled in +Florence in 1422, and finished this picture in the +following year for Santa Trinità, near which he kept +a much frequented bottega. Michelangelo said that +Gentile had a hand similar to his name; and this picture, +with its rich and varied poetry, is his masterpiece. The +man wearing a turban, seen full face behind the third +king, is the painter himself. Kugler remarks: "Fra +Angelico and Gentile are like two brothers, both +highly gifted by nature, both full of the most refined +and amiable feelings; but the one became a +monk, the other a knight." The smaller pictures +surrounding it are almost equally charming in their +way–especially, perhaps, the Flight into Egypt in +the predella. The Deposition from the Cross (166), +by Fra Angelico, also comes from Santa Trinità, for +which it was finished in 1445; originally one of +Angelico's masterpieces, it has been badly repainted; +the saints in the frame are extremely beautiful, especially +a most wonderful St. Michael at the top, on our +left; the man standing on the ladder, wearing a black +hood, is the architect, Michelozzo, who was the Friar's +friend, and may be recognised in several of his paintings. +The lunettes in the three Gothic arches above Angelico's +picture, and which, perhaps, did not originally belong +to it, are by the Camaldolese Don Lorenzo, by whom +are also the Annunciation with four Saints (143), and +the three predella scenes (144, 145, 146).</p> + +<p>Of the earlier pictures, the Madonna and Child +adored by Angels (103) is now believed to be the +only authentic easel picture of Giotto's that remains to +us–though this is, possibly, an excess of scepticism. +Besides several works ascribed to Taddeo Gaddi and +his son Agnolo, by the former of whom are probably +the small panels from Santa Croce, formerly attributed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_323" id="page_323">[323]</a></span> +to Giotto, we should notice the Pietà by Giovanni da +Milano (131); the Presentation in the Temple by +Ambrogio Lorenzetti (134), signed and dated 1342; +and a large altarpiece ascribed to Pietro Cavallini (157). +The so-called Marriage of Boccaccio Adimari with +Lisa Ricasoli (147) is an odd picture of the social +customs of old Florence.</p> + +<p>In the second room are chiefly works by Fra +Bartolommeo and Mariotto Albertinelli. By the +Frate, are the series of heads of Christ and Saints +(168), excepting the Baptist on the right; they are +frescoes taken from San Marco, excepting the Christ +on the left, inscribed "Orate pro pictore 1514," +which is in oil on canvas. Also by him are the +two frescoes of Madonna and Child (171, 173), +and the splendid portrait of Savonarola in the character +of St. Peter Martyr (172), the great religious +persecutor of the Middle Ages, to whom Fra Girolamo +had a special devotion. By Albertinelli, are +the Madonna and Saints (167), and the Annunciation +(169), signed and dated 1510. This room also +contains several pictures by Fra Paolino da Pistoia and +the Dominican nun, Plautilla Nelli, two pious but insipid +artists, who inherited Fra Bartolommeo's drawings +and tried to carry on his traditions. On a stand +in the middle of the room, is Domenico Ghirlandaio's +Adoration of the Shepherds (195), from Santa Trinità, +a splendid work with–as Vasari puts it–"certain +heads of shepherds which are held a divine thing."</p> + +<p>On the walls of the third room are later pictures of +no importance or significance. But in the middle of +the room is another masterpiece by Ghirlandaio (66); +the Madonna and Child with two Angels, Thomas +Aquinas and Dionysius standing on either side of the +throne, Dominic and Clement kneeling. It is +seldom, indeed, that this prosaic painter succeeded in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_324" id="page_324">[324]</a></span> +creating such a thinker as this Thomas, such a mystic +as this Dionysius; in the head of the latter we see indeed +the image of the man who, according to the +pleasant mediæval fable eternalised by Dante, "in the +flesh below, saw deepest into the Angelic nature and +its ministry."</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<p>In the Via Cavour, beyond San Marco, is the +<i>Chiostro dello Scalzo</i>, a cloister belonging to a brotherhood +dedicated to St. John, which was suppressed in +the eighteenth century. Here are a series of frescoes +painted in grisaille by Andrea del Sarto and his partner, +Francia Bigio, representing scenes from the life of the +Precursor, with allegorical figures of the Virtues. The +Baptism of Christ is the earliest, and was painted by +the two artists in collaboration, in 1509 or 1510. +After some work for the Servites, which we shall +see presently, Andrea returned to this cloister; and +painted, from 1515 to 1517, the Justice, St. John +preaching, St. John baptising the people, and his +imprisonment. Some of the figures in these frescoes +show the influence of Albert Dürer's engravings. Towards +the end of 1518, Andrea went off to France to +work for King Francis I.; and, while he was away, +Francia Bigio painted St. John leaving his parents, and +St. John's first meeting with Christ. On Andrea's return, +he set to work here again and painted, at intervals +from 1520 to 1526, Charity, Faith and Hope, the +dance of the daughter of Herodias, the decollation of +St. John, and the presentation of his head, the Angel +appearing to Zacharias, the Visitation, and, last of all, +the Birth of the Baptist. The Charity is Andrea's +own wife, Lucrezia, who at this very time, if Vasari's +story is true, was persuading him to break his promise +to the French King and to squander the money which +had been intrusted to him for the purchase of works of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_325" id="page_325">[325]</a></span> +art.</p> + +<p>The Via della Sapienza leads from San Marco into +the <i>Piazza della Santissima Annunziata</i>. In one of +the houses on the left, now incorporated into the Reale +Istituto di Studi Superiori, Andrea del Sarto and +Francia Bigio lodged with other painters, before +Andrea's marriage; and here, usually under the presidency +of the sculptor Rustici, the "Compagnia del +Paiuolo," an artists' club of twelve members, met for +feasting and disport.<a name="fnanchor_48" id="fnanchor_48"></a><a href="#footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>This Piazza was a great place for processions in old +Florence. Here stand the church of the <i>Santissima +Annunziata</i> and the convent of the Servites, while the +Piazza itself is flanked to right and left by arcades +originally designed by Brunelleschi. The equestrian +statue of the Grand Duke Ferdinand I. was cast by +Giovanni da Bologna out of metal from captured +Turkish guns. The arcade on the right, as we face +the church, with its charming medallions of babies in +swaddling clothes by Andrea della Robbia, is a part +of the Spedale degli Innocenti or Hospital for Foundlings, +which was commenced from Brunelleschi's designs +in 1421, during the Gonfalonierate of Giovanni +dei Medici; the work, which was eloquently supported +in the Council of the People by Leonardo Bruni, was +raised by the Silk-merchants Guild, the Arte di Por +Santa Maria. On its steps the Compagnacci murdered +their first victim in the attack on San Marco. There +is a picturesque court, designed by Brunelleschi, with +an Annunciation by Andrea della Robbia over the +door of the chapel, and a small picture gallery, which +contains nothing of much importance, save a Holy +Family with Saints by Piero di Cosimo. In the +chapel, or church of Santa Maria degli Innocenti,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_326" id="page_326">[326]</a></span> +there is a masterpiece by Domenico Ghirlandaio, +painted in 1488, an Adoration of the Magi (the +fourth head on the left is the painter himself), in +which the Massacre of the Innocents is seen in the +background, and two of these glorified infant martyrs, +under the protection of the two St. Johns, are kneeling +most sweetly in front of the Madonna and her +Child, for whom they have died, joining in the adoration +of the kings and the <i>gloria</i> of the angelic choir.</p> + +<p>The church of the Santissima Annunziata was +founded in the thirteenth century, but has been completely +altered and modernised since at different epochs. +In summer mornings lilies and other flowers lie in +heaps in its portico and beneath Ghirlandaio's mosaic +of the Annunciation, to be offered at Madonna's +shrine within. The entrance court was built in the +fifteenth century, at the expense of the elder Piero dei +Medici. The fresco to the left of the entrance, the +Nativity of Christ, is by Alessio Baldovinetti. Within +the glass, to the left, are six frescoes representing the +life and miracles of the great Servite, Filippo Benizzi; +that of his receiving the habit of the order is by +Cosimo Rosselli (1476); the remaining five are early +works by Andrea del Sarto, painted in 1509 and +1510, for which he received a mere trifle; in the +midst of them is an indifferent seventeenth century +bust of their painter. The frescoes on the right, +representing the life of the Madonna, of whom this +order claims to be the special servants, are slightly +later. The approach of the Magi and the Nativity +of the Blessed Virgin, the latter dated 1514, are +among the finest works of Andrea del Sarto; in the +former he has introduced himself and the sculptor +Sansovino, and among the ladies in the latter is his +wife. Fifty years afterwards the painter Jacopo da +Empoli was copying this picture, when a very old lady,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_327" id="page_327">[327]</a></span> +who was going into the church to hear mass, stopped +to look at his work, and then, pointing to the portrait +of Lucrezia, told him that it was herself. The +Sposalizio, by Francia Bigio, painted in 1513, was +damaged by the painter himself in a fit of passion at +the meddling of the monks. The Visitation, by +Jacopo da Pontormo, painted in 1516, shows what +admirable work this artist could do in his youth, +before he fell into his mannered imitations of Michelangelo; +the Assumption, painted slightly later by +another of Andrea's pupils, Rosso Fiorentino, is less +excellent.</p> + +<p>Inside the church itself, on the left, is the sanctuary +of Our Lady of the Annunciation, one of the most +highly revered shrines in Tuscany; it was constructed +from the designs of Michelozzo at the cost of the +elder Piero dei Medici to enclose the miraculous +picture of the Annunciation, and lavishly decorated +and adorned by the Medicean Grand Dukes. After +the Pazzi conspiracy, Piero's son Lorenzo had a +waxen image of himself suspended here in thanksgiving +for his escape. Over the altar there is usually +a beautiful little head of the Saviour, by Andrea del +Sarto. The little oratory beyond, with the Madonna's +mystical emblems on its walls, was constructed in the +seventeenth century.</p> + +<p>In the second chapel from the shrine is a fresco by +Andrea del Castagno, which was discovered in the +summer of 1899 under a copy of Michelangelo's +Last Judgment. It represents St. Jerome and two +women saints adoring the Blessed Trinity, and is characteristic +of the <i>modo terribile</i> in which this painter +conceived his subjects; the heads of the Jerome and +the older saint to our right are particularly powerful. +For the rest, the interior of this church is more +gorgeous than tasteful; and the other works which it<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_328" id="page_328">[328]</a></span> +contains, including the two Peruginos, and some +tolerable monuments, are third rate. The rotunda +of the choir was designed by Leo Battista Alberti +and erected at the cost of the Marquis of Mantua, +whose descendant, San Luigi Gonzaga, had a special +devotion to the miraculous picture.</p> + +<p>From the north transept, the cloisters are entered. +Here, over the door, is the Madonna del Sacco, an +exceedingly beautiful fresco by Andrea del Sarto, +painted in 1525. St. Joseph, leaning upon the sack +which gives the picture its name, is reading aloud the +Prophecies to the Mother and Child whom they +concern. In this cloister–which was built by +Cronaca–is the monument of the French knight +slain at Campaldino in 1289 (<i>see</i> chapter ii.), which +should be contrasted with the later monuments of +condottieri in the Duomo. Here also is the chapel +of St. Luke, where the Academy of Artists, founded +under Cosimo I., used to meet.</p> + +<p>A good view of the exterior of the rotunda can be +obtained from the Via Gino Capponi. At the corner +of this street and the Via del Mandorlo is the house +which Andrea del Sarto bought for himself and his +Lucrezia, after his return from France, and here he +died in 1531, "full of glory and of domestic sorrows." +Lucrezia survived him for nearly forty years, and died +in 1570. Perhaps, if she had not made herself so +unpleasant to her husband's pupils and assistants, good +Giorgio Vasari–the youngest of them–might not +have left us so dark a picture of this beautiful +Florentine.</p> + +<p>The rather picturesque bit of ruin in the Via degli +Alfani, at the corner of the Via del Castellaccio, +is merely a part of an oratory in connection with Santa +Maria degli Angioli, which Brunelleschi commenced +for Filippo Scolari, but which was abandoned. <i>Santa +Maria degli Angioli</i> itself, a suppressed Camaldolese<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_329" id="page_329">[329]</a></span> +house, was of old one of the most important convents +in Florence. The famous poet, Fra Guittone +d'Arezzo, of whom Dante speaks disparagingly in +the <i>Commedia</i> and in the <i>De Vulgari Eloquentia</i>, was +instrumental in its foundation in 1293. It was sacked +in 1378 during the rising of the Ciompi. This +convent in the earlier portion of the fifteenth century +was a centre of Hellenic studies and humanistic +culture, under Father Ambrogio Traversari, who +died at the close of the Council of Florence. In +the cloister there is still a powerful fresco by Andrea +del Castagno representing Christ on the Cross, with +Madonna and the Magdalene, the Baptist, St. Benedict +and St. Romuald. The Romuald especially, the +founder of the order, is a fine life-like figure.</p> + +<p>The <i>Spedale di Santa Maria Nuova</i> was originally +founded by Messer Folco Portinari, the father of the +girl who may have been Dante's "Giver of Blessing," +in 1287. Folco died in 1289, and is buried within +the church, which contains one of Andrea della +Robbia's Madonnas. Over the portal is a terracotta +Coronation of the Madonna by Bicci di Lorenzo, +erected in 1424. The two frescoes, representing +scenes in the history of the hospital, are of the early +part of the fifteenth century; the one on the right +was painted in 1424 by Bicci di Lorenzo. In the +Via Bufalini, Ghiberti had his workshop; in what +was once his house is now the picture gallery of the +hospital. Here is the fresco of the Last Judgment, +commenced by Fra Bartolommeo in 1499, before he +abandoned the world, and finished by Mariotto Albertinelli. +Among its contents are an Annunciation +by Albertinelli, Madonnas by Cosimo Rosselli and +Rosso Fiorentino, and a terracotta Madonna by Verrocchio. +The two pictures ascribed to Angelico and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_330" id="page_330">[330]</a></span> +Botticelli are not authentic. But in some respects +more interesting than these Florentine works is the +triptych by the Fleming, Hugo Van der Goes, painted +between 1470 and 1475 for Tommaso Portinari, +Messer Folco's descendant; in the centre is the +"Adoration of the Shepherds," with deliciously +quaint little Angels; in the side wings, Tommaso +Portinari with his two boys, his wife and their little +girl, are guarded by their patron saints. Tommaso +Portinari was agent for the Medici in Bruges; and, on +the occasion of the wedding of Charles the Bold of +Burgundy with Margaret of York in 1468, he made a +fine show riding in the procession at the head of the +Florentines.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_36" id="illo_36"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_331" id="page_331"></a></span> +<img src="images/illus349_tmb.jpg" width="261" height="400" alt="THE CLOISTER OF THE INNOCENTI" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE CLOISTER OF THE INNOCENTI</p> +<a href="images/illus349_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>A little more to the east are the church and suppressed +convent of Santa Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi. +In the church, which has a fine court designed by +Giuliano da San Gallo, is a Coronation of the Madonna +by Cosimo Rosselli; in the chapter-house of the +convent is a Crucifixion by Perugino, painted in the +closing years of the Quattrocento, perhaps the grandest +of all his frescoes. In Ruskin's chapter on the +<i>Superhuman Ideal</i>, in the second volume of <i>Modern +Painters</i>, he cites the background of this fresco +(together with Benozzo Gozzoli's in the Palazzo +Riccardi) as one of the most perfect examples of +those ideal landscapes of the religious painters, in +which Perugino is supreme: "In the landscape of +the fresco in Sta. Maria Maddalena at Florence there +is more variety than is usual with him: a gentle river +winds round the bases of rocky hills, a river like +our own Wye or Tees in their loveliest reaches; +level meadows stretch away on its opposite side; +mounds set with slender-stemmed foliage occupy the +nearer ground, and a small village with its simple +spire peeps from the forest at the bend of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_333" id="page_333">[333]</a></span> +valley."</p> + +<p>Beyond is the church of Sant' Ambrogio, once +belonging to the convent of Benedictine nuns for +whom Fra Lippo Lippi painted his great Coronation +of Madonna. The church is hardly interesting at present, +but contains an Assumption by Cosimo Rosselli, +and, in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, a marble +tabernacle by Mino da Fiesole and a fresco by Cosimo +Rosselli painted in 1486, representing the legend of +a miraculous chalice with some fine Florentine portrait +heads, altogether above the usual level of Cosimo's +work.</p> + +<p>The Borgo la Croce leads hence to the Porta +alla Croce, in the very prosaic and modern Piazza +Beccaria. This Porta alla Croce, the eastern gate +of Florence in the third walls, was commenced by +Arnolfo di Cambio in 1284; the frescoed Madonna +in the lunette is by one of the later followers of +Ghirlandaio. Through this gate, on October 6th +1308, Corso Donati fled from Florence, after his +desperate attempt to hold the Piazza di San Piero +Maggiore against the forces of the Signoria. Following +the Via Aretina towards Rovezzano, we soon +reach the remains of the Badia di San Salvi, where +he was slain by his captors–as Dante makes his +brother Forese darkly prophesy in the twenty-fourth +canto of the <i>Purgatorio</i>. Four year later, in October +1312, the Emperor Henry VII. lay sick in the +Abbey, while his army ineffectually besieged Florence. +Nothing remains to remind us of that epoch, although +the district is still called the Campo di Marte or +Campo di Arrigo. We know from Leonardo Bruni +that Dante, although he had urged the Emperor on +to attack the city, did not join the imperial army +like many of his fellow exiles had done: "so much +reverence did he yet retain for his fatherland." In<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_334" id="page_334">[334]</a></span> +the old refectory of the Abbey is Andrea del Sarto's +Last Supper, one of his most admirable frescoes, +painted between 1525 and 1527, equally excellent +in colour and design. "I know not," writes Vasari, +"what to say of this <i>Cenacolo</i> that would not be +too little, seeing it to be such that all who behold +it are struck with astonishment." When the siege +was expected in 1529, and the defenders of the city +were destroying everything in the suburbs which could +give aid or cover to the enemy, a party of them +broke down a wall in the convent and found themselves +face to face with this picture. Lost in admiration, +they built up a portion of what they had +destroyed, in order that this last triumph of Florentine +painting might be secure from the hand of war.</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<p>On this side of the river, those walls of Florence +which Lapo Gianni would fain have seen <i>inargentate</i>–the +third circle reared by Arnolfo and his successors–have +been almost entirely destroyed, and their site +marked by the broad utterly prosaic Viali. Besides +the Porta alla Croce, the Porta San Gallo and the +Porta al Prato still stand, on the north and west +respectively. The Porta San Gallo was begun from +Arnolfo's design in 1284, but not finished until 1327; +the fresco in the lunette is by Michele di Ridolfo +Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo's adopted son. On July 21, +1304, the exiled Bianchi and Ghibellines made a +desperate attempt to surprise Florence through this +gate, led by the heroic young Baschiera della Tosa. +In 1494, Piero dei Medici and his brother Giuliano +fled from the people through it; and in 1738 the +first Austrian Grand Duke, Francis II., entered by it. +The triumphant arch beyond, at which the lions +of the Republic, to right and left of the gate, appear +to gaze with little favour, marked this latter<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_335" id="page_335">[335]</a></span> +event.</p> + +<p>These Austrian Grand Dukes were decidedly better +rulers than the Medici, to whom, by an imperial usurpation, +they succeeded on the death of Gian Gastone. +Leopold I., Ferdinand III., Leopold II., were tolerant +and liberal-minded sovereigns, and under them Tuscany +became the most prosperous state in Italy: "a Garden +of Paradise without the tree of knowledge and without +the tree of life." But, when the Risorgimento +came, their sway was found incompatible with the +aspirations of the Italians towards national unification; +the last Grand Duke, after wavering between Austria +and young Italy, threw in his lot with the former, and +after having brought the Austrians into Tuscany, was +forced to abdicate. Thus Florence became the first +capital of Victor Emmanuel's kingdom.</p> + +<p>In the Via di San Gallo is the very graceful +Palazzo Pandolfini, commenced in 1520 from Raphael's +designs, on the left as we move inwards from the gate. +From the Via 27 Aprile, which joins the Via di San +Gallo, we enter the former convent of Sta. Appollonia. +In what was once its refectory is a fresco of the Last +Supper by Andrea del Castagno, with the Crucifixion, +Entombment, and Resurrection. Andrea del Castagno +impressed his contemporaries by his furious passions and +savage intractability of temper, his quality of <i>terribilità</i>; +although we now know that Vasari's story that Andrea +obtained the secret of using oil as a vehicle in painting +from his friend, Domenico Veneziano, and then murdered +him, must be a mere fable, since Domenico +survived Andrea by nearly five years. Rugged unadorned +strength, with considerable power of characterisation +and great technical dexterity, mark his +extant works, which are very few in number. This +<i>Cenacolo</i> in the finest of them all; the figures are full<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_336" id="page_336">[336]</a></span> +of life and character, although the Saviour is unpleasing +and the Judas inclines to caricature. The nine figures +from the Villa Pandolfini, frescoes transferred to canvas, +are also his; Filippo Scolari, known as Pippo Spano +(a Florentine connected with the Buondelmonti, but +Ghibelline, who became Count of Temesvar and a great +Hungarian captain), Farinata degli Uberti, Niccolò +Acciaiuoli (a Florentine who became Grand Seneschal +of the kingdom of Naples and founded the Certosa), +the Cumæan Sibyl, Esther, Queen Tomyris, Dante, +Petrarch, and Boccaccio. The two poets and Boccaccio +are the least successful, since they were altogether +out of Andrea's line, but there must have been something +noble in the man to enable him so to realise +Farinata degli Uberti, as he stood alone at Empoli +when all others agreed to destroy Florence, to defend +her to the last: <i>Colui che la difese a viso aperto.</i></p> + +<p>A <i>Cenacolo</i> of a very different character may be seen +in the refectory of the suppressed convent of +Sant' Onofrio in the Via di Faenza. Though showing +Florentine influence in its composition, this fresco is +mainly Umbrian in character; from a half deciphered +inscription on the robe of one of the Apostles (which +appears to have been altered), it was once attempted to +ascribe it to Raphael. It is now believed to be partly +the work of Perugino, partly that of some pupil or +pupils of his–perhaps Gerino da Pistoia or Giannicola +Manni. It has also been ascribed to Giovanni Lo +Spagna and to Raffaellino del Garbo. Morelli supposed +it to be the work of a pupil of Perugino who +was inspired by a Florentine engraving of the fifteenth +century, and suggested Giannicola Manni. In the +same street is the picturesque little Gothic church of +San Jacopo in Campo Corbolini.</p> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_337" id="page_337">[337]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_37" id="illo_37"></a> +<img src="images/illus355_tmb.jpg" width="262" height="400" alt="A FLORENTINE SUBURB" title="" /> +<p class="caption">A FLORENTINE SUBURB</p> +<a href="images/illus355_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_339" id="page_339">[339]</a></p> +<p>At the end of the Via Faenza–where once stood +one of Arnolfo's gates–we are out again upon the +Viale, here named after Filippo Strozzi. Opposite +rises what was the great Medicean citadel, the Fortezza +da Basso, built by Alessandro dei Medici to overawe +the city. Michelangelo steadfastly refused, at the risk +of his life, to have anything to do with it. Filippo +Strozzi is said to have aided Alessandro in carrying +out this design, and even to have urged it upon him, +although he was warned that he was digging his own +grave. After the unsuccessful attempt of the exiles to +overthrow the newly-established government of Duke +Cosimo, while Baccio Valori and the other prisoners +were sent to be beheaded or hanged in the Bargello, +Filippo Strozzi was imprisoned here and cruelly tortured, +in spite of the devoted attempts of his children +to obtain his release. Here at length, in 1538, he +was found dead in his cell. He was said to have left a +paper declaring that, lest he should be more terribly +tortured and forced to say things to prejudice his own +honour and inculpate innocent persons, he had resolved +to take his own life, and that he commended his soul +to God, humbly praying Him, if He would grant it no +other good, at least to give it a place with that of Cato +of Utica. It is not improbable that the paper was a +fabrication, and that Filippo had been murdered by +orders of the Duke.</p> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_340" id="page_340">[340]</a></p> +<h2 class="p6"><a name="chapter_xi" id="chapter_xi"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> +<h3><i>The Bridges–The Quarter of Santa +Maria Novella</i></h3> + +<p class="poem"> +"Sopra il bel fiume d'Arno alla gran villa."<br /> +<span class="i10">–<i>Dante.</i></span></p> + +<p><span class="dropcap">O</span>UTSIDE the portico of the Uffizi four Florentine +heroes–Farinata degli Uberti, Piero Capponi, +Giovanni delle Bande Nere, Francesco Ferrucci–from +their marble niches keep watch and ward over +the river. This Arno, which Lapo Gianni dreamed +of as <i>balsamo fino</i>, is spanned by four ancient and +famous bridges, and bordered on both banks by the +Lungarno.</p> + +<p>To the east is the Ponte Rubaconte–so called after +the Milanese Podestà, during whose term of office it +was made–or Ponte alle Grazie, built in 1237; it is +mentioned by Dante in Canto xii. of the <i>Purgatorio</i>, +and is the only existing Florentine bridge which could +have actually felt the footsteps of the man who was +afterwards to tread scathless through the ways of +Hell, "unbitten by its whirring sulphur-spume." It +has, however, been completely altered at various +periods. On this bridge a solemn reconciliation was +effected between Guelfs and Ghibellines on July 2, +1273, by Pope Gregory X. The Pope in state, +between Charles of Anjou and the Emperor Baldwin +of Constantinople, blessed his "reconciled" people +from the bridge, and afterwards laid the first stone of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_341" id="page_341">[341]</a></span> +a church called San Gregorio della Pace in the Piazza +dei Mozzi, now destroyed. As soon as the Pope's +back was turned, Charles contrived that his work +should be undone, and the Ghibellines hounded again +out of the city.<a name="fnanchor_49" id="fnanchor_49"></a><a href="#footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> + +<p>Below the Ponte alle Grazie comes the Ponte +Vecchio, the Bridge <i>par excellence</i>; <i>il ponte</i>, or <i>il +passo d'Arno</i>, as Dante calls it. More than a mere +bridge over a river, this Ponte Vecchio is a link in +the chain binding Florence to the Eternal City. A +Roman bridge stood here of old, and a Roman road +may be said to have run across it; it heard the tramp +of Roman legionaries, and shook beneath the horses of +Totila's Gothic chivalry. This Roman bridge possibly +lasted down to the great inundation of 1333. +The present structure, erected by Taddeo Gaddi after +1360, with its exquisite framed pictures of the river +and city in the centre, is one of the most characteristic +bits of old Florence still remaining. The shops of +goldsmiths and jewellers were originally established +here in the days of Cosimo I., for whom Giorgio +Vasari built the gallery that runs above to connect the +two Grand Ducal Palaces. Connecting the Porta +Romana with the heart of the city, the bridge has +witnessed most of the great pageants and processions +in Florentine history. Popes and Emperors have +crossed it in state; Florentine generals, or hireling<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_342" id="page_342">[342]</a></span> +condottieri, at the head of their victorious troops; the +Piagnoni, bearing the miraculous Madonna of the +Impruneta to save the city from famine and pestilence; +and Savonarola's new Cyrus, Charles VIII., as conqueror, +with lance levelled. Across it, in 1515, was +Pope Leo X. borne in his litter, blessing the people +to right and left, amidst the exultant cries of <i>Palle, +Palle!</i> from the crowd, who had forgotten for the +time all the crimes of his house in their delight at +seeing their countryman, the son of Lorenzo the +Magnificent, raised to the papal throne.</p> + +<p>In Dante's day, what remained of the famous statue +supposed of Mars, <i>quella pietra scema che guarda il ponte</i>, +"that mutilated stone which guardeth the bridge," still +stood here at the corner, probably at the beginning of +the present Lungarno Acciaiuoli. "I was of that city +that changed its first patron for the Baptist," says an +unknown suicide in the seventh circle of Hell, probably +one of the Mozzi: "on which account he with his art +will ever make it sorrowful. And were it not that at +the passage of the Arno there yet remains some semblance +of him, those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it +on the ashes left by Attila, would have laboured in +vain." Here, as we saw in chapter i., young Buondelmonte +was murdered in 1215, a sacrifice to Mars +in the city's "last time of peace," <i>nella sua pace +postrema</i>.</p> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_343" id="page_343"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_38" id="illo_38"></a> +<img src="images/illus361_tmb.jpg" width="400" height="256" alt="THE PONTE VECCHIO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE PONTE VECCHIO</p> +<a href="images/illus361_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Lower down comes the Ponte Santa Trinità, +originally built in 1252; and still lower the Ponte +alla Carraia, built between 1218 and 1220 in the days +of Frederick II., for the sake of the growing commerce +of the Borgo Ognissanti. This latter bridge +was originally called the Ponte Nuovo, as at that time +the only other bridge over the Arno was the Ponte +Vecchio. It was here that a terrible disaster took +place on May 1st, 1304–a strange piece of grim<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_345" id="page_345">[345]</a></span> +mediæval jesting by the irony of fate turned to still +grimmer earnest. After a cruel period of disasters +and faction fights, there had come a momentary gleam +of peace, and it was determined to renew the pageants +and festivities that had been held in better days on +May-day, "in the good time passed, of the tranquil +and good state of Florence," each contrada trying to +rival the other. What followed had best be told in +the words of Giovanni Villani, an eye-witness:–</p> + +<p>"Amongst the others, the folk of the Borgo San +Frediano, who had been wont of yore to devise the +newest and most diverse pastimes, sent out a proclamation, +that those who wished to know news of the other +world should be upon the Ponte alla Carraia and +around the Arno on the day of the calends of May. +And they arranged scaffolds on the Arno upon boats +and ships, and made thereon the likeness and figure of +Hell with fires and other pains and torments, with +men arrayed like demons, horrible to behold, and +others who bore the semblance of naked souls, that +seemed real persons; and they hurled them into those +divers torments with loud cries and shrieks and uproar, +the which seemed hateful and appalling to hear and to +behold. Many were the citizens that gathered here to +witness this new sport; and the Ponte alla Carraia, +the which was then of wood from pile to pile, was so +laden with folk that it broke down in several places, +and fell with the people who were upon it, whereby +many persons died there and were drowned, and many +were grieviously injured; so that the game was changed +from jest to earnest, and, as the proclamation had run, +so indeed did many depart in death to hear news of +the other world, with great mourning and lamentation +to all the city, for each one thought that he had lost +son or brother."</p> + +<p>The famous inundation of November 1333 swept<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_346" id="page_346">[346]</a></span> +away all the bridges, excepting the Ponte Rubaconte. +The present Ponte Santa Trinità and Ponte alla +Carraia were erected for Duke Cosimo I. by Bartolommeo +Ammanati, shortly after the middle of the +sixteenth century.</p> + +<p>Turning from the river at the Ponte Vecchio by +the Via Por Sta. Maria, we see on the right the old +church of San Stefano, with a completely modernised +interior. Here in 1426 Rinaldo degli Albizzi and +Niccolò da Uzzano held a meeting of some seventy +citizens, and Rinaldo proposed to check the growing +power of the populace by admitting the magnates into +the government and reducing the number of Arti Minori. +Their plan failed through the opposition of Giovanni +dei Medici, who acquired much popularity thereby. +It should be remembered that it was not here, as +usually stated, but in the Badia, which was also dedicated +to St. Stephen, that Boccaccio lectured on +Dante.</p> + +<p>Right and left two very old streets diverge, the Via +Lambertesca and the Borgo Santissimi Apostoli, with +splendid mediæval towers. In the former, at the +angle of the Via di Por Santa Maria, are the towers +of the Girolami and Gherardini, round which there +was fierce fighting in the expulsion of the Ghibellines +in 1266. Opposite, at the opening of the Borgo +Santissimi Apostoli, are the towers of the Baldovinetti +(the tower of San Zenobio) and of the Amidei–<i>la +casa di che nacque il vostro fleto</i>, as Cacciaguida puts +it to Dante: "the house from which your wailing +sprang," whose feud with the Buondelmonti was supposed +to have originated the Guelf and Ghibelline +factions in Florence. And further down the Borgo +Santissimi Apostoli, at the opening of the Chiasso +delle Misure, is the tall and stately tower of these +Buondelmonti themselves, who also had a palace on<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_347" id="page_347">[347]</a></span> +the opposite side of the street.</p> + +<p>The old church of the Santissimi Apostoli, in the +Piazza del Limbo, has an inscription on its façade +stating that it was founded by Charlemagne, and consecrated +by Archbishop Turpin, with Roland and +Oliver as witnesses. It appears +to have been built in +the eleventh century, and is +the oldest church on this side +of the Arno, with the exception +of the Baptistery. +Its interior, which is well +preserved, is said to have +been taken by Filippo +Brunelleschi as the model +for San Lorenzo and Santo +Spirito. In it is a beautiful +Ciborium by Andrea della +Robbia, with monuments of +some of the Altoviti family.</p> + +<div class="figright"><a name="illo_39" id="illo_39"></a> +<img src="images/illus365_tmb.jpg" width="242" height="400" alt="THE TOWER OF S. ZANOBI" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE TOWER OF S. ZANOBI</p> +<a href="images/illus365_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>The Piazza Santa Trinità +was a great place for social +and other gatherings in +mediæval and renaissance +Florence. Here on the +first of May 1300, a dance +of girls was being held to +greet the calends of May +in the old Florentine fashion, when a band of mounted +youths of the Donati, Pazzi and Spini came to blows +with a rival company of the Cerchi and their allies; +and thus the first blood was shed in the disastrous +struggle between the Bianchi and Neri. A few days +later a similar faction fight took place on the other +side of the bridge, in the Piazza Frescobaldi, on the +occasion of a lady's funeral. The great Palazzo<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_348" id="page_348">[348]</a></span> +Spini, opposite the church, was built at the end of +the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth century +by Geri Spini, the rich papal banker and one of the +leaders of the "black" faction. Here he received the +Pope's ambassadors and made a great display of his +wealth and magnificence, as we gather from Boccaccio's +<i>Decameron</i>, which gives us an amusing story of his +friendship with Cisti the baker, and another of the +witty repartees of Madonna Oretta, Geri's wife, a +lady of the Malaspina. When Charles of Valois +entered Florence in November 1301, Messer Geri +entertained a portion of the French barons here, while +the Prince himself took up his quarters with the +Frescobaldi over the river; during that tumultuous +period of Florentine history that followed the expulsion +of the Bianchi, Geri was one of the most +prominent politicians in the State.