Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 10 (of 10)
by Giorgio Vasari · English · Gutenberg #33203 · 635,584 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 10 (of 10)
Author: Giorgio Vasari
Translator: Gaston du C. De Vere
Release date: July 20, 2010 [eBook #33203]
Language: English
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Credits: Produced by Mark C. Orton, Christine P. Travers and the
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT PAINTERS SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS, VOL. 10 (OF 10) ***
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(This file was produced from images generously made
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[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected.
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other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling
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Bold text is marked with =.]
LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT PAINTERS SCULPTORS & ARCHITECTS BY GIORGIO
VASARI:
VOLUME X. BRONZINO TO VASARI & GENERAL INDEX 1915
NEWLY TRANSLATED BY GASTON Du C. DE VERE. WITH FIVE HUNDRED
ILLUSTRATIONS: IN TEN VOLUMES
[Illustration: 1511-1574]
PHILIP LEE WARNER, PUBLISHER TO THE MEDICI SOCIETY, LIMITED 7 GRAFTON
ST. LONDON, W. 1912-15
CONTENTS OF VOLUME X
PAGE
ACADEMICIANS OF DESIGN, PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, AND ARCHITECTS 3
DESCRIPTION OF THE FESTIVE PREPARATIONS FOR THE NUPTIALS
OF THE PRINCE DON FRANCESCO OF TUSCANY 37
GIORGIO VASARI 171
INDEX OF NAMES 227
GENERAL INDEX, VOLUMES I TO X 233
ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME X
PLATES IN MONOCHROME
FACING PAGE
AGNOLO BRONZINO
Bartolommeo Panciatichi
Florence: Uffizi, 159 4
AGNOLO BRONZINO
Eleanora de Toledo and her Son
Florence: Uffizi, 172 6
AGNOLO BRONZINO
Christ in Limbo
Florence: Uffizi, 1271 8
ALESSANDRO ALLORI
Giuliano de' Medici
Florence: Uffizi, 193 12
BENVENUTO CELLINI
Perseus
Florence: Loggia de' Lanzi 22
GIOVANNI BOLOGNA
Fountain of Neptune
Bologna 24
GIOVANNI BOLOGNA
Mercury
Florence: Museo Nazionale 26
VINCENZIO DANTI
The Brazen Serpent
Florence: Museo Nazionale 28
VINCENZIO DANTI
Bronze Relief
Florence: Museo Nazionale 30
GIORGIO VASARI
Lorenzo the Magnificent and the Ambassadors
Florence: Palazzo Vecchio 208
GIORGIO VASARI
Fresco in the Hall of Lorenzo the Magnificent
Florence: Palazzo Vecchio 214
OF THE ACADEMICIANS OF DESIGN, PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, AND ARCHITECTS, AND
OF THEIR WORKS, AND FIRST OF BRONZINO
Having written hitherto of the lives and works of the most excellent
painters, sculptors, and architects, from Cimabue down to the present
day, who have passed to a better life, and having spoken with the
opportunities that came to me of many still living, it now remains that
I say something of the craftsmen of our Academy of Florence, of whom up
to this point I have not had occasion to speak at sufficient length. And
beginning with the oldest and most important, I shall speak first of
Agnolo, called Bronzino, a Florentine painter truly most rare and worthy
of all praise.
Agnolo, then, having been many years with Pontormo, as has been told,
caught his manner so well, and so imitated his works, that their
pictures have been taken very often one for the other, so similar they
were for a time. And certainly it is a marvel how Bronzino learned the
manner of Pontormo so well, for the reason that Jacopo was rather
strange and shy than otherwise even with his dearest disciples, being
such that he would never let anyone see his works save when completely
finished. But notwithstanding this, so great were the patience and
lovingness of Agnolo towards Pontormo, that he was forced always to look
kindly upon him, and to love him as a son. The first works of account
that Bronzino executed, while still a young man, were in the Certosa of
Florence, over a door that leads from the great cloister into the
chapter-house, on two arches, one within and the other without. On that
without is a Pieta, with two Angels, in fresco, and on that within is a
nude S. Laurence upon the gridiron, painted in oil-colours on the wall;
which works were a good earnest of the excellence that has been seen
since in the works of this painter in his mature years. In the Chapel of
Lodovico Capponi, in S. Felicita at Florence, Bronzino, as has been said
in another place, painted two Evangelists in two round pictures in oils,
and on the vaulting he executed some figures in colour. In the Abbey of
the Black Friars at Florence, in the upper cloister, he painted in
fresco a story from the life of S. Benedict, when he throws himself
naked on the thorns, which is a very good picture. In the garden of the
Sisters called the Poverine, he painted in fresco a most beautiful
tabernacle, wherein is Christ appearing to the Magdalene in the form of
a gardener. And in S. Trinita, likewise in Florence, may be seen a
picture in oils by the same hand, on the first pilaster at the right
hand, of the Dead Christ, Our Lady, S. John, and S. Mary Magdalene,
executed with much diligence and in a beautiful manner. And during that
time when he executed these works, he also painted many portraits of
various persons, and other pictures, which gave him a great name.
[Illustration: BARTOLOMMEO PANCIATICHI
(_After the painting by =Angelo Bronzino=. Florence: Uffizi, 159_)
_Alinari_]
Then, the siege of Florence being ended and the settlement made, he
went, as has been told elsewhere, to Pesaro, where under the protection
of Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, besides the above-mentioned
harpsichord-case full of figures, which was a rare thing, he executed
the portrait of that lord and one of a daughter of Matteo Sofferoni,
which was a truly beautiful picture and much extolled. He also executed
at the Imperiale, a villa of the said Duke, some figures in oils on the
spandrels of a vault; and more of these he would have done if he had not
been recalled to Florence by his master, Jacopo Pontormo, that he might
assist him to finish the Hall of Poggio a Caiano. And having arrived in
Florence, he painted as it were by way of pastime, for Messer Giovanni
de Statis, Auditor to Duke Alessandro, a little picture of Our Lady
which was a much extolled work, and shortly afterwards, for Monsignor
Giovio, his friend, the portrait of Andrea Doria; and for Bartolommeo
Bettini, to fill certain lunettes in a chamber, the portraits of Dante,
Petrarca, and Boccaccio, half-length figures of great beauty. Which
pictures finished, he made portraits of Bonaccorso Pinadori, Ugolino
Martelli, Messer Lorenzo Lenzi, now Bishop of Fermo, and Pier Antonio
Bandini and his wife, with so many others, that it would be a long work
to seek to make mention of them all; let it suffice that they were all
very natural, executed with incredible diligence, and finished so well,
that nothing more could be desired. For Bartolommeo Panciatichi he
painted two large pictures of Our Lady, with other figures, beautiful to
a marvel and executed with infinite diligence, and, besides these,
portraits of him and his wife, so natural that they seem truly alive,
and nothing is wanting in them save breath. For the same man he has
painted a picture of Christ on the Cross, which is executed with much
study and pains, insomuch that it is clearly evident that he copied it
from a real dead body fixed on a cross, such is the supreme excellence
and perfection of every part. For Matteo Strozzi he painted in fresco,
in a tabernacle at his villa of S. Casciano, a Pieta with some Angels,
which was a very beautiful work. For Filippo d' Averardo Salviati he
executed a Nativity of Christ in a small picture with little figures, of
such beauty that it has no equal, as everyone knows, that work being now
in engraving; and for Maestro Francesco Montevarchi, a most excellent
physicist, he painted a very beautiful picture of Our Lady and some
other little pictures full of grace. And he assisted his master
Pontormo, as was said above, to execute the work of Careggi, whereon the
spandrels of the vaults he painted with his own hand five figures,
Fortune, Fame, Peace, Justice, and Prudence, with some children, all
wrought excellently well.