</p> + +<p>Savonarola's processions of friars and children +used to pass through this piazza and over the +bridge, returning by way of the Ponte Vecchio. On +the Feast of Corpus Christi, 1497, as the Blessed +Sacrament was being borne along, with many children +carrying red crosses, they were set upon by some of +the Compagnacci. The story is quaintly told by +Landucci: "As the said procession was passing over +the Bridge of Santa Trinità, certain youths were +standing to see it pass, by the side of a little church +which is on the bridge on the right hand going +towards Santo Spirito. Seeing those children with +the crosses, they said: 'Here are the children of Fra +Girolamo.' And one of them coming up to them, +took one of these crosses and, snatching it out of the +hand of that child, broke it and threw it into the +Arno, as though he had been an infidel; and all this +he did for hatred of the Friar."</p> + +<p>The column in the Piazza–taken from the Baths<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_349" id="page_349">[349]</a></span> +of Caracalla at Rome–was set here by Duke +Cosimo I., to celebrate his victory over the heroic +Piero Strozzi, <i>il maravigliosissimo bravo Piero Strozzi</i> +as Benvenuto Cellini calls him, in 1563. The +porphyry statue of Justice was set high up on this +pedestal by the most unjust of all rulers of Florence, the +Grand Duke Francesco I., Cosimo's son. This +same piazza witnessed a not over friendly meeting of +Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Leonardo, at +the time that he was engaged upon his cartoon for the +Sala del Maggior Consiglio, was walking in the square, +dressed in his usual sumptuous fashion, with a rose +coloured tunic reaching down to his knees; when a +group of citizens, who were discussing Dante, called +him and asked him the meaning of a passage in +question. At that moment Michelangelo passed by, +and Leonardo courteously referred them to him. +"Explain it yourself," said the great sculptor, "you, +who made the model of a horse to cast in bronze, and +could not cast it, and to your shame left it in the +lurch."<a name="fnanchor_50" id="fnanchor_50"></a><a href="#footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> And he abruptly turned his back on the +group, leaving Leonardo red with either shame or +anger.</p> + +<p>The church of Santa Trinità was originally built +in the Gothic style by Niccolò Pisano, shortly after +1250, in the days of the Primo Popolo and contemporaneously +with the Palazzo del Podestà. It was +largely altered by Buontalenti in the last part of the +sixteenth century, and has been recently completely +restored. It is a fine example of Italian Gothic. In +the interior, are a Mary Magdalene by Desiderio da +Settignano and a marble altar by Benedetto da Rovezzano; +and also, in one of the chapels of the right aisle, +an Annunciation by Don Lorenzo, one of his best<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_350" id="page_350">[350]</a></span> +works, with some frescoes, partly obliterated and much +"restored," by the same good Camaldolese monk.</p> + +<p>But the great attraction of this church is the +Sassetti Chapel next to the sacristy, which contains a +splendid series of frescoes painted in 1485 by +Domenico Ghirlandaio. The altar piece is only a +copy of the original, now in the Accademia. The +frescoes represent scenes from the life of St. Francis, +and should be compared with Giotto's simpler handling +of the same theme in the Bardi Chapel at Santa Croce. +We have the Saint renouncing the world, the confirmation +of his rule by Honorius, his preaching to the +Soldan, his reception of the Stigmata, his death and +funeral (in which the life-like spectacled bishop +aroused Vasari's enthusiastic admiration), and the +raising to life of a child of the Sassetti family by an +apparition of St. Francis in the Piazza outside the +church. The last is especially interesting as giving +us a picture of the Piazza in its former state, such as +it might have been in the Mayday faction fight, with +the Spini Palace, the older bridge, and the houses of +the Frescobaldi beyond the river. Each fresco is full +of interesting portraits; among the spectators in the +consistory is Lorenzo the Magnificent; Ghirlandaio +himself appears in the death scene; and, perhaps, most +interesting of all, if Vasari's identification can be +trusted, are the three who stand on the right near the +church in the scene of the resuscitation of the child. +These three are said to be Maso degli Albizzi, the +founder of the party of the Ottimati, those <i>nobili +popolani</i> who held the State before they were eclipsed +by the Medici; Agnolo Acciaiuoli, who was ruined by +adhering to Luca Pitti against Piero dei Medici; and +that noblest of all the Medicean victims, Palla Strozzi +(<i>see</i> chapter iii.). It should, however, be remembered +that Maso degli Albizzi had died nearly seventy<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_351" id="page_351">[351]</a></span> +years before, and that not even Palla Strozzi can be +regarded as a contemporary portrait. The sacristy of +this church was founded by the Strozzi, and one of +the house, Onofrio, lies buried within it. Extremely +fine, too, are the portraits of Francesco Sassetti himself +and his wife, kneeling below near the altar, also by +Ghirlandaio, who likewise painted the sibyls on the +ceiling and the fresco representing the sibyl prophesying +of the Incarnation to Augustus, over the entrance +to the chapel. The sepulchral monuments of Francesco +and his wife are by Giuliano da San Gallo.</p> + +<p>The famous Crucifix of San Miniato, which bowed +its head to San Giovanni Gualberto when he spared +the murderer of his brother, was transferred to Santa +Trinità in 1671 with great pomp and ceremony, and is +still preserved here.</p> + +<p>In June 1301 a council was held in the church by +the leaders of the Neri, nominally to bring about a +concord with the rival faction, in reality to entrap the +Cerchi and pave the way for their expulsion by foreign +aid. Among the Bianchi present was the chronicler, +Dino Compagni; "desirous of unity and peace among +citizens," and, before the council broke up, he made +a strong appeal to the more factious members. +"Signors," he said, "why would you confound and +undo so good a city? Against whom would you +fight? Against your own brothers? What victory +shall ye have? Nought else but lamentation." The +Neri answered that the object of their council was +merely to stop scandal and establish peace; but it soon +became known that there was a conspiracy between +them and the Conte Simone da Battifolle of the Casentino, +who was sending his son with a strong force towards +Florence. Simone dei Bardi (who had been +the husband of Beatrice Portinari) appears to have +been the connecting link of the conspiracy, which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_352" id="page_352">[352]</a></span> +prompt action of the Signoria checked for the present. +The evil day, however, was postponed, not averted.</p> + +<p>Following the Via di Parione we reach the back of +the Palazzo Corsini–a large seventeenth century +palace whose front is on the Lungarno. Here is a +large picture gallery, in which a good many of the +pictures are erroneously ascribed, but which contains a +few more important works. The two gems of the +collection are Botticelli's portrait of a Goldsmith +(210), formerly ascribed to one of the Pollaiuoli; +and Luca Signorelli's tondo (157), of Madonna and +Child with St. Jerome and St. Bernard. A Madonna +and Child with Angels and the Baptist (162) by +Filippino Lippi, or ascribed to him, is a charming and +poetical picture; but is not admitted by Mr Berenson +into his list of genuine works by this painter. The +supposed cartoon for Raphael's Julius II. is of very +doubtful authenticity. The picture of the martyrdom +of Savonarola (292) is interesting and valuable as +affording a view of the Piazza at that epoch, but +cannot be regarded as an accurate historical representation +of the event. That seventeenth century +reincarnation of Lorenzo di Credi, Carlo Dolci, is +represented here by several pictures which are above +his usual level; for instance, Poetry (179) is a really +beautiful thing of its kind. Among the other pictures +is a little Apollo and Daphne (241), probably an +early work of Andrea del Sarto. The Raffaellino di +Carlo who painted the Madonna and Saints (200), is +not to be confused with Filippino's pupil, Raffaellino +del Garbo.</p> + +<p>In the Via Tornabuoni, the continuation of the +Piazza Santa Trinità, stands the finest of all Florentine +palaces of the Renaissance, the Palazzo Strozzi. It +was begun in 1489 for the elder Filippo Strozzi, with +the advice and encouragement of Lorenzo the Magnificent,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_353" id="page_353">[353]</a></span> +by Benedetto da Maiano, and continued by +Simone del Pollaiuolo (called "Cronaca" from his +yarning propensities), to whom the cornice and court +are due. It was finished for the younger Filippo +Strozzi, the husband of Clarice dei Medici, shortly +before his fall, in the days of Duke Alessandro. +The works in iron on the exterior–lanterns, torch-holders +and the like, especially a wonderful <i>fanale</i> at +the corner–are by Niccolò Grosso (called "Caparra" +from his habit of demanding payment in advance), and +the finest things of their kind imaginable. Filippo +Strozzi played a curiously +inconstant part +in the history of the +closing days of the +Republic. After having +been the most intimate +associate of his +brother-in-law, the +younger Lorenzo, he was instrumental first in the +expulsion of Ippolito and Alessandro, then in the +establishment of Alessandro's tyranny; and finally, +finding himself cast by the irony of fate for the part of +the last Republican hero, he took the field against +Duke Cosimo, only to find a miserable end in a +dungeon. One of his daughters, Luisa Capponi, was +believed to have been poisoned by order of Alessandro; +his son, Piero, became the bravest Italian +captain of the sixteenth century and carried on a heroic +contest with Cosimo's mercenary troops.</p> + +<div class="figright"><a name="illo_40" id="illo_40"></a> +<img src="images/illus371_tmb.jpg" width="371" height="177" alt="ARMS OF THE STROZZI" title="" /> +<p class="caption">ARMS OF THE STROZZI</p> +<a href="images/illus371_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>Down the Via della Vigna Nuova is another of +these Renaissance palaces, built for a similar noble +family associated with the Medici,–the Palazzo +Rucellai. Bernardo Rucellai–who was not originally +of noble origin, but whose family had acquired +what in Florence was the real title to nobility, vast<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_354" id="page_354">[354]</a></span> +wealth in commerce–married Nannina, the younger +sister of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and had this palace +begun for him in 1460 by Bernardo Rossellino from +the design of Leo Battista Alberti,–to whom also +the Rucellai loggia opposite is due. More of +Alberti's work for the Rucellai may be seen at the +back of the palace, in the Via della Spada, where in +the former church of San Pancrazio (which gave its +name to a <i>sesto</i> in old Florence) is the chapel which +he built for Bernardo Rucellai in imitation of the +Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>The Via delle Belle Donne–most poetically named +of Florentine streets–leads hence into the Piazza di +Santa Maria Novella. On the way, where five roads +meet, is the Croce al Trebbio, with symbols of the +four Evangelists below the Crucifix. It marks the +site of one of St Peter Martyr's fiercest triumphs over +the Paterini, one of those "marvellous works" for +which Savonarola, in his last address to his friars, +complains that the Florentines had been so ungrateful +towards his Order. But the story of the Dominicans +of Santa Maria Novella is not one of persecution, but +of peace-making. They played at times as noble a +part in mediæval Florence as their brethren of San +Marco were to do in the early Renaissance; and +later, during the great siege, they took up the work of +Fra Girolamo, and inspired the people to their last +heroic defence of the Republic.</p> + +<p>Opposite Santa Maria Novella is the Loggia di San +Paolo, designed by Brunelleschi, and erected in 1451, +shortly after his death. The coloured terracotta +reliefs, by Andrea della Robbia, include two fine +portraits of governors of the hospital (not of the +Della Robbia themselves, as frequently stated). The +relief in a lunette over the door on the right, representing +the meeting of St Francis and St Dominic, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_355" id="page_355">[355]</a></span> +one of Andrea's best works:–</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"L'un fu tutto serafico in ardore,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">l'altro per sapienza in terra fue</span><br /> +<span class="i1">di cherubica luce uno splendore.</span><br /> +Dell'un dirò, però che d'ambedue<br /> +<span class="i1">si dice l'un pregiando, qual ch'uom prende,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">perchè ad un fine fur l'opere sue."<a name="fnanchor_51" id="fnanchor_51"></a><a href="#footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>In 1212, three years before the murder of Buondelmonte, +the first band of Franciscans had come to +Florence, sent thither by St Francis himself from +Assisi. A few years later, at the invitation of a +Florentine merchant Diodato, who had built a chapel +and house as an act of restitution, St Dominic, from +Bologna, sent the Blessed John of Salerno with +twelve friars to occupy this mission at Ripoli, about +three miles beyond where now stands the Gate of S. +Niccolò. Thence they extended their apostolic +labours into the city, and when St Dominic came, at +the end of 1219, they had already made progress. +Finally they moved into the city–first to San Pancrazio, +and at length settled at Santa Maria tra le +Vigne, a little church then outside the walls, where B. +Giovanni was installed by the Pope's legate and the +bishop in 1221. Before the church, in the present +piazza, St Peter Martyr, the "hammer of the heretics," +fought the Paterini with both spiritual and material +arms. At last, the growth of the order requiring +larger room, on St Luke's day, 1278, Cardinal Latino +de' Frangipani laid here the first stone of Santa Maria +Novella.</p> + +<p>Where once the little church of Our Lady among<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_356" id="page_356">[356]</a></span> +the Vines stood outside the second circuit of the city's +walls, rises now the finest Italian Gothic church in +Florence. Less than a year after it had been commenced, +the same Dominican cardinal who had laid +the first stone summoned a mass meeting in the +Piazza, and succeeded in patching up a temporary +peace between Guelfs and Ghibellines, and among the +Guelf magnates themselves, 1279. This Cardinal +Latino left a memory revered in Florence, and Fra +Angelico, in the picture now in our National Gallery, +placed him among the glorified saints attending upon +the resurrection of Our Lord. Some twenty years +later, in November 1301, a parliament was held within +the still unfinished church, at which another Papal +peacemaker, the infamous Charles of Valois, in the +presence of the Priors of the Republic, the Podestà +and the Captain, the bishop and chief citizens, received +the <i>balìa</i> to guard Florence and pacify the Guelfs, +and swore on the faith of the son of a king to preserve +the city in peace and prosperity. We have seen +how he kept his word. Santa Maria Novella, in +1304, was the centre of the sincere and devoted +attempts made by Boniface's successor, the sainted +Benedict XI., to heal the wounds of Florence; attempts +in which, throughout Italy, the Dominicans were +his "angels of peace," as he called his missioners. +When the Republic finally fell into the hands of +Cosimo dei Medici in 1434, the exiled Pope +Eugenius IV. was staying in the adjoining monastery; +it was here that he made his unsuccessful attempt to +mediate, and heard the bitter farewell words of +Rinaldo degli Albizzi: "I blame myself most of all, +because I believed that you, who had been hunted out +of your own country, could keep me in mine."</p> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_357" id="page_357">[357]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_41" id="illo_41"></a> +<img src="images/illus375_tmb.jpg" width="272" height="400" alt="IN THE GREEN CLOISTERS, S. MARIA NOVELLA" title="" /> +<p class="caption">IN THE GREEN CLOISTERS, S. MARIA NOVELLA</p> +<a href="images/illus375_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_359" id="page_359">[359]</a></p> +<p>The church itself, striped tiger-like in black and +white marble, was constructed from the designs of +three Dominican friars, Fra Ristoro da Campi, Fra +Sisto, and Fra Giovanni da Campi. Fra Giovanni +was a scholar or imitator of Arnolfo di Cambio, and +the two former were the architects who restored the +Ponte alla Carraia and the Ponte Santa Trinità after +their destruction in 1269. The façade (with the exception +of the lower part, which belongs to the fourteenth +century) was designed by Leo Battista Alberti, +whose friends the Rucellai were the chief benefactors +of this church; the lovely but completely restored +pointed arcades on the right, with niches for tombs and +armorial bearings, were designed by Brunelleschi. On +the left, though in part reduced to vile usage, there is a +bit comparatively less altered. The interior was completed +soon after the middle of the fourteenth century, +when Fra Jacopo Passavanti–the author of that model +of pure Tuscan prose, <i>Lo Specchio della vera Penitenza</i>–was +Prior of the convent. The campanile is said +to have been designed by another Dominican, Fra +Jacopo Talenti, the probable architect of the so-called +Spanish Chapel in the cloisters on the left of the +church, of which more presently.</p> + +<p>During the great siege of Florence the mantle of +Savonarola seemed to have fallen upon the heroic +Prior of Santa Maria Novella, Fra Benedetto da +Foiano. When the news of the alliance between +Pope and Emperor came to Florence, while all Bologna +was in festa for the coronation of the Emperor, Varchi +tells us that Fra Benedetto delivered a great sermon in +the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, which was thrown +open to all who would come to hear; in which sermon +he proved from passages in the Old and New Testaments +that Florence would be delivered from all +dangers, and then enjoy perpetual perfect felicity in +the liberty she so desired. With such grace and +eloquence did he speak, that the vast audience was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_360" id="page_360">[360]</a></span> +moved to tears and to joy by turns. At the end, +"with ineffable gestures and words," he gave to the +Gonfaloniere, Raffaello Girolami, a standard upon one +side of which was a Christ victorious over the hostile +soldiery, and upon the other the red Cross of the +Florentine Commune, saying: <i>Cum hoc et in hoc vinces.</i> +After the capitulation Malatesta Baglioni seized the +friar and sent him to Rome, where he was slowly +starved to death in the dungeon of Sant' Angelo.</p> + +<p>The interior was thus not quite finished, when +Boccaccio's seven maidens met here on a Wednesday +morning in early spring in that terrible year of pestilence, +1348; yet we may readily picture to ourselves +the scene described in the introduction to the <i>Decameron</i>; +the empty church; the girls in their dark +mourning garb, after hearing Mass, seated together in a +side chapel and gradually passing from telling their +beads to discussing more mundane matters; and +then, no sooner do three members of the other sex +appear upon the scenes than a sudden gleam of gladness +lights up their faces, and even the plague itself is +forgotten. One of them, indeed, blushed; "she +became all crimson in the face through modesty," says +Boccaccio, "because there was one of their number +who was beloved by one of these youths;" but afterwards +found no difficulty in rivalling the others in the +impropriety of her talk.</p> + +<p>Entering the western portal, we find ourselves in a +nave of rather large proportions, somewhat dark but +not without a glow from the stained glass windows–adapted +above all for preaching. As in Santa Croce, +it is cut across by a line of chapels, thus giving the +whole a T shape, and what represents the apse is +merely a deeper and taller recess behind the high altar. +There is nothing much to interest us here in the nave +or aisles, save, by the side of the central door, one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_361" id="page_361">[361]</a></span> +the very few extant works of Masaccio, a fresco representing +the Blessed Trinity adored by the Madonna +and St. John, with two kneeling donors–portraits of +which no amount of restoration can altogether destroy +the truth and grandeur. The Annunciation, on the +opposite side of the door, is a mediocre fresco of the +fourteenth century. The Crucifix above is one of +several works of the kind ascribed to Giotto.</p> + +<p>It will be best to take the chapels at the end of the +nave and in the transepts in the order into which they +fall, as illustrating the development of Florentine art.</p> + +<p>On the right a flight of steps leads up into the +Rucellai chapel where, half concealed in darkness, +hangs the famous picture once supposed to mark the +very birthday of Florentine painting. That Cimabue +really painted a glorious Madonna for this church, +which was worshipped by a king and hailed with +acclamation by a rejoicing people, is to be most firmly +and devoutly held. Unfortunately, it seems highly +probable that this picture is not Cimabue's Madonna. +It is decidedly Sienese in character, and, as there is +documentary evidence that Duccio of Siena painted a +Madonna for Santa Maria Novella, and as the attendant +Angels are in all respects similar to those in +Duccio's authenticated works, the picture is probably +his. It deserves all veneration, nevertheless, for it is +a noble picture in the truest sense of the word. In +the same chapel is the monument of the Dominican +nun, the Beata Villana, by Bernardo Rossellino.</p> + +<p>Crossing the church to the chapel in the left transept, +the Strozzi Chapel, we mount into the true +atmosphere of the Middle Ages–into one of those +pictured theatres which set before us in part what +Dante gave in full in his <i>Commedia</i>. The whole +chapel is dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas, the glory +of the philosophy of the mediæval world and, above<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_362" id="page_362">[362]</a></span> +all, of the Dominican order, whose cardinal virtues +are extolled in allegorical fashion on the ceiling; but +the frescoes are drawn from the work of his greatest +Florentine disciple, Dante Alighieri, in whose poem +Thomas mainly lives for the non-Catholic world. +It contains all Orcagna's extant work in painting. +The altar piece, executed by Andrea Orcagna in +1357, is the grandest of its kind belonging to the +Giottesque period. Its central motive, of the Saviour +delivering the keys to St. Peter and the Summa to St. +Thomas, the spiritual and philosophical regimens of +the mediæval world, is very finely rendered; while the +angelic choir is a foretaste of Angelico. Madonna +presents St. Thomas; the Baptist, St. Peter; Michael +and Catherine are in attendance upon the Queen of +Heaven, Lawrence and Paul upon the Precursor. +The predella represents St. Peter walking upon the +waves, with on either side an episode in the life of St. +Thomas and a miracle of St. Lawrence. The frescoes +are best seen on a very bright morning, shortly before +noon. The Last Judgment, by Andrea, shows the +traditional representation of the Angels with trumpets +and with the emblems of the Passion, wheeling round +the Judge; and the dead rising to judgment, impelled +irresistibly to right or left even before the sentence is +pronounced. Above the one band, kneels the white-robed +Madonna in intercession–type of the Divine +Mercy as in Dante; over the others, at the head of +the Apostles, is the Baptist who seems appealing for +judgment–type of the Divine Justice. This placing +Mary and St John opposite to each other, as in +Dante's Rose of Paradise, is typical of Florentine +art; Santa Maria del Fiore and San Giovanni are, as +it were, inseparable. Among the blessed is Dante, +gazing up in fixed adoration at the Madonna, as when +following St Bernard's prayer at the close of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_363" id="page_363">[363]</a></span> +Vision; on the other side some of the faces of the +lost are a miracle of expression. The Hell on the +right wall, by Andrea's brother Leonardo, is more +immediately taken from the <i>Commedia</i>. The Paradise +on the left, or, rather, the Empyrean Heaven–with +the faces <i>suadi di carità</i>, Angels and Saints absorbed +in vision and love of God–is by Andrea himself, and +is more directly pictorial than Dante's <i>Paradiso</i> could +admit. Christ and the Madonna are enthroned side +by side, whereas we do not actually see Him in human +form in the <i>Commedia</i>,–perhaps in accordance with +that reverence which impels the divine poet to make +the name <i>Cristo</i> rhyme with nothing but itself. For +sheer loveliness in detail, no other fourteenth century +master produced anything to compare with this fresco; +it may be said to mark the advent of a new element in +Italian art.</p> + +<p>Thence we pass into the early Renaissance with +Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, with Ghirlandaio and +Filippino Lippi. In the chapel to the left of the +choir hangs Filippo Brunelleschi's famous wooden +Crucifix, carved in friendly rivalry with Donatello. +The rival piece, Donatello's share in this sculptured +<i>tenzone</i>, has been seen in Santa Croce.</p> + +<p>In the choir are frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio, +and a fine brass by Lorenzo Ghiberti. These frescoes +were begun in 1486, immediately after the completion +of the Santa Trinità series, and finished in 1490; and, +though devoid of the highest artistic qualities, are eminently +characteristic of their epoch. Though representing +scenes from the life of the Madonna and the +Baptist, this is entirely subordinated to the portrait +groups of noble Florentines and their ladies, introduced +as usually utterly uninterested spectators of the +sacred events. As religious pictures they are naught; +but as representations of contemporary Florentine life,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_364" id="page_364">[364]</a></span> +most valuable. Hardly elsewhere shall you see so fine +a series of portraits of the men and women of the early +Renaissance; but they have other things to think of +than the Gospel history. Look at the scene of the +Angel appearing to Zacharias. The actual event is +hardly noticed; hidden in the throng of citizens, too +busily living the life of the Renaissance to attend to +such trifles; besides, it would not improve their style +to read St. Luke. In the Visitation, the Nativity of +the Baptist, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, a +fashionable beauty of the period sweeps in with her +attendants–and it is hardly uncharitable to suppose +that, if not herself, at least her painter thought more +of her fine clothes than of her devotional aspect. The +portraits of the donors, Giovanni Tornabuoni and his +wife, are on the window wall. In the scene of the +expulsion of Joachim from the Temple, a group of +painters stands together (towards the window); the old +cleanly-shaven man in a red hat is Alessio Baldovinetti, +Ghirlandaio's master; next to him, with a lot of dark +hair, dressed in a red mantle and blue vest, is Domenico +Ghirlandaio himself; his pupil and brother-in-law, +Sebastiano Mainardi, and his brother, David Ghirlandaio, +are with him–the latter being the figure with +shoulder turned and hat on head. In the apparition to +Zacharias, among the numerous portraits, a group of +four half figures discussing at the foot of the history is +of special interest; three of them are said to represent +Marsilio Ficino, Cristoforo Landini, and Angelo Poliziano +(in the middle, slightly raising his hand); the +fourth, turned to speak to Landini, is said by Vasari +to be a famous teacher of Greek, Demetrius, but now +supposed to be Gentile Becchi, a learned bishop of +Arezzo. The stained glass was designed by Filippino +Lippi. Under the high altar rests the body of the +Blessed John of Salerno, the "Apostle of Florence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_365" id="page_365">[365]</a></span>" +who brought the first band of Dominicans to the city.</p> + +<p>Less admired, but in some respects more admirable, +are the frescoes by Filippino Lippi in the chapel on +the right of the choir, almost his last works, painted +about 1502, and very much injured by restoration. +The window is also from his design. The frescoes +represent scenes from the lives of St. John and St. +Philip, and are remarkable for their lavish display of +Roman antiquities, in which they challenge comparison +with Andrea Mantegna. The scene of St. Philip exorcising +the dragon is especially fine. Observe how +the characteristic intensity of the school of Botticelli is +shown in the way in which the very statues take part +in the action. Mars flourishes his broken spear, his +wolves and kites cower to him for protection from the +emissaries of the new faith, whose triumph is further +symbolised in the two figures above of ancient deities +conquered by Angels. An analogous instance will be +found in Botticelli's famous Calumny in the Uffizi. In +this statue of Mars is seen the last rendering of the old +Florentine tradition of their <i>primo padrone</i>. Thus, perhaps, +did the new pagans of the Renaissance lovingly +idealise "that mutilated stone which guards the +bridge."</p> + +<p>The monument of the elder Filippo Strozzi, in the +same chapel, is a fine piece of work by Benedetto da +Maiano, with a lovely tondo of the Madonna and Child +attended by Angels. And we should also notice Giovanni +della Robbia's fountain in the sacristy, before +passing into the cloisters.</p> + +<p>Here in the cloisters we pass back again into more +purely mediæval thought. Passing some early frescoes +of the life of the Madonna–the dream of Joachim, +his meeting St. Anne, the Birth and Presentation of +the Blessed Virgin–which Ruskin believed to be by +Giotto himself–we enter to the left the delicious<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_366" id="page_366">[366]</a></span> +Green Cloisters; a pleasant lounging place in summer. +In the lunettes along the walls are frescoed scenes from +Genesis in <i>terra verde</i>, of which the most notable +are by Paolo Uccello–the Flood and the Sacrifice of +Noah. Uccello's interests were scientific rather than +artistic. These frescoes are amazingly clever exercises +in the new art of perspective, the <i>dolce cosa</i> as he called +it when his wife complained of his absorption; but +are more curious than beautiful, and hardly inspire +us with more than mild admiration at the painter's +cleverness in poising the figure–which, we regret to +say, he intends for the Almighty–so ingeniously in +mid air.</p> + +<p>But out of these cloisters, on the right, opens the +so-called Spanish Chapel–the Cappella degli Spagnuoli–one +of the rarest buildings in Italy for the +student of mediæval doctrine. Here, as in the Strozzi +Chapel, we are in the grasp of the same mighty spirit +that inspired the <i>Divina Commedia</i> and the <i>De +Monarchia</i>, although the actual execution falls far +below the design. The chapel–designed by Fra +Jacopo Talenti in 1320–was formerly the chapter-house +of the convent; it seems to have acquired the +title of Spanish Chapel in the days of Duke Cosimo I., +when Spaniards swarmed in Florence and were wont +to hold solemn festival here on St. James' day. The +frescoes that cover its ceiling and walls were executed +about the middle of the fourteenth century–according +to Vasari by Simone Martini and Taddeo Gaddi, +though this seems highly doubtful. Their general +design is possibly due to Fra Jacopo Passavanti. +They set forth the Dominican ideal, the Church and +the world as the Friars Preachers conceived of them, +even as Giotto's famous allegories at Assisi show us +the same through Franciscan glasses. While Orcagna +painted the world beyond the grave in honour of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_367" id="page_367">[367]</a></span> +Angelical Doctor, these artists set forth the present +world as it should be under his direction and that of +his brothers, the "hounds of the Lord," <i>domini canes</i>, +who defended the <i>orto cattolico</i>.</p> + +<p>The vaulted roof is divided into four segments; +and the picture in each segment corresponds to a great +fresco on the wall below. On the wall opposite, as +we enter, is represented the supreme event of the +world's history, from which all the rest starts and +upon which the whole hinges, the Passion of Christ, +leading up to the Resurrection on the roof above it. +On the segment of the roof over the door is the +Ascension, and on the wall below was shown (now +much damaged) how the Dominicans received and +carried out Christ's last injunction to His disciples. +In the left segment of the roof is the Descent of the +Holy Spirit; and beneath it, on the wall, the result +of this outpouring upon the world of intellect is shown +in the triumph of Philosophy in the person of Aquinas, +its supreme mediæval exponent. In the right segment +is the Ship of Peter; and, on the wall below, is seen +how Peter becomes a fisher of men, the triumph of +his Church under the guidance of the Dominicans. +These two great allegorical frescoes–the triumph of +St. Thomas and the <i>civil briga</i> of the Church–are +thus a more complete working out of the scheme set +forth more simply by Orcagna in his altar piece in +the Strozzi Chapel above–the functions delegated by +Christ to Peter and St. Thomas–the power of the +Keys and the doctrine of the <i>Summa Theologica</i>.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the philosophical allegory, St. +Thomas Aquinas is seated on a Gothic throne, with an +open book in his hands bearing the text from the +Book of Wisdom with which the Church begins her +lesson in his honour: <i>Optavi, et datus est mihi sensus. +Invocavi, et venit in me spiritus sapientiae; et praeposui +illam regnis et sedibus.</i><a name="fnanchor_52" id="fnanchor_52"></a><a href="#footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> Over his head hover seven<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_368" id="page_368">[368]</a></span> +Angels, invested with the emblems of the three theological +and four cardinal virtues; around him are +seated the Apostles and Prophets, in support of his +doctrine; beneath his feet heresiarchs are humbled–Sabellius +and Arius, to wit–and even Averrhoes, who +"made the great comment," seems subdued. Below, +in fourteen little shrines, are allegorical figures of the +fourteen sciences which meet and are given ultimate +form in his work, and at the feet of each maiden sits +some great exponent of the science. From right to +left, the seven liberal arts of the Trivium and Quadrivium +lead up to the Science of Numbers, represented +on earth by Pythagoras; from left to right, the earthly +and celestial sciences lead up to Dogmatic Theology, +represented by Augustine.<a name="fnanchor_53" id="fnanchor_53"></a><a href="#footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>On the opposite wall is the Church militant and +triumphant. Before Santa Maria del Fiore, here +symbolising the Church militant, sit the two ideal +guides of man, according to the dual scheme of Dante's +<i>De Monarchia</i>–the Pope and the Emperor. On<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_369" id="page_369">[369]</a></span> +either side are seated in a descending line the great +dignitaries of the Church and the Empire; Cardinal +and Abbot, King and Baron; while all around are +gathered the clergy and the laity, religious of every +order, judges and nobles, merchants and scholars, with +a few ladies kneeling on the right, one of whom is +said to be Petrarch's Laura. Many of these figures +are apparently portraits, but the attempts at identification–such +as that of the Pope with Benedict XI., the +Emperor with Henry VII.–are entirely untrustworthy. +The Bishop, however, standing at the head +of the clergy, is apparently Agnolo Acciaiuoli, Bishop +of Florence; and the French cavalier, in short tunic +and hood, standing opposite to him at the head of the +laity (formerly called Cimabue), is said–very questionably–to +be the Duke of Athens. At the feet +of the successors of Peter and Cæsar are gathered the +sheep and lambs of Christ's fold, watched over by the +black and white hounds that symbolise the Dominicans. +On the right, Dominic urges on his watchdogs against +the heretical wolves who are carrying off the lambs of +the flock; Peter Martyr hammers the unbelievers with +the weapon of argument alone; Aquinas convinces +them with the light of his philosophic doctrine. But +beyond is Acrasia's Bower of Bliss, a mediaeval +rendering of what Spenser hereafter so divinely sung +in the second book of the <i>Faerie Queene</i>. Figures of +vice sit enthroned; while seven damsels, Acrasia's +handmaidens, dance before them; and youth sports +in the shade of the forbidden myrtles. Then come +repentance and the confessional; a Dominican friar +(not one of the great Saints, but any humble priest of +the order) absolves the penitents; St Dominic appears +again, and shows them the way to Paradise; and then, +becoming as little children, they are crowned by the +Angels, and St. Peter lets them through the gate to join<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_370" id="page_370">[370]</a></span> +the Church Triumphant. Above in the Empyrean is +the Throne of the Lord, with the Lamb and the four +mystical Beasts, and the Madonna herself standing +up at the head of the Angelic Hierarchies.</p> + +<p>In the great cloisters beyond, the Ciompi made their +headquarters in 1378, under their Eight of Santa +Maria Novella; and, at the request of their leaders, +the prior of the convent sent some of his preachers to +furnish them with spiritual consolation and advice.