Duke Alessandro being then dead and Cosimo elected, Bronzino assisted
the same Pontormo in the work of the Loggia of Castello. For the
nuptials of the most illustrious Lady, Leonora di Toledo, the wife of
Duke Cosimo, he painted two scenes in chiaroscuro in the court of the
Medici Palace, and on the base that supported the horse made by Tribolo,
as was related, some stories of the actions of Signor Giovanni de'
Medici, in imitation of bronze; all which were the best pictures that
were executed in those festive preparations. Wherefore the Duke, having
recognized the ability of this man, caused him to set his hand to
adorning a chapel of no great size in the Ducal Palace for the said Lady
Duchess, a woman of true worth, if ever any woman was, and for her
infinite merits worthy of eternal praise. In that chapel Bronzino made
on the vault some compartments with very beautiful children and four
figures, each of which has the feet turned towards the walls--S.
Francis, S. Jerome, S. Michelagnolo, and S. John; all executed with the
greatest diligence and lovingness. And on the three walls, two of which
are broken by the door and the window, he painted three stories of
Moses, one on each wall. Where the door is, he painted the story of the
snakes or serpents raining down upon the people, with many beautiful
considerations in figures bitten by them, some of whom are dying, some
are dead, and others, gazing on the Brazen Serpent, are being healed. On
another wall, that of the window, is the Rain of Manna; and on the
unbroken wall the Passing of the Red Sea, and the Submersion of Pharaoh;
which scene has been printed in engraving at Antwerp. In a word, this
work, executed as it is in fresco, has no equal, and is painted with the
greatest possible diligence and study. In the altar-picture of this
chapel, painted in oils, which was placed over the altar, was Christ
taken down from the Cross, in the lap of His Mother; but it was removed
from there by Duke Cosimo for sending as a present, as a very rare work,
to Granvella, who was once the greatest man about the person of the
Emperor Charles V. In place of that altar-piece the same master has
painted another like it, which was set over the altar between two
pictures not less beautiful than the altar-piece, in which pictures are
the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin receiving from him the Annunciation;
but instead of these, when the first altar-picture was removed, there
were a S. John the Baptist and a S. Cosimo, which were placed in the
guardaroba when the Lady Duchess, having changed her mind, caused the
other two to be painted.
[Illustration: ELEANORA DE TOLEDO AND HER SON
(_After the painting by =Angelo Bronzino=. Florence: Uffizi, 172_)
_Alinari_]
The Lord Duke, having seen from these and other works the excellence of
this painter, and that it was his particular and peculiar field to
portray from life with the greatest diligence that could be imagined,
caused him to paint a portrait of himself, at that time a young man,
fully clad in bright armour, and with one hand upon his helmet; in
another picture the Lady Duchess, his consort, and in yet another
picture the Lord Don Francesco, their son and Prince of Florence. And no
long time passed before he portrayed the same Lady Duchess once again,
to do her pleasure, in a different manner from the first, with the
Lord Don Giovanni, her son, beside her. He also made a portrait of La
Bia, a young girl, the natural daughter of the Duke; and afterwards all
the Duke's children, some for the first time and others for the
second--the Lady Donna Maria, a very tall and truly beautiful girl, the
Prince Don Francesco, the Lord Don Giovanni, Don Garzia, and Don
Ernando, in a number of pictures which are all in the guardaroba of his
Excellency, together with the portraits of Don Francesco di Toledo,
Signora Maria, mother of the Duke, and Ercole II, Duke of Ferrara, with
many others. About the same time, also, he executed in the Palace for
the Carnival, two years in succession, two scenic settings and
prospect-views for comedies, which were held to be very beautiful. And
he painted a picture of singular beauty that was sent to King Francis in
France, wherein was a nude Venus, with a Cupid who was kissing her, and
Pleasure on one side with Play and other Loves, and on the other side
Fraud and Jealousy and other passions of love. The Lord Duke had caused
to be begun by Pontormo the cartoons of the tapestries in silk and gold
for the Sala del Consiglio de' Dugento; and, having had two stories of
the Hebrew Joseph executed by the said Pontormo, and one by Salviati, he
gave orders that Bronzino should do the rest. Whereupon he executed
fourteen pieces with the excellence and perfection which everyone knows
who has seen them; but since this was an excessive labour for Bronzino,
who was losing too much time thereby, he availed himself in the greater
part of these cartoons, himself making the designs, of Raffaello dal
Colle, the painter of Borgo a San Sepolcro, who acquitted himself
excellently well.
Now Giovanni Zanchini had built a chapel very rich in carved stone, with
his family tombs in marble, opposite to the Chapel of the Dini in S.
Croce at Florence, on the front wall, on the left hand as one enters the
church by the central door; and he allotted the altar-piece to Bronzino,
to the end that he might paint in it Christ descended into the Limbo of
Hell in order to deliver the Holy Fathers. Agnolo, then, having set his
hand to it, executed that work with the utmost possible diligence that
one can use who desires to acquire glory by such a labour; wherefore
there are in it most beautiful nudes, men, women, and children, young
and old, with different features and attitudes, and portraits of men
that are very natural, among which are Jacopo da Pontormo, Giovan
Battista Gello, a passing famous Academician of Florence, and the
painter Bacchiacca, of whom we have spoken above. And among the women he
portrayed there two noble and truly most beautiful young women of
Florence, worthy of eternal praise and memory for their incredible
beauty and virtue, Madonna Costanza da Sommaia, wife of Giovan Battista
Doni, who is still living, and Madonna Camilla Tedaldi del Corno, who
has now passed to a better life. Not long afterwards he executed another
large and very beautiful altar-picture of the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ, which was placed in the Chapel of Jacopo and Filippo Guadagni
beside the choir in the Church of the Servites--that is, the Nunziata.
And at this same time he painted the altar-piece that was placed in the
chapel of the Palace, whence there had been removed that which was sent
to Granvella; which altar-piece is certainly a most beautiful picture,
and worthy of that place. Bronzino then painted for Signor Alamanno
Salviati a Venus with a Satyr beside her, so beautiful as to appear in
truth Venus Goddess of Beauty.
[Illustration: CHRIST IN LIMBO
(_After the panel by =Angelo Bronzino=. Florence: Uffizi, 1271_)
_Anderson_]
Having then gone to Pisa, whither he was summoned by the Duke, he
executed some portraits for his Excellency; and for Luca Martini, who
was very much his friend, and not of him only, but also attached with
true affection to all men of talent, he painted a very beautiful picture
of Our Lady, in which he portrayed that Luca with a basket of fruits,
from his having been the minister and proveditor for the said Lord Duke
in the draining of the marshes and other waters that rendered unhealthy
the country round Pisa, and for having made it in consequence fertile
and abundant in fruits. Nor did Bronzino depart from Pisa before there
was allotted to him at the instance of Martini, by Raffaello del
Setaiuolo, the Warden of Works of the Duomo, the altar-picture for one
of the chapels in that Duomo, wherein he painted a nude Christ with the
Cross, and about Him many Saints, among whom is a S. Bartholomew flayed,
which has the appearance of a true anatomical subject and of a man
flayed in reality, so natural it is and imitated with such diligence
from an anatomical subject. That altar-picture, which is beautiful in
every part, was placed, as I have said, in a chapel from which they
removed another by the hand of Benedetto da Pescia, a disciple of
Giulio Romano. Bronzino then made for Duke Cosimo a full-length portrait
of the dwarf Morgante, nude, and in two ways--namely, on one side of the
picture the front, and on the other the back, with the bizarre and
monstrous members which that dwarf has; which picture, of its kind, is
beautiful and marvellous. For Ser Carlo Gherardi of Pistoia, who from
his youth was a friend of Bronzino, he executed at various times,
besides the portrait of Ser Carlo himself, a very beautiful Judith
placing the head of Holofernes in a basket, and on the cover that
protects that picture, in the manner of a mirror, a Prudence looking at
herself; and for the same man a picture of Our Lady, which is one of the
most beautiful things that he has ever done, because it has
extraordinary design and relief. And the same Bronzino executed the
portrait of the Duke when his Excellency was come to the age of forty,
and also that of the Lady Duchess, both of which are as good likenesses
as could be. After Giovan Battista Cavalcanti had caused a chapel to be
built in S. Spirito, at Florence, with most beautiful variegated marbles
conveyed from beyond the sea at very great cost, and had laid there the
remains of his father Tommaso, he had the head and bust of the father
executed by Fra Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli, and the altar-piece Bronzino
painted, depicting in it Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene in the form
of a gardener, and more distant two other Maries, all figures executed
with incredible diligence.
Jacopo da Pontormo having left unfinished at his death the chapel in S.
Lorenzo, and the Lord Duke having ordained that Bronzino should complete
it, he finished in the part where the Deluge is many nudes that were
wanting at the foot, and gave perfection to that part, and in the other,
where at the foot of the Resurrection of the Dead many figures were
wanting over a space about one braccio in height and as wide as the
whole wall, he painted them all in the manner wherein they are to be
seen, very beautiful; and between the windows, at the foot, in a space
that remained there unpainted, he depicted a nude S. Laurence upon a
gridiron, with some little Angels about him. In that whole work he
demonstrated that he had executed his paintings in that place with much
better judgment than his master Pontormo had shown in his pictures in
the work; the portrait of which Pontormo Bronzino painted with his own
hand in a corner of that chapel, on the right hand of the S. Laurence.
The Duke then gave orders to Bronzino that he should execute two large
altar-pictures, one containing a Deposition of Christ from the Cross
with a good number of figures, for sending to Porto Ferraio in the
Island of Elba, for the Convent of the Frati Zoccolanti, built by his
Excellency in the city of Cosmopolis; and another altar-piece, in which
Bronzino painted the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the new
Church of the Knights of S. Stephen, which has since been built in Pisa,
together with their Palace and Hospital, after the designs and
directions of Giorgio Vasari. Both these pictures have been finished
with such art, diligence, design, invention, and supreme loveliness of
colouring, that it would not be possible to go further; and no less,
indeed, was required in a church erected by so great a Prince, who has
founded and endowed that Order of Knights.
On some little panels made of sheet-tin, and all of one same size, the
same Bronzino has painted all the great men of the House of Medici,
beginning with Giovanni di Bicci and the elder Cosimo down to the Queen
of France, in that line, and in the other from Lorenzo, the brother of
the elder Cosimo, down to Duke Cosimo and his children; all which
portraits are set in order behind the door of a little study that Vasari
has caused to be made in the apartment of new rooms in the Ducal Palace,
wherein is a great number of antique statues of marble and bronzes and
little modern pictures, the rarest miniatures, and an infinity of medals
in gold, silver, and bronze, arranged in very beautiful order. These
portraits of the illustrious men of the House of Medici are all natural
and vivacious, and most faithful likenesses.
It is a notable thing that whereas many are wont in their last years to
do less well than they have done in the past, Bronzino does as well and
even better now than when he was in the flower of his manhood, as the
works demonstrate that he is executing every day. Not long ago he
painted for Don Silvano Razzi, a Camaldolite monk in the Monastery of
the Angeli at Florence, who is much his friend, a picture about one
braccio and a half high of a S. Catharine, so beautiful and well
executed, that it is not inferior to any other picture by the hand of
this noble craftsman; insomuch that nothing seems to be wanting in her
save the spirit and that voice which confounded the tyrant and confessed
Christ her well-beloved spouse even to the last breath; and that father,
like the truly gentle spirit that he is, has nothing that he esteems and
holds in price more than that picture. Agnolo made a portrait of the
Cardinal, Don Giovanni de' Medici, the son of Duke Cosimo, which was
sent to the Court of the Emperor for Queen Joanna; and afterwards that
of the Lord Don Francesco, Prince of Florence, which was a picture very
like the reality, and executed with such diligence that it has the
appearance of a miniature. For the nuptials of Queen Joanna of Austria,
wife of that Prince, he painted in three large canvases which were
placed at the Ponte alla Carraia, as will be described at the end, some
scenes of the Nuptials of Hymen, of such beauty that they appeared not
things for a festival, but worthy to be set in some honourable place for
ever, so finished they were and executed with such diligence. For the
same Lord Prince he painted a few months ago a small picture with little
figures which has no equal, and it may be said that it is truly a
miniature. And since at this his present age of sixty-five he is no less
enamoured of the matters of art than he was as a young man, he has
undertaken recently, according to the wishes of the Duke, to execute two
scenes in fresco on the wall beside the organ in the Church of S.
Lorenzo, in which there is not a doubt that he will prove the excellent
Bronzino that he has always been.
This master has delighted much, and still delights, in poetry; wherefore
he has written many capitoli and sonnets, part of which have been
printed. But above all, with regard to poetry, he is marvellous in the
style of his capitoli after the manner of Berni, insomuch that at the
present day there is no one who writes better in that kind of verse, nor
things more fanciful and bizarre, as will be seen one day if all his
works, as is believed and hoped, come to be printed. Bronzino has been
and still is most gentle and a very courteous friend, agreeable in his
conversation and in all his affairs, and much honoured; and as loving
and liberal with his possessions as a noble craftsman such as he is
could well be. He has been peaceful by nature, and has never done an
injury to any man, and he has always loved all able men in his
profession, as I know, who have maintained a strait friendship with him
for three-and-forty years, that is, from 1524 down to the present year,
ever since I began to know and to love him in that year of 1524, when he
was working at the Certosa with Pontormo, whose works I used as a youth
to go to draw in that place.
[Illustration: GIULIANO DE' MEDICI
(_After the painting by =Alessandro Allori=. Florence: Uffizi, 193_)
_Alinari_]
Many have been the pupils and disciples of Bronzino, but the first (to
speak now of our Academicians) is Alessandro Allori, who has been loved
always by his master, not as a disciple, but as his own son, and they
have lived and still live together with the same love, one for another,
that there is between a good father and his son. Alessandro has shown in
many pictures and portraits that he has executed up to his present age
of thirty, that he is a worthy disciple of so great a master, and that
he is seeking by diligence and continual study to arrive at that rarest
perfection which is desired by beautiful and exalted intellects. He has
painted and executed all with his own hand the Chapel of the Montaguti
in the Church of the Nunziata--namely, the altar-piece in oils, and the
walls and vaulting in fresco. In the altar-piece is Christ on high, and
the Madonna, in the act of judging, with many figures in various
attitudes and executed very well, copied from the Judgment of
Michelagnolo Buonarroti. About that altar-piece, on the same wall, are
four large figures in the forms of Prophets, or rather, Evangelists, two
above and two below; and on the vaulting are some Sibyls and Prophets
executed with great pains, study, and diligence, he having sought in the
nudes to imitate Michelagnolo. On the wall which is at the left hand
looking towards the altar, is Christ as a boy disputing in the midst of
the Doctors in the Temple; which boy is seen in a fine attitude
answering their questions, and the Doctors, and others who are there
listening attentively to him, are all different in features, attitudes,
and vestments, and among them are portraits from life of many of
Alessandro's friends, which are good likenesses. Opposite to that, on
the other wall, is Christ driving from the Temple those who with their
buying and selling were making it a house of traffic and a market-place;
with many things worthy of consideration and praise. Over those two
scenes are some stories of the Madonna, and on the vaulting figures
that are of no great size, but passing graceful; with some buildings and
landscapes, which in their essence show the love that he bears to art,
and how he seeks the perfection of design and invention. And opposite to
the altar-piece, on high, is a story of Ezekiel, when he saw a great
multitude of bones reclothe themselves with flesh and take to themselves
their members; in which this young man has demonstrated how much he
desires to master the anatomy of the human body, and how he has studied
it and given it his attention. And, in truth, in this his first work of
importance, as also in the nuptials of his Highness, with figures in
relief and stories in painting, he has proved himself and given great
signs and promise, as he continues to do, that he is like to become an
excellent painter; and not in this only, but in some other smaller
works, and recently in a small picture full of little figures in the
manner of miniature, which he has executed for Don Francesco, Prince of
Florence, a much-extolled work; and other pictures and portraits he has
painted with great study and diligence, in order to become practised and
to acquire a grand manner.