</p> + +<p>Passing through the Piazza–where marble obelisks +resting on tortoises mark the goals of the chariot races +held here under Cosimo I. and his successors, on the +Eve of St. John–and down the Via della Scala, we +come to the former Spezeria of the convent, still a +flourishing manufactory of perfumes, liqueurs and the +like, though no longer in the hands of the friars. In +what was once its chapel, are frescoes by Spinello +Aretino and his pupils, painted at the end of the +Trecento, and representing the Passion of Christ. +They are inferior to Spinello's work at Siena and on +San Miniato, but the Christ bearing the Cross has +much majesty, and, in the scene of the washing of the +feet, the nervous action of Judas as he starts up is +finely conceived.</p> + +<p>The famous Orti Oricellari, the gardens of the +Rucellai, lie further down the Via della Scala. Here +in the early days of the Cinquecento the most brilliant +literary circles of Florentine society met; and there +was a sort of revival of the old Platonic Academy, +which had died out with Marsilio Ficino. Machiavelli +wrote for these gatherings his discourses on Livy +and his Art of War. Although their meetings were +mainly frequented by Mediceans, some of the younger +members were ardent Republicans; and it was here +that a conspiracy was hatched against the life of the +Cardinal Giulio dei Medici, for which Jacopo da<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_371" id="page_371">[371]</a></span> +Diacceto and one of the Alamanni died upon the +scaffold. In later days these Orti belonged to Bianca +Cappello. At the corner of the adjoining palace +is a little Madonna by Luca della Robbia; and further +on, in a lunette on the right of the former church of +San Jacopo in Ripoli, there is a group of Madonna +and Child with St. James and St. Dominic, probably +by Andrea della Robbia. In the Via di Palazzuolo, +the little church of San Francesco dei Vanchetoni +contains two small marble busts of children, exceedingly +delicately modelled, supposed to represent the +Gesù Bambino and the boy Baptist; they are ascribed +to Donatello, but recent writers attribute them to +Desiderio or Rossellino.</p> + +<p>In the Borgo Ognissanti, where the Swiss of +Charles VIII. in 1494, forcing their way into the +city from the Porta al Prato, were driven back by +the inhabitants, are the church of Ognissanti and the +Franciscan convent of San Salvadore. The church +and convent originally belonged to the Frati Umiliati, +who settled here in 1251, were largely influential in +promoting the Florentine wool trade, and exceedingly +democratic in their sympathies. Their convent was +a great place for political meetings in the days of +Giano della Bella, who used to walk in their garden +taking counsel with his friends. After the siege +they were expelled from Florence, and the church +and convent made over to the Franciscans of the +Osservanza, who are said to have brought hither the +habit which St. Francis wore when he received the +Stigmata. The present church was built in the second +half of the sixteenth century, but contains some excellent +pictures and frescoes belonging to the older +edifice. Over the second altar to the right is a +frescoed Pietà, one of the earliest works of Domenico +Ghirlandaio, with above it the Madonna taking the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_372" id="page_372">[372]</a></span> +Vespucci family under her protection–among them +Amerigo, who was to give his name to the new +continent of America. Further on, over a confessional, +is Sandro Botticelli's St. Augustine, the +only fresco of his still remaining in Florence; opposite +to it, over a confessional on the left, is St. Jerome +by Domenico Ghirlandaio; both apparently painted +in 1480. In the left transept is a Crucifix ascribed +to Giotto; Vasari tells us that it was the original +of the numerous works of this kind which Puccio +Capanna and others of his pupils multiplied through +Italy. In the sacristy is a much restored fresco of +the Crucifixion, belonging to the Trecento. Sandro +Botticelli was buried in this church in 1510, and, +two years later, Amerigo Vespucci in 1512. In +the former Refectory of the convent is a fresco of +the Last Supper, painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio +in 1480, and very much finer than his similar work +in San Marco. In the lunette over the portal of +the church is represented the Coronation of the +Blessed Virgin, by Giovanni della Robbia.</p> + +<p>The Borgo Ognissanti leads hence westward into +the Via del Prato, and through the Porta al Prato, +one of the four gates of the third wall of the city, +begun by Arnolfo in 1284; now merely a mutilated +torso of Arnolfo's stately structure, left stranded in +the prosaic wilderness of the modern Viale. The +fresco in the lunette is by Michele di Ridolfo Ghirlandaio. +Down towards the Arno a single tower +remains from the old walls, mutilated, solitary and +degraded so as to look a mere modern bit of masonry.</p> + +<p>Beyond are the Cascine Gardens, stretching for some +two miles between the Arno and the Mugnone, delicious +to linger in, and a sacred place to all lovers of English +poetry. For here, towards the close of 1819, "in a +wood that skirts the Arno, near Florence, and on a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_373" id="page_373">[373]</a></span> +day when that tempestuous wind, whose temperature is +at once mild and animating, was collecting the vapours +which pour down the autumnal rains," Shelley wrote +the divinest of all English lyrics: the <i>Ode to the West +Wind</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p> +<span class="o1">"Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:</span><br /> +What if my leaves are falling like its own!<br /> +The tumult of thy mighty harmonies</p> + +<p>Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,<br /> +Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, spirit fierce,<br /> +My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!</p> + +<p>Drive my dead thoughts over the universe<br /> +Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!<br /> +And, by the incantation of this verse,</p> + +<p>Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth<br /> +Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!<br /> +Be through my lips to unawakened earth</p> + +<p>The trumpet of a prophecy! O, wind,<br /> +If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"</p> +</div> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_374" id="page_374">[374]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="illo_42" id="illo_42"></a> +<img src="images/illus392_tmb.jpg" width="400" height="272" alt="IN THE BOBOLI GARDENS" title="" /> +<p class="caption">IN THE BOBOLI GARDENS</p> +<a href="images/illus392_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<h2><a name="chapter_xii" id="chapter_xii"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> +<h3><i>Across the Arno</i></h3> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"Come a man destra, per salire al monte,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">dove siede la Chiesa che soggioga</span><br /> +<span class="i1">la ben guidata sopra Rubaconte,</span><br /> +si rompe del montar l'ardita foga.<br /> +<span class="i1">per le scalee che si fero ad etade</span><br /> +<span class="i1">ch'era sicuro il quaderno e la doga."</span><br /> +<span class="i10">–<i>Dante.</i></span></p> + +<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>CROSS the river, partly lying along its bank and +partly climbing up St. George's hill to the south, +lies what was the Sesto d'Oltrarno in the days when +old Florence was divided into sextaries, and became +the Quartiere di Santo Spirito when the city was reorganised +in quarters after the expulsion of the Duke +of Athens. It was not originally a part of the city +itself. At the time of building the second walls in the +twelfth century (<i>see</i> chapter i.), there were merely +three <i>borghi</i> or suburbs beyond the Arno, inhabited by +the poorest classes, each of the three beginning at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_375" id="page_375">[375]</a></span> +head of the Ponte Vecchio; the Borgo Pidiglioso to +the east, towards the present Via dei Bardi and Santa +Lucia, where the road went on to Rome by way of +Figline and Arezzo; the Borgo di Santa Felicità, to +the south, ending in a gate at the present Piazza San +Felice, where the road to Siena commenced; and the +Borgo San Jacopo to the west, with a gate in the present +Piazza Frescobaldi, on the way to Pisa. A few rich +and noble families began to settle here towards the beginning +of the thirteenth century. When the dissensions +between Guelfs and Ghibellines came to a head +in 1215, the Nerli and Rossi were Guelfs, the Gangalandi, +Ubbriachi and Mannelli, Ghibellines; and these +were then the only nobles of the Oltrarno, although +Villani tells us that "the Frescobaldi and the Bardi +and the Mozzi were already beginning to become +powerful." The <i>Primo Popolo</i> commenced to wall +it in, in 1250, with the stones from dismantled feudal +towers; and it was finally included in the third circle of +the walls at the beginning of the fourteenth century–a +point to which we shall return.</p> + +<p>As we saw in chapter iii., it was in the Oltrarno +that the nobles made their last stand against the People +in 1343, when the Nerli held the Ponte alla Carraia, +the Frescobaldi and Mannelli the Ponte di Santa +Trinità, and the Rossi and Bardi defended the Ponte +Vecchio and the Ponte Rubaconte, with the narrow +streets between. In the following century it was the +headquarters of the faction opposed to the Medici, +the Party of the Mountain, as it was called, from +the lofty position of Luca Pitti's great palace. A +century more, and it became the seat of government +under the Medicean Grand Dukes, and the whole was +crowned by the fortress of the Belvedere which Buontalenti +built in 1590 for Ferdinand I.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_376" id="page_376">[376]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the head of the Ponte Vecchio, to right and left, +the Borgo San Jacopo and the Via dei Bardi still retain +something of their old characteristics and mediæval +appearance. In the former especially are some fine +towers remaining of the Rossi, Nerli, Barbadori, and +other families; particularly one which belonged to the +Marsili, opposite the church of San Jacopo. A side +street, the Via dei Giudei, once inhabited by Jews, +is still very picturesque. The little church of San +Jacopo, originally built in the eleventh century, but entirely +reconstructed in more recent times, still possesses +an old Romanesque portico. In this church some of the +more bitter spirits among the nobles held a council in +1294, and unanimously decided to murder Giano della +Bella. "The dogs of the people," said Messer Berto +Frescobaldi, who was the spokesman, "have robbed us +of honour and office, and we cannot enter the Palace. +If we beat one of our own servants, we are undone. +Wherefore, my lords, it is my rede that we should come +forth from this servitude. Let us take up arms and +assemble in the piazza; let us slay the plebeians, friends +and foes alike, so that never again shall we or our +children be subjected to them." His plan, however, +seemed too dangerous to the other nobles. "If our +design failed," said Messer Baldo della Tosa, "we +should all be killed"; and it was decided to proceed +by more prudent means, and to disorganise the People +and undermine Giano's credit with them, before taking +further action.</p> + +<p>At the end of the Borgo San Jacopo, the Frescobaldi +had their palaces in the piazza which still bears +their name, at the head of the Ponte Santa Trinità. +Here Charles of Valois took up his headquarters in +November 1301, with the intention of keeping this +portion of the city in case he lost his hold of the rest. +Opposite the bridge the Capponi had their palace; the +heroic Piero Capponi lived here; and then the Gonfaloniere<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_377" id="page_377">[377]</a></span> +Niccolò, who, accused of favouring the +Medici, was deprived of his office, and died broken-hearted +just before the siege.</p> + +<p>On the left of the Ponte Vecchio the Via dei Bardi, +where the nobles and retainers of that fierce old house +made their last stand against the People after the +Frescobaldi had been forced to surrender, has been +much spoilt of recent years, though a few fine palaces +remain, and some towers, especially two, of the Mannelli +and Ridolfi, at the beginning of the street. In +the Via dei Bardi, the fine Capponi Palace was built +for Niccolò da Uzzano at the beginning of the +Quattrocento. The church of Santa Lucia has a +Della Robbia relief over the entrance, and a picture +of the school of Fra Filippo in the interior. The +street ends in the Piazza dei Mozzi, opposite the Ponte +alle Grazie or Ponte Rubaconte, where stands the +Torrigiani Palace, built by Baccio d'Agnolo in the +sixteenth century.</p> + +<p>From the Ponte Vecchio the Via Guicciardini leads +to the Pitti Palace, and onwards to the Via Romana +and great Porta Romana. In the Piazza Santa Felicità +a column marks the site of one of St. Peter +Martyr's triumphs over the Paterini; the loggia is +by Vasari; the historian Guicciardini is buried in the +church, which contains some second-rate pictures. +Further on, on the right, is the house where Machiavelli +died, a disappointed and misunderstood patriot, +in 1527; on the left is Guicciardini's palace.</p> + +<p>The magnificent Palazzo Pitti was commenced +shortly after 1440 by Brunelleschi and Michelozzo, +for Luca Pitti, that vain and incompetent old noble +who hoped to eclipse the Medici during the closing +days of the elder Cosimo. Messer Luca grew so +confident, Machiavelli tells us, that "he began two +buildings, one in Florence and the other at Ruciano, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_378" id="page_378">[378]</a></span> +place about a mile from the city; both were in right +royal style, but that in the city was altogether greater +than any other that had ever been built by a private +citizen until that day. And to complete them he +shrank from no measures, however extraordinary; for +not only did citizens and private persons contribute and +aid him with things necessary for the building, but +communes and corporations lent him help. Besides +this, all who were under ban, and whosoever had +committed murder or theft or anything else for which +he feared public punishment, provided that he were a +person useful for the work, found secure refuge within +these buildings." After the triumph of Piero dei +Medici in 1466, Luca Pitti was pardoned, but ruined. +"Straightway," writes Machiavelli, "he learned what +difference there is between success and failure, between +dishonour and honour. A great solitude reigned in +his houses, which before had been frequented by vast +throngs of citizens. In the street his friends and relations +feared not merely to accompany him, but even to +salute him, since from some of them the honours had +been taken, from others their property, and all alike +were menaced. The superb edifices which he had +commenced were abandoned by the builders; the +benefits which had been heaped upon him in the past +were changed into injuries, honours into insults. +Many of those who had freely given him something of +great value, now demanded it back from him as having +been merely lent, and those others, who had been +wont to praise him to the skies, now blamed him for an +ungrateful and violent man. Wherefore too late did +he repent that he had not trusted Niccolò Soderini, +and sought rather to die with honour with arms in +hand, than live on in dishonour among his victorious +enemies."<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_379" id="page_379">[379]</a></span></p> + +<p>In 1549 the unfinished palace was sold by Luca +Pitti's descendants to Eleonora of Toledo, Duke +Cosimo's wife, and it was finished by Ammanati during +the latter half of the sixteenth century; the wings are +a later addition. The whole building, with its huge +dimensions and boldly rusticated masonry, is one +of the most monumental and grandiose of European +palaces. It was first the residence of the Medicean +Grand Dukes, then of their Austrian successors, +and is now one of the royal palaces of the King of +Italy.</p> + +<p>In one of the royal apartments there is a famous +picture of Botticelli's, Pallas taming a Centaur, which +probably refers to the return of Lorenzo the Magnificent +to Florence after his diplomatic victory over the +King of Naples and the League, in 1480. The +beautiful and stately Medicean Pallas is wreathed all +over with olive branches; her mantle is green, like that +of Dante's Beatrice in the Earthly Paradise; her white +dress is copiously besprinkled with Lorenzo's crest, +the three rings. The Centaur himself is splendidly +conceived and realised–a characteristic Botticellian +modification of those terrible beings who hunt the +damned souls of tyrants and robbers through the river +of blood in Dante's Hell. Opposite the Pallas there +is a small tondo, in which the Madonna and four Angels +are adoring the divine Child in a garden of roses and +wild strawberries. The latter was discovered in 1899 +and ascribed to Botticelli, but appears to be only a +school piece.</p> + +<p>The great glory of the Pitti Palace is its picture +gallery, a magnificent array of masterpieces, hung in +sumptuously decorated rooms with allegorical ceiling-paintings +in the overblown and superficial style of the +artists of the decadence–Pietro da Cortona and others +of his kind:–<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_380" id="page_380">[380]</a></span></p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="i2">"Both in Florence and in Rome</span><br /> +The elder race so make themselves at home<br /> +That scarce we give a glance to ceilingfuls<br /> +Of such like as Francesco."</p> + +<p>So Robert Browning writes of one of Pietro's pupils. +The Quattrocento is, with a few noteworthy exceptions, +scarcely represented; but no collection is richer +in the works of the great Italians of the Cinquecento +at the culmination of the Renaissance. We can here, +as in the Uffizi, merely indicate the more important +pictures in each room. At the top of the staircase +is a marble fountain ascribed to Donatello. The +names of the rooms are usually derived from the +subjects painted on the ceilings; we take the six +principal saloons first.</p> + +<h3>In the <i>Sala dell' Iliade</i>.</h3> + +<p>First, the three masterpieces of this room. Fra +Bartolommeo's great altar-piece painted in 1512 for +San Marco (208), representing Madonna and Child +surrounded by Saints, with a group of Dominicans +attending upon the mystic marriage of St. Catherine +of Siena, is a splendid picture, but darkened and injured; +the two <i>putti</i>, making melody at the foot +of Madonna's throne, are quite Venetian in character.</p> + +<p>Titian's Cardinal Ippolito dei Medici (201) is one +of the master's grandest portraits; the Cardinal is represented +in Hungarian military costume. Ippolito, +like his reputed father the younger Giuliano, was one +of the more respectable members of the elder branch +of the Medici; he was brought up with Alessandro, +but the two youths hated each other mortally from +their boyhood. Young and handsome, cultured and +lavishly generous, Ippolito was exceedingly popular +and ambitious, and felt bitterly the injustice of Pope +Clement in making Alessandro lord of Florence instead<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_381" id="page_381">[381]</a></span> +of him. Clement conferred an archbishopric and +other things upon him, but could by no means keep +him quiet. "Aspiring to temporal greatness," writes +Varchi, "and having set his heart upon things of war +rather than affairs of the Church, he hardly knew himself +what he wanted, and was never content." The +Pope, towards whom Ippolito openly showed his contempt, +complained that he could not exert any control +over so eccentric and headstrong a character, <i>un cervello +eteroclito e così balzano</i>. After the Pope's death, the +Cardinal intrigued with the Florentine exiles in order +to supplant Alessandro, upon which the Duke had him +poisoned in 1535, in the twenty-fifth year of his age. +Titian painted him in 1533.</p> + +<p>The famous Concert (185), representing a passionate-faced +monk of the Augustinian order at the harpsichord, +while an older and more prosaic ecclesiastic stands behind +him with a viol, and a youthful worldling half +carelessly listens, was formerly taken as the standard of +Giorgione's work; it is now usually regarded as an +early Titian. Although much damaged and repainted, +it remains one of the most beautiful of Venetian painted +lyrics.</p> + +<p>Andrea del Sarto's two Assumptions, one (225) +painted before 1526 for a church at Cortona, the +other (191) left unfinished in 1531, show the artist +ineffectually striving after the sublime, and helplessly +pulled down to earth by the draperies of the Apostles +round the tomb. Of smaller works should be noticed: +an early Titian, the Saviour (228); two portraits by +Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (224, 207), of which the latter, +a goldsmith, has been ascribed to Leonardo; a lady +known as <i>La Gravida</i> (229), probably by Raphael +early in his Florentine period; Daniele Barbaro by +Paolo Veronese (216); Titian's Philip II. of Spain +(200); a male portrait by Andrea del Sarto (184),<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_382" id="page_382">[382]</a></span> +said, with little plausibility, to represent himself; a +Holy Family (235) by Rubens.</p> + +<h3>In the <i>Sala di Saturno</i>.</h3> + +<p>Here are some of the choicest pictures in the collection, +including a whole series of Raphael's. Raphael's +Madonna del Gran Duca (178)–so called from its +modern purchaser, Ferdinand III.–was painted in +1504 or 1505, either before leaving Urbino or shortly +after his arrival in Florence; it is the sweetest and +most purely devotional of all his Madonnas. Morelli +points out that it is strongly reminiscent of Raphael's +first master, Timoteo Viti. The portraits of Angelo +Doni and Maddalena Doni (61 and 59) also belong +to the beginning of Raphael's Florentine epoch, about +1505 or 1506, and show how much he felt the influence +of Leonardo; Angelo Doni, it will be remembered, +was the parsimonious merchant for whom Michelangelo +painted the Madonna of the Tribuna. The +Madonna del Baldacchino (165) was commenced by +Raphael in 1508, the last picture of his Florentine +period, ordered by the Dei for Santo Spirito; it shows +the influence of Fra Bartolommeo in its composition, +and was left unfinished when Pope Julius summoned +the painter to Rome; in its present state, there is +hardly anything of Raphael's about it. The beautiful +Madonna della Seggiola (151) is a work of Raphael's +Roman period, painted in 1513 or 1514. The Vision +of Ezekiel (174) is slightly later, painted in 1517 or +thereabout, and shows that Raphael had felt the influence +of Michelangelo; one of the smallest and most +sublime of all his pictures; the landscape is less conventional +than we often see in his later works. Neither +of the two portraits ascribed to Raphael in this room +(171, 158) can any longer be accepted as a genuine<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_383" id="page_383">[383]</a></span> +work of the master.</p> + +<p>Andrea del Sarto and Fra Bartolommeo are likewise +represented by masterpieces. The Friar's Risen +Christ with Four Evangelists (159), beneath whom +two beautiful <i>putti</i> hold the orb of the world, was painted +in 1516, the year before the painter's death; it is one +of the noblest and most divine representations of the +Saviour in the whole history of art. Andrea's so-called +<i>Disputa</i> (172), in which a group of Saints is discussing +the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, painted in +1518, is as superbly coloured as any of the greatest +Venetian triumphs; the Magdalene is again the +painter's own wife. Perugino's Deposition from the +Cross (164), painted in 1495, shows the great Umbrian +also at his best.</p> + +<p>Among the minor pictures in this room may be +noted a pretty little trifle of the school of Raphael, so +often copied, Apollo and the Muses (167), questionably +ascribed to Giulio Romano; and a Nymph pursued by +a Satyr (147), supposed by Morelli to be by Giorgione, +now assigned to Dosso Dossi of Ferrara.</p> + +<h3>In the <i>Sala di Giove</i>.</h3> + +<p>The treasure of this room is the <i>Velata</i> (245), +Raphael's own portrait of the woman that he loved, +to whom he wrote his sonnets, and whom he afterwards +idealised as the Madonna di San Sisto; her +personality remains a mystery. Titian's <i>Bella</i> (18), a +rather stolid rejuvenation of Eleonora Gonzaga, is +chiefly valuable for its magnificent representation of a +wonderful Venetian costume. Here are three works +of Andrea del Sarto–the Annunciation (124), the +Madonna in Glory, with four Saints (123), and St +John the Baptist (272); the first is one of his +most beautiful paintings. The picture supposed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_384" id="page_384">[384]</a></span> +represent Andrea and his wife (118) is not by the +master himself. Bartolommeo's St Mark (125) was +painted by him in 1514, to show that he could do +large figures, whereas he had been told that he had a +<i>maniera minuta</i>; it is not altogether successful. His +Deposition from the Cross (64) is one of his latest +and most earnest religious works. The Three Fates +(113) by Rosso Fiorentino is an undeniably powerful +and impressive picture; it was formerly ascribed to +Michelangelo. The Three Ages (110), ascribed +to Lorenzo Lotto here, was by Morelli attributed to +Giorgione, and is now assigned by highly competent +critics to a certain Morto da Feltre, of whom little +is known save that he is said to have been Giorgione's +successful rival for the favours of a ripe Venetian +beauty; the picture itself, though injured by +restoration, belongs to the same category as the +Concert. "In such favourite incidents of Giorgione's +school," writes Walter Pater, "music or music-like +intervals in our existence, life itself is conceived as a +sort of listening–listening to music, to the reading of +Bandello's novels, to the sound of water, to time as it +flies."</p> + +<h3>In the <i>Sala di Marte</i>.</h3> + +<p>The most important pictures of this room are: +Titian's portrait of a young man with a glove (92); +the Holy Family, called of the <i>Impannata</i> or "covered +window" (94) a work of Raphael's Roman period, +painted by his scholars, perhaps by Giulio Romano; +Cristofano Allori's Judith (96), a splendid and +justly celebrated picture, showing what exceedingly +fine works could be produced by Florentines even in +the decadence (Allori died in 1621); Andrea del +Sarto's scenes from the history of Joseph (87, 88), +panels for cassoni or bridal chests, painted for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_385" id="page_385">[385]</a></span> +marriage of Francesco Borgherini and Margherita +Acciaiuoli; a Rubens, the so-called Four Philosophers +(85), representing himself with his brother, and the +scholars Lipsius and Grotius; Andrea del Sarto's +Holy Family (81), one of his last works, painted in +1529 for Ottaviano dei Medici and said to have been +finished during the siege; Van Dyck's Cardinal +Giulio Bentivoglio (82). It is uncertain whether +this Julius II. (79) or that in the Tribuna of the +Uffizi is Raphael's original, but the present picture +appears to be the favourite; both are magnificent portraits +of this terrible old warrior pontiff, who, for all +his fierceness, was the noblest and most enlightened +patron that Raphael and Michelangelo had. It was +probably at his bidding that Raphael painted Savonarola +among the Church's doctors and theologians in the +Vatican.</p> + +<h3>In the <i>Sala di Apollo</i> and <i>Sala di Venere</i>.</h3> + +<p>Here, first of all, is Raphael's celebrated portrait of +Pope Julius' unworthy successor, Leo X. (40), the son +of Lorenzo the Magnificent; on the left–that is, the +Pope's right hand–is the Cardinal Giulio dei Medici, +afterwards Pope Clement VII.; behind the chair is +the Cardinal Luigi dei Rossi, the descendant of a +daughter of Piero il Gottoso. One of Raphael's most +consummate works.</p> + +<p>Andrea del Sarto's Pietà (58) was painted in 1523 +or 1524 for a convent of nuns in the Mugello, whither +Andrea had taken his wife and household while the +plague raged in Florence; it is one of his finest works. +Titian's Magdalene (67) has been called by Ruskin a +"disgusting" picture; as a pseudo-religious work, it +would be hard to find anything more offensive; but +it has undeniably great technical qualities. His Pietro +Aretino (54), on the other hand, is a noble portrait<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_386" id="page_386">[386]</a></span> +of an infamous blackguard. Noteworthy are also +Andrea del Sarto's portrait (66), apparently one of +his many representations of himself, and Murillo's +Mother and Child (63).</p> + +<p>In the <i>Sala di Venere</i>, are a superb landscape by +Rubens (14), sometimes called the Hay Harvest and +sometimes the Return of the Contadini; also a fine +female portrait, wrongly ascribed to Leonardo (140); +the Triumph of David by Matteo Rosselli (13). +It should be observed that the gems of the collection +are frequently shifted from room to room for the +benefit of the copyist.</p> + +<h3>The <i>Sala dell' Educazione di Giove</i> and following rooms.</h3> + +<p>A series of smaller rooms, no less gorgeously decorated, +adjoins the Sala dell' Iliade. In the <i>Sala dell' +Educazione di Giove</i> are: Fra Bartolommeo's Holy +Family with St. Elizabeth (256), over the door; the +Zingarella or Gipsy Girl (246), a charming little +idyllic picture by Boccaccino of Cremona, formerly +ascribed to Garofalo; Philip IV. of Spain (243) by +Velasquez. Carlo Dolci's St Andrew (266) is +above his usual level; but it is rather hard to understand +how Guido Reni's Cleopatra (270) could ever +be admired.</p> + +<p>In the <i>Sala di Prometeo</i> are some earlier paintings; +but those ascribed to Botticelli, Filippino +Lippi, and Ghirlandaio are merely school-pieces. +Fra Filippo Lippi's Madonna and Child with +the Pomegranate (343) is a genuine and excellent +work; in the background are seen the meeting of +Joachim and Anne, with the Nativity of the Blessed +Virgin. Crowe and Cavalcasella observe that "this +group of the Virgin and Child reminds one forcibly of +those by Donatello or Desiderio da Settignano," and +it shows how much the painters of the Quattrocento<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_387" id="page_387">[387]</a></span> +were influenced by the sculptors; the Madonna's face, +for no obvious reason, is said to be that of Lucrezia +Buti, the girl whom Lippo carried off from a convent +at Prato. A curious little allegory (336) is ascribed +by Morelli to Filippino Lippi. We should also notice +the beautiful Madonna with Angels adoring the Divine +Child in a rose garden (347), a characteristic Florentine +work of the latter part of the Quattrocento, once +erroneously ascribed to Filippino Lippi; an Ecce Homo +in fresco by Fra Bartolommeo (377); a Holy Family +by Mariotto Albertinelli (365); and a tondo by Luca +Signorelli (355), in which St. Catherine is apparently +writing at the dictation of the Divine Child. But the +two gems of this room are the head of a Saint (370) +and the portrait of a man in red dress and hat (375) +by one of the earlier painters of the Quattrocento, +probably Domenico Veneziano; "perhaps," writes +Mr Berenson, "the first great achievements in this +kind of the Renaissance." Here, too, is a fine portrait +by Lorenzo Costa (376) of Giovanni Bentivoglio.</p> + +<p>In the <i>Sala del Poccetti</i>, <i>Sala della Giustizia</i>, <i>Sala di +Flora</i>, <i>Sala dei Putti</i>, the pictures are, for the most +part, unimportant. The so-called portrait of the +<i>bella Simonetta</i>, the innamorata of Giuliano dei +Medici (353), is not authentic and should not be +ascribed to Sandro Botticelli. There are some fairly +good portraits; a Titian (495), a Sebastiano del +Piombo (409), Duke Cosimo I. by Bronzino (403), +Oliver Cromwell by Lely (408). Calumny by +Francia Bigio (427) is curious as a later rendering +of a theme that attracted the greatest masters of the +Quattrocento (Botticelli, Mantegna, Luca Signorelli all +tried it). Lovers of Browning will be glad to have +their attention called to the Judith of Artemisia Gentileschi +(444): "a wonder of a woman painting too."</p> + +<p>A passage leads down two flights of steps, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_388" id="page_388">[388]</a></span> +occasional glimpses of the Boboli Gardens, through +corridors of Medicean portraits, Florentine celebrities, +old pictures of processions in piazza, and the like. +Then over the Ponte Vecchio, with views of the +Arno on either hand as we cross, to the Uffizi.</p> + +<hr class="c15" /> + +<p>Behind the Pitti Palace are the delicious Boboli +Gardens, commenced for Duke Cosimo I., with +shady walks and exquisitely framed views of Florence. +In a grotto near the entrance are four unfinished +statues by Michelangelo; they are usually supposed +to have been intended for the tomb of Julius II., +but may possibly have been connected with the +projected façade of San Lorenzo.</p> + +<p>Nearly opposite the Palazzo Pitti is the Casa Guidi, +where the Brownings lived and wrote. Here Elizabeth +Barrett Browning died in June 1861, she who +"made of her verse a golden ring linking England +to Italy"; these were the famous "Casa Guidi +windows" from which she watched the liberation +and unification of Italy:–</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="o1">"I heard last night a little child go singing</span><br /> +<span class="i1">'Neath Casa Guidi windows, by the church,</span><br /> +<i>O bella libertà, O bella!</i>–stringing<br /> +<span class="i1">The same words still on notes he went in search</span><br /> +So high for, you concluded the upspringing<br /> +<span class="i1">Of such a nimble bird to sky from perch</span><br /> +Must leave the whole bush in a tremble green,<br /> +<span class="i1">And that the heart of Italy must beat,</span><br /> +While such a voice had leave to rise serene<br /> +<span class="i1">'Twixt church and palace of a Florence street."</span></p> + +<p>The church in question, San Felice, contains a +good picture of St. Anthony, St. Rock and St. Catherine +by some follower of Botticelli and Filippino +Lippi; also a Crucifixion of the school of Giotto. +Thence the Via Mazzetta leads into the Piazza Santo +Spirito, at the corner of which is the Palazzo Guadagni,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_389" id="page_389">[389]</a></span> +built by Cronaca at the end of the Quattrocento; with +fine iron work, lantern holders and the like, on the +exterior.</p> + +<p>The present church of Santo Spirito–the finest +Early Renaissance church in Florence–was built +between 1471 and 1487, after Brunelleschi's designs, +to replace his earlier building which had been burned +down in 1471 on the occasion of the visit of Galeazzo +Maria Sforza to Lorenzo the Magnificent and his +brother. It is a fine example of Brunelleschi's adaptation +of the early basilican type, is borne upon graceful +Corinthian columns and nobly proportioned. The +octagonal sacristy is by Giuliano da San Gallo and +Cronaca, finished in 1497, and the campanile by Baccio +d'Agnolo at the beginning of the sixteenth century.</p> + +<p>The stained glass window over the entrance was +designed by Perugino. In the right transept is an +excellent picture by Filippino Lippi; Madonna and +Child with the little St. John, St. Catherine and St. +Nicholas, with the donor, Tanai de' Nerli, and his +wife. Also in the right transept is the tomb of +the Capponi; Gino, the conqueror of Pisa and +historian of the Ciompi; Neri, the conqueror of the +Casentino; and that great republican soldier and hero, +Piero Capponi, who had saved Florence from Charles +of France and fell in the Pisan war. The vision of +St. Bernard is an old copy from Perugino. None +of the other pictures in the church are more than +school pieces; there are two in the left transept ascribed +to Filippino's disappointing pupil, Raffaellino del +Garbo–the Trinità with St. Mary of Egypt and St. +Catherine, and the Madonna with Sts. Lawrence, +Stephen, John and Bernard. The latter picture is +by Raffaellino di Carlo.</p> + +<p>During the last quarter of the fourteenth century +the convent of Santo Spirito–which is an Augustinian<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_390" id="page_390">[390]</a></span> +house–was the centre of a circle of scholars, who +represent an epoch intermediate between the great +writers of the Trecento and the humanists of the +early Quattrocento. Prominent among them was +Coluccio Salutati, who for many years served the +Republic as Chancellor and died in 1406. He was +influential in founding the first chair of Greek, and +his letters on behalf of Florence were so eloquent +and powerful that the "great viper," Giovanni +Galeazzo Visconti, declared that he dreaded one of +them more than many swords. Also Filippo Villani, +the nephew of the great chroniclers, Giovanni and +Matteo, who had succeeded Boccaccio as lecturer on +Dante. They met here with other kindred spirits +in the cell of Fra Luigi Marsili, a learned monk and +impassioned worshipper of Petrarch, upon whose great +crusading canzone–<i>O aspettata in ciel, beata e bella</i>–he +wrote a commentary which is still extant. Fra +Luigi died in 1394. A century later, the monks +of this convent took a violent part in opposition to +Savonarola; and it was here, in the pulpit of the +choir of the church, that Landucci tells us that he +heard the bull of excommunication read "by a Fra +Leonardo, their preacher, and an adversary of the +said Fra Girolamo,"–"between two lighted torches +and many friars," as he rather quaintly puts it.</p> + +<p>"The Carmine's my cloister: hunt it up," says +Browning's Lippo Lippi to his captors; and the Via +Mazzetta and the Via Santa Monaca will take us +to it. This church of the Carmelites, Santa Maria +del Carmine, was consecrated in 1422; and, almost +immediately after, the mighty series of frescoes was +begun in the Brancacci Chapel at the end of the right +transept–frescoes which were to become the school +for all future painting. In the eighteenth century the +greater part of the church was destroyed by fire, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_391" id="page_391">[391]</a></span> +this chapel was spared by the flames, and the frescoes, +though terribly damaged and grievously restored, still +remain on its walls.