Another young man, likewise a pupil of Bronzino and one of our
Academicians, called Giovan Maria Butteri, has shown good mastery and
much dexterity in what he did, besides many other smaller pictures and
other works, for the obsequies of Michelagnolo and for the coming of the
above-named most illustrious Queen Joanna to Florence.
And another disciple, first of Pontormo and then of Bronzino, has been
Cristofano dell' Altissimo, a painter, who, after having executed in his
youth many pictures in oils and some portraits, was sent by the Lord
Duke Cosimo to Como, to copy many pictures of illustrious persons in the
Museum of Monsignor Giovio, out of the vast number which that man, so
distinguished in our times, collected in that place. Many others, also,
the Lord Duke has obtained by the labours of Vasari; and of all these
portraits a list[1] will be made in the index of this book, in order not
to occupy too much space in this discourse. In the work of these
portraits Cristofano has exerted himself with such diligence and pains,
that those which he has copied up to the present day, and which are in
three friezes in a guardaroba of the said Lord Duke, as will be
described elsewhere in speaking of the decorations of that place, are
more than two hundred and eighty in number, what with Pontiffs,
Emperors, Kings, Princes, Captains of armies, men of letters, and, in
short, all men for some reason illustrious and renowned. And, to tell
the truth, we owe a great obligation to this zeal and diligence of
Giovio and of the Duke, for the reason that not only the apartments of
Princes, but also those of many private persons, are now being adorned
with portraits of one or other of those illustrious men, according to
the country, family, and particular affection of each person.
Cristofano, then, having established himself in this manner of painting,
which is suited to his genius, or rather, inclination, has done little
else, as one who is certain to derive from it honour and profit in
abundance.
[Footnote 1: Given in the original Italian edition of 1568.]
Pupils of Bronzino, also, are Stefano Pieri and Lorenzo della Sciorina,
who have so acquitted themselves, both the one and the other, in the
obsequies of Michelagnolo and in the nuptials of his Highness, that they
have been admitted among the number of our Academicians.
From the same school of Pontormo and Bronzino has issued also Battista
Naldini, of whom we have spoken in another place. This Battista, after
the death of Pontormo, having been some time in Rome and having applied
himself with much study to art, has made much proficience and become a
bold and well-practised painter, as many works demonstrate that he has
executed for the very reverend Don Vincenzio Borghini, who has made
great use of him and assisted him, together with Francesco da Poppi, a
young man of great promise and one of our Academicians, who has
acquitted himself well in the nuptials of his Highness, and other young
men, whom Don Vincenzio is continually employing and assisting. Of this
Battista, Vasari has made use for more than two years, as he still does,
in the works of the Ducal Palace of Florence, where, by the emulation of
many others who were working in the same place, he has made much
progress, insomuch that at the present day he is equal to any other
young man of our Academy; and that which much pleases those who are good
judges is that he is expeditious, and does his work without effort.
Battista has painted in an altar-picture in oils that is in a chapel of
the Black Friars' Abbey of Florence, a Christ who is bearing the Cross,
in which work are many good figures; and he has other works constantly
in hand, which will make him known as an able man.
Not inferior to any of these named above in talent, art, and merit, is
Maso Manzuoli, called Maso da San Friano, a young man of about thirty or
thirty-two years, who had his first principles from Pier Francesco di
Jacopo di Sandro, one of our Academicians, of whom we have spoken in
another place. This Maso, I say, besides having shown how much he knows
and how much may be expected of him in many pictures and smaller
paintings, has demonstrated this recently in two altar-pictures with
much honour to himself and full satisfaction to everyone, having
displayed in them invention, design, manner, grace, and unity in the
colouring. In one of these altar-pieces, which is in the Church of S.
Apostolo at Florence, is the Nativity of Jesus Christ, and in the other,
which is placed in the Church of S. Pietro Maggiore, and is as beautiful
as an old and well-practised master could have made it, is the
Visitation of Our Lady to S. Elizabeth, executed with judgment and with
many fine considerations, insomuch that the heads, the draperies, the
attitudes, the buildings, and all the other parts are full of loveliness
and grace. This man acquitted himself with no ordinary excellence in the
obsequies of Buonarroti, as an Academician and very loving, and then in
some scenes for the nuptials of Queen Joanna.
Now, since not only in the Life of Ridolfo Ghirlandajo I have spoken of
his disciple Michele and of Carlo da Loro, but also in other places, I
shall say nothing more of them here, although they are of our Academy,
enough having been said of them. But I will not omit to tell that other
disciples and pupils of Ghirlandajo have been Andrea del Minga, likewise
one of our Academicians, who has executed many works, as he still does;
Girolamo di Francesco Crocifissaio, a young man of twenty-six, and
Mirabello di Salincorno, both painters, who have done and continue to do
such works of painting in oils and in fresco, and also portraits, that a
most honourable result may be expected from them. These two executed
together, now several years ago, some pictures in fresco in the Church
of the Capuchins without Florence, which are passing good; and in the
obsequies of Michelagnolo and the above-mentioned nuptials, also they
did themselves much honour. Mirabello has painted many portraits, and in
particular that of the most illustrious Prince more than once, and many
others that are in the hands of various gentlemen of Florence.
Another, also, who has done much honour to our Academy and to himself,
is Federigo di Lamberto of Amsterdam, a Fleming, the son-in-law of the
Paduan Cartaro, working in the said obsequies and in the festive
preparations for the nuptials of the Prince, and besides this he has
shown in many pictures painted in oils, both large and small, and in
other works that he has executed, a good manner and good design and
judgment. And if he has merited praise up to the present, he will merit
even more in the future, for he is labouring constantly with much
advantage in Florence, which he appears to have chosen as his country,
that city being one where young men derive much benefit from competition
and emulation.