</p> + +<p>This Brancacci Chapel of the Carmine plays the +same part in the history of painting as the bronze +gates of the Baptistery in that of sculpture. It was in +that same eventful year, 1401, of the famous competition +between Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, that the new +Giotto was born–Tommaso, the son of a notary in +Castello San Giovanni di Valdarno. With him, as +we saw in chapter iii., the second great epoch of +Italian painting, the Quattrocento, or Epoch of Character, +opens. His was a rare and piquant personality; +<i>persona astrattissima e molto a caso</i>, says Vasari, "an +absent-minded fellow and very casual." Intent upon +his art, he took no care of himself and thought nothing +of the ordinary needs and affairs of the world, though +always ready to do others a good turn. From his +general negligence and untidiness, he was nicknamed +<i>Masaccio</i>–"hulking Tom"–which has become one +of the most honourable names in the history of art. +The little chapel in which we now stand and survey +his handiwork, or what remains of it, is nothing less +than the birthplace of modern painting. Sculpture had +indeed preceded painting in its return to nature and in +its direct study of the human form, and the influence of +Donatello lies as strongly over all the painters of the +Quattrocento. Vasari even states that Masolino da +Panicale (Masolino = "dear little Tom"), Masaccio's +master, had been one of Ghiberti's assistants in the +casting of the bronze gates, but this is questionable; it +is possible that he had been Ghiberti's pupil, though +he learned the principles of painting from Gherardo +Starnina, one of the last artists of the Trecento. It +was shortly after 1422 that Masolino commenced this +great series of frescoes setting forth the life of St.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_392" id="page_392">[392]</a></span> +Peter; within the next few years Masaccio continued +his work; and, more than half a century later, in +1484, Filippino Lippi took it up where Masaccio had +left off, and completed the series.</p> + +<p>Masolino's contribution to the whole appears to be +confined to three pictures: St. Peter preaching, with +Carmelites in the background to carry his doctrines +into fifteenth century Florence, on the left of the +window; the upper row of scenes on the right wall, +representing St. Peter and St. John raising the cripple +at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and the healing +of Tabitha (according to others, the resuscitation of +Petronilla); and the narrow fresco of the Fall of +Adam and Eve, on the right of the entrance. Some +have also ascribed to him the striking figure of St. +Peter enthroned, attended by Carmelites, while the +faithful approach to kiss his feet–the picture in the +corner on the left which, in a way, sets the keynote to +the whole–but it is more probably the work of +Masaccio (others ascribe it to Filippino). Admirable +though these paintings are, they exhibit a certain +immaturity as contrasted with those by Masaccio: in +the Raising of Tabitha, for instance, those two youths +with their odd headgear might almost have stepped +out of some Giottesque fresco; and the rendering of the +nude in the Adam and Eve, though wonderful at that +epoch, is much inferior to Masaccio's opposite. Nevertheless, +Masolino's grave and dignified figures introduced +the type that Masaccio was soon to render perfect.</p> + +<p>From the hand of Masaccio are the Expulsion from +Paradise; the Tribute Money; the Raising of the +Dead Youth (in part); and (probably) the St. Peter +enthroned, on the left wall; St. Peter and St. John +healing the sick with their shadow, under Masolino's +Peter preaching (and the figure behind with a red +cap, leaning on a stick, is Masaccio's pious portrait<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_393" id="page_393">[393]</a></span> +of his master Masolino himself); St. Peter baptising, +St. Peter and St. John giving alms, on the opposite +side of the window. Each figure is admirably rendered, +its character perfectly realised; Masaccio may indeed +be said to have completed what Giotto had begun, and +freed Italian art from the mannerism of the later followers +of Giotto, even as Giotto himself had delivered +her from Byzantine formalism. "After Giotto," +writes Leonardo da Vinci, "the art of painting declined +again, because every one imitated the pictures that were +already done; thus it went on from century to century +until Tommaso of Florence, nicknamed Masaccio, showed +by his perfect works how those who take for their standard +any one but Nature–the mistress of all masters–weary +themselves in vain."<a name="fnanchor_54" id="fnanchor_54"></a><a href="#footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> This return to nature is +seen even in the landscape, notably in the noble background +to the Tribute Money; but above all, in his +study of man and the human form. "For the first +time," says Kugler, "his aim is the study of form for +itself, the study of the external conformation of man. +With such an aim is identified a feeling which, in beauty, +sees and preserves the expression of proportion; and in +repose or motion, the expression of an harmonious +development of the powers of the human frame." +For sheer dignity and grandeur there is nothing to +compare with it, till we come to the work of Raphael +and Michelangelo in the Vatican; the composition of +the Tribute Money and the Healing of the Sick +initiated the method of religious illustration that +reached its ultimate perfection in Raphael–what has +been called giving Greek form to Hebrew thought. +The treatment of the nude especially seemed a novel +thing in its day; the wonderful modelling of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_394" id="page_394">[394]</a></span> +naked youth shivering with the cold, in the scene of St. +Peter baptising, was hailed as a marvel of art, and is +cited by Vasari as one of the <i>cose rarissime</i> of painting. +In the scene of the Tribute Money, the last Apostle +on our right (in the central picture where our Lord +and His disciples are confronted by the eager collector) +whose proud bearing is hardly evangelical, is Masaccio +himself, with scanty beard and untidy hair. Although +less excellent than the Baptism as a study of the nude, +the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden is a +masterpiece of which it is impossible to speak too +highly. Our <i>primi parenti</i>, weighed down with the +consciousness of ineffable tragedy, are impelled irresistibly +onward by divine destiny; they need not see the +Angel in his flaming robe on his cloud of fire, with his +flashing sword and out-stretched hand; terrible in his +beauty as he is to the spectator, he is as nothing to +them, compared with the face of an offended God and +the knowledge of the <i>tanto esilio</i>. Surely this is how +Dante himself would have conceived the scene.</p> + +<p>Masaccio died at Rome in 1428, aged twenty-seven +years. In his short life he had set modern painting on +her triumphant progress, and his frescoes became the +school for all subsequent painters, "All in short," +says Vasari, "who have sought to acquire their art in +its perfection, have constantly repaired to study it in +this chapel, there imbibing the precepts and rules necessary +to be followed for the command of success, and +learning to labour effectually from the figures of Masaccio." +If he is to rank among "the inheritors of +unfulfilled renown," Masaccio may be said to stand +towards Raphael as Keats towards Tennyson. Masolino +outlived his great pupil for several years, and died +about 1435.</p> + +<p>The fresco of the Raising up of the dead Youth, +left unfinished by Masaccio when he left Florence for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_395" id="page_395">[395]</a></span> +Rome, was completed by Filippino Lippi (the son of +that run-a-way Carmelite in whom the spirit of Masaccio +was said to have lived again), in 1484. The five figures +on the left appear to be from Filippino's hand (the +second from the end is said to be Luigi Pulci, the +poet), as also the resuscitated boy (said to be Francesco +Granacci the painter, who was then about fifteen years +old) and the group of eight on the right. Under +Masaccio's Adam and Eve, he painted St. Paul visiting +St. Peter in prison; under Masolino's Fall, the Liberation +of Peter by the Angel, two exceedingly beautiful +and simple compositions. And, on the right wall of the +chapel, St. Peter and St. Paul before the Proconsul +and the Crucifixion of St. Peter are also by Filippino. +In the Crucifixion scene, which is inferior to the rest, +the last of the three spectators on our right, wearing a +black cap, is Filippino's master, Sandro Botticelli. In +the presence of the Proconsul, the elderly man with a +keen face, in a red cap to the right of the judge, is +Antonio Pollaiuolo; and, on our right, the youth +whose head appears in the corner is certainly Filippino +himself–a kind of signature to the whole.</p> + +<p>Apart from the Brancacci chapel, the interest of the +Carmine is mainly confined to the tomb of the noble +and simple-hearted ex-Gonfaloniere, Piero Soderini +(who died in 1513), in the choir; it was originally +by Benedetto da Rovezzano, but has been restored. +There are frescoes in the sacristy, representing the +life of St. Cecilia, by one of Giotto's later followers, +possibly Spinello Aretino, and, in the cloisters, a noteworthy +Madonna of the same school, ascribed to +Giovanni da Milano.</p> + +<p>Beyond the Carmine, westwards, is the Borgo San +Frediano, now, as in olden time, the poorest part of +Florence. It was the ringing of the bell of the +Carmine that gave the signal for the rising of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_396" id="page_396">[396]</a></span> +Ciompi in 1378. Unlike their neighbours, the +Augustinians of Santo Spirito, the good fathers of +Our Lady of Mount Carmel were for the most part +ardent followers of Savonarola, and, on the first of +October 1497, one of them preached an open-air +sermon near the Porta San Frediano, in which he +declared that he himself had had a special revelation +from God on the subject of Fra Girolamo's sanctity, +and that all who resisted the Friar would be horribly +punished; even Landucci admits that he talked arrant +nonsense, <i>pazzie</i>. The parish church of this district, +San Frediano in Cestello, is quite uninteresting. At +the end of the Via San Frediano is the great Porta +San Frediano, of which more presently.</p> + +<p>The gates and walls of Oltrarno were built between +1324 and 1327, in the days of the Republic's great +struggle with Castruccio Interminelli. Unlike those +on the northern bank, they are still in part standing. +There are five gates on this side of the river–the +Porta San Niccolò, the Porta San Miniato, the Porta +San Giorgio, the Porta Romana or Por San Piero +Gattolino, and the Porta San Frediano. It was all +round this part of the city that the imperial army lay +during the siege of 1529 and 1530.</p> + +<p>On the east of the city, on the banks of the Arno, +rises first the Porta San Niccolò–mutilated and isolated, +but the only one of the gates that has retained a remnant +of its ancient height and dignity. In a lunette on the +inner side is a fresco of 1357–Madonna and Child with +Saints, Angels and Prophets. Around are carved the +lilies of the Commune. On the side facing the hill are +the arms of the Parte Guelfa and of the People, with +the lily of the Commune between them. Within the +gate the Borgo San Niccolò leads to the church of +San Niccolò, which contains a picture by Neri di Bicci +and one of the Pollaiuoli, and four saints ascribed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_397" id="page_397">[397]</a></span> +Gentile da Fabriano. It is one of the oldest Florentine +churches, though not interesting in its present state. +There is an altogether untrustworthy tradition that +Michelangelo was sheltered in the tower of this church +after the capitulation of the city, but he seems to have +been more probably in the house of a trusted friend. +Pope Clement ordered that he should be sought for, +but left at liberty and treated with all courtesy if he +agreed to go on working at the Medicean monuments in +San Lorenzo; and, hearing this, the sculptor came out +from his hiding place. It may be observed that San +Niccolò was a most improbable place for him to have +sought refuge in, as Malatesta Baglioni had his headquarters +close by.</p> + +<p>Beyond the Porta San Niccolò is the Piano di Ripoli, +where the Prince of Orange had his headquarters. +Before his exile Dante possessed some land here. It +was here that the first Dominican house was established +in Tuscany under St Dominic's companion, +Blessed John of Salerno. Up beyond the terminus of +the tramway a splendid view of Florence can be +obtained.</p> + +<p>Near the Porta San Niccolò the long flight of stairs +mounts up the hill of <i>San Francesco e San Miniato</i>, +which commands the city from the south-east, to +the Piazzale Michelangelo just below the church. +A long and exceedingly beautiful drive leads also to +this Piazzale from the Porta Romana–the Viale dei +Colli–and passes down again to the Barriera San +Niccolò by the Viale Michelangelo. This Viale dei +Colli, at least, is one of those few works which even +those folk who make a point of sneering at everything +done in Florence since the unification of Italy are +constrained to admire. It would seem that even in +the thirteenth century there were steps of some kind +constructed up the hill-side to the church. In that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_398" id="page_398">[398]</a></span> +passage from the <i>Purgatorio</i> (canto xii.) which I +have put at the head of this chapter, Dante compares +the ascent from the first to the second circle of +Purgatory to this climb: "As on the right hand, to +mount the hill where stands the church which overhangs +the well-guided city, above Rubaconte, the +bold abruptness of the ascent is broken by the steps +that were made in the age when the ledger and the +stave were safe."<a name="fnanchor_55" id="fnanchor_55"></a><a href="#footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>The Piazzale, adorned with bronze copies of +Michelangelo's great statues, commands one of the +grandest views of Florence, with the valley of the +Arno and the mountains round, that "in silence listen +for the word said next," as Mrs Browning has it. +Up beyond is the exceedingly graceful Franciscan +church of San Salvadore al Monte–"the purest vessel +of Franciscan simplicity," a modern Italian poet has +called it–built by Cronaca in the last years of the +fifteenth century. It contains a few works by +Giovanni della Robbia. It was as he descended this +hill with a few armed followers that Giovanni Gualberto +met and pardoned the murderer of his brother; +a small chapel or tabernacle, on the way up from the +convent to San Miniato, still marks the spot, but the +Crucifix which is said to have bowed down its head +towards him is now preserved in Santa Trinità.</p> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_399" id="page_399"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_43" id="illo_43"></a> +<img src="images/illus417_tmb.jpg" width="264" height="400" alt="THE FORTIFICATIONS OF MICHELANGELO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">THE FORTIFICATIONS OF MICHELANGELO</p> +<a href="images/illus417_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>This Monte di San Francesco e di San Miniato +overlooks the whole city, and Florence lay at the +mercy of whoever got possession of it. Varchi in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_401" id="page_401">[401]</a></span> +history apologises for those architects who built the +walls of the city by reminding us that, in their days, +artillery was not even dreamed of, much less invented. +Michelangelo armed the campanile of San Miniato, +against which the fiercest fire of the imperialists was +directed, and erected bastions covering the hill, +enclosing it, as it were, within the walls up from the +Porta San Miniato and down again to the Porta San +Niccolò. It was intrusted to the guard of Stefano +Colonna, who finally joined Malatesta Baglioni in +betraying the city. Some bits of Michelangelo's work +remain near the Basilica, which itself is one of the +most venerable edifices of the kind in Tuscany; the +earliest Florentine Christians are said to have met here +in the woods, during the reign of Nero, and here +Saint Miniatus, according to tradition the son of an +Armenian king, lived in his hermitage until martyred +by Decius outside the present Porta alla Croce. In +the days of Gregory the Great, San Frediano of +Lucca came every year with his clergy to worship the +relics of Miniatus; a basilica already stood here in +the time of Charlemagne; and the present edifice is +said to have been begun in 1013 by the Bishop +Alibrando, with the aid of the Emperor St Henry and +his wife Cunegunda. It was held by the Benedictines, +first the black monks and then the Olivetans who took +it over from Gregory XI. in 1373. The new +Bishops of Florence, the first time they set foot out of +the city, came here to sing Mass. In 1553 the +monastery was suppressed by Duke Cosimo I., and +turned into a fortress.</p> + +<p>San Miniato al Monte is one of the earliest and +one of the finest examples of the Tuscan Romanesque +style of architecture. Both interior and exterior are +adorned with inlaid coloured marble, of simple +design, and the fine "nearly classical" pillars within<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_402" id="page_402">[402]</a></span> +are probably taken from some ancient Roman building. +Fergusson remarks that, but for the rather +faulty construction of the façade, "it would be difficult +to find a church in Italy containing more of classical +elegance, with perfect appropriateness for the purposes +of Christian worship." In the crypt beneath the altar +is the tomb of San Miniato and others of the Decian +martyrs. The great mosaic on the upper part of the +apse was originally executed at the end of the thirteenth +century. The Early Renaissance chapel in the +nave was constructed by Michelozzo in 1448 for Piero +dei Medici, to contain Giovanni Gualberto's miraculous +Crucifix. In the left aisle is the Cappella di San +Jacopo with the monument of the Cardinal James of +Portugal, who "lived in the flesh as if he were freed +from it, like an Angel rather than a man, and died in +the odour of sanctity at the early age of twenty-six," +in 1459. This tomb by Antonio Rossellino is the +third of the "three finest Renaissance tombs in +Tuscany," the other two being those of Leonardo +Bruni (1444) by Antonio's brother Bernardo, and +Carlo Marsuppini by Desiderio (1453), both of +which we have seen in Santa Croce. Mr Perkins +observes that the present tomb preserves the golden +mean in point of ornament between the other two. +The Madonna and Child with the Angels, watching +over the young Cardinal's repose, are especially +beautiful. The Virtues on the ceiling are by Luca +della Robbia, and the Annunciation opposite the tomb +by Alessio Baldovinetti. The Gothic sacristy was +built for one of the great Alberti family, Benedetto di +Nerozzo, in 1387, and decorated shortly after with a +splendid series of frescoes by Spinello Aretino, setting +forth the life of St. Benedict. These are Spinello's +noblest works and the last great creation of the +genuine school of Giotto. Especially fine are the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_403" id="page_403">[403]</a></span> +scenes with the Gothic king Totila, and the death +and apotheosis of the Saint, which latter may be +compared with +Giotto's St. Francis +in Santa Croce. +The whole is like +a painted chapter +of St. Gregory's +Dialogues.</p> + +<div class="figright"><a name="illo_44" id="illo_44"></a> +<img src="images/illus421_tmb.jpg" width="252" height="400" alt="PORTA SAN GIORGIO" title="" /> +<p class="caption">PORTA SAN GIORGIO</p> +<a href="images/illus421_fs.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<p>The Porta San +Miniato, below the +hill, almost at the +foot of the Basilica, +is little more +than a gap in the +wall. On both +sides are the arms +of the Commune +and the People, +the Cross of the +latter outside the +lily of the former. +Upwards from the +Porta San Miniato +to the Porta San +Giorgio a glorious +bit of the old wall +remains, clad inside +and out with +olives, running up +the hillside of San +Giorgio; even some remnants of the old towers are +standing, two indeed having been only partially demolished. +Beneath the former Medicean fortress +and upper citadel of Belvedere stands the Porta +San Giorgio. This, although small, is the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_404" id="page_404">[404]</a></span> +picturesque of all the gates of Florence. On its +outer side is a spirited bas-relief of St. George and +the Dragon in stone–of the end of the fourteenth century–over +the lily of the Commune; in the lunette, +on the inner side, is a fresco painted in 1330–probably +by Bernardo Daddi–of Santa Maria del Fiore enthroned +with the Divine Babe between St. George and +St. Leonard. This was the only gate held by the +nobles in the great struggle of 1343, when the banners +of the people were carried across the bridge in triumph, +and the Bardi and Frescobaldi fought from street to +street; through it the magnates had secretly brought in +banditti and retainers from the country, and through it +some of the Bardi fled when the people swept down +upon their palaces. Inside the gate the steep Via della +Costa San Giorgio winds down past Galileo's house to +Santa Felicità. Outside the gate the Via San +Leonardo leads, between olive groves and vineyards, +into the Viale dei Colli. In the curious little church +of San Leonardo in Arcetri, on the left, is an old +<i>ambone</i> or pulpit from the demolished church of San +Piero Scheraggio, with ancient bas-reliefs. This +pulpit is traditionally supposed to have been a part of +the spoils in the destruction of Fiesole; it appears to +belong to the latter part of the twelfth century.</p> + +<p>The great Porta Romana, or Porta San Piero +Gattolino, was originally erected in 1328; it is still +of imposing dimensions, though its immediate surroundings +are somewhat prosaic. Many a Pope and +Emperor has passed through here, to or from the +eternal city; the marble tablets on either side record +the entrance of Leo X. in 1515, on his way from +Rome to Bologna to meet Francis I. of France, and +of Charles V. in 1536 to confirm the infamous Duke +Alessandro on the throne–a confirmation which the +dagger of Lorenzino happily annulled in the following<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_405" id="page_405">[405]</a></span> +year. It was here that Pope Leo's brother, Piero +dei Medici, had made his unsuccessful attempt to +surprise the city on April 28th 1497, with some +thousand men or more, horse and foot. A countryman +at daybreak had seen them resting and breakfasting on +the way, some few miles from the city; by taking +short cuts over the country, he evaded their scouts +who were intercepting all persons passing northwards, +and reached Florence with the news just at the +morning opening of the gate. The result was that +the Magnifico Piero and his braves found it closed in +their faces and the forces of the Signoria guarding the +walls, so, after ignominiously skulking for a few hours +out of range of the artillery, they fled back towards +Siena.</p> + +<p>Near the Porta Romana the Viale dei Colli commences +to the left, as the Viale Machiavelli; and, +straight on, the beautifully shady Stradone del Poggio +Imperiale runs up to the villa of that name, built for +Maria Maddalena of Austria in 1622. The statues +at the beginning of the road were once saints on the +second façade of the Duomo. It was on the rising +ground that divides the Strada Romana from the +present Stradone that the famous convent of Monticelli +stood, recorded in Dante's <i>Paradiso</i> and Petrarca's +<i>Trionfo della Pudicizia</i>, in which Piccarda Donati took +the habit of St. Clare, and from which she was +dragged by her brother Corso to marry Rossellino +della Tosa:–<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_406" id="page_406">[406]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span class="o1">"Perfetta vita ed alto merto inciela</span><br /> +<span class="i1">donna più su, mi disse, alla cui norma</span><br /> +<span class="i1">nel vostro mondo giù si veste e vela,</span></p> + +<p>perchè in fino al morir si vegghi e dorma<br /> +<span class="i1">con quello sposo ch'ogni voto accetta,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">che caritate a suo piacer conforma.</span></p> + +<p>Dal mondo, per seguirla, giovinetta<br /> +<span class="i1">fuggi'mi, e nel suo abito mi chiusi,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">e promisi la via della sua setta.</span></p> + +<p>Uomini poi, a mal più ch'al bene usi,<br /> +<span class="i1">fuor mi rapiron della dolce chiostra;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">e Dio si sa qual poi mia vita fusi."<a name="fnanchor_56" id="fnanchor_56"></a><a href="#footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>It was at Poggio Imperiale, then called the Poggio +dei Baroncelli, that a famous combat took place during +the early days of the siege, in which Ludovico Martelli +and Dante da Castiglione fought two Florentines who +were serving in the imperial army, Giovanni Bandini +and Bertino Aldobrandini. Both Martelli, the original +challenger, and Aldobrandini were mortally wounded. +Martelli's real motive in sending the challenge is said +to have been that he and Bandini were rivals for the +favours of a Florentine lady, Marietta de' Ricci. +Among the many beautiful villas and gardens which +stud the country beyond Poggio Imperiale, are Galileo's +Tower, from which he made his astronomical observations, +and the villa in which he was visited by Milton. +Near Santa Margherita a Montici, to the east, is the +villa in which the articles of capitulation were arranged +by the Florentine ambassadors with Ferrante Gonzaga, +commander of the Imperial troops, and Baccio Valori, +commissary of the Pope. But already Malatesta had +opened the Porta Romana and turned his artillery against<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_407" id="page_407">[407]</a></span> +the city which he had solemnly sworn to defend.</p> + +<p>Beyond the Porta Romana the road to the right of +Poggio Imperiale leads to the valley of the Ema, above +which the great Certosa rises on the hill of Montaguto. +Shortly before reaching the monastery the Ema is +crossed–an insignificant stream in which Cacciaguida +(in <i>Paradiso</i> xvi.) rather paradoxically regrets that +Buondelmonte was not drowned on his way to Florence: +"Joyous had many been who now are sad, had God +committed thee unto the Ema the first time that thou +camest to the city." The Certosa itself, that "huge +battlemented convent-block over the little forky flashing +Greve," as Browning calls it, was founded by Niccolò +Acciaiuoli, the Florentine Grand Seneschal of Naples, +in 1341; it is one of the finest of the later mediæval +monasteries. Orcagna is said to have built one of the +side chapels of the church, which contains a fine early +Giottesque altarpiece; and in a kind of crypt there are +noble tombs of the Acciaiuoli–one, the monument of +the founder, being possibly by Orcagna, and one of the +later ones ascribed (doubtfully) to Donatello. In the +chapter-house are a Crucifixion by Mariotto Albertinelli, +and the monument of Leonardo Buonafede by +Francesco da San Gallo. From the convent and further +up the valley, there are beautiful views. About three +miles further on is the sanctuary and shrine of the +Madonna dell' Impruneta, built for the miraculous +image of the Madonna, which was carried down in +procession to Florence in times of pestilence and +danger. Savonarola especially had placed great faith +in the miraculous powers of this image and these processions; +and during the siege it remained in Florence +ceremoniously guarded in the Duomo, a kind of mystic +Palladium.</p> + +<p>Between the Porta Romana and Porta San Frediano +some tracts of the city wall remain, but the whole is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_408" id="page_408">[408]</a></span> +painfully prosaic. The Porta San Frediano itself is +a massive structure, erected between 1324 and 1327, +possibly by Andrea Pisano; it need hardly be repeated +that we cannot judge of the original mediæval appearance +of the gates of Florence, with their towers and +ante-portals, even from the least mutilated of their +present remnants. It was through this gate that the +Florentine army passed in triumph in 1363 with their +long trains of captured Pisans; and here, after Pisa +had shaken off for a while the yoke, Charles of France +rode in as a conqueror on November 17, 1494, Savonarola's +new Cyrus, and was solemnly received at the gate +by the Signoria. Within the gate a strip of wall runs +down to the river, with two later towers built by Medicean +grand dukes. At the end is a chapel built in +1856, and containing a Pietà from the walls of a demolished +convent–ascribed without warrant to Domenico +Ghirlandaio.</p> + +<p>It was somewhere near here that S. Frediano, coming +from Lucca to pay his annual visit to the shrine of San +Miniato, miraculously crossed the Arno in flood. Outside +the gate, a little off the Leghorn road to the left, +is the suppressed abbey of Monte Oliveto, and beyond +it, to the south, the hill of Bellosguardo–both points +from which splendid views of Florence and its surroundings +are obtained.</p> + +<p>These dream-like glimpses of the City of Flowers, +which every coign of vantage seems to give us round +Florence–might we not, sometimes, imagine that we +had stumbled unawares upon the Platonic City of the +Perfect? There are two lines from one of Dante's +canzoni in praise of his mystical lady that rise to our +mind at every turn:–</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="o1">"Io non la vidi tante volte ancora,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">ch'io non trovassi in lei nuova bellezza,"</span></p> + +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_409" id="page_409">[409]</a></p> + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="chapter_xiii" id="chapter_xiii"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> +<h3><i>Conclusion</i></h3> + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE setting of Florence is in every way worthy of +the gem which it encloses. On each side of the +city and throughout its province beautiful walks and +drives lead to churches, villas and villages full of historical +interest or enriched with artistic treasures. I +can here merely indicate a very few such places.</p> + +<p>To the north of the city rises Fiesole on its hill, of +which the historical connection with Florence has been +briefly discussed in chapter i. At its foot stands the +Dominican convent, in which Fra Giovanni, whom we +know better as the Beato Angelico, took the habit of +the order, and in which both his brother, Fra Benedetto, +and himself were in turn priors. Savonarola's +fellow martyr, Fra Domenico da Pescia, was likewise +prior of this house. The church contains a Madonna +by Angelico, with the background painted in by Lorenzo +di Credi (its exquisitely beautiful predella is now +one of the chief ornaments of the National Gallery of +London), a Baptism of Christ by Lorenzo di Credi, +and an Adoration of the Magi designed by Andrea del +Sarto and executed by Sogliani. A little to the left +is the famous Badia di Fiesole, originally of the eleventh +century, but rebuilt for Cosimo the Elder by Filippo +Brunelleschi. It was one of Cosimo's favourite foundations; +Marsilio Ficino's Platonic Academy frequently +met in the loggia with its beautiful view +towards the city. In the church, Lorenzo's second +son, Giovanni, was invested with the Cardinalate in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_410" id="page_410">[410]</a></span> +1492; and here, in 1516, his third son, Giuliano, +Duke of Nemours, the best of the Medici, died. On +the way up to Fiesole itself is the handsome villa Mozzi, +built for Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici by Michelozzo. +It was in this villa that the Pazzi had originally intended +to murder Lorenzo and the elder Giuliano, +but their plan was frustrated by the illness of Giuliano, +which prevented his being present.</p> + +<p>In Fiesole itself, the remains of the Etruscan wall +and the old theatre tell of the classical Faesulae; its +Tuscan Romanesque Duomo (of the eleventh and +twelfth centuries) recalls the days when the city seemed +a rival to Florence itself and was the resort of the +robber barons, who preyed upon her ever growing commerce. +It contains sculptures by Mino da Fiesole +and that later Fiesolan, Andrea Ferrucci (to whom +we owe the bust of Marsilio Ficino), and a fine terracotta +by one of the Della Robbias. From the Franciscan +convent, which occupies the site of the old +Roman citadel, a superb view of Florence and its +valley is obtained. From Fiesole, towards the south-east, +we reach Ponte a Mensola (also reached from the +Porta alla Croce), the Mensola of Boccaccio's <i>Ninfale +fiesolano</i>, above which is Settignano, where Desiderio +was born and Michelangelo nurtured, and where Boccaccio +had a podere. The Villa Poggio Gherardo, +below Settignano, shares with the Villa Palmieri below +Fiesole the distinction of being traditionally one of +those introduced into the <i>Decameron</i>.</p> + +<p>Northwestwards of the Badia of Fiesole runs the +road from Florence to Bologna, past the village of +Trespiano, some three or four miles from the Porta +San Gallo. In the twelfth century Trespiano was the +northern boundary of Florentine territory, as Galluzzo–on +the way towards the Certosa and about two +miles from the Porta Romana–was its southern limit.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_411" id="page_411">[411]</a></span> +Cacciaguida, in <i>Paradiso</i> xvi., refers to this as an ideal +golden time when the citizenship "saw itself pure even +in the lowest artizan." A little way north of Trespiano, +on the old Bolognese road, is the Uccellatoio–referred +to in canto xv.–the first point from which +Florence is visible. Below Trespiano, at La Lastra, +rather more than two miles from the city, the exiled +Bianchi and Ghibellines, with auxiliaries from Bologna +and Arezzo, assembled in that fatal July of 1304. The +leaders of the Neri were absent at Perugia, and, at the +first sight of the white standards waving from the hill, +terror and consternation filled their partisans throughout +the city. Had their enterprise been better organised, +the exiles would undoubtedly have captured Florence. +Seeing that they were discovered, and urged on by +their friends within the city, without waiting for the +Uberti, whose cavalry was advancing from Pistoia to +their support and whose appointed day of coming they +had anticipated, Baschiera della Tosa, in spite of the +terrible heat, ordered an immediate advance upon the +Porta San Gallo. The walls of the third circle were +only in part built at that epoch, and those of the second +circle still stood with their gates. The exiles, for the +most part mounted, drew up round San Marco and the +Annunziata, "with white standards spread, with garlands +of olive and drawn swords, crying <i>peace</i>," writes +Dino Compagni, who was in Florence at the time, +"without doing violence or plundering anyone. A +right goodly sight was it to see them, with the sign +of peace thus arrayed. The heat was so great, that it +seemed that the very air burned." But their friends +within did not stir. They forced the Porta degli +Spadai which stood at the head of the present Via +dei Martelli, but were repulsed at the Piazza San +Giovanni and the Duomo, and the sudden blazing up +of a palace in the rear completed their rout. Many<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_412" id="page_412">[412]</a></span> +fell on the way, simply from the heat, while the Neri, +becoming fierce-hearted like lions, as Compagni says, +hotly pursued them, hunting out those who had hidden +themselves among the vineyards and houses, hanging +all they caught. In their flight, a little way from +Florence, the exiles met Tolosato degli Uberti hastening +up with his Ghibellines to meet them on the appointed +day. Tolosato, a fierce captain and experienced +in civil war, tried in vain to rally them, and, +when all his efforts proved unavailing, returned to +Pistoia declaring that the youthful rashness of Baschiera +had lost him the city. Dante had taken no part in the +affair; he had broken with his fellow exiles in the previous +year, and made a party for himself as he tells us +in the <i>Paradiso</i>.</p> + +<p>To the west and north-west of Florence are several +interesting villas of the Medici. The Villa Medicea in +Careggi, the most famous of all, is not always accessible. +It is situated in the loveliest country, within +a short walk of the tramway station of Ponte a Rifredi. +Built originally by Michelozzo for Cosimo the Elder, +it was almost burned down by a band of republican +youths shortly before the siege. Here Cosimo died, +consoling his last hours with Marsilio Ficino's Platonics; +here the elder Piero lived in retirement, too +shattered in health to do more than nominally succeed +his father at the head of the State. On August 23rd +1466, there was an attempt made to murder Piero as +he was carried into Florence from Careggi in his litter. +A band of armed men, in the pay of Luca Pitti and +Dietisalvi Neroni, lay in wait for the litter on the way +to the Porta Faenza; but young Lorenzo, who was +riding on in advance of his father's cortège, came across +them first, and, without appearing to take any alarm at +the meeting, secretly sent back a messenger to bid his +father take another way. Under Lorenzo himself, this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_413" id="page_413">[413]</a></span> +villa became the centre of the Neo-Platonic movement; +and here on November 7th, the day supposed to be the +anniversary of Plato's birth and death, the famous +banquet was held at which Marsilio Ficino and the +chosen spirits of the Academy discussed and expounded +the <i>Symposium</i>. Here on April 8th 1492, +the Magnifico died (see chap. iii.). In the same +neighbourhood, a little further on in the direction of +Pistoia, are the villas of Petraia and Castello (for both +of which <i>permessi</i> are given at the Pitti Palace, together +with that for Poggio a Caiano), both reminiscent +of the Medicean grand ducal family; in the +latter Cosimo I. lived with his mother, Maria Salviati, +before his accession to the throne, and here he died in +1574.</p> + +<p>Also beyond the Porta al Prato (about an hour and +a half by the tramway from behind Santa Maria +Novella), is the Villa Reale of Poggio a Caiano, +superbly situated where the Pistoian Apennines begin +to rise up from the plain. The villa was built by Giuliano +da San Gallo for Lorenzo, and the Magnifico +loved it best of all his country houses. It was here +that he wrote his <i>Ambra</i> and his <i>Caccia col Falcone</i>; in +both of these poems the beautiful scenery round plays +its part. When Pope Clement VII. sent the two boys, +Ippolito and Alessandro, to represent the Medici in +Florence, Alessandro generally stayed here, while Ippolito +resided within the city in the palace in the Via +Larga. When Charles V. came to Florence in 1536 +to confirm Alessandro upon the throne, he declared +that this villa "was not the building for a private +citizen." Here, too, the Grand Duke Francesco and +Bianca Cappello died, on October 19th and 20th, +1587, after entertaining the Cardinal Ferdinando, who +thus became Grand Duke; it was said that Bianca +had attempted to poison the Cardinal, and that she and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_414" id="page_414">[414]</a></span> +her husband had themselves eaten of the pasty that she +had prepared for him. It appears, however, that there +is no reason for supposing that their deaths were other +than natural. At present the villa is a royal country +house, in which reminiscences of the Re Galantuomo +clash rather oddly with those of the Medicean Princes. +All round runs a loggia with fine views, and there +are an uninteresting park and garden. The classical +portico is noteworthy, all the rest being of the utmost +simplicity.</p> + +<p>Within the palace a large room, with a remarkably +fine ceiling by Giuliano da San Gallo, is decorated +with a series of frescoes from Roman history intended +to be typical of events in the lives of Cosimo the Elder +and Lorenzo the Magnificent. Vasari says that, for a +villa, this is <i>la più bella sala del mondo</i>. The frescoes, +ordered by Pope Leo X. and the Cardinal Giulio, +under the direction of Ottaviano dei Medici, were +begun by Andrea dei Sarto, Francia Bigio and Jacopo +da Pontormo, left unfinished for more than fifty years, +and then completed by Alessandro Allori for the +Grand Duke Francesco. The Triumph of Cicero, +by Francia Bigio, is supposed to typify the return of +Cosimo from exile in 1434; Caesar receiving tribute +from Egypt, by Andrea del Sarto, refers to the coming +of an embassy from the Soldan to Lorenzo in 1487, +with magnificent gifts and treasures. Andrea's fresco +is full of curious beasts and birds, including the long-eared +sheep which Lorenzo naturalised in the grounds +of the villa, and the famous giraffe which the Soldan +sent on this occasion and which, as Mr Armstrong writes, +"became the most popular character in Florence," until +its death at the beginning of 1489. The Regent of +France, Anne of Beaujeu, made ineffectual overtures +to Lorenzo to get him to make her a present of the +strange beast. This fresco was left unfinished on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_415" id="page_415">[415]</a></span> +death of Pope Leo in 1521, and finished by Alessandro +Allori in 1582. The charming mythological +decorations between the windows are by Jacopo da +Pontormo. The two later frescoes by Alessandro +Allori, painted about 1580, represent Scipio in the +house of Syphax and Flamininus in Greece, which +typify Lorenzo's visit to Ferrante of Naples, in 1480, +and his presence at the Diet of Cremona in 1483, on +which latter occasion, as Mr Armstrong puts it, "his +good sense and powers of expression and persuasion +gave him an importance which the military weakness of +Florence denied to him in the field"–but the result +was little more than a not very honourable league of +the Italian powers against Venice. The Apples of the +Hesperides, and the rest of the mythological decorations +in continuation of Pontormo's lunette, are also Allori's. +The whole has an air of regal triumph without needless +parade.</p> + +<p>The road should be followed beyond the villa, in +order to ascend to the left to the little church among +the hills. A superb view is obtained over the plain to +Florence beyond the Villa Reale lying below us. +Behind, we are already among the Apennines. A +beautiful glimpse of Prato can be seen to the left, four +miles away.</p> + +<p>Prato itself is about twelve miles from Florence. It +was a gay little town in the fifteenth century, when it +witnessed "brother Lippo's doings, up and down," +and heard Messer Angelo Poliziano's musical sighings +for the love of Madonna Ippolita Leoncina. A few +years later it listened to the voice of Fra Girolamo +Savonarola, and at last its bright day of prosperity +ended in the horrible sack and carnage from the +Spanish soldiery under Raimondo da Cardona in 1512. +Its Duomo–dedicated to St. Stephen and the Baptist–a +Tuscan Romanesque church completed in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_416" id="page_416">[416]</a></span> +Gothic style by Giovanni Pisano, with a fine campanile +built at the beginning of the fourteenth century, +claims to possess a strange and wondrous relic: nothing +less than the Cintola or Girdle of the Blessed Virgin, +delivered by her–according to a pious and poetical +legend–to St. Thomas at her Assumption, and then +won back for Christendom by a native of Prato, +Michele Dagonari, in the Crusades. Be that as it +may, what purports to be this relic is exhibited on +occasions in the Pulpito della Cintola on the exterior +of the Duomo, a magnificent work by Donatello and +Michelozzo, in which the former master has carved a +wonderful series of dancing genii hardly, if at all, +inferior to those more famous bas-reliefs executed a +little later for the cantoria of Santa Maria del Fiore. +Within, over the entrance wall, is a picture by Ridolfo +Ghirlandaio of the Madonna giving the girdle to the +Thomas who had doubted. And in the chapel on the +left (with a most beautifully worked bronze screen, +with a lovely frieze of cupids, birds and beasts–the +work of Bruno Lapi and Pasquino di Matteo, 1444-1461), +the Cintola is preserved amid frescoes by +Agnolo Gaddi setting forth the life of Madonna, her +granting of Prato's treasure to St Thomas at the +Assumption, and its discovery by Michele Dagonari.</p> + +<p>The church is rich in works of Florentine art–a +pulpit by Mino da Fiesole and Antonio Rossellino; +the Madonna dell' Ulivo by Giuliano da Maiano; +frescoes said to be in part by Masolino's reputed +master Starnina in the chapel to the right of the +choir. But Prato's great artistic glory must be +sought in Fra Lippo Lippi's frescoes in the choir, +painted between 1452 and 1464. These are the +great achievements of the Friar's life. On the left +is the life of St. Stephen, on the right that of the +Baptist. They show very strongly the influence of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_417" id="page_417">[417]</a></span> +Masaccio, and make us understand why the Florentines +said that the spirit of Masaccio had entered into the body +of Fra Filippo. Inferior to Masaccio in most respects, +Filippo had a feeling for facial beauty and spiritual +expression, and for a certain type of feminine grace +which we hardly find in his prototype. The wonderful +figure of the dancing girl in Herod's banquet, and +again her naïve bearing when she kneels before her +mother with the martyr's head, oblivious of the horror +of the spectators and merely bent upon showing us her +own sweet face, are characteristic of Lippo, as also, in +another way, his feeling for boyhood shown in the +little St. John's farewell to his parents. The Burial +of St. Stephen is full of fine Florentine portraits in +the manner of the Carmine frescoes. The dignified +ecclesiastic at the head of the clergy is Carlo dei +Medici, the illegitimate son of Cosimo. On the extreme +right is Lippo himself. Carlo looks rather like +a younger, more refined edition of Leo X.</p> + +<p>It was while engaged upon these frescoes that Lippo +Lippi was commissioned by the nuns of Santa Margherita +to paint a Madonna for them, and took the +opportunity of carrying off Lucrezia Buti, a beautiful +girl staying in the convent who had sat to him as the +Madonna, during one of the Cintola festivities. Lippo +appears to have been practically unfrocked at this +time, but he refused the dispensation of the Pope who +wished him to marry her legally, as he preferred +to live a loose life. Between the station and the +Duomo you can see the house where they lived and +where Filippino Lippi was born. Opposite the +convent of Santa Margherita is a tabernacle containing +a wonderfully beautiful fresco by Filippino, a Madonna +and Child with Angels, adored by St. Margaret and +St. Catherine, St. Antony and St. Stephen. All the +faces are of the utmost loveliness, and the Catherine<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_418" id="page_418">[418]</a></span> +especially is like a foretaste of Luini's famous fresco at +Milan. In the town picture gallery there are four +pictures ascribed to Lippo Lippi–all four of rather +questionable authenticity–and one by Filippino, a +Madonna and Child with St. Stephen and the Baptist, +which, although utterly ruined, appears to be genuine. +The Protomartyr and the Precursor seem always inseparable +throughout the faithful little city of the +Cintola.</p> + +<p>Prato can likewise boast some excellent terracotta +works by Andrea della Robbia, both outside the +Duomo and in the churches of Our Lady of Good +Counsel and Our Lady of the Prisons. This latter +church, the Madonna delle Carceri, reared by +Giuliano da San Gallo between 1485 and 1491, is +perhaps the most beautiful and most truly classical +of all Early Renaissance buildings in Tuscany.</p> + +<p>Ten miles beyond Prato lies Pistoia, at the very +foot of the Apennines, the city of Dante's friend and +correspondent, Messer Cino, the poet of the golden +haired Selvaggia, he who sang the dirge of Caesar +Henry; the centre of the fiercest faction struggles of +Italian history. It was the Florentine traditional +policy to keep Pisa by fortresses and Pistoia by +factions. It lies, however, beyond the scope of the +present book, with the other Tuscan cities that owned +the sway of the great Republic. San Gemignano, +that most wonderful of all the smaller towns of +Tuscany, the city of "the fair towers," of Santa Fina +and of the gayest of mediæval poets, Messer Folgore, +comes into another volume of this series.</p> + +<p>But it is impossible to conclude even the briefest +study of Florence without a word upon that Tuscan +Earthly Paradise, the Casentino and upper valley of +the Arno, although it lies for the most part not in the +province of Florence but in that of Arezzo. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_419" id="page_419">[419]</a></span> +best reached by the diligence which runs from Pontassieve +over the Consuma Pass–where Arnaldo of +Brescia, who lies in the last horrible round of Dante's +Malebolge, was burned alive for counterfeiting the +golden florins of Florence–to Stia.<a name="fnanchor_57" id="fnanchor_57"></a><a href="#footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> A whole +chapter of Florentine history may be read among the +mountains of the Casentino, writ large upon its castles +and monasteries. If the towers of San Gemignano +give us still the clearest extant picture of the life led +by the nobles and magnates when forced to enter the +cities, we can see best in the Casentino how they +exercised their feudal sway and maintained for a while +their independence of the burgher Commune. The +Casentino was ruled by the Conti Guidi, that great +clan whose four branches–the Counts of Romena, +the Counts of Porciano, the Counts of Battifolle and +Poppi, the Counts of Dovadola (to whom Bagno in +Romagna and Pratovecchio here appear to have belonged)–sprang +from the four sons of Gualdrada, +Bellincion Berti's daughter. Poppi remains a superb +monument of the power and taste of these "Counts +Palatine of Tuscany"; its palace on a small scale +resembles the Palazzo Vecchio of Florence. Romena +and Porciano, higher up stream, overhanging Pratovecchio +and Stia, have been immortalised by the verse +and hallowed by the footsteps of Dante Alighieri. +Beneath the hill upon which Poppi stands, an old +bridge still spans the Arno, upon which the last of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_420" id="page_420">[420]</a></span> +Conti Guidi, the Count Francesco, surrendered in +1440 to the Florentine commissary, Neri Capponi. +After the second expulsion of the Medici from +Florence, Piero and Giuliano for some time lurked in +the Casentino, with Bernardo Dovizi at Bibbiena.</p> + +<p>Throughout the Casentino Dante himself should be +our guide. There is hardly another district in Italy +so intimately connected with the divine poet; save only +Florence and Ravenna, there is, perhaps, none where +we more frequently need to have recourse to the pages +of the <i>Divina Commedia</i>. With the <i>Inferno</i> in our +hands, we seek out Count Alessandro's castle of +Romena and what purports to be the Fonte Branda, +below the castle to the left, for whose waters–even to +cool the thirst of Hell–Maestro Adamo would not +have given the sight of his seducer sharing his agony. +With the <i>Purgatorio</i> we trace the course of the Arno +from where, a mere <i>fiumicello</i>, it takes its rise in +Falterona, and runs down past Porciano and Poppi to +sweep away from the Aretines, "turning aside its +muzzle in disdain." There is a tradition that Dante +was imprisoned in the castle of Porciano. We know +that he was the guest of various members of the Conti +Guidi at different times during his exile; it was from +one of their castles, probably Poppi, that on March +31st and April 16th, 1311, he directed his two terrible +letters to the Florentine government and to the +Emperor Henry. It was in the Casentino, too, that +he composed the Canzone <i>Amor, dacchè convien pur +ch'io mi doglia</i>, "Love, since I needs must make complaint," +one of the latest and most perplexing of his +lyrics.</p> + +<p>The battlefield of Campaldino lies beyond Poppi, +on the eastern side of the river, near the old convent +and church of Certomondo, founded some twenty or +thirty years before by two of the Conti Guidi to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_421" id="page_421">[421]</a></span> +commemorate the great Ghibelline victory of Montaperti, +but now to witness the triumph of the Guelfs. +The Aretines, under their Bishop and Buonconte da +Montefeltro, had marched up the valley along the +direction of the present railway to Bibbiena, to check +the ravages of the Florentines who, with their French +allies, had made their way through the mountains +above Pratovecchio and were laying waste the country +of the Conti Guidi. It was on the Feast of St. +Barnabas, 1289, that the two armies stood face to +face, and Dante riding in the Florentine light cavalry, +if the fragment of a letter preserved to us by Leonardo +Bruni be authentic, "had much dread and at the +end the greatest gladness, by reason of the varying +chances of that battle." There are no relics of the +struggle to be found in Certomondo; only a very +small portion of the cloisters remains, and the church +itself contains nothing of note save an Annunciation +by Neri di Bicci. But about an hour's walk from +the battlefield, perhaps a mile from the foot of the +hill on which Bibbiena stands, is a spot most sacred +to all lovers of Dante. Here the stream of the +Archiano, banked with poplars and willows, flows +into the Arno; and here, at the close of that same +terrible and glorious day, Buonconte da Montefeltro +died of his wounds, gasping out the name of Mary. +At evening the nightingales are loud around the spot, +but their song is less sweet then the ineffable stanzas +in the fifth canto of the <i>Purgatorio</i> in which Dante +has raised an imperishable monument to the young +Ghibelline warrior.</p> + +<p>But, more famous than its castles or even its +Dantesque memories, the Casentino is hallowed by +its noble sanctuaries of Vallombrosa, Camaldoli, La +Verna. Less noted but still very interesting is the +Dominican church and convent of the Madonna<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_422" id="page_422">[422]</a></span> +del Sasso, just below Bibbiena on the way towards +La Verna, hallowed with memories of Savonarola +and the Piagnoni, and still a place of devout pilgrimage +to Our Lady of the Rock. There is a fine +Assumption in its church, painted by Fra Paolino +from Bartolommeo's cartoon. Vallombrosa and +Camaldoli, founded respectively by Giovanni Gualberto +and Romualdus, have shared the fate of all +such institutions in modern Italy.</p> + +<p>La Verna remains undisturbed, that "harsh rock +between Tiber and Arno," as Dante calls it, where +Francis "received from Christ the final seal;" +the sacred mountain from which, on that September +morning before the dawn, so bright a light of Divine +Love shone forth to rekindle the mediæval world, +that all the country seemed aflame, as the crucified +Seraph uttered the words of mystery–<i>Tu sei il mio +Gonfaloniere</i>: "Thou art my standard-bearer." To +enter the precincts of this sacred place, under the +arch hewn out from between the rocks, is like a first +introduction to the spirit of the <i>Divina Commedia</i>.</p> + +<p class="blockquot"> +"Non est in toto sanctior orbe mons."</p> + +<p>For here, at least, is one spot left in the world, where, +although Renaissance and Reformation, Revolution +and Risorgimento, have swept round it, the Middle +Ages still reign a living reality, in their noblest aspect, +with the <i>poverelli</i> of the Seraphic Father; and the +mystical light, that shone out on the day of the Stigmata, +still burns: "while the eternal ages watch and +wait."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="illo_45" id="illo_45"></a> +<img src="images/florencemap_tmb.jpg" width="532" height="400" alt="FLORENCE" title="" /> +<p class="caption">FLORENCE</p> +<a href="images/florencemap_fs22.jpg">View larger image</a></div> + +<h2 class="p6">TABLE OF THE MEDICI</h2> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_423" id="page_423">[423]</a></p> + +<div class="p4 font90 center"><a name="Family_Tree" id="Family_Tree"></a> +<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Family Tree"> +<tr> +<td colspan="18">GIOVANNI DI AVERARDO (<span class="smcap">Giovanni Bicci</span>) 1360-1429, m. Piccarda Bueri.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="5"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_bottom"> </td> +<td colspan="8" class="bor_bottom bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="5"> </td> +<td colspan="10" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="3" class="bor_left"> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="8"><span class="smcap">Cosimo</span> (Pater Patriae), 1389-1464, m. Contessina dei Bardi.</td> +<td colspan="2"> </td> +<td colspan="8"><span class="smcap">Lorenzo</span>, 1395-1440, m. Ginevra Cavalcanti.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td colspan="4" class="bor_bottom bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_bottom"> </td> +<td colspan="7" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="5"> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="3" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="7" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Piero</span> (il Gottoso),<br /> +1416-1469,<br /> +m. Lucrezia Tornabuoni.</td> +<td colspan="2"> </td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Giovanni</span>,<br /> +1424-1463,<br /> +m. Ginevra degli<br /> +Alessandri.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Carlo</span><br /> +(illegitimate),<br /> +d. 1492.</td> +<td colspan="2"> </td> +<td colspan="8" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Piero Francesco</span>, d. 1467 (or 1476),<br /> +m. Laudomia Acciaiuoli.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td colspan="6" class="bor_bottom bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="4"> </td> +<td colspan="3" class="bor_bottom bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_bottom"> </td> +<td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="4" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="5" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Lorenzo</span><br /> +(the Magnificent),<br /> +1449-1492,<br /> +m. Clarice<br /> +Orsini.<br /></td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Giuliano</span>,<br /> +1453-1478.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Bianca</span>,<br /> +m. Guglielmo<br /> +dei Pazzi.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Nannina</span>,<br /> +m. Bernardo<br /> +Rucellai.</td> +<td colspan="2"> </td> +<td colspan="4" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Lorenzo</span>, d. 1503,<br /> +m. Semiramide Appini.</td> +<td colspan="4" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Giovanni</span>, d. 1498,<br /> +m. Caterina Sforza.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2" > </td> +<td colspan="8" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="5" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="1" class="bor_left"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="bor_right"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Giulio</span> (illegitimate),<br /> +d. 1534,<br /> +(Pope Clement VII.)</td> +<td colspan="6"> </td> +<td colspan="4" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Pier Francesco</span>,<br /> +d. 1525,<br /> +m. Maria Soderini.</td> +<td colspan="4" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Giovanni</span>, ("delle Bande<br /> +Nere"), 1498-1526,<br /> +m. Maria Salviati.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="8" class="bor_bottom"> </td> +<td colspan="2"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_bottom bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_bottom"> </td> +<td colspan="2"> </td> +<td class="bor_left"> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td class="bor_left"> </td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Piero</span>,<br /> +1471-1503,<br /> +m. Alfonsina<br /> +Orsini.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Giovanni</span>,<br /> +1475-1521<br /> +(Pope Leo X.)</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Giuliano</span>,<br /> +(Duke of Nemours),<br /> +1479-1516,<br /> +m. Filiberta of Savoy.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Lucrezia</span>,<br /> +m. Giacomo<br /> +Salviati.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Maddalena</span>,<br /> +m. Franceschetto<br /> +Cibo.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Lorenzo</span><br /> +("Lorenzino"<br /> +or<br /> +"Lorenzaccio"),<br /> +1514-1547.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Laudomia</span>,<br /> +m. Piero<br /> +Strozzi.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Maddalena</span>,<br /> +m. Roberto<br /> +Strozzi.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Cosimo I</span>.<br /> +(Grand Duke),<br /> +1519-1574, m.<br /> +Eleonora of Toledo<br /> +(and Cammilla<br /> +Martelli).</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_bottom bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left bor_bottom"> </td> +<td colspan="2"> </td> +<td colspan="6" class="bor_right bor_bottom"> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2" ></td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_right "> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Lorenzo</span><br /> +(titular Duke of<br /> +Urbino), 1492-1519,<br /> +m. Madeleine de<br /> +la Tour d'Auvergne.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Clarice</span>,<br /> +m. Filippo<br /> +Strozzi</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Ippolito</span> <a name="fnanchor_58" id="fnanchor_58"></a><a href="#footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a><br /> +(Illegitimate),<br /> +1511-1535, +(Cardinal).</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Maria</span>,<br /> +m. Giovanni<br /> +delle Bande<br /> +Nere.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Francesca</span>,<br /> +m. Ottaviano<br /> +dei Medici.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Francesco I</span>.,<br /> +1541-1587,<br /> +m. Joanna of Austria (and<br /> +Bianca Cappello).</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Giovanni</span>,<br /> +d. 1562.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Garzia</span>,<br /> +d. 1562.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Ferdinand I</span>.,<br /> +1549-1609,<br /> +m. Christina of Lorraine.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_bottom bor_left"> </td> +<td colspan="6" class="bor_right"> </td> + +<td colspan="2" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="6" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_left bor_right"> </td> + +<td colspan="6" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td colspan="2" class="bor_right"> </td> + +<td colspan="6" class="bor_right "> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Alessandro</span><a href="#footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a><br /> +(Illegitimate), d. 1537,<br /> +m. Margherita<br /> +of Austria.</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Caterina</span>,<br /> +1519-1589,<br /> +m. Henri II.<br /> +of France.</td> +<td colspan="4"> </td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Alessandro</span>,<br /> +d. 1605,<br /> +(Pope Leo XI.)</td> +<td colspan="2" valign="top"><span class="smcap">Maria</span><br /> +m. Henri IV.<br /> +of France</td> +<td colspan="4"> </td> +<td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Cosimo II.</span>,<br /> +1590-1621,<br /> +m. Maria Maddalena<br /> +of Austria.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="17" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="16"> </td> +<td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Ferdinand II.</span>,<br />1610-1670.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="17" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="16"> </td> +<td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Cosimo III.</span>,<br />1642-1723.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="17" class="bor_right"> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="16"> </td> +<td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Giovanni Gastone</span>,<br /> +1671-1737.</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p class="center p6"><big>CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX</big></p> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_424" id="page_424">[424]</a></p> +<p class="center"><small>OF</small></p> +<p class="center">ARCHITECTS, SCULPTORS & PAINTERS</p> +<p class="center"><small>(<i>Names of non-Italians in italics</i>)</small></p> + +<p class="center">ARCHITECTS AND SCULPTORS</p> +<div class="left25 right10"> +<ul class="none"> +<li>Niccolò Pisano (circa 1206-1278), <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_254">254</a>, <a href="#page_349">349</a>.</li> +<li>Fra Sisto (died 1289), <a href="#page_359">359</a>.</li> +<li>Fra Ristoro da Campi (died 1283), <a href="#page_359">359</a>.</li> + +<li>Arnolfo di Cambio (1232?-1300 or 1310), <a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_66">66</a>, <a href="#page_146">146</a>-<a href="#page_149">149</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>, <a href="#page_205">205</a>, <a href="#page_211">211</a>, <a href="#page_228">228</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_248">248</a>, <a href="#page_265">265</a>, <a href="#page_269">269</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>, <a href="#page_334">334</a>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>.</li> +<li>Giovanni Pisano (circa 1250-after 1328), <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_254">254</a>, <a href="#page_416">416</a>.</li> + +<li><a href="#Giotto_da_Bondone">Giotto da Bondone</a>. See under Painters.</li> + +<li>Andrea Pisano (1270-1348), <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_254">254</a>, <a href="#page_255">255</a>, <a href="#page_260">260</a>-<a href="#page_263">263</a>, <a href="#page_408">408</a>.</li> + +<li>Fra Giovanni da Campi (died 1339), <a href="#page_359">359</a>.</li> + +<li><a href="#Taddeo_Gaddi">Taddeo Gaddi</a>. See under Painters.</li> + +<li>Fra Jacopo Talenti da Nipozzano (died 1362), <a href="#page_359">359</a>, <a href="#page_366">366</a>.</li> + +<li>Nino Pisano (died 1368), <a href="#page_271">271</a>.</li> + +<li><a href="#Andrea_Orcagna">Andrea Orcagna</a>. See under Painters.</li> + +<li>Francesco Talenti (died after 1387), <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a>, <a href="#page_260">260</a>, <a href="#page_265">265</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>.</li> + +<li>Pietro di Migliore (middle of fourteenth century), <a href="#page_196">196</a>.</li> + +<li>Alberto Arnoldi (died circa 1378), <a href="#page_264">264</a>.</li> + +<li>Simone di Francesco Talenti (end of fourteenth century), <a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a>, <a href="#page_190">190</a>, <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>.</li> + +<li>Benci di Cione (latter half of fourteenth century), <a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>.</li> + +<li>Neri di Fioraventi (latter half of fourteenth century) <a href="#page_203">203</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>.</li> + +<li>Giovanni di Ambrogio (last quarter of fourteenth century), <a href="#page_157">157</a>.</li> + +<li>Jacopo di Piero (last quarter of fourteenth century), <a href="#page_157">157</a>.</li> + +<li>Piero di Giovanni Tedesco (end of Trecento), <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_425" id="page_425">[425]</a></span></li> + +<li>Niccolò di Piero Lamberti da Arezzo (1360?-1444?), <a href="#page_193">193</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_263">263</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a>, <a href="#page_276">276</a>.</li> + +<li>Nanni di Antonio di Banco (died in 1421), <a href="#page_97">97</a>, <a href="#page_190">190</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a>, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a>-<a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_276">276</a>, <a href="#page_304">304</a>.</li> + +<li>Jacopo della Quercia (1371-1438), <a href="#page_272">272</a>.</li> + +<li><a href="#Bicci_di_Lorenzo">Bicci di Lorenzo.</a> See under Painters.</li> + +<li>Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_97">97</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_237">237</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>, <a href="#page_269">269</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_290">290</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_301">301</a>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>, <a href="#page_328">328</a>, <a href="#page_347">347</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>, <a href="#page_363">363</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>.</li> + +<li>Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), <a href="#page_11">11</a>, <a href="#page_95">95</a>, <a href="#page_97">97</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_255">255</a>-<a href="#page_258">258</a>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>-<a href="#page_277">277</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_363">363</a>.</li> + +<li>Bernardo Ciuffagni (1381-1457), <a href="#page_275">275</a>, <a href="#page_276">276</a>.</li> + +<li>Donatello, Donate di Betto Bardi (1386-1466), <a href="#page_76">76</a>, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_97">97</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_190">190</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a>-<a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>, <a href="#page_220">220</a>, <a href="#page_221">221</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_237">237</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_253">253</a>, <a href="#page_263">263</a>, <a href="#page_264">264</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>-<a href="#page_282">282</a>, <a href="#page_286">286</a>, <a href="#page_363">363</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_380">380</a>.</li> + +<li>Michelozzo Michelozzi (1396-1472), <a href="#page_77">77</a>, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_253">253</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_302">302</a>, <a href="#page_310">310</a>, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_327">327</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_402">402</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>, <a href="#page_412">412</a>, <a href="#page_416">416</a>.</li> + +<li>Luca della Robbia (1399-1482), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a>, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_263">263</a>, <a href="#page_276">276</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>, <a href="#page_288">288</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_402">402</a>.</li> + +<li>Leo (Leone) Battista Alberti (1405-1472), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_328">328</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>, <a href="#page_359">359</a>.</li> + +<li>Bernardo Rossellino (1409-1464), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>, <a href="#page_361">361</a>.</li> + +<li>Vecchietta (1410-1480), <a href="#page_222">222</a>.</li> + +<li>Antonio Rossellino (1427-1478), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_402">402</a>, <a href="#page_416">416</a>.</li> + +<li>Desiderio da Settignano (1428-1464), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_237">237</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_290">290</a>, <a href="#page_349">349</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Antonio_Pollaiuolo" id="Antonio_Pollaiuolo"></a>Antonio Pollaiuolo (1429-1498), <a href="#page_87">87</a>, <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>, <a href="#page_395">395</a>.</li> + +<li>Mino da Fiesole (1431-1484), <a href="#page_82">82</a>, <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_212">212</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>, <a href="#page_416">416</a>.</li> + +<li>Giuliano da Maiano (1432-1490), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_416">416</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Andrea_Verrocchio" id="Andrea_Verrocchio"></a>Andrea Verrocchio (1435-1488), <a href="#page_11">11</a>, <a href="#page_86">86</a>, <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>, <a href="#page_292">292</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>.</li> + +<li>Matteo Civitali (1435-1501), <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>.</li> + +<li>Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_347">347</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>, <a href="#page_355">355</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_418">418</a>.</li> + +<li>Benedetto da Maiano (1442-1497), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_153">153</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>, <a href="#page_365">365</a>.</li> + +<li>Bertoldo (died 1491), <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_290">290</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li>Giuliano da San Gallo (1445-1516), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_330">330</a>, <a href="#page_351">351</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>, <a href="#page_414">414</a>, <a href="#page_418">418</a>.</li> + +<li>Cronaca, Simone del Pollaiuolo (1457-1508), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_398">398</a>.</li> + +<li>Benedetto Buglione (1461-1521), <a href="#page_211">211</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_426" id="page_426">[426]</a></span></li> + +<li>Caparra, Niccolò Grosso (worker in metal, latter half of fifteenth century), <a href="#page_353">353</a>.</li> + +<li>Andrea Ferrucci da Fiesole (1465-1526), <a href="#page_220">220</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li>Baccio d'Agnolo (1462-1543), <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>.</li> + +<li>Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1527), <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a>, <a href="#page_365">365</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_398">398</a>.</li> + +<li>Andrea Sansovino (circa 1460-1529), <a href="#page_258">258</a>.</li> + +<li>Baccio da Montelupo (1469-1535), <a href="#page_194">194</a>.</li> + +<li>Benedetto da Rovezzano (1474-1552), <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>, <a href="#page_276">276</a>, <a href="#page_349">349</a>, <a href="#page_395">395</a>.</li> + +<li>Giovanni Francesco Rustici (1474-1554), <a href="#page_255">255</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Michelangelo_Buonarroti" id="Michelangelo_Buonarroti"></a>Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), <a href="#page_2">2</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_102">102</a>, <a href="#page_137">137</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_142">142</a>-<a href="#page_145">145</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a href="#page_152">152</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>-<a href="#page_166">166</a>, <a href="#page_183">183</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>, <a href="#page_220">220</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>-<a href="#page_227">227</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_258">258</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>, <a href="#page_276">276</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>-<a href="#page_296">296</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_314">314</a>, <a href="#page_315">315</a>, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_339">339</a>, <a href="#page_349">349</a>, <a href="#page_385">385</a>, <a href="#page_388">388</a>, <a href="#page_397">397</a>, <a href="#page_398">398</a>, <a href="#page_401">401</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li>Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570), <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>, <a href="#page_326">326</a>.