A beautiful genius, also, universal and abundant in fine fantasies, has
been shown by Bernardo Timante Buontalenti, who had his first principles
of painting in his youth from Vasari, and then, continuing, has made so
much proficiency that he has now served for many years, and still serves
with much favour, the most illustrious Lord Don Francesco de' Medici,
Prince of Florence. That lord has kept him continually at work; and he
has executed for his Excellency many works in miniature after the manner
of Don Giulio Clovio, such as many portraits and scenes with little
figures, painted with much diligence. The same Bernardo has made with a
beautiful architectural design, by order of the said Prince, a cabinet
with compartments of ebony and columns of heliotrope, oriental jasper,
and lapis-lazuli, which have bases and capitals of chased silver; and
besides this he has filled the whole surface of the work with jewels and
most lovely ornaments of silver and beautiful little figures, within
which ornaments are to be miniatures, and, between terminals placed in
pairs, figures of silver and gold in the round, separated by other
compartments of agate, jasper, heliotrope, sardonyx, cornelian, and
others of the finest stones, to describe all which here would make a
very long story. It is enough that in this work, which is near
completion, Bernardo has displayed a most beautiful genius, equal to any
work. Thus that lord makes use of him for many ingenious fantasies of
his own of cords for drawing weights, of windlasses, and of lines;
besides that he has discovered a method of fusing rock-crystal with ease
and of purifying it, and has made with it scenes and vases of several
colours; for Bernardo occupies himself with everything. This, also, will
be seen in a short time in the making of vases of porcelain with all the
perfection of the most ancient and most perfect; in which at the present
day a most excellent master is Giulio da Urbino, who is in the service
of the most illustrious Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara, and does stupendous
things in the way of vases with several kinds of clay, and to those in
porcelain he gives the most beautiful shapes, besides fashioning with
the same earth little squares, octagons, and rounds, hard and with an
extraordinary polish, for making pavements counterfeiting the appearance
of variegated marbles; of all which things our Prince has the methods of
making them. His Excellency has also caused a beginning to be made with
the executing of a study-table with precious stones, richly adorned, as
an accompaniment to another belonging to his father, Duke Cosimo. And
not long ago he had one finished after the design of Vasari, which is a
rare work, being of oriental alabaster all inlaid with great pieces of
jasper, heliotrope, cornelian, lapis-lazuli, and agate, with other
stones and jewels of price that are worth twenty thousand crowns. This
study-table has been executed by Bernardino di Porfirio of Leccio in the
neighbourhood of Florence, who is excellent in such work, and who made
for Messer Bindo Altoviti an octagon of ebony and ivory inlaid likewise
with jaspers, after the design of the same Vasari; which Bernardino is
now in the service of their Excellencies. But to return to Bernardo: in
painting, also, beyond the expectation of many, he showed that he is
able to execute large figures no less well than the small, when he
painted for the obsequies of Michelagnolo that great canvas of which we
have spoken. Bernardo was employed, also, with much credit to him, for
the nuptials of his and our Prince, in certain masquerades, in the
Triumph of Dreams, as will be told, and in the interludes of the comedy
that was performed in the Palace, as has been described exhaustively by
others. And if this man, when he was a youth (although even now he is
not past thirty), had given his attention to the studies of art as he
gave it to the methods of fortification, in which he spent no little
time, he would be perchance now at such a height of excellence as would
astonish everyone; none the less, it is believed that he is bound for
all that to achieve the same end, although something later, for the
reason that he is all genius and art, to which is added this also, that
he is continually employed and exercised by his sovereign, and in the
most honourable works.
Of our Academy, also, is Giovanni della Strada, a Fleming, who has good
design, the finest fantasy, much invention, and a good manner of
colouring; and, having made much proficience during the ten years that
he has worked in the Palace in distemper, fresco, and oils, after the
designs and directions of Giorgio Vasari, he can bear comparison with
any of the many painters that the said Lord Duke has in his service. But
at the present day the principal task of this man is to make cartoons
for various arras-tapestries that the Duke and the Prince are having
executed, likewise under the direction of Vasari, of divers kinds in
accordance with the stories in painting that are on high in the rooms
and chambers painted by Vasari in the Palace, for the adornment of which
they are being made, to the end that the embellishment of tapestries
below may correspond to the pictures above. For the chambers of Saturn,
Ops, Ceres, Jove, and Hercules, he has made most lovely cartoons for
about thirty pieces of tapestry; and for the upper chambers where the
Princess has her habitation, which are four, dedicated to the virtues of
woman, with stories of Roman, Hebrew, Greek, and Tuscan women (namely,
the Sabines, Esther, Penelope, and Gualdrada), he has made, likewise,
very beautiful cartoons for tapestries. In like manner, he has done the
same for ten pieces of tapestry in a hall, in which is the Life of Man;
and also for the five lower rooms where the Prince dwells, dedicated to
David, Solomon, Cyrus, and others. And for twenty rooms in the Palace of
Poggio a Caiano, for which the tapestries are even now being woven, he
has made after the inventions of the Duke cartoons of the hunting of
every kind of animal, and the methods of fowling and fishing, with the
strangest and most beautiful inventions in the world; in which variety
of animals, birds, fishes, landscapes, and vestments, with huntsmen on
foot and on horseback, fowlers in various habits, and nude fishermen, he
has shown and still shows that he is a truly able man, and that he has
learned well the Italian manner, being minded to live and die in
Florence in the service of his most illustrious lords, in company with
Vasari and the other Academicians.
Another pupil of Vasari, likewise, and also an Academician, is Jacopo di
Maestro Piero Zucca, a young Florentine of twenty-five or twenty-six
years, who, having assisted Vasari to execute the greater part of the
works in the Palace, and in particular the ceiling of the Great Hall,
has made so much proficience in design and in the handling of colours,
labouring with much industry, study, and assiduity, that he can now be
numbered among the first of the young painters in our Academy. And the
works that he has done by himself alone in the obsequies of
Michelagnolo, in the nuptials of the most illustrious Lord Prince, and
at other times for various friends, in which he has shown intelligence,
boldness, diligence, grace, and good judgment, have made him known as a
gifted youth and an able painter; but even more will those make him
known that may be expected from him in the future, doing as much honour
to his country as has been done to her by any painter at any time.
In like manner, among other young painters of the Academy, Santi Titi
may be called ingenious and able, who, as has been told in other places,
after having practised for many years in Rome, has returned finally to
enjoy Florence, which he regards as his country, although his elders are
of Borgo a San Sepolcro and of a passing good family in that city. This
Santi acquitted himself truly excellently in the works that he executed
for the obsequies of Buonarroti and the above-mentioned nuptials of the
most illustrious Princess, but even more, after great and almost
incredible labours, in the scenes that he painted in the theatre which
he made for the same nuptials on the Piazza di S. Lorenzo, for the most
illustrious Lord Paolo Giordano Orsino, Duke of Bracciano; wherein he
painted in chiaroscuro, on several immense pieces of canvas, stories of
the actions of various illustrious men of the Orsini family. But how
able he is can be perceived best from two altar-pieces by his hand that
are to be seen, one of which is in Ognissanti, or rather, S. Salvadore
di Fiorenza (as it is now called), once the church of the Padri
Umiliati, and now of the Zoccolanti, and contains the Madonna on high
and at the foot S. John, S. Jerome, and other Saints; and in the other,
which is in S. Giuseppe, behind S. Croce, in the Chapel of the Guardi,
is a Nativity of Our Lord executed with much diligence, with many
portraits from life. Not to speak of many pictures of Our Lady and
various portraits that he has painted in Rome and in Florence, and
pictures executed in the Vatican, as has been related above.
There are also certain other young painters of the same Academy who have
been employed in the above-mentioned decorations, some of Florence and
some of the Florentine States. Alessandro del Barbiere, a young
Florentine of twenty-five, besides many other works, painted for the
said nuptials in the Palace, after the designs and directions of Vasari,
the canvases of the walls in the Great Hall, wherein were depicted the
squares of all the cities in the dominion of the Lord Duke; in which he
certainly acquitted himself very well, and proved himself a young man of
judgment and likely to achieve any success. In like manner, Vasari has
been assisted in these and other works by many other disciples and
friends; Domenico Benci, Alessandro Fortori of Arezzo, his cousin
Stefano Veltroni, and Orazio Porta, both of Monte Sansovino, and Tommaso
del Verrocchio.
In the same Academy there are also many excellent craftsmen who are
strangers, of whom we have spoken at length in various places above; and
therefore it shall suffice here to make known their names, to the end
that they may be numbered in this part among the other Academicians.
These, then, are Federigo Zucchero; Prospero Fontana and Lorenzo
Sabatini, of Bologna; Marco da Faenza, Tiziano Vecelli, Paolo Veronese,
Giuseppe Salviati, Tintoretto, Alessandro Vittoria, the sculptor Danese,
the painter Battista Farinato of Verona, and the architect Andrea
Palladio.