</li> + +<li>Baccio Bandinelli (1487-1559), <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_152">152</a>, <a href="#page_288">288</a>.</li> + +<li>Francesco da San Gallo (1494-1576), <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.</li> + +<li>Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), <a href="#page_145">145</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>, <a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_285">285</a>, <a href="#page_349">349</a>.</li> + +<li>Raffaello di Baccio da Montelupo (1505-1566), <a href="#page_296">296</a>.</li> + +<li>Fra Giovanni Agnolo da Montorsoli (1506-1563), <a href="#page_296">296</a>.</li> + +<li>Battista del Tasso (died 1555), <a href="#page_200">200</a>.</li> + +<li>Bartolommeo Ammanati (1511-1592), <a href="#page_154">154</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>, <a href="#page_379">379</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Giorgio_Vasari" id="Giorgio_Vasari"></a>Giorgio Vasari (1512-1574), <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_87">87</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_145">145</a>, <a href="#page_149">149</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a href="#page_152">152</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, <a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>, et passim.</li> + +<li>Giovanni da Bologna (1524-1608), <a href="#page_145">145</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>, <a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_301">301</a>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>.</li> + +<li>Vincenzo Danti, (1530-1576), <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_233">233</a>, <a href="#page_255">255</a>, <a href="#page_258">258</a>.</li> + +<li>Bernardo Buontalenti (1536-1608), <a href="#page_199">199</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a>.</li> +</ul> +</div> + +<p class="p6 center">PAINTERS</p> +<div class="left25 right10"> +<ul class="none"> +<li>Fra Jacopo, worker in mosaic (working in 1225), <a href="#page_249">249</a>.</li> + +<li>Giovanni Cimabue (1240-1302), <a href="#page_66">66</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_244">244</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_361">361</a>.</li> + +<li>Andrea Tafi, worker in mosaic (1250?-1320?), <a href="#page_249">249</a>.</li> + +<li>Gaddo Gaddi (circa 1259-1333), <a href="#page_273">273</a>.</li> + +<li>Duccio di Buoninsegna (circa 1260-1339), <a href="#page_361">361</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Giotto_da_Bondone" id="Giotto_da_Bondone"></a>Giotto da Bondone (1276?-1336), <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_56">56</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_66">66</a>, <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_69">69</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a>-<a href="#page_241">241</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_259">259</a>-<a href="#page_263">263</a>, <a href="#page_265">265</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a>, <a href="#page_361">361</a>, <a href="#page_366">366</a>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>, <a href="#page_403">403</a>.</li> + +<li>Simone Martini (1283-1344), <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_366">366</a></li> + +<li>Lippo Memmi (died 1356), <a href="#page_163">163</a>.</li> + +<li>Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (died circa 1348), <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Taddeo_Gaddi" id="Taddeo_Gaddi"></a>Taddeo Gaddi (circa 1300-1366), <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_241">241</a>, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_341">341</a>, <a href="#page_366">366</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_427" id="page_427">[427]</a></span></li> + +<li>Bernardo Daddi (died in 1350), <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_197">197</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a>, <a href="#page_404">404</a>.</li> + +<li>Giottino, Giotto di Stefano (died after 1369), <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_226">226</a>.</li> + +<li>Puccio Capanna (flourished circa 1350), <a href="#page_372">372</a>.</li> + +<li>Maso di Banco (working in middle of Trecento), <a href="#page_226">226</a>, <a href="#page_237">237</a>.</li> + +<li>Pietro Cavallini (died circa 1360), <a href="#page_323">323</a>.</li> + +<li>Giovanni da Milano (died after 1360), <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a>, <a href="#page_395">395</a>.</li> + +<li>Leonardo Orcagna (born before 1308), <a href="#page_362">362</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Andrea_Orcagna" id="Andrea_Orcagna"></a>Andrea Orcagna (1308-1368), <a href="#page_11">11</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_68">68</a>, <a href="#page_69">69</a>, <a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_185">185</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a>, <a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a href="#page_197">197</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_264">264</a>, <a href="#page_362">362</a>, <a href="#page_363">363</a>, <a href="#page_366">366</a>, <a href="#page_367">367</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.</li> + +<li>Agnolo Gaddi (died 1396), <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_416">416</a>.</li> + +<li>Cennino Cennini (end of Trecento), <a href="#page_226">226</a>.</li> + +<li>Spinello Aretino (1333-1410), <a href="#page_68">68</a>, <a href="#page_370">370</a>, <a href="#page_395">395</a>, <a href="#page_402">402</a>, <a href="#page_403">403</a>.</li> + +<li>Gherardo Starnina (1354-1408), <a href="#page_391">391</a>, <a href="#page_416">416</a>.</li> + +<li>Don Lorenzo, il Monaco (1370-1425), <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_180">180</a>, <a href="#page_308">308</a>, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_350">350</a>.</li> + +<li>Gentile da Fabriano (1370-1450), <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_396">396</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Bicci_di_Lorenzo" id="Bicci_di_Lorenzo"></a>Bicci di Lorenzo (1373-1452), <a href="#page_277">277</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>.</li> + +<li>Masolino (born circa 1384, died after 1435), <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_391">391</a>-<a href="#page_395">395</a>, <a href="#page_416">416</a>.</li> + +<li>Masaccio (1401-1428), <a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, <a href="#page_95">95</a>, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_102">102</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_391">391</a>-<a href="#page_395">395</a>, <a href="#page_417">417</a>.</li> + +<li>Fra Giovanni Angelico (1387-1455), <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_183">183</a>, <a href="#page_301">301</a>-<a href="#page_304">304</a>, <a href="#page_306">306</a>-<a href="#page_310">310</a>, <a href="#page_315">315</a>, <a href="#page_316">316</a>, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_328">328</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>.</li> + +<li>Andrea del Castagno (1396?-1457), <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>, <a href="#page_327">327</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_335">335</a>, <a href="#page_336">336</a>.</li> + +<li>Domenico Veneziano (died 1461), <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_180">180</a>, <a href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_335">335</a>, <a href="#page_387">387</a>.</li> + +<li>Paolo Uccello (1397-1475), <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_257">257</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>, <a href="#page_366">366</a>.</li> + +<li>Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-1469), <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_287">287</a>, <a href="#page_290">290</a>, <a href="#page_316">316</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>-<a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>, <a href="#page_386">386</a>, <a href="#page_390">390</a>, <a href="#page_415">415</a>-<a href="#page_418">418</a>.</li> + +<li>Piero della Francesca (1415-1492), <a href="#page_174">174</a>.</li> + +<li>Neri di Bicci (1419-1491), <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_396">396</a>, <a href="#page_421">421</a>.</li> + +<li>Benozzo Gozzoli (1420-1498), <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_87">87</a>, <a href="#page_257">257</a>, <a href="#page_287">287</a>, <a href="#page_288">288</a>, <a href="#page_316">316</a>, <a href="#page_330">330</a>.</li> + +<li>Domenico di Michelino (working in 1461), <a href="#page_277">277</a>.</li> + +<li>Francesco Pesellino (1422-1457), <a href="#page_227">227</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>.</li> + +<li>Alessio Baldovinetti (1427-1499), <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_326">326</a>, <a href="#page_364">364</a>, <a href="#page_402">402</a>.</li> + +<li><a href="#Antonio_Pollaiuolo">Antonio Pollaiuolo</a>. See under Sculptors.</li> + +<li>Giovanni Bellini (circa 1428-1516), <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_177">177</a>.</li> + +<li>Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506), <a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_177">177</a>, <a href="#page_183">183</a>, <a href="#page_365">365</a>.</li> + +<li><a href="#Andrea_Verrocchio">Andrea Verrocchio.</a> See under Sculptors.</li> + +<li><i>Hans Memlinc</i> (circa 1435-1495), <a href="#page_177">177</a>.</li> + +<li>Cosimo Rosselli (1439-1507), <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_326">326</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_330">330</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>.</li> + +<li>Piero Pollaiuolo (1443-1496), <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a>.</li> + +<li>Luca Signorelli (1441-1523), <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_166">166</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a>, <a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_387">387</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Hugo Van der Goes</i> (died 1482), <a href="#page_330">330</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_428" id="page_428">[428]</a></span></li> + +<li>Pietro Vannucci, Perugino (1446-1523), <a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a href="#page_316">316</a>, <a href="#page_319">319</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_328">328</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_330">330</a>, <a href="#page_336">336</a>, <a href="#page_383">383</a>.</li> + +<li>Alessandro Filipepi, Sandro Botticelli (1447-1510), <a href="#page_87">87</a>, <a href="#page_89">89</a>, <a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_97">97</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a>, <a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_178">178</a>-<a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>, <a href="#page_279">279</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_317">317</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_365">365</a>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>, <a href="#page_379">379</a>, <a href="#page_395">395</a>.</li> + +<li>Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), <a href="#page_11">11</a>, <a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a>, <a href="#page_324">324</a>, <a href="#page_326">326</a>, <a href="#page_350">350</a>, <a href="#page_351">351</a>, <a href="#page_363">363</a>, <a href="#page_364">364</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>.</li> + +<li>Francesco Raibolini, Francia (1450-1517), <a href="#page_165">165</a>.</li> + +<li>David Ghirlandaio (1452-1525), <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_364">364</a>.</li> + +<li>Sebastiano Mainardi (died 1513), <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_364">364</a>.</li> + +<li>Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), <a href="#page_66">66</a>, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_137">137</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a>, <a href="#page_183">183</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_349">349</a>, <a href="#page_386">386</a>, <a href="#page_393">393</a>.</li> + +<li>Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_212">212</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_365">365</a>, <a href="#page_387">387</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_392">392</a>, <a href="#page_395">395</a>, <a href="#page_417">417</a>, <a href="#page_418">418</a>.</li> + +<li>Lorenzo di Credi (1459-1537), <a href="#page_11">11</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a>, <a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>.</li> + +<li>Piero di Cosimo (1462-1521), <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_139">139</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>.</li> + +<li>Lorenzo Costa (circa 1460-1535), <a href="#page_387">387</a>.</li> + +<li>Raffaellino del Garbo (1466-1524), <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_351">351</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>.</li> + +<li>Raffaellino di Carlo (1470-1516), <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>.</li> + +<li>Boccaccino da Cremona (died 1518), <a href="#page_386">386</a>.</li> + +<li>Timoteo Viti (1469-1523), <a href="#page_382">382</a>.</li> + +<li>Francesco Granacci (1469-1543), <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_395">395</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Albert Dürer</i> (1471-1528), <a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_177">177</a>, <a href="#page_324">324</a>.</li> + +<li>Mariotto Albertinelli (1474-1515), <a href="#page_137">137</a>-<a href="#page_139">139</a>, <a href="#page_171">171</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_387">387</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.</li> + +<li><a href="#Michelangelo_Buonarroti">Michelangelo Buonarroti.</a> See under Architects and Sculptors.</li> + +<li>Fra Bartolommeo (1475-1517), <a href="#page_137">137</a>-<a href="#page_139">139</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_170">170</a>-<a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_183">183</a>, <a href="#page_301">301</a>-<a href="#page_303">303</a>, <a href="#page_307">307</a>, <a href="#page_309">309</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_380">380</a>, <a href="#page_383">383</a>, <a href="#page_384">384</a>, <a href="#page_387">387</a>.</li> + +<li>Bernardino Luini (1475-1533), <a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_418">418</a>.</li> + +<li>Morto da Feltre (1475?-1522?), <a href="#page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li>Giorgio Barbarelli, Giorgione (1477-1511), <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_177">177</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>, <a href="#page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li>Tiziano Vecelli, Titian (1477-1576), <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_177">177</a>, <a href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_253">253</a>, <a href="#page_380">380</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>, <a href="#page_383">383</a>, <a href="#page_384">384</a>-<a href="#page_386">386</a>, <a href="#page_387">387</a>.</li> + +<li>Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, Sodoma (1477-1549), <a href="#page_170">170</a>.</li> + +<li>Dosso Dossi (1479-1542), <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_383">383</a>.</li> + +<li>Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1555), <a href="#page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li>Francia Bigio (1482-1525), <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_324">324</a>-<a href="#page_327">327</a>, <a href="#page_414">414</a>.</li> + +<li>Raffaello Sanzio, Raphael (1483-1520), <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a href="#page_152">152</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_183">183</a>, <a href="#page_258">258</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_335">335</a>, <a href="#page_336">336</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>-<a href="#page_385">385</a>, <a href="#page_393">393</a>, <a href="#page_394">394</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_429" id="page_429">[429]</a></span></li> + +<li>Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (1483-1561), <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_153">153</a>, <a href="#page_171">171</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>, <a href="#page_416">416</a>.</li> + +<li>Sebastiano del Piombo (1485-1547), <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_387">387</a>.</li> + +<li>Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531), <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_139">139</a>, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_171">171</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a>, <a href="#page_324">324</a>-<a href="#page_328">328</a>, <a href="#page_334">334</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>-<a href="#page_386">386</a>, <a href="#page_414">414</a>.</li> + +<li>Giovanni da Udine (1487-1564), <a href="#page_296">296</a>.</li> + +<li>Fra Paolino da Pistoia (1490-1547), <a href="#page_323">323</a>, <a href="#page_412">412</a>.</li> + +<li>Giovanni Antonio Sogliani (1492-1544), <a href="#page_303">303</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>.</li> + +<li>Giulio Romano (1492-1546), <a href="#page_383">383</a>, <a href="#page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li>Antonio Allegri da Correggio (1494-1534), <a href="#page_166">166</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_253">253</a>.</li> + +<li>Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1541), <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_327">327</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li>Jacopo da Pontormo (1494-1557), <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_145">145</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_310">310</a>, <a href="#page_327">327</a>, <a href="#page_414">414</a>, <a href="#page_415">415</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Lucas Van Leyden</i> (1494-1533), <a href="#page_165">165</a>.</li> + +<li>Angelo Bronzino (1502-1572), <a href="#page_82">82</a>, <a href="#page_145">145</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_171">171</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>, <a href="#page_290">290</a>.</li> + +<li>Michele di Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (1503-1577), <a href="#page_334">334</a>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>.</li> + +<li>Daniele Ricciarelli, da Volterra (1509-1566), <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_227">227</a>.</li> + +<li>Francesco Salviati (1510-1563), <a href="#page_153">153</a>.</li> + +<li><a href="#Giorgio_Vasari">Giorgio Vasari.</a> See under Architects and Sculptors.</li> + +<li>Jacopo Robusti, Tintoretto (1518-1594), <a href="#page_162">162</a>.</li> + +<li>Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), <a href="#page_241">241</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>.</li> + +<li>Taddeo Zuccheri (1529-1566), <a href="#page_275">275</a>.</li> + +<li>Marcello Venusti (died circa 1580), <a href="#page_227">227</a>.</li> + +<li>Alessandro Allori (1535-1607), <a href="#page_414">414</a>, <a href="#page_415">415</a>.</li> + +<li>Bernardo Poccetti (1542-1612), <a href="#page_303">303</a>.</li> + +<li>Jacopo da Empoli (1554-1640), <a href="#page_227">227</a>, <a href="#page_327">327</a>.</li> + +<li>Guido Reni (1575-1642), <a href="#page_386">386</a>.</li> + +<li>Cristofano Allori (1577-1621), <a href="#page_384">384</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Peter Paul Rubens</i> (1577-1640), <a href="#page_152">152</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_382">382</a>, <a href="#page_385">385</a>, <a href="#page_386">386</a>.</li> + +<li>Matteo Rosselli (1578-1650), <a href="#page_303">303</a>, <a href="#page_386">386</a>.</li> + +<li>Artemisia Gentileschi (died 1642), <a href="#page_387">387</a>.</li> + +<li>Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669), <a href="#page_379">379</a>, <a href="#page_380">380</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Justus Sustermans</i> (1597-1681), <a href="#page_182">182</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Antony Van Dyck</i> (1599-1641), <a href="#page_385">385</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Diego Velasquez</i> (1599-1660), <a href="#page_386">386</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Rembrandt Van Rÿn</i> (1606-1669), <a href="#page_162">162</a>.</li> + +<li>Carlo Dolci (1616-1686), <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_386">386</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Peter Lely</i> (1618-1680), <a href="#page_387">387</a>.</li> + +<li>Luca Giordano (1632-1705), <a href="#page_286">286</a>.</li></ul> +</div> + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="index" id="index"></a>GENERAL INDEX</h2> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="page_430" id="page_430">[430]</a></p> +<p class="center">(<i>Names of Artists not included</i>)</p> +<div class="left25 right10"> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">A.</li> +<li><i>Accademia delle Belle Arti</i>, <a href="#page_314">314</a>-<a href="#page_324">324</a>.</li> + +<li>Acciaiuoli, Agnolo (bishop), <a href="#page_369">369</a>; +<ul class="none"> +<li>Agnolo (anti-Medicean), <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_350">350</a>;</li> +<li>Niccolò (grand seneschal), <a href="#page_336">336</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>;</li> +<li>Niccola (swindler), <a href="#page_398">398</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Adimari, family, <a href="#page_58">58</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>, <a href="#page_204">204</a>.</li> + +<li>Adimari, Boccaccio, <a href="#page_188">188</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>.</li> + +<li>Alamanni, Luigi, <a href="#page_371">371</a>.</li> + +<li>Alberti, palace of the, <a href="#page_341">341</a>; +<ul class="none"> +<li>Benedetto degli, <a href="#page_402">402</a>;</li> +<li>Donato, <a href="#page_215">215</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>Albizzi, Borgo degli</i>, <a href="#page_208">208</a>-<a href="#page_210">210</a>.</li> + +<li>Albizzi, Maso degli, <a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>-<a href="#page_211">211</a>, <a href="#page_350">350</a>, <a href="#page_351">351</a>.</li> + +<li>Albizzi, Rinaldo degli, <a href="#page_74">74</a>-<a href="#page_77">77</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a>.</li> + +<li>Alighieri, family, <a href="#page_36">36</a>, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_207">207</a>, <a href="#page_208">208</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Alighieri, Dante</span>, <a href="#page_2">2</a>, <a href="#page_5">5</a>, <a href="#page_6">6</a>, <a href="#page_8">8</a>, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_15">15</a>, <a href="#page_16">16</a>, <a href="#page_21">21</a>, <a href="#page_22">22</a>, <a href="#page_24">24</a>; +<ul class="none"> +<li>his birth, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, <a href="#page_32">32</a>-<a href="#page_37">37</a>;</li> +<li>his love, <a href="#page_38">38</a>;</li> +<li>at Campaldino, <a href="#page_39">39</a>, <a href="#page_40">40</a>;</li> +<li>political life, <a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>;</li> +<li>priorate, <a href="#page_44">44</a>, <a href="#page_45">45</a>;</li> +<li>exile, <a href="#page_46">46</a>, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_53">53</a>, <a href="#page_54">54</a>;</li> +<li>death, <a href="#page_55">55</a>;</li> +<li>on the Florentine Constitution, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_60">60</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_66">66</a>, <a href="#page_69">69</a>, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_91">91</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a>, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a href="#page_199">199</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>-<a href="#page_206">206</a>;</li> +<li>his house and family, <a href="#page_207">207</a>, <a href="#page_208">208</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>;</li> +<li>in the Council of the Commune, <a href="#page_221">221</a>;</li> +<li>portrait in the Bargello, <a href="#page_221">221</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>;</li> +<li>monument, <a href="#page_228">228</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a>-<a href="#page_241">241</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_246">246</a>, <a href="#page_248">248</a>-<a href="#page_250">250</a>, <a href="#page_262">262</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>;</li> +<li>picture of him in the Duomo, <a href="#page_277">277</a>-<a href="#page_279">279</a>;</li> +<li>portrait in the Biblioteca Riccardiana, <a href="#page_288">288</a>;</li> +<li>his letters, <a href="#page_292">292</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>, <a href="#page_340">340</a>, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>, <a href="#page_355">355</a>, <a href="#page_361">361</a>-<a href="#page_363">363</a>, <a href="#page_368">368</a>, <a href="#page_379">379</a>, <a href="#page_394">394</a>, <a href="#page_397">397</a>, <a href="#page_398">398</a>, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_408">408</a>, <a href="#page_412">412</a>;</li> +<li>with him in the Casentino, <a href="#page_419">419</a>-<a href="#page_422">422</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Aldobrandini, Bertino, <a href="#page_406">406</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Salvestro, <a href="#page_228">228</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><a name="Alexander" id="Alexander"></a>Alexander VI., Pope, <a href="#page_95">95</a>, <a href="#page_113">113</a>, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_123">123</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>.</li> + +<li>Altoviti, palace of the, <a href="#page_209">209</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ambrogio, S.</i>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>.</li> + +<li>Amidei, family, <a href="#page_19">19</a>-<a href="#page_21">21</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>tower, <a href="#page_346">346</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Ambrogini, Angelo. <i>See</i> <a href="#Poliziano">Poliziano</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Annunziata, SS.</i>, Piazza, <a href="#page_325">325</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>church and convent, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, <a href="#page_127">127</a>, <a href="#page_326">326</a>-<a href="#page_328">328</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Antoninus, S., <a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_82">82</a>, <a href="#page_197">197</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_301">301</a>, <a href="#page_303">303</a>, <a href="#page_304">304</a>, <a href="#page_309">309</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Apostoli, SS.</i>, <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_347">347</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Appollonia, S.</i>, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_335">335</a>, <a href="#page_336">336</a>.</li> + +<li>Argenti, Filippo, <a href="#page_204">204</a>.</li> + +<li>Arts or Guilds, <a href="#page_17">17</a>, <a href="#page_25">25</a>-<a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_39">39</a>, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>, <a href="#page_61">61</a>, <a href="#page_72">72</a>, <a href="#page_73">73</a>, <a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_78">78</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a>-<a href="#page_196">196</a>.</li> + +<li>Athens, Duke of, <a href="#page_57">57</a>, <a href="#page_58">58</a>, <a href="#page_72">72</a>, <a href="#page_149">149</a>, <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_221">221</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_226">226</a>, <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_369">369</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">B.</li> + +<li><i><a name="Badia" id="Badia"></a>Badia</i>, <a href="#page_127">127</a>, <a href="#page_211">211</a>-<a href="#page_213">213</a>.</li> + +<li>Baglioni, Malatesta, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_360">360</a>, <a href="#page_401">401</a>, <a href="#page_406">406</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.</li> + +<li>Baldovinetti, tower of the, <a href="#page_346">346</a>.</li> + +<li>Bandini, Giovanni, <a href="#page_406">406</a>.</li> + +<li><i><a name="Baptistery" id="Baptistery"></a>Baptistery</i>, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_11">11</a>, <a href="#page_246">246</a>-<a href="#page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li>Baroncelli, Bernardo, <a href="#page_279">279</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bardi, cappella dei</i>, <a href="#page_239">239</a>; +<ul class="none"><li><i>via dei</i>, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Bardi, family, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Simone dei, <a href="#page_351">351</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><a name="Bargello" id="Bargello"></a>Bargello, office of, <a href="#footnote_9">42 (note</a>), <a href="#page_215">215</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>former quarters of, <a href="#page_128">128</a>, <a href="#page_134">134</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>Bargello, Museo Nazionale</i>, (Palazzo del Podestà), <a href="#page_214">214</a>-<a href="#page_225">225</a>.</li> + +<li>Battifolle, Counts of, <a href="#page_351">351</a>, <a href="#page_419">419</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Belle Donne, Via delle</i>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>.</li> + +<li>Benedict XI., Pope, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_304">304</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a>, <a href="#page_369">369</a>.</li> + +<li>Benevento, Battle of, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_69">69</a>.</li> + +<li>Beatrice, <a href="#page_36">36</a>, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_206">206</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Benedetto" id="Benedetto"></a>Benedetto da Foiano, Fra, <a href="#page_359">359</a>, <a href="#page_360">360</a>.</li> + +<li>Bellincion Berti, <a href="#page_16">16</a>, <a href="#page_206">206</a>.</li> + +<li>Bella, Giano della, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>, <a href="#page_206">206</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>.</li> + +<li>Bello, Geri del, <a href="#page_208">208</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Belvedere, Fortezza</i>, <a href="#page_375">375</a>, <a href="#page_403">403</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Biagio, S.</i> (S. Maria sopra la Porta), <a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#page_29">29</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_431" id="page_431">[431]</a></span></li> + +<li>"<a name="Bianchi" id="Bianchi"></a>Bianchi e Neri," Whites and Blacks, <a href="#page_35">35</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>-<a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_347">347</a>, <a href="#page_348">348</a>, <a href="#page_350">350</a>, <a href="#page_351">351</a>.</li> + +<li>Bibbiena, <a href="#page_419">419</a>-<a href="#page_422">422</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Biblioteca Laurenziana</i>, <a href="#page_102">102</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_292">292</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Biblioteca Nazionale</i>, <a href="#page_160">160</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Biblioteca Riccardiana</i>, <a href="#page_288">288</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Bigallo</i>, the, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_264">264</a>.</li> + +<li>Bisticci, Vespasiano, <a href="#page_75">75</a>, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a>, <a href="#page_237">237</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Boboli Gardens</i>, <a href="#page_388">388</a>.</li> + +<li>Boiardo, <a href="#page_109">109</a>.</li> + +<li>Boniface VIII., Pope, <a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>-<a href="#page_46">46</a>, <a href="#page_269">269</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a>.</li> + +<li>Borgia. <i>See</i> <a href="#Alexander">Alexander VI.</a></li> + +<li><i>Borgo degli Albizzi</i> (San Piero), <a href="#page_208">208</a>-<a href="#page_210">210</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Borgo SS. Apostoli</i>, <a href="#page_26">26</a>, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>, <a href="#page_347">347</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Borgo San Frediano</i>, <a href="#page_345">345</a>, <a href="#page_395">395</a>, <a href="#page_396">396</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Borgo San Jacopo</i>, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Borgo Ognissanti</i>, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Borgo Allegri, Via</i>, <a href="#page_66">66</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_244">244</a>.</li> + +<li>Boccaccio, <a href="#page_31">31</a>, <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_55">55</a>, <a href="#page_60">60</a>, <a href="#page_61">61</a>, <a href="#page_69">69</a>, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_204">204</a>, <a href="#page_213">213</a>, <a href="#page_248">248</a>, <a href="#page_259">259</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>, <a href="#page_347">347</a>, <a href="#page_360">360</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li>Boscoli, P. P., <a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>.</li> + +<li>Bracciolini, Poggio, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Brancacci Chapel</i>, <a href="#page_391">391</a>-<a href="#page_395">395</a>.</li> + +<li>Browning, E. B., <a href="#page_244">244</a>, <a href="#page_294">294</a>, <a href="#page_388">388</a>.</li> + +<li>Browning, Robert, <a href="#page_171">171</a>, <a href="#page_288">288</a>, <a href="#page_319">319</a>, <a href="#page_380">380</a>, <a href="#page_388">388</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.</li> + +<li>Bruni, Leonardo, <a href="#page_103">103</a>, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_208">208</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>, <a href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>, <a href="#page_421">421</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Buonarroti, Casa</i>, <a href="#page_226">226</a>, <a href="#page_227">227</a>.</li> + +<li>Buondelmonti, the, <a href="#page_346">346</a>, <a href="#page_347">347</a>.</li> + +<li>Buondelmonti, Buondelmonte degli, <a href="#page_19">19</a>-<a href="#page_21">21</a>, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.</li> + +<li>Brunelleschi, Betto, <a href="#page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li>Burlamacchi, Padre, <a href="#page_311">311</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">C.</li> + +<li>Cacciaguida, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_16">16</a>, <a href="#page_21">21</a>, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>, <a href="#page_411">411</a>.</li> + +<li>Calimala, Arte di, <a href="#page_26">26</a>, <a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>, <a href="#page_253">253</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Calimara</i> (<i>Calimala</i>), <a href="#page_200">200</a>.</li> + +<li>Calvoli, Fulcieri da, <a href="#page_215">215</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Calzaioli, Via</i> (Corso degli Adimari), <a href="#page_183">183</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>-<a href="#page_205">205</a>.</li> + +<li>Camaldoli, <a href="#page_421">421</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Campanile</i>, <a href="#page_56">56</a>, <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_259">259</a>-<a href="#page_264">264</a>.</li> + +<li>Campaldino, Battle of, <a href="#page_39">39</a>-<a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>, <a href="#page_421">421</a>.</li> + +<li>Cappello, Bianca, <a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>-<a href="#page_414">414</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cappella dei Principi</i>, <a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cappella degli Spagnuoli</i>, <a href="#page_366">366</a>-<a href="#page_370">370</a>.</li> + +<li>Capponi, Agostino, <a href="#page_140">140</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Gino, <a href="#page_389">389</a>;</li> +<li>Gino (Marchese), <a href="#page_235">235</a>;</li> +<li>Luisa, <a href="#page_353">353</a>;</li> +<li>Neri, <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>;</li> +<li>Niccolò, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>;</li> +<li>Piero, <a href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_119">119</a>, <a href="#page_126">126</a>, <a href="#page_286">286</a>, <a href="#page_340">340</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Captain of the People, <a href="#page_23">23</a>, <a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#footnote_9">42 (note)</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>.</li> + +<li>Carducci, Francesco, <a href="#page_142">142</a>.</li> + +<li>Careggi, <a href="#page_412">412</a>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>.</li> + +<li><i>San Carlo</i> (S. Michele), <a href="#page_203">203</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Carmine</i>. See <i><a href="#Carmine">S. Maria del Carmine</a></i>.</li> + +<li>Casentino, the, <a href="#page_418">418</a>-<a href="#page_422">422</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Cascine</i>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>, <a href="#page_373">373</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Castagna, Torre della</i>, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_207">207</a>, <a href="#page_208">208</a>.</li> + +<li>Castello, <a href="#page_413">413</a>.</li> + +<li>Catherine of Siena, S., <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_62">62</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.