Now, to say something also of the sculptors in our Academy and of their
works, although I do not intend to speak of them at any length, because
they are alive and for the most part most illustrious in name and fame,
I say that Benvenuto Cellini, a citizen of Florence, who is now a
sculptor (to begin with the oldest and most honoured), had no peer in
his youth when he was a goldsmith, nor perhaps had he for many years any
equal in that profession and in making most beautiful figures in the
round and in low-relief, and all the other works of that craft. He set
jewels, and adorned them with marvellous collets and with little figures
so well wrought, and at times so bizarre and fantastic that it is not
possible to imagine anything finer or better. And the medals that he
made in his youth, of silver and gold, were executed with incredible
diligence, nor can they ever be praised enough. He made in Rome for Pope
Clement VII a very beautiful morse for a pluvial, setting in it
excellently well a pointed diamond surrounded by some children made of
gold plate, and a God the Father marvellously wrought; wherefore,
besides his payment, he received as a gift from that Pope an office of
mace-bearer. Being then commissioned by the same Pontiff to make a
chalice of gold, the cup of which was to be supported by figures
representing the Theological Virtues, he carried it near completion with
most marvellous artistry. In these same times there was no one who made
the medals of that Pope better than he did, among the many who essayed
it, as those well know who saw his medals and possess them; and since
for these reasons he received the charge of making the dies for the Mint
of Rome, no more beautiful coins have ever been seen than were struck in
Rome at that time. Wherefore Benvenuto, after the death of Clement,
having returned to Florence, likewise made dies with the head of Duke
Alessandro for the coins of the Mint of Florence, so beautiful and
wrought with such diligence, that some of them are now preserved as if
they were most beautiful antique medals, and that rightly, for the
reason that in these he surpassed himself. Having finally given himself
to sculpture and to the work of casting, Benvenuto executed in France
many works in bronze, silver, and gold, while he was in the service of
King Francis in that kingdom. Then, having returned to his own country
and entered the service of Duke Cosimo, he was first employed in some
goldsmiths' work, and in the end was given some works of sculpture;
whereupon he executed in metal the statue of the Perseus that has cut
off the head of Medusa, which is in the Piazza del Duca, near the door
of the Ducal Palace, upon a base of marble with some very beautiful
figures in bronze, each about one braccio and a third in height. This
whole work was carried to perfection with the greatest possible study
and diligence, and set up in the above-named place as a worthy companion
to the Judith by the hand of Donato, that famous and celebrated
sculptor. And certainly it was a marvel that Benvenuto, after being
occupied for so many years in making little figures, executed so great a
statue with such excellence. The same master has made a Crucifix of
marble, in the round and large as life, which of its kind is the rarest
and most beautiful piece of sculpture that there is to be seen.
Wherefore the Lord Duke keeps it, as a thing most dear to him, in the
Pitti Palace, intending to place it in the chapel, or rather, little
church, that he is building in that place; which little church could not
have in these times anything more worthy of itself and of so great a
Prince. In short, it is not possible to praise this work so much as
would be sufficient. Now, although I could enlarge at much greater
length on the works of Benvenuto, who has been in his every action
spirited, proud, vigorous, most resolute, and truly terrible, and a
person who has been only too well able to speak for himself with
Princes, no less than to employ his hand and brain in matters of art, I
shall say nothing more of him here, seeing that he has written of his
own life and works, and a treatise on the goldsmith's arts, and on
founding and casting in metal, with other things pertaining to such
arts, and also of sculpture, with much more eloquence and order than I
perchance would be able to use here; as for him, therefore, I must be
content with this short summary of the rarest of his principal works.
[Illustration: PERSEUS
(_After the bronze by =Benvenuto Cellini=. Florence: Loggia de' Lanzi_)
_Brogi_]
Francesco di Giuliano da San Gallo, sculptor, architect, and
Academician, and now a man seventy years of age, has executed many works
of sculpture, as has been related in the Life of his father and
elsewhere; the three figures of marble, somewhat larger than life, which
are over the altar of the Church of Orsanmichele, S. Anne, the Virgin,
and the Child Christ, figures which are much extolled; certain other
statues, also in marble, for the tomb of Piero de' Medici at Monte
Cassino; the tomb of Bishop de' Marzi, which is in the Nunziata, and
that of Monsignor Giovio, the writer of the history of his own times.
In architecture, likewise, the same Francesco has executed many good and
beautiful works in Florence and elsewhere; and he has well deserved,
both for his own good qualities and for the services of his father
Giuliano, to be always favoured by the house of Medici as their protege,
on which account Duke Cosimo, after the death of Baccio d'Agnolo, gave
him the place which that master had held as architect to the Duomo of
Florence.
Of Ammanati, who is also among the first of our Academicians, enough
having been said of him in the description of the works of Jacopo
Sansovino, there is no need to speak further here. But I will record
that disciples of his, and also Academicians, are Andrea Calamech of
Carrara, a well-practised sculptor, who executed many figures under
Ammanati, and was invited to Messina after the death of the above-named
Martino to take the position which Fra Giovanni Agnolo had once held, in
which place he died; and Battista di Benedetto, a young man who has
given promise of becoming, as he will, an excellent master, having
demonstrated already by many works that he is not inferior to the
above-named Andrea or to any other of the young sculptors of our
Academy, in beauty of genius and judgment.
Vincenzio de' Rossi of Fiesole, likewise a sculptor, architect, and
Academician of Florence, is worthy to have some record made of him in
this place, in addition to what has been said of him in the Life of
Baccio Bandinelli, whose disciple he was. After he had taken leave of
Baccio, then, he gave a great proof of his powers in Rome, although he
was young enough, in the statue that he made for the Ritonda, of a S.
Joseph with Christ as a boy of ten years, both figures wrought with good
mastery and a beautiful manner. He then executed two tombs in the Church
of S. Maria della Pace, with the effigies of those who are within them
on the sarcophagi, and on the front without some Prophets of marble in
half-relief and large as life, which acquired for him the name of an
excellent sculptor. Whereupon there was allotted to him by the Roman
people the statue of Pope Paul IV, which was placed on the Campidoglio;
and he executed it excellently well. But that work had a short life,
for the reason that after the death of the Pope it was thrown to the
ground and destroyed by the populace, which persecutes fiercely one day
the very men whom it has exalted to the heavens the day before. After
that figure Vincenzio made from one block of marble two statues a little
larger than life, a Theseus, King of Athens, who has carried off Helen
and holds her in his arms in the act of knowing her, with a Troy beneath
his feet; than which figures it is not possible to make any with more
diligence, study, labour, and grace. Wherefore when Duke Cosimo de'
Medici, having journeyed to Rome, and going to see the modern works
worthy to be seen no less than the antiques, saw those statues,
Vincenzio himself showing them to him, he extolled them very highly, as
they deserved; and then Vincenzio, who is a gentle spirit, courteously
presented them to him, and at the same time freely offered him his
services. But his Excellency, having conveyed them not long afterwards
to his Palace of the Pitti in Florence, paid him a good price for them;
and, having taken Vincenzio himself with him, he commissioned him after
no long time to execute the Labours of Hercules in figures of marble
larger than life and in the round. On these Vincenzio is now spending
his time, and already he has carried to completion the Slaying of Cacus
and the Combat with the Centaur; which whole work, even as it is most
exalted in subject and also laborious, so it is hoped that it will prove
excellent in artistry, Vincenzio being a man of very beautiful genius
and much judgment, and prodigal of thought in all his works of
importance.
Nor must I omit to say that under his discipline Ilarione Ruspoli, a
young citizen of Florence, gives his attention with much credit to
sculpture; which Ilarione, no less than his peers in our Academy, showed
that he had knowledge, design, and a good mastery in the making of
statues, when he had occasion together with the others in the obsequies
of Michelagnolo and in the festive preparations for the nuptials named
above.