</li> + +<li>Cavalcanti, family, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>.</li> + +<li>Cavalcanti, Guido, <a href="#page_36">36</a>, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_44">44</a>, <a href="#page_45">45</a>, <a href="#page_187">187</a>, <a href="#page_188">188</a>, <a href="#page_248">248</a>, <a href="#page_259">259</a>.</li> + +<li>Cerchi, the, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>, <a href="#page_44">44</a>, <a href="#page_205">205</a>, <a href="#page_206">206</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>palace, etc., <a href="#page_205">205</a>;</li> +<li>Vieri dei, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Certosa di Val d'Ema, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.</li> + +<li>Certomondo, <a href="#page_421">421</a>.</li> + +<li>Charlemagne, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_347">347</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Charles of Anjou, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, <a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_28">28</a>;</li> +<li>Charles V., Emperor, <a href="#page_137">137</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_404">404</a>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>;</li> +<li>Charles VIII. of France, <a href="#page_116">116</a>-<a href="#page_119">119</a>, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_132">132</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_408">408</a>.</li> +<li>Charles of Valois, <a href="#page_45">45</a>, <a href="#page_46">46</a>, <a href="#page_348">348</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a>.</li> +</ul></li> + +<li>Cino da Pistoia, <a href="#page_418">418</a>.</li> + +<li>Compagni, Dino, <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_53">53</a>, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>, <a href="#page_351">351</a>.</li> + +<li>"Colleges," the, <a href="#page_71">71</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Consuma</i>, <a href="#page_419">419</a>.</li> + +<li>Conti Guidi, <a href="#page_206">206</a>, <a href="#page_419">419</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Corbizzi Tower</i> ("Corso Donati's Tower"), <a href="#page_40">40</a>, <a href="#page_53">53</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Corsini Palace and Picture Gallery</i>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Santa Croce, Piazza</i>, <a href="#page_228">228</a>-<a href="#page_230">230</a>; +<ul class="none"><li><i>Church and cloisters</i>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>-<a href="#page_243">243</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">D.</li> + +<li>Diacceto, Jacopo da, <a href="#page_371">371</a>.</li> + +<li>Donati, the, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>, <a href="#page_206">206</a>, <a href="#page_207">207</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Corso, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>, <a href="#page_44">44</a>-<a href="#page_46">46</a>, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_53">53</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>;</li> +<li>Forese, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_432" id="page_432">[432]</a></span></li> +<li>Gemma, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_207">207</a>;</li> +<li>Gualdrada, <a href="#page_19">19</a>;</li> +<li>Lucrezia, <a href="#page_107">107</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>;</li> +<li>Piccarda, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_406">406</a>;</li> +<li>Simone, <a href="#page_229">229</a>;</li> +<li>Sinibaldo, <a href="#page_188">188</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>Duomo</i>, (See <i><a href="#Fiore">Santa Maria del Fiore</a></i>); +<ul class="none"><li><i>Opera del</i>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>-<a href="#page_282">282</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Domenico da Pescia, F., <a href="#page_131">131</a>-<a href="#page_135">135</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a href="#page_159">159</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">E.</li> + +<li>Eugenius IV., Pope, <a href="#page_77">77</a>, <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_310">310</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a>.</li> + +<li>Executore, the, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_62">62</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">F.</li> + +<li>Florence, <i>passim</i>.</li> + +<li>Faggiuola, Uguccione della, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_53">53</a>, <a href="#page_55">55</a>, <a href="#page_56">56</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Felice, S.</i>, <a href="#page_388">388</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Felicità, S.</i>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>.</li> + +<li>Ferrante, King of Naples, <a href="#page_89">89</a>, <a href="#page_93">93</a>, <a href="#page_95">95</a>.</li> + +<li>Ferdinand III., Grand Duke, <a href="#page_335">335</a>, <a href="#page_382">382</a>.</li> + +<li>Francis II., Grand Duke, <a href="#page_334">334</a>.</li> + +<li>Ferrucci, F., <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_340">340</a>.</li> + +<li>Ficino, Marsilio, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, <a href="#page_82">82</a>, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_105">105</a>, <a href="#page_108">108</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>, <a href="#page_364">364</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>.</li> + +<li>Fiesole, <a href="#page_2">2</a>, <a href="#page_5">5</a>, <a href="#page_6">6</a>, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_16">16</a>, <a href="#page_17">17</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li>Filipepi, Simone, <a href="#page_158">158</a>-<a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>, <a href="#page_305">305</a>, <a href="#page_308">308</a>.</li> + +<li>Foiano. See <i><a href="#Benedetto">Fra Benedetto</a></i>.</li> + +<li><i>Fortezza da Basso</i>, <a href="#page_339">339</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Francesco dei Vanchetoni, S.</i>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>.</li> + +<li>Frescobaldi, the, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_348">348</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Piazza, <a href="#page_347">347</a>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">G.</li> + +<li>Galileo, <a href="#page_182">182</a>, <a href="#page_237">237</a>, <a href="#page_404">404</a>, <a href="#page_406">406</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ghibellina, Via</i>, <a href="#page_24">24</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>-<a href="#page_228">228</a>.</li> + +<li>Gianni, Lapo, <a href="#page_1">1</a>, <a href="#page_36">36</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_340">340</a>.</li> + +<li>Giovanni Gualberto, S., <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_398">398</a>, <a href="#page_422">422</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Giovanni Battista, S.</i> See <i><a href="#Baptistery">Baptistery</a></i>.</li> + +<li>Girolamo, Fra. See <a href="#Savonarola">Savonarola</a>.</li> + +<li>Girolami and Gherardini, Towers of, <a href="#page_346">346</a>.</li> + +<li>Gonfaloniere, the office of, <a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_42">42</a>.</li> + +<li>Gregory X., <a href="#page_340">340</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Gregory XI., <a href="#page_62">62</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_401">401</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Gonzaga, Eleonora, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_177">177</a>, <a href="#page_383">383</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Ferrante, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_406">406</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>Guadagni, Palazzo</i>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>.</li> + +<li>Guelfs and Ghibellines, <a href="#page_16">16</a>-<a href="#page_18">18</a>, <a href="#page_21">21</a>-<a href="#page_27">27</a>, <i>et passim</i>.</li> + +<li>Guido Novello, <a href="#page_24">24</a>-<a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">H.</li> + +<li>Hawkwood, John (Giovanni Aguto), <a href="#page_73">73</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.</li> + +<li>Henry IV., <a href="#page_16">16</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Henry VI., <a href="#page_19">19</a>;</li> +<li>Henry VII., <a href="#page_54">54</a>, <a href="#page_55">55</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>, <a href="#page_369">369</a>, Emperors.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII., <a href="#page_13">13</a>.</li> + +<li>Hugh, or Hugo, Margrave of Tuscany, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_211">211</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">I.</li> + +<li><i>Impruneta</i>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Innocenti, Santa Maria degli</i>, <a href="#page_326">326</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Innocenti, Spedale degli</i>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>.</li> + +<li>Interminelli, Castruccio (Castracani) degli, <a href="#page_55">55</a>, <a href="#page_56">56</a>, <a href="#page_396">396</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">J.</li> + +<li><a name="Julius_II" id="Julius_II"></a>Julius II., Pope, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_385">385</a>.</li> + +<li>John XXIII., Pope, <a href="#page_75">75</a>, <a href="#page_253">253</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Jacopo in Ripoli, S.</i>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Jacopo Oltrarno, S.</i>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> + +<li class="i6">L.</li> + +<li>Ladislaus, King of Naples, <a href="#page_75">75</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Lambertesca, Via</i>, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>.</li> + +<li>Lamberti, family, <a href="#page_23">23</a>.</li> + +<li>Lamberti, Mosca degli, <a href="#page_20">20</a>, <a href="#page_22">22</a>.</li> + +<li>Landini, Cristoforo, <a href="#page_105">105</a>, <a href="#page_364">364</a>.</li> + +<li>Landucci, Luca, <a href="#page_118">118</a>, <a href="#page_122">122</a>, <a href="#page_123">123</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a>, <a href="#page_134">134</a>, <a href="#page_205">205</a>, <a href="#page_348">348</a>, <a href="#page_390">390</a>, <a href="#page_396">396</a>.</li> + +<li>Lane, Arte della, <a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_72">72</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_199">199</a>, <a href="#page_262">262</a>, <a href="#page_265">265</a>.</li> + +<li>La Lastra, affair of, <a href="#page_411">411</a>, <a href="#page_412">412</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Leonardo in Arcetri, S.</i>, <a href="#page_404">404</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Lorenzo, San, Piazza</i>, <a href="#page_288">288</a>; +<ul class="none"><li><i>Basilica</i>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_290">290</a>;</li> +<li><i>Sagrestia Vecchia</i>, <a href="#page_290">290</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>;</li> +<li><i>cloisters and Biblioteca</i>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_292">292</a>;</li> +<li><i>Sagrestia Nuova</i>, <a href="#page_292">292</a>-<a href="#page_296">296</a>;</li> +<li><i>Cappella dei Principi</i>, <a href="#page_297">297</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>St Louis IX. of France, <a href="#page_239">239</a>, <a href="#page_240">240</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Lungarno</i>, <a href="#page_340">340</a>-<a href="#page_345">345</a>.</li> + +<li>Latini, Brunetto, <a href="#page_6">6</a>, <a href="#page_36">36</a>.</li> + +<li>Latino, Cardinal, <a href="#page_355">355</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a>.</li> + +<li>Leo X., Pope. See <i><a href="#Giovanni_di_Lorenzo">Dei Medici, Giovanni di Lorenzo</a></i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_433" id="page_433">[433]</a></span></li> + +<li>Leopold I. and II., Grand Dukes, <a href="#page_335">335</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Loggia dei Lanzi</i>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_156">156</a>-<a href="#page_160">160</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Loggia di San Paolo</i>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> + +<li class="i6">M.</li> + +<li>Machiavelli, Niccolò, <a href="#page_35">35</a>, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_89">89</a>, <a href="#page_91">91</a>, <a href="#page_109">109</a>, <a href="#page_137">137</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_204">204</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_378">378</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Malcontenti, Via dei</i>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_244">244</a>.</li> + +<li>Manetti, Giannozzo, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>.</li> + +<li>Manfredi, <a href="#page_24">24</a>, <a href="#page_25">25</a>.</li> + +<li>Mannelli, the, <a href="#page_375">375</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Marco, S.</i>, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, <a href="#page_82">82</a>, <a href="#page_93">93</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>the church of <a href="#page_298">298</a>-<a href="#page_302">302</a>;</li> +<li>the convent, <a href="#page_302">302</a>-<a href="#page_313">313</a>.</li> +<li>See also <a href="#Savonarola">Savonarola</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>Margherita, S., a Montici</i>, <a href="#page_406">406</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Margherita, S.</i> (at Prato), <a href="#page_417">417</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maria, S., degli Angioli</i>, <a href="#page_328">328</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maria S., delle Carceri</i> (in Prato), <a href="#page_418">418</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maria, S., del <a name="Carmine" id="Carmine"></a>Carmine</i>, <a href="#page_390">390</a>-<a href="#page_396">396</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maria, S., del <a name="Fiore" id="Fiore"></a>Fiore</i> (S. Reparata, the Duomo), <a href="#page_10">10</a>-<a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_118">118</a>, <a href="#page_265">265</a>-<a href="#page_282">282</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maria, S., Novella</i>, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>-<a href="#page_370">370</a>; +<ul class="none"><li><i>Spezeria di</i>, <a href="#page_370">370</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>Maria, S., Nuova</i>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_330">330</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maria Maddalena, S., de' Pazzi</i>, <a href="#page_330">330</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Maria, S., del Sasso</i> (at Bibbiena), <a href="#page_422">422</a>.</li> + +<li>Marignolli, Rustico, <a href="#page_23">23</a>.</li> + +<li>Mars, temple and statue of, <a href="#page_7">7</a>-<a href="#page_9">9</a>, <a href="#page_20">20</a>, <a href="#page_21">21</a>, <a href="#page_246">246</a>-<a href="#page_248">248</a>, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_365">365</a>.</li> + +<li>Marsili, Fra Luigi, <a href="#page_390">390</a>.</li> + +<li>Marsuppini, Carlo, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_237">237</a>.</li> + +<li>Martelli, Cammilla, <a href="#page_297">297</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Ludovico, <a href="#page_406">406</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Martin, V., Pope, <a href="#page_75">75</a>, <a href="#page_253">253</a>.</li> + +<li>Matilda, Countess, <a href="#page_14">14</a>-<a href="#page_16">16</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Medici</span>, family; +<ul class="none"><li>head the people, <a href="#page_59">59</a>;</li> +<li>their first expulsion, <a href="#page_77">77</a>;</li> +<li>their second expulsion, <a href="#page_117">117</a>;</li> +<li>their return, <a href="#page_140">140</a>;</li> +<li>third expulsion, <a href="#page_142">142</a>;</li> +<li>apotheosis, <a href="#page_181">181</a>;</li> +<li>their Austrian successors, <a href="#page_335">335</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>— gardens (<i>Casino Mediceo</i>), <a href="#page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li>— palaces. See <i><a href="#Pitti">Pitti</a></i>, <i><a href="#Riccardi">Riccardi</a></i>, <i><a href="#Palazzo_Vecchio">Palazzo Vecchio</a></i>.</li> + +<li>— villas, <a href="#page_410">410</a>, <a href="#page_412">412</a>-<a href="#page_415">415</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Medici (dei)</span>, Alessandro, <a href="#page_142">142</a>-<a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_245">245</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>-<a href="#page_286">286</a>, <a href="#page_293">293</a>, <a href="#page_295">295</a>, <a href="#page_339">339</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>, <a href="#page_380">380</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>, <a href="#page_404">404</a>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>.</li> + +<li>— Antonio, <a href="#page_204">204</a>.</li> + +<li>— Bianca, <a href="#page_92">92</a>.</li> + +<li>— Carlo, <a href="#page_417">417</a>.</li> + +<li>— Caterina, <a href="#page_141">141</a>, <a href="#page_227">227</a>, <a href="#page_228">228</a>, <a href="#page_294">294</a>.</li> + +<li>— Clarice, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_286">286</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>.</li> + +<li>— <span class="smcap">Cosimo the elder</span> (Pater Patriae): +<ul class="none"><li>leads opposition to the Ottimati, <a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_76">76</a>;</li> +<li>banished and recalled, <a href="#page_77">77</a>;</li> +<li>home policy, <a href="#page_78">78</a>, <a href="#page_79">79</a>;</li> +<li>foreign policy, <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_80">80</a>;</li> +<li>private life, patronage of art and letters, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_81">81</a>;</li> +<li>death, <a href="#page_82">82</a>;</li> +<li>portraits, <a href="#page_171">171</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_180">180</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_253">253</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>;</li> +<li>in Gozzoli's fresco, <a href="#page_287">287</a>;</li> +<li>tomb and monument in San Lorenzo, <a href="#page_290">290</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>;</li> +<li>founder of San Marco, <a href="#page_302">302</a>, <a href="#page_304">304</a>;</li> +<li>his cell and portrait there, <a href="#page_310">310</a>;</li> +<li>founds library of San Marco and Badia of Fiesole, <a href="#page_310">310</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>;</li> +<li>dies at Careggi, <a href="#page_412">412</a>;</li> +<li>fresco in his honour at Poggio a Caiano, <a href="#page_414">414</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>— Cosimo I., first Grand Duke, <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>, <a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>, <a href="#page_286">286</a>, <a href="#page_293">293</a>, <a href="#page_295">295</a>-<a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_328">328</a>, <a href="#page_339">339</a>, <a href="#page_349">349</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>.</li> + +<li>— Cosimo II., fourth Grand Duke, <a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li>— Cosimo III., sixth Grand Duke, <a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li>— Ferdinand I., Cardinal, and third Grand Duke, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, <a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>.</li> + +<li>— Ferdinand II., fifth Grand Duke, <a href="#page_283">283</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>.</li> + +<li>— Francesco, second Grand Duke, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_349">349</a>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>, <a href="#page_415">415</a>.</li> + +<li>— Garzia, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>.</li> + +<li>— Giovanni (son of Cosimo I.), <a href="#page_182">182</a>.</li> + +<li>— Giovanni di Averardo (Giovanni Bicci), <a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_290">290</a>.</li> + +<li>— Giovanni di Cosimo, <a href="#page_82">82</a>, <a href="#page_86">86</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li>— <a name="Giovanni_di_Lorenzo" id="Giovanni_di_Lorenzo"></a>Giovanni di Lorenzo (Cardinal, afterwards Pope Leo X.), <a href="#page_92">92</a>, <a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>, <a href="#page_204">204</a>, <a href="#page_205">205</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_292">292</a>, <a href="#page_293">293</a>, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_385">385</a>, <a href="#page_404">404</a>, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>, <a href="#page_414">414</a>, <a href="#page_415">415</a>, <a href="#page_417">417</a>.</li> + +<li>— Giovanni di Piero Francesco, <a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>.</li> + +<li>— Giovanni delle Bande Nere 142, <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_288">288</a>, <a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_340">340</a>.</li> + +<li>— Giovanni Gastone, seventh Grand Duke, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_335">335</a>.</li> + +<li>— Giuliano di Piero (the Elder), <a href="#page_86">86</a>-<a href="#page_88">88</a>, <a href="#page_93">93</a>, <a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_106">106</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>, <a href="#page_279">279</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_296">296</a>, <a href="#page_387">387</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_434" id="page_434">[434]</a></span></li> + +<li>— Giuliano di Lorenzo (Duke of Nemours), <a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_293">293</a>-<a href="#page_295">295</a>, <a href="#page_334">334</a>, <a href="#page_380">380</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>.</li> +<li>— Giulio (Cardinal, afterwards Clement VII.), <a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>-<a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_152">152</a>, <a href="#page_228">228</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_285">285</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>-<a href="#page_293">293</a>, <a href="#page_359">359</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>, <a href="#page_382">382</a>, <a href="#page_397">397</a>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>-<a href="#page_414">414</a>.</li> +<li>— Ippolito (Cardinal), <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_286">286</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>, <a href="#page_380">380</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>.</li> +<li>— Lorenzo di Giovanni, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, <a href="#page_77">77</a>, <a href="#page_302">302</a>.</li> +<li>— <span class="smcap">Lorenzo (the Magnificent):</span> +<ul class="none"><li>his youth, <a href="#page_82">82</a>, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_86">86</a>;</li> +<li>succeeds his father, <a href="#page_86">86</a>;</li> +<li>his portraits, <a href="#page_87">87</a>;</li> +<li>wounded in the Pazzi conspiracy, <a href="#page_88">88</a>;</li> +<li>his struggle with Naples and Rome, <a href="#page_89">89</a>;</li> +<li>his government, <a href="#page_89">89</a>, <a href="#page_90">90</a>;</li> +<li>character, <a href="#page_91">91</a>;</li> +<li>last days and death, <a href="#page_92">92</a>, <a href="#page_93">93</a>;</li> +<li>his sons, <a href="#page_94">94</a>;</li> +<li>his circle, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_105">105</a>;</li> +<li>his poetry, <a href="#page_107">107</a>, <a href="#page_108">108</a>;</li> +<li>love for Pico, <a href="#page_109">109</a>, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>;</li> +<li>his tournaments, <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a> <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_279">279</a>;</li> +<li>his palace, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_287">287</a>;</li> +<li>his tomb and remains, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_293">293</a>, <a href="#page_296">296</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_327">327</a>, <a href="#page_350">350</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>, <a href="#page_379">379</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>;</li> +<li>saved his father's life, <a href="#page_412">412</a>;</li> +<li>death at Careggi, <a href="#page_413">413</a>;</li> +<li>his villa of Poggio a Caiano, <a href="#page_413">413</a>-<a href="#page_415">415</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>—<a name="Lorenzo" id="Lorenzo"></a> Lorenzo di Piero, the younger (titular Duke of Urbino), <a href="#page_141">141</a>-<a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_293">293</a>-<a href="#page_295">295</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>.</li> +<li>— Lorenzo di Piero Francesco, the elder, <a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#footnote_30">173 (note)</a>.</li> +<li>— Lorenzo, called Lorenzino or Lorenzaccio, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>-<a href="#page_286">286</a>, <a href="#page_405">405</a>.</li> +<li>— Maria, <a href="#page_170">170</a></li> +<li>— Nannina, <a href="#page_354">354</a>.</li> +<li>— Ottaviano, <a href="#page_385">385</a>, <a href="#page_414">414</a>.</li> +<li>— Piero Francesco, the elder, <a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>.</li> +<li>— Piero Francesco, the younger, <a href="#page_173">173</a>.</li> +<li>— Piero di Cosimo ("il Gottoso"), <a href="#page_82">82</a>, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_86">86</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_287">287</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_326">326</a>, <a href="#page_327">327</a>, <a href="#page_378">378</a>, <a href="#page_402">402</a>.</li> +<li>— Piero di Lorenzo, <a href="#page_93">93</a>-<a href="#page_95">95</a>, <a href="#page_106">106</a>, <a href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_123">123</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a href="#page_127">127</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_334">334</a>, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>.</li> +<li>— Salvestro, <a href="#page_71">71</a>-<a href="#page_73">73</a>.</li> +<li>— Vieri, <a href="#page_74">74</a>.</li> + +<li>Medici e Speziali, Guild of, <a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_221">221</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Mercato Nuovo</i>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Mercato Vecchio</i>, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_199">199</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Michele, S., in Orto</i>. See <i><a href="#Or_San_Michele">Or San Michele</a></i>.</li> + +<li>Michele di Lando, <a href="#page_72">72</a>, <a href="#page_73">73</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Miniato, S., hill</i> of, <a href="#page_1">1</a>, <a href="#page_2">2</a>, <a href="#page_398">398</a>-<a href="#page_401">401</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Miniato al Monte, S.</i>, <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_398">398</a>, <a href="#page_401">401</a>, <a href="#page_403">403</a>.</li> + +<li>Misericordia, Confraternity of, <a href="#page_264">264</a>.</li> + +<li>Montaperti, Battle of, <a href="#page_23">23</a>, <a href="#page_24">24</a>.</li> + +<li>Montefeltro, Buonconte da, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, <a href="#page_421">421</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Montefeltro" id="Montefeltro"></a>Montefeltro, Federigo da (Duke of Urbino), <a href="#page_174">174</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Monticelli, convent</i>, <a href="#page_405">405</a>.</li> + +<li>Mozzi, the, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Piazza dei, <a href="#page_377">377</a>;</li> +<li>villa, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>Murate, le</i>, <a href="#page_227">227</a>, <a href="#page_228">228</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> + +<li class="i6">N.</li> + +<li>Nerli, the, <a href="#page_375">375</a>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>.</li> + +<li>Neri. <i>See</i> <a href="#Bianchi">Bianchi</a>.</li> + +<li>Nero, Bernardo del, <a href="#page_128">128</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>.</li> + +<li>Neroni, Dietisalvi, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_412">412</a>.</li> + +<li>Niccoli, Niccolò, <a href="#page_102">102</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Niccolò, S.</i>, <a href="#page_396">396</a>, <a href="#page_397">397</a>.</li> + +<li>Nori, Francesco, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_279">279</a>.</li> + +<li>Nardi, Jacopo, <a href="#page_72">72</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, <a href="#page_228">228</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> + +<li class="i6">O.</li> + +<li><i>Ognissanti</i>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>-<a href="#page_372">372</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Oltrarno</i> (Sesto di, afterwards Quartiere di Santo Spirito), <a href="#page_18">18</a>-<a href="#page_19">19</a>, <a href="#page_374">374</a>, <a href="#page_396">396</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Onofrio, S.</i>, <a href="#page_336">336</a>.</li> + +<li>Orange, Prince of, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_228">228</a>, <a href="#page_397">397</a>.</li> + +<li>Ordinances of Justice, <a href="#page_41">41</a>-<a href="#page_43">43</a>, <a href="#page_71">71</a>, <a href="#page_221">221</a>.</li> + +<li><i><a name="Or_San_Michele" id="Or_San_Michele"></a>Or San Michele</i>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_66">66</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>-<a href="#page_199">199</a>.</li> + +<li>Orlandi, Guido, <a href="#page_187">187</a>, <a href="#page_188">188</a>.</li> + +<li>Orsini, Alfonsina, <a href="#page_118">118</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Clarice, <a href="#page_86">86</a>;</li> +<li>Napoleone, <a href="#page_50">50</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>Orti Oricellari</i>, <a href="#page_370">370</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>.</li> + +<li>Otto della Guerra, <a href="#page_62">62</a>.</li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> + +<li class="i6">P.</li> + +<li><i><a name="Palazzo_Vecchio" id="Palazzo_Vecchio"></a>Palazzo Vecchio (della Signoria)</i>, <a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_72">72</a>, <a href="#page_78">78</a>, <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_146">146</a>-<a href="#page_154">154</a>.</li> + +<li>Palmieri, Matteo, <a href="#page_210">210</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Pandolfini, Palazzo</i>, <a href="#page_335">335</a>.</li> + +<li>Parte Guelfa, <a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#page_44">44</a>, <a href="#page_62">62</a>, <a href="#page_71">71</a>, <a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Palace of, <a href="#page_28">28</a>-<a href="#page_31">31</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Passavanti, Fra Jacopo, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_359">359</a>, <a href="#page_366">366</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_435" id="page_435">[435]</a></span></li> + +<li>Passerini, Cardinal, <a href="#page_142">142</a>.</li> + +<li>Pater, Walter, <a href="#page_71">71</a>, <a href="#page_166">166</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_179">179</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_240">240</a>.</li> + +<li>Pazzi, conspiracy, <a href="#page_88">88</a>, <a href="#page_89">89</a>, <a href="#footnote_19">93 (note)</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_279">279</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>carro dei, <a href="#page_279">279</a>;</li> +<li>cappella dei, <a href="#page_243">243</a>;</li> +<li>family, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_347">347</a>;</li> +<li>palaces, <a href="#page_209">209</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Pazzi (dei), Francesco, <a href="#page_279">279</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Jacopo, <a href="#page_89">89</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>;</li> +<li>Guglielmo, <a href="#page_85">85</a>;</li> +<li>Pazzino, <a href="#page_53">53</a>;</li> +<li>Piero, <a href="#page_103">103</a>.</li> +</ul></li> + +<li>Pecora, <a href="#page_43">43</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Peruzzi, Piazza dei</i>, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#footnote_49">341 (note)</a>; +<ul class="none"><li><i>Cappella dei</i>, <a href="#page_240">240</a>, <a href="#page_241">241</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Peter Igneus, <a href="#page_13">13</a>.</li> + +<li>Petracco, <a href="#page_50">50</a>.</li> + +<li>Petrarca, Francesco, <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_55">55</a>, <a href="#page_61">61</a>, <a href="#page_69">69</a>, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, <a href="#page_405">405</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Piazzale Michelangelo</i>, <a href="#page_398">398</a>.</li> + +<li>Pico della Mirandola, <a href="#page_92">92</a>, <a href="#page_108">108</a>, <a href="#page_109">109</a>, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_301">301</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Piero Maggiore, S., Piazza di</i>, <a href="#page_53">53</a>, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>.</li> + +<li>Pistoia, <a href="#page_418">418</a>.</li> + +<li>Pitti, Luca, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_378">378</a>, <a href="#page_412">412</a>.</li> + +<li><i><a name="Pitti" id="Pitti"></a>Pitti, Palazzo and R. Galleria</i>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>-<a href="#page_388">388</a>.</li> + +<li>Podestà, office of, <a href="#page_19">19</a>, <a href="#page_23">23</a>, <a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#page_214">214</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Podestà, Palazzo del</i>. See <i><a href="#Bargello">Bargello</a></i>.</li> + +<li><i>Poggio a Caiano</i>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>-<a href="#page_415">415</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Poggio Imperiale</i>, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_406">406</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Poliziano" id="Poliziano"></a>Poliziano, Angelo, <a href="#page_87">87</a>, <a href="#page_92">92</a>, <a href="#page_93">93</a>, <a href="#page_106">106</a>-<a href="#page_108">108</a>, <a href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_227">227</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_301">301</a>, <a href="#page_364">364</a>, <a href="#page_415">415</a>.</li> + +<li>Pulci, Luigi, <a href="#page_106">106</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Ponte alla Carraia</i>, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_345">345</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>: +<ul class="none"><li><i>Ponte alle Grazie (Rubaconte)</i>, <a href="#page_340">340</a>, <a href="#page_341">341</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_398">398</a>;</li> +<li><i>Ponte S. Trinità</i>, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>, <a href="#page_348">348</a>, <a href="#page_350">350</a>;</li> +<li><i>Ponte Vecchio</i>, <a href="#page_20">20</a>, <a href="#page_341">341</a>, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Poppi, <a href="#page_419">419</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Popolo, Primo</i>, <a href="#page_23">23</a>, <a href="#page_24">24</a>, <a href="#page_214">214</a>; +<ul class="none"><li><i>Secondo</i>, <a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#page_31">31</a>, <a href="#page_35">35</a>, <a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Porciano, <a href="#page_419">419</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>.</li> + +<li>Ponte a Mensola, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Porta alla Croce</i>, <a href="#page_53">53</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>, <a href="#page_334">334</a>; +<ul class="none"><li><i>Porta San Frediano</i>, <a href="#page_67">67</a>, <a href="#page_408">408</a>;</li> +<li><i>Porta San Gallo</i>, <a href="#page_334">334</a>;</li> +<li><i>Porta San Giorgio</i>, <a href="#page_403">403</a>, <a href="#page_404">404</a>;</li> +<li><i>Porta San Miniato</i>, <a href="#page_403">403</a>;</li> +<li><i>Porta San Niccolò</i>, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, <a href="#page_396">396</a>, <a href="#page_397">397</a>;</li> +<li><i>Porta al Prato</i>, <a href="#page_334">334</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>;</li> +<li><i>Porta Romana</i>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_404">404</a>, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Por S. Maria, Via, <a href="#page_346">346</a>.</li> + +<li>Portinari, the, <a href="#page_206">206</a>, <a href="#page_207">207</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Beatrice, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_206">206</a>;</li> +<li>Folco, <a href="#page_206">206</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>;</li> +<li>Manetto, <a href="#page_206">206</a>, <a href="#page_207">207</a>;</li> +<li>Tommaso, <a href="#page_330">330</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Prato, <a href="#page_415">415</a>-<a href="#page_418">418</a>.</li> + +<li>Pratovecchio, <a href="#page_419">419</a>.</li> + +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">Q.</li> + +<li><i>Quaratesi, Palazzo</i> (De Rast), <a href="#page_209">209</a>.</li> + +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">R.</li> + +<li><i>Reparata, S.</i> See <i><a href="#Fiore">S. Maria del Fiore</a></i>.</li> + +<li>Ricci, the, <a href="#page_62">62</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Marietta dei, <a href="#page_406">406</a>.</li></ul></li> + +<li><i><a name="Riccardi" id="Riccardi"></a>Riccardi, Palazzo</i>, <a href="#page_78">78</a>, <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_87">87</a>, <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_118">118</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>-<a href="#page_288">288</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Riccardiana, Biblioteca</i>, <a href="#page_288">288</a>.</li> + +<li>Ripoli, Piano di, <a href="#page_397">397</a>.</li> + +<li>Rossi, the, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>.</li> + +<li>Robert, King of Naples, <a href="#page_54">54</a>, <a href="#page_55">55</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_245">245</a>.</li> + +<li>Romena, <a href="#page_419">419</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>.</li> + +<li>Rovere, Cardinal della. See <a href="#Julius_II">Julius II</a>.</li> + +<li><a name="Rovere" id="Rovere"></a>Rovere, Francesco Maria della, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_177">177</a>.</li> + +<li>Rucellai, Bernardo, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Rucellai, Palazzo, Loggia, Cappella</i>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>chapel in <i>S. Maria Novella</i>, <a href="#page_361">361</a>;</li> +<li><i>gardens</i>, <a href="#page_370">370</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Ruskin, <i>passim</i>.</li> + +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">S.</li> + +<li>Sacchetti, Franco, <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_71">71</a>, <a href="#page_199">199</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>family of, <a href="#page_208">208</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>S. Salvi</i>, <a href="#page_54">54</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>, <a href="#page_334">334</a>.</li> + +<li>Salviati, house of, <a href="#page_207">207</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Abp, <a href="#page_88">88</a>;</li> +<li>Marcuccio, <a href="#page_158">158</a>, <a href="#page_159">159</a>;</li> +<li>Maria, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_413">413</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>S. Salvadore al Monte</i>, <a href="#page_398">398</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="smcap"><a name="Savonarola" id="Savonarola"></a>Savonarola, Fra Girolamo.</span> +<ul class="none"><li>At the death-bed of Lorenzo, <a href="#page_92">92</a>, <a href="#page_93">93</a>, <a href="#page_108">108</a>;</li> +<li>friendship with Pico, <a href="#page_109">109</a>;</li> +<li>earlier life, <a href="#page_111">111</a>;</li> +<li>commences his mission, <a href="#page_112">112</a>;</li> +<li>his visions of the Two Crosses and the Sword, <a href="#page_113">113</a>-<a href="#page_115">115</a>;</li> +<li>during the French invasion, <a href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_119">119</a>;</li> +<li>guides the Republic, <a href="#page_119">119</a>, <a href="#page_120">120</a>;</li> +<li>his vision of the Lilies, <a href="#page_121">121</a>;</li> +<li>his reformation of Florence, <a href="#page_121">121</a>-<a href="#page_123">123</a>;</li> +<li>struggle with the Pope begins, <a href="#page_123">123</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>;</li> +<li>denounces corruption, <a href="#page_124">124</a>-<a href="#page_126">126</a>;</li> +<li>is excommunicated, <a href="#page_127">127</a>;</li> +<li>his orthodoxy, <a href="#page_128">128</a>;</li> +<li>returns to the pulpit, <a href="#page_128">128</a>;</li> +<li>promises miracles, <a href="#page_129">129</a>;</li> +<li>his last sermon, <a href="#page_129">129</a>, <a href="#page_130">130</a>;</li> +<li>appeals to Christendom against the Pope, <a href="#page_130">130</a>;</li> +<li>the Ordeal by Fire, <a href="#page_131">131</a>, <a href="#page_132">132</a>, <a href="#page_157">157</a>-<a href="#page_160">160</a>;</li> +<li>his capture, <a href="#page_132">132</a>-<a href="#page_133">133</a>;</li> +<li>is tortured, <a href="#page_133">133</a>-<a href="#page_134">134</a>;</li> +<li>his martyrdom, <a href="#page_134">134</a>-<a href="#page_136">136</a>;</li> +<li>prophecies fulfilled, <a href="#page_136">136</a>, <a href="#page_145">145</a>;</li> +<li>his discourse to the Signoria, <a href="#page_151">151</a>;</li> +<li>his prayer and meditations, <a href="#page_153">153</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>;</li> +<li>medal and picture of, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>;</li> +<li>sermons in the Duomo, <a href="#page_280">280</a>;</li> +<li>in San Marco, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_301">301</a>-<a href="#page_303">303</a>, <a href="#page_305">305</a>, <a href="#page_307">307</a>-<a href="#page_309">309</a>;</li> +<li>on the night of Palm Sunday, <a href="#page_310">310</a>-<a href="#page_313">313</a>;</li> +<li>his portrait, <a href="#page_323">323</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Salutati, Coluccio, <a href="#page_390">390</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Scalzo, Chiostro dello</i>, <a href="#page_324">324</a>.</li> + +<li>Scolari, Filippo (Pippo Spano), <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_336">336</a>.</li> + +<li>Seta, Arte della (Arte di Por S. Maria), <a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a>, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>.</li> + +<li>Settignano, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.</li> + +<li>Sforza, Caterina, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_227">227</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Francesco, <a href="#page_78">78</a>, <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_82">82</a>;</li> +<li>Galeazzo Maria, <a href="#page_82">82</a>, <a href="#page_86">86</a>-<a href="#page_88">88</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a>;</li> +<li>Ludovico, <a href="#page_90">90</a>, <a href="#page_95">95</a>, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a>, <a href="#page_137">137</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Shelley, <a href="#page_2">2</a>, <a href="#page_105">105</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_220">220</a>, <a href="#page_373">373</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Signoria, Palazzo della</i>. See <i><a href="#Palazzo_Vecchio">Palazzo Vecchio</a></i>.</li> + +<li><i>Signoria, Piazza della</i>, <a href="#page_118">118</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a>, <a href="#page_146">146</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>-<a href="#page_160">160</a>.</li> + +<li>Silvestro, Fra, <a href="#page_92">92</a>, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>.</li> + +<li>Sixtus IV., Pope, <a href="#page_88">88</a>-<a href="#page_90">90</a>, <a href="#page_93">93</a>.</li> + +<li>Soldanieri, Gianni dei, <a href="#page_26">26</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Spini, Palazzo</i>, <a href="#page_348">348</a>.</li> + +<li>Spini, Doffo, <a href="#page_123">123</a>, <a href="#page_131">131</a>, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_158">158</a>-<a href="#page_160">160</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Geri, <a href="#page_348">348</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li><i>Spirito, S.</i>, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_87">87</a>, <a href="#page_127">127</a>, <a href="#page_389">389</a>-<a href="#page_390">390</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Stefano, S.</i> (in the Via Por S. Maria), <a href="#page_20">20</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>. +<ul class="none"><li>See also <i><a href="#Badia">Badia</a></i>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Stia, <a href="#page_419">419</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Stinche, Le</i> (Teatro Pagliano), <a href="#page_226">226</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Strozzi, Palazzo</i>, <a href="#page_15">15</a>, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_97">97</a>, <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Strozzi, Cappella</i>, <a href="#page_68">68</a>, <a href="#page_361">361</a>-<a href="#page_363">363</a>.</li> + +<li>Strozzi, Filippo, the elder, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_365">365</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Filippo, the younger, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_339">339</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>;</li> +<li>Palla, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, <a href="#page_95">95</a>, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_350">350</a>, <a href="#page_351">351</a>;</li> +<li>Piero, <a href="#page_349">349</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>;</li> +<li>Tommaso, <a href="#page_74">74</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">T.</li> + +<li><i>Torrigiani, Palazzo</i>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>.</li> + +<li>Tornabuoni, Lucrezia, <a href="#page_85">85</a>.</li> + +<li>Tosa (della), Baldo, <a href="#page_376">376</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Baschiera, <a href="#page_334">334</a>, <a href="#page_411">411</a>;</li> +<li>Rossellino, <a href="#page_405">405</a>;</li> +<li>Rosso, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_53">53</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Traversari, Ambrogio, <a href="#page_329">329</a>.</li> + +<li>Trespiano, <a href="#page_410">410</a>, <a href="#page_411">411</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Trebbio, Croce al</i>, <a href="#page_22">22</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Trinità, S.</i>, church, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_349">349</a>-<a href="#page_351">351</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>piazza, <a href="#page_26">26</a>, <a href="#page_44">44</a>, <a href="#page_347">347</a>-<a href="#page_349">349</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Towers, Societies of, <a href="#page_19">19</a>.</li> + +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">U.</li> + +<li>Ubaldini, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>.</li> + +<li>Uberti, the, <a href="#page_17">17</a>, <a href="#page_19">19</a>-<a href="#page_21">21</a>, <a href="#page_23">23</a>, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, <a href="#page_62">62</a>, <a href="#page_149">149</a>, <a href="#page_411">411</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Farinata degli, <a href="#page_24">24</a>, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, <a href="#page_36">36</a>, <a href="#page_72">72</a>, <a href="#page_149">149</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_336">336</a>, <a href="#page_340">340</a>;</li> +<li>Schiatta degli, <a href="#page_20">20</a>;</li> +<li>Tolosato degli, <a href="#page_412">412</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +<li>Uccellatoio, <a href="#page_411">411</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Uffizi, R. Galleria degli</i>, <a href="#page_160">160</a>-<a href="#page_183">183</a>.</li> + +<li>Umiliati, Frati, <a href="#page_371">371</a>.</li> + +<li>Urbino, Dukes of. <i>See</i> <a href="#Lorenzo">Medici (Lorenzo)</a>, <a href="#Montefeltro">Montefeltro</a>, <a href="#Rovere">Della Rovere</a>.</li> + +<li>Uzzano, Niccolò da, <a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, <a href="#page_221">221</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>.</li> + +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">V.</li> + +<li>Vallombrosa, <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_421">421</a>, <a href="#page_422">422</a>.</li> + +<li>Valori, Baccio, <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_339">339</a>, <a href="#page_406">406</a>.</li> + +<li>Valori, Francesco, <a href="#page_126">126</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a>, <a href="#page_132">132</a>, <a href="#page_211">211</a>, <a href="#page_212">212</a>.</li> + +<li>Varchi, <a href="#page_228">228</a>, <a href="#page_359">359</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>, <a href="#page_401">401</a>.</li> + +<li><i>La Verna</i>, <a href="#page_421">421</a>, <a href="#page_422">422</a>.</li> + +<li>Vespucci, Amerigo, <a href="#page_372">372</a>.</li> + +<li>Villani, Filippo, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_390">390</a>.</li> + +<li>Villani, Giovanni, <a href="#page_5">5</a>-<a href="#page_8">8</a>, <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_36">36</a>, <a href="#page_69">69</a>, <i>et passim</i>.</li> + +<li>Villani, Matteo, <a href="#page_70">70</a>.</li> + +<li>Visconti, Filippo, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>; +<ul class="none"><li>Giovanni, <a href="#page_61">61</a>;</li> +<li>Giovanni Galeazzo, <a href="#page_75">75</a>, <a href="#page_390">390</a>.</li> +</ul></li> +</ul> +<ul class="none"> +<li class="i6">Z.</li> + +<li>Zagonara, Battle of, <a href="#page_76">76</a>.</li> + +<li><i>Zecca Vecchia, Torre della</i>, <a href="#page_245">245</a>.</li> + +<li>Zenobius, S., <a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_11">11</a>, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_152">152</a>, <a href="#page_171">171</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_276">276</a>.</li> +</ul></div> + +<p class="p6 center"><b>TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.</b></p> + +<hr class="c15" /> +<h3><a name="footnotes" id="footnotes"></a>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_1" id="footnote_1"></a><a href="#fnanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> +The Frontispiece and the Illustrations facing pages 97, 135, +144, 178 and 288 are reproduced, by permission, from photographs +by Messrs Alinari of Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_2" id="footnote_2"></a><a href="#fnanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> +"Love, I demand to have my lady in fee,<br /> +<span class="i1">Fine balm let Arno be,</span><br /> +The walls of Florence all of silver rear'd,<br /> +And crystal pavements in the public way;<br /> +<span class="i1">With castles make me fear'd,</span><br /> +Till every Latin soul have owned my sway."<br /> +<span class="i8">–</span><span class="smcap">Lapo Gianni</span> (<i>Rossetti</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_3" id="footnote_3"></a><a href="#fnanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>"For amongst the tart sorbs, it befits not the sweet fig +to fructify."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_4" id="footnote_4"></a><a href="#fnanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> +"Let the beasts of Fiesole make litter of themselves, and +not touch the plant, if any yet springs up amid their rankness, +in which the holy seed revives of those Romans who +remained there when it became the nest of so much malice."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_5" id="footnote_5"></a><a href="#fnanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> +"With these folk, and with others with them, did I see +Florence in such full repose, she had not cause for wailing;</p> + +<p>With these folk I saw her people so glorious and so just, +ne'er was the lily on the shaft reversed, nor yet by faction +dyed vermilion."<br /> +<span class="i8">–Wicksteed's translation.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_6" id="footnote_6"></a><a href="#fnanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> +"The house from which your wailing sprang, because of +the just anger which hath slain you and placed a term upon +your joyous life,</p> + +<p>"was honoured, it and its associates. Oh Buondelmonte, +how ill didst thou flee its nuptials at the prompting of +another!</p> + +<p>"Joyous had many been who now are sad, had God committed +thee unto the Ema the first time that thou camest to +the city.</p> + +<p>"But to that mutilated stone which guardeth the bridge +'twas meet that Florence should give a victim in her last +time of peace."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_7" id="footnote_7"></a><a href="#fnanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> +"And one who had both hands cut off, raising the +stumps through the dim air so that their blood defiled his +face, cried: 'Thou wilt recollect the Mosca too, ah me! +who said, "A thing done has an end!" which was the seed +of evil to the Tuscan people.'" (<i>Inf.</i> xxviii.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_8" id="footnote_8"></a><a href="#fnanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> +The Arte di Calimala, or of the Mercatanti di Calimala, +the dressers of foreign cloth; the Arte della Lana, or +wool; the Arte dei Giudici e Notai, judges and notaries, also +called the Arte del Proconsolo; the Arte del Cambio or dei +Cambiatori, money-changers; the Arte dei Medici e Speziali, +physicians and apothecaries; the Arte della Seta, or silk, also +called the Arte di Por Santa Maria; and the Arte dei Vaiai +e Pellicciai, the furriers. The Minor Arts were organised +later.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_9" id="footnote_9"></a><a href="#fnanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> +Some years later a new officer, the Executor of Justice, +was instituted to carry out these ordinances instead of leaving +them to the Gonfaloniere. This Executor of Justice was +associated with the Captain, but was usually a foreign Guelf +burgher; later he developed into the Bargello, head of +police and governor of the gaol. It will, of course, be seen +that while Podestà, Captain, Executore (the <i>Rettori</i>), were +aliens, the Gonfaloniere and Priors (the <i>Signori</i>) were necessarily +Florentines and popolani.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_10" id="footnote_10"></a><a href="#fnanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> +Rossetti's translation of the <i>ripresa</i> and second stanza +of the Ballata <i>Perch'i' no spero di tornar giammai</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_11" id="footnote_11"></a><a href="#fnanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> +"Thou shall abandon everything beloved most dearly; +this is the arrow which the bow of exile shall first shoot.</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt make trial of how salt doth taste another's +bread, and how hard the path to descend and mount upon +another's stair."<br /> + +<span class="i8">–Wicksteed's translation.</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_12" id="footnote_12"></a><a href="#fnanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> +"On that great seat where thou dost fix thine eyes, for +the crown's sake already placed above it, ere at this wedding +feast thyself do sup,</p> + +<p>"Shall sit the soul (on earth 'twill be imperial) of the +lofty Henry, who shall come to straighten Italy ere she be +ready for it."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_13" id="footnote_13"></a><a href="#fnanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> +<i>i.e.</i> The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_14" id="footnote_14"></a><a href="#fnanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> +<i>Purg. VI.</i>–<br /> +<span class="o1">"Athens and Lacedæmon, they who made</span><br /> +<span class="i1">The ancient laws, and were so civilised,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Made towards living well a little sign</span><br /> +Compared with thee, who makest such fine-spun<br /> +<span class="i1">Provisions, that to middle of November</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Reaches not what thou in October spinnest.</span><br /> +How oft, within the time of thy remembrance,<br /> +<span class="i1">Laws, money, offices and usages</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Hast thou remodelled, and renewed thy members?</span><br /> +And if thou mind thee well, and see the light,<br /> +<span class="i1">Thou shalt behold thyself like a sick woman,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Who cannot find repose upon her down,</span><br /> +But by her tossing wardeth off her pain."<br /> +<span class="i8">–<i>Longfellow.</i></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_15" id="footnote_15"></a><a href="#fnanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> +<span class="o1">"In painting Cimabue thought that he</span><br /> +Should hold the field, now Giotto has the cry,<br /> +So that the other's fame is growing dim."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_16" id="footnote_16"></a><a href="#fnanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> +The "Colleges" were the twelve Buonuomini and the +sixteen Gonfaloniers of the Companies. Measures proposed +by the Signoria had to be carried in the Colleges before +being submitted to the Council of the People, and afterwards +to the Council of the Commune.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_17" id="footnote_17"></a><a href="#fnanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> +From Mr Armstrong's <i>Lorenzo de' Medici</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_18" id="footnote_18"></a><a href="#fnanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> +The <i>Palle</i>, it will be remembered, were the golden balls +on the Medicean arms, and hence the rallying cry of their +adherents.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_19" id="footnote_19"></a><a href="#fnanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> +The familiar legend that Lorenzo told Savonarola that +the three sins which lay heaviest on his conscience were the +sack of Volterra, the robbery of the Monte delle Doti, and +the vengeance he had taken for the Pazzi conspiracy, is +only valuable as showing what were popularly supposed +by the Florentines to be his greatest crimes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_20" id="footnote_20"></a><a href="#fnanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> +This <i>Compendium of Revelations</i> was, like the <i>Triumph of +the Cross</i>, published both in Latin and in Italian simultaneously. +I have rendered the above from the Italian version.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_21" id="footnote_21"></a><a href="#fnanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> +When Savonarola entered upon the political arena, his +spiritual sight was often terribly dimmed. The cause of +Pisa against Florence was every bit as righteous as that of +the Florentines themselves against the Medici.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_22" id="footnote_22"></a><a href="#fnanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> +This Luca Landucci, whose diary we shall have occasion +to quote more than once, kept an apothecary's shop near the +Strozzi Palace at the Canto de' Tornaquinci. He was an +ardent Piagnone, though he wavered at times. He died in +1516, and was buried in Santa Maria Novella.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_23" id="footnote_23"></a><a href="#fnanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> +"He who usurpeth upon earth my place, my place, my +place, which in the presence of the Son of God is vacant,</p> + +<p>"hath made my burial-ground a conduit for that blood +and filth, whereby the apostate one who fell from here above, +is soothed down there below."–<i>Paradiso</i> xxvii.<br /> +<span class="i8">–Wicksteed's Translation.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_24" id="footnote_24"></a><a href="#fnanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> +Sermon on May 29th, 1496. In Villari and Casanova, +<i>Scelte di prediche e scritti di Fra Girolamo Savonarola</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_25" id="footnote_25"></a><a href="#fnanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> +Professor Villari justly remarks that "Savonarola's +attacks were never directed in the slightest degree against +the dogmas of the Roman Church, but solely against those +who corrupted them." The <i>Triumph of the Cross</i> was intended +to do for the Renaissance what St Thomas Aquinas +had accomplished for the Middle Ages in his <i>Summa contra +Gentiles</i>. As this book is the fullest expression of Savonarola's +creed, it is much to be regretted that more than one of its +English translators have omitted some of its most characteristic +and important passages bearing upon Catholic practice +and doctrine, without the slightest indication that any such +process of "expurgation" has been carried out.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_26" id="footnote_26"></a><a href="#fnanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> +See the <a href="#Family_Tree">Genealogical Table of the Medici</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_27" id="footnote_27"></a><a href="#fnanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> +Mr Armstrong in his <i>Lorenzo de' Medici</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_28" id="footnote_28"></a><a href="#fnanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> +Botticelli's brother and an ardent Piagnone, whose +chronicle has been recently discovered and published by +Villari and Casanova. The Franciscans were possibly sincere +in the business, and mere tools in the hands of the +Compagnacci; they are not likely to have been privy to +the plot.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_29" id="footnote_29"></a><a href="#fnanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> +The following notes make no pretence at furnishing a +catalogue, but are simply intended to indicate the more +important Italian pictures, especially the principal masterpieces +of, or connected with the Florentine school.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_30" id="footnote_30"></a><a href="#fnanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> +See the <a href="#Family_Tree">Genealogical Table </a>in Appendix. The elder Pier +Francesco was dead many years before this picture was painted. +It was for his other son, Lorenzo, that Sandro Botticelli drew +his illustrations of the <i>Divina Commedia</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_31" id="footnote_31"></a><a href="#fnanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> +<i>Modern Painters</i>, vol. ii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_32" id="footnote_32"></a><a href="#fnanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> +The eight Arti Minori not represented are the vintners +(St. Martin), the inn-keepers (St. Julian), the cheesemongers +(St. Bartholomew), the leather-dressers (St. Augustine), the +saddlemakers (the Blessed Trinity), the joiners (the Annunciation), +tin and coppersmiths (St. Zenobius), and the bakers +(St. Lawrence).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_33" id="footnote_33"></a><a href="#fnanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> +There are three extant documents concerning pictures of +the Madonna for the Captains of Saint Michael; two refer +to a painting ordered from Bernardo Daddi, in 1346 and +1347; the third to one by Orcagna, 1352. <i>See</i> Signor P. +Franceschini's monograph on Or San Michele, to which I am +much indebted in this chapter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_34" id="footnote_34"></a><a href="#fnanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> +These were the burghers and lawyers of the black faction, +the Podestà's allies and friends. This was in the spring of +1303.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_35" id="footnote_35"></a><a href="#fnanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> +Such, at least, seems the more obvious interpretation; but +there is a certain sensuality and cruelty about the victor's expression, +which, together with the fact that the vanquished +undoubtedly has something of Michelangelo's own features, +lead us to suspect that the master's sympathies were with the +lost cause.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_36" id="footnote_36"></a><a href="#fnanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> +Quoted in Mr Armstrong's <i>Lorenzo de' Medici</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_37" id="footnote_37"></a><a href="#fnanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> +See Guido Carocci, <i>Firenze Scomparsa</i>, here and generally.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_38" id="footnote_38"></a><a href="#fnanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> +The earliest of these mosaics are those in the tribune, +executed originally by a certain Fra Jacopo in the year 1225; +those in the dome are in part ascribed to Dante's contemporary, +Andrea Tafi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_39" id="footnote_39"></a><a href="#fnanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> +Should it e'er come to pass that the sacred poem to which<br /> +<span class="i1">both heaven and earth so have set hand, that it hath</span><br /> +<span class="i1">made me lean through many a year,</span><br /> +should overcome the cruelty which doth bar me forth from<br /> +<span class="i1">the fair sheepfold wherein I used to sleep, a lamb, foe to</span><br /> +<span class="i1">the wolves which war upon it;</span><br /> +with changed voice now, and with changed fleece shall I<br /> +<span class="i1">return, a poet, and at the font of my baptism shall I</span><br /> +<span class="i1">assume the chaplet;</span><br /> +because into the Faith which maketh souls known of God,<br /> +<span class="i1">'twas there I entered.</span><br /> +<span class="i8">–Par. xxv. 1-11, <i>Wicksteed's translation</i>.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_40" id="footnote_40"></a><a href="#fnanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> +By these "second gates" are of course meant Ghiberti's +second gates: in reality the "third gates" of the Baptistery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_41" id="footnote_41"></a><a href="#fnanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> +"There is only one point from which the size of the +Cathedral of Florence is felt; and that is from the corner of +the Via de' Balestrieri, opposite the south-east angle, where it +happens that the dome is seen rising instantly above the apse +and transepts" (<i>Seven Lamps</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_42" id="footnote_42"></a><a href="#fnanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> +<i>Modern Painters</i>, vol. ii. "Of Imagination Penetrative."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_43" id="footnote_43"></a><a href="#fnanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> +The Duomo has fairer memories of the Pazzi, than this +deed of blood and treachery. Their ancestor at the Crusades +had carried the sacred fire from Jerusalem to Florence, and +still, on Easter Eve, an artificial dove sent from the high altar +lights the car of fireworks in the Piazza–the Carro dei Pazzi–in +front of the church, in honour of their name.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_44" id="footnote_44"></a><a href="#fnanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> +It should be observed that Lorenzo was not specially +called the "Magnificent" by his contemporaries. All the more +prominent members of the Medicean family were styled <i>Magnifico</i> +in the same way.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_45" id="footnote_45"></a><a href="#fnanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> +"Grateful to me is sleep, and more the being stone; +while ruin and shame last, not to see, not to feel, is great good +fortune to me. Therefore wake me not; ah, speak low!"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_46" id="footnote_46"></a><a href="#fnanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> +Given in Addington Symonds' <i>Life of Michelangelo</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_47" id="footnote_47"></a><a href="#fnanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> +"Before thee, goddess, flee the winds, the clouds of heaven; +before thee and thy advent; for thee earth manifold in works +puts forth sweet-smelling flowers; for thee the levels of the +sea do laugh and heaven propitiated shines with outspread +light" (Munro's <i>Lucretius</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_48" id="footnote_48"></a><a href="#fnanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> +See <i>Andrea del Sarto</i>, by H. Guinness in the <i>Great Masters</i> +series, and <i>G. F. Rustici</i> in Vasari.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_49" id="footnote_49"></a><a href="#fnanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> +Opposite the bridge, at the beginning of the Via dei +Benci, is the palace of the old Alberti family; the remains +of their loggia stand further up the street, at the corner of +the Borgo Santa Croce. In all these streets, between the +Lungarno della Borsa and the Borgo dei Greci, there are +many old houses and palaces; in the Piazza dei Peruzzi the +houses, formerly of that family and partly built in the fourteenth +century, follow the lines of the Roman amphitheatre–the +<i>Parlascio</i> of the early Middle Ages. The Palazzo dei +Giudici–in the piazza of that name–was originally built in +the thirteenth century, though reconstructed at a later epoch.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_50" id="footnote_50"></a><a href="#fnanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> +See Addington Symonds' <i>Michelangelo</i>. The horse in +question was the equestrian monument of Francesco Sforza.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_51" id="footnote_51"></a><a href="#fnanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> +"The one was all seraphic in his ardour, the other by his<br /> +<span class="i1">wisdom was on earth a splendour of cherubic light.</span><br /> +"Of one will I discourse, because of both the two he<br /> +<span class="i1">speaketh who doth either praise, which so he will;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">for to one end their works."</span><br /> +<span class="i8">–Wicksteed's translation, <i>Paradiso</i> xi.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_52" id="footnote_52"></a><a href="#fnanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> +"I desired, and understanding was given me. I prayed, +and the spirit of Wisdom came upon me; and I preferred her +before kingdoms and thrones."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_53" id="footnote_53"></a><a href="#fnanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> +The identification of each science and its representative is +rather doubtful, especially in the celestial series. From altar +to centre, Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic are represented by +Aelius Donatus, Cicero and Aristotle (or Zeno); Music, +Astronomy, Geometry, Arithmetic by Tubal Cain, Zoroaster +(or Ptolemy), Euclid and Pythagoras. From window to +centre, Civil Law is represented by Justinian, Canon Law by +Innocent III., Philosophy apparently by Boethius; the next +four seem to be Contemplative, Moral, Mystical and Dogmatic +Theology, and their representatives Jerome, John of Damascus, +Basil and Augustine–but, with the exception of St. Augustine, +the identification is quite arbitrary. Possibly if the Logician +is Zeno, the Philosopher is not Boethius but Aristotle; the +figure above, representing Philosophy, holds a mirror which +seems to symbolise the divine creation of the cosmic Universe.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_54" id="footnote_54"></a><a href="#fnanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> +In Richter's <i>Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci</i>. Leonardo +rather too sweepingly ignores the fact that there were a few +excellent masters between the two.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_55" id="footnote_55"></a><a href="#fnanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> +The ledger and the stave (<i>il quaderno e la doga</i>): "In 1299 +Messer Niccola Acciaiuoli and Messer Baldo d' Aguglione +abstracted from the public records a leaf containing the evidence +of a disreputable transaction, in which they, together +with the Podestà, had been engaged. At about the same +time Messer Durante de' Chiaramontesi, being officer of the +customs for salt, took away a stave (<i>doga</i>) from the standard +measure, thus making it smaller."–<i>A. J. Butler.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_56" id="footnote_56"></a><a href="#fnanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> +"Perfected life and high desert enheaveneth a lady more +aloft," she said, "by whose rule down in your world there are +who clothe and veil themselves,</p> + +<p>That they, even till death, may wake and sleep with that +Spouse who accepteth every vow that love hath made conform +with his good pleasure.</p> + +<p>From the world, to follow her, I fled while yet a girl, and +in her habit I enclosed myself, and promised the way of her +company.</p> + +<p>Thereafter men more used to ill than good tore me away +from the sweet cloister; and God doth know what my life +then became."<br /> +<span class="i8">–<i>Paradiso</i> iii. Wicksteed's translation.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_57" id="footnote_57"></a><a href="#fnanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> +The lover of Florentine history cannot readily tear himself +away from the Casentino. The Albergo Amorosi at +Bibbiena, almost at the foot of La Verna, makes delightful +headquarters. There is an excellent <i>Guida illustrata del +Casentino</i> by C. Beni. For the Conti Guidi, Witte's essay +should be consulted; it is translated in <i>Witte's Essays on Dante</i> +by C. M. Lawrence and P. H. Wicksteed. La Verna will be +fully dealt with in the Assisi volume of this series, so I do not +describe it here.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="footnote_58" id="footnote_58"></a><a href="#fnanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> +The parentage of Ippolito and Alessandro is somewhat uncertain. The +former was probably Giuliano's son by a lady of Pesaro, the latter probably +the son of Lorenzo by a mulatto woman.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Florence, by Edmund G. Gardner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF FLORENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 37793-h.htm or 37793-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/7/9/37793/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Melissa McDaniel and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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