[Illustration: FOUNTAIN OF NEPTUNE
(_After =Giovanni Bologna=. Bologna_)
_Alinari_]
Francesco Camilliani, a sculptor and Academician of Florence, who was a
disciple of Baccio Bandinelli, after having given in many works proof of
being a good sculptor, has consumed fifteen years in making ornaments
for fountains; and of such there is one most stupendous, which the
Lord Don Luigi di Toledo has caused to be executed for his garden in
Florence. The ornaments about that garden are various statues of men
and animals in divers manners, all rich and truly regal, and wrought
without sparing of expense; and among other statues that Francesco has
made for that place, two larger than life, which represent the Rivers
Arno and Mugnone, are of supreme beauty, and particularly the Mugnone,
which can bear comparison with no matter what statue by an excellent
master. In short, all the architecture and ornamentation of that garden
are the work of Francesco, who by the richness of the various fountains
has made it such, that it has no equal in Florence, and perhaps not in
Italy. And the principal fountain, which is even now being carried to
completion, will be the richest and most sumptuous to be seen in any
place, with its wealth of the richest and finest ornaments that can be
imagined, and the great abundance of waters that will be there, flowing
without fail at every season.
Also an Academician, and much in favour with our Princes for his
talents, is Giovan Bologna of Douai, a Flemish sculptor and a young man
truly of the rarest, who has executed with most beautiful ornaments of
metal the fountain that has been made recently on the Piazza di S.
Petronio in Bologna, opposite to the Palazzo de' Signori, in which there
are, besides other ornaments, four very beautiful Sirens at the corners,
with various children all around, and masks bizarre and extraordinary.
But the most notable thing is a figure that he has made and placed over
the centre of that fountain, a Neptune of six braccia, which is a most
beautiful casting and a statue studied and wrought to perfection. The
same master--not to speak at present of all the works that he has
executed in clay, terracotta, wax, and other mixtures--has made a very
beautiful Venus in marble, and has carried almost to completion for the
Lord Prince a Samson large as life, who is combating on foot with two
Philistines. And in bronze he has made a statue of Bacchus, larger than
life and in the round, and a Mercury in the act of flying, a very
ingenious figure, the whole weight resting on one leg and on the point
of the foot, which has been sent to the Emperor Maximilian, as a thing
that is indeed most rare. But if up to the present he has executed many
works, he will do many more in the future, and most beautiful, for
recently the Lord Prince has had him provided with rooms in the Palace,
and has commissioned him to make a statue of a Victory of five braccia,
with a captive, which is going into the Great Hall, opposite another by
the hand of Michelagnolo; and he will execute for that Prince large and
important works, in which he will have an ample field to show his worth.
Many works by his hand, and very beautiful models of various things, are
in the possession of M. Bernardo Vecchietti, a gentleman of Florence,
and Maestro Bernardo di Mona Mattea, builder to the Duke, who has
constructed with great excellence all the fabrics designed by Vasari.
[Illustration: MERCURY
(_After the bronze by =Giovanni Bologna=. Florence: Museo Nazionale_)
_Anderson_]
Not less than this Giovan Bologna and his friends and other sculptors of
our Academy, Vincenzio Danti of Perugia, who under the protection of
Duke Cosimo has adopted Florence as his country, is a young man truly
rare and of fine genius. Vincenzio, when a youth, worked as a goldsmith,
and executed in that profession things beyond belief; and afterwards,
having applied himself to the work of casting, he had the courage at the
age of twenty to cast in bronze a statue of Pope Julius III, four
braccia high, seated and giving the Benediction; which statue, a very
creditable work, is now in the Piazza of Perugia. Then, having come to
Florence to serve Duke Cosimo, he made a very beautiful model in wax,
larger than life, of a Hercules crushing Antaeus, in order to cast from
it a figure in bronze, which was to be placed over the principal
fountain in the garden of Castello, a villa of the said Lord Duke. But,
having made the mould upon that model, in seeking to cast it in bronze
it did not succeed, although he returned twice to the work; either by
bad fortune, or because the metal was burnt, or for some other reason.
Having then turned, in order not to subject his labours to the whim of
chance, to working in marble, he executed in a short time from one
single piece of marble two figures, Honour with Deceit beneath it, and
with such diligence, that it seemed as if he had never done anything but
handle the hammer and chisels; and on the head of Honour, which is
beautiful, he made the hair curling and so well pierced through, that it
seems real and natural, besides displaying a very good knowledge of the
nude. That statue is now in the courtyard of the house of Signor Sforza
Almeni in the Via de' Servi. And at Fiesole, for the same Signor
Sforza, he made many ornaments in his garden and around certain
fountains. Afterwards he executed for the Lord Duke some low-reliefs in
marble and in bronze, which were held to be very beautiful, for in that
manner of sculpture he is perhaps not inferior to any other master. He
then cast, also in bronze, the grating of the chapel built in the new
apartments of the Palace, which were painted by Giorgio Vasari, and with
it a panel with many figures in low-relief, which serves to close a
press wherein the Duke keeps writings of importance; and another panel
one braccio and a half in height and two and a half in breadth,
representing how Moses, in order to heal the Hebrew people from the
bites of the serpents, placed one upon a pole. All these things are in
the possession of that lord, by order of whom he made the door of the
sacristy in the Pieve of Prato, and over it a sarcophagus of marble,
with a Madonna three braccia and a half high, and beside her the Child
nude, and two little children that are one on either side of a head in
low-relief of Messer Carlo de' Medici, the natural son of the elder
Cosimo, and once Provost of Prato, whose bones, after having long been
in a tomb of brick, Duke Cosimo has caused to be laid in the above-named
sarcophagus, thus giving him honourable sepulture; although it is true
that the said Madonna and the head in low-relief (which is very
beautiful), being in a bad light, do not show up by a great measure as
they should. The same Vincenzio has since made, in order to adorn the
residence of the Magistrates of the Mint, on the head-wall over the
loggia that is on the River Arno, an escutcheon of the Duke with two
nude figures, larger than life, on either side of it, one representing
Equity and the other Rigour; and from hour to hour he is expecting the
marble to make the statue of the Lord Duke himself, considerably larger
than life, of which he has made a model; and that statue is to be placed
seated over the escutcheon, as a completion to the work, which is to be
built shortly, together with the rest of the facade, which Vasari, who
is the architect of that fabric, is even now superintending. He has also
in hand, and has carried very near completion, a Madonna of marble
larger than life, standing with Jesus, a Child of three months, in her
arms; which will be a very beautiful work. All these works, together
with others, he is executing in the Monastery of the Angeli in
Florence, where he lives quietly in company with these monks, who are
much his friends, in the rooms that were once occupied there by Messer
Benedetto Varchi, of whom the same Vincenzio is making a portrait in
low-relief, which will be very beautiful.
[Illustration: THE BRAZEN SERPENT
(_After the bronze relief by =Vincenzo Danti=. Florence: Museo
Nazionale_)
_Alinari_]
Vincenzio has a brother in the Order of Preaching Friars, called Fra
Ignazio Danti, who is very excellent in matters of cosmography, and of a
rare genius, insomuch that Duke Cosimo de' Medici is causing him to
execute a work than which none greater or more perfect has ever been
done at any time in that profession; which is as follows. His
Excellency, under the direction of Vasari, has built a new hall of some
size expressly as an addition to the guardaroba, on the second floor of
the apartments in the Ducal Palace; and this he has furnished all around
with presses seven braccia high, with rich carvings of walnut-wood, in
order to deposit in them the most important, precious, and beautiful
things that he possesses. Over the doors of those presses, within their
ornaments, Fra Ignazio has distributed fifty-seven pictures about two
braccia high and wide in proportion, in which are painted in oils on the
wood with the greatest diligence, after the manner of miniatures, the
Tables of Ptolemy, all measured with perfect accuracy and corrected
after the most recent authorities, with exact charts of navigation and
their scales for measuring and degrees, done with supreme diligence; and
with these are all the names, both ancient and modern. His distribution
of these pictures is on this wise. At the principal entrance of the
hall, on the transverse surfaces of the thickness of the presses, in
four pictures, are four half-spheres in perspective; in the two below is
the Universe of the Earth, and in the two above is the Universe of the
Heavens, with its signs and celestial figures. Then as one enters, on
the right hand, there is all Europe in fourteen tables and pictures, one
after another, as far as the centre of the wall that is at the head,
opposite to the principal door; in which centre is placed the clock with
the wheels and with the spheres of the planets that every day go through
their motions, which is that clock, so famous and renowned, made by the
Florentine Lorenzo della Volpaia. Above these tables is Africa in eleven
tables, as far as the said clock; and then, beyond that clock, Asia in
the lower range, which continues likewise in fourteen tables as far as
the principal door. Above these tables of Asia, in fourteen other
tables, there follow the West Indies, beginning like the others from the
clock, and continuing as far as the same principal door; and thus there
are in all fifty-seven tables. In the base at the foot, in an equal
number of pictures running right round, which will be exactly in line
with those tables, are to be all the plants and all the animals copied
from nature, according to the kinds that those countries produce. Over
the cornice of the presses, which is the crown of the whole, there are
to be some projections separating the pictures, and upon these are to be
placed such of the antique heads in marble as are in existence of the
Emperors and Princes who have possessed those lands; and on the plain
walls up to the cornice of the ceiling, which is all of carved wood and
painted in twelve great pictures, each with four celestial signs, making
in all forty-eight, and little less than lifesize, with their
stars--there are beneath, as I have said, on those walls, three hundred
portraits from life of distinguished persons for the last five hundred
years or more, painted in pictures in oils (and a note will be made of
them in the table of portraits, in order not to make too long a story
here with their names), all of one size, and with one and the same
ornament of carved walnut-wood--a very rare effect. In the two
compartments in the centre of the ceiling, each four braccia wide, where
there are the celestial signs, which open with ease without revealing
the secret of the hiding-place, in a part after the manner of a heaven,
will be accommodated two large globes, each three braccia and a half in
height. In one of them will be the whole earth, marked distinctly, and
this will be let down by a windlass that will not be seen, down to the
floor, and will rest on a balanced pedestal, so that, when fixed, there
will be seen reflected all the tables that are right round in the
pictures of the presses, and they will have a countermark in the globe
wherewith to find them with ease. In the other globe will be the
forty-eight celestial signs arranged in such a manner, that it will be
possible with it to perform all the operations of the Astrolabe to
perfection. This fanciful invention came from Duke Cosimo, who wished to
put together once and for all these things both of heaven and of earth,
absolutely exact and without errors, so that it might be possible to
see and measure them separately and all together, according to the
pleasure of those who delight in this most beautiful profession and
study it; of which, as a thing worthy to be recorded, it has seemed to
me my duty to make mention in this place on account of the art of Fra
Ignazio and the greatness of the Prince, who holds us worthy to enjoy
such honourable labours, and also to the end that it may be known
throughout the whole world.
And now to return to the men of our Academy; although I have spoken in
the Life of Tribolo of Antonio di Gino Lorenzi, a sculptor of
Settignano, I must record here with better order, as in the proper
place, that he executed under his master Tribolo the statue of
AEsculapius described above, which is at Castello, and four children that
are in the great fountain of that place; and since then he has made some
heads and ornaments that are about the new fish-pond of Castello, which
is high up there in the midst of various kinds of trees of perpetual
verdure. Recently he has made in the lovely garden of the stables, near
S. Marco, most beautiful ornaments for an isolated fountain, with many
very fine aquatic animals of white and variegated marble; and in Pisa he
once executed under the direction of the above-named Tribolo the tomb of
Corte, a most excellent philosopher and physician, with his statue and
two very beautiful children of marble. In addition to these, he is even
now executing new works for the Duke, of animals and birds in variegated
marble for fountains, works of the greatest difficulty, which make him
well worthy to be in the number of these our Academicians.
[Illustration: BRONZE RELIEF
(_After =Vincenzo Danti=. Florence: Museo Nazionale_)
_Alinari_]
In like manner, a brother of Antonio, called Stoldo di Gino Lorenzi, a
young man thirty years of age, has acquitted himself in such a manner up
to the present in many works of sculpture, that he may now be numbered
with justice among the first of the young men in his profession, and set
in the most honourable place in their midst. At Pisa he has executed in
marble a Madonna receiving the Annunciation from the Angel, which has
made him known as a young man of beautiful judgment and genius; and Luca
Martini caused him to make another very lovely statue in Pisa, which was
presented afterwards by the Lady Duchess Leonora to the Lord Don
Garzia di Toledo, her brother, who has placed it in his garden on the
Chiaia at Naples. The same Stoldo has made, under the direction of
Vasari, in the centre of the facade of the Palace of the Knights of S.
Stephen at Pisa, over the principal door, a very large escutcheon in
marble of the Lord Duke, their Grand Master, between two statues in the
round, Religion and Justice, which are truly most beautiful and highly
extolled by all those who are good judges. The same lord has since
caused him to execute a fountain for his garden of the Pitti, after the
likeness of the beautiful Triumph of Neptune that was seen in the superb
masquerade which his Excellency held for the above-mentioned nuptials of
the most illustrious Lord Prince. And let this suffice for Stoldo
Lorenzi, who is young and is constantly working and acquiring more and
more fame and honour among his companions of the Academy.
Of the same family of the Lorenzi of Settignano is Battista, called
Battista del Cavaliere from his having been a disciple of the Chevalier
Baccio Bandinelli; who has executed in marble three statues of the size
of life, which Bastiano del Pace, a citizen of Florence, has caused him
to make for the Guadagni, who live in France, and who have placed them
in a garden that belongs to them. These are a nude Spring, a Summer, and
a Winter, which are to be accompanied by an Autumn; which statues have
been held by many who have seen them, to be beautiful and executed with
no ordinary excellence. Wherefore Battista has well deserved to be
chosen by the Lord Duke to make the sarcophagus, with the ornaments, and
one of the three statues that are to be on the tomb of Michelagnolo
Buonarroti, which his Excellency and Leonardo Buonarroti are carrying
out after the design of Giorgio Vasari; which work, as may be seen,
Battista is carrying to completion excellently well, with certain little
boys, and the figure of Buonarroti himself from the breast upwards.
The second of these three figures that are to be on that sepulchre,
which are to be Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, has been allotted
to Giovanni di Benedetto of Castello, a disciple of Baccio Bandinelli
and an Academician, who is executing for the Wardens of S. Maria del
Fiore the works in low-relief that are going round the choir, which is
now near completion. In these he is closely imitating his master, and
acquitting himself in such a manner that an excellent result is expected
of him; nor will it fall out otherwise, seeing that he is very assiduous
in his work and in the studies of his profession.
The third figure has been allotted to Valerio Cioli of Settignano, a
sculptor and Academician, for the reason that the other works that he
has executed up to the present have been such, that it is thought that
the said figure must prove to be so good as to be not otherwise than
worthy to be placed on the tomb of so great a man. Valerio, who is a
young man twenty-six years of age, has restored many antique statues of
marble in the garden of the Cardinal of Ferrara at Monte Cavallo in
Rome, making for some of them new arms, for some new feet, and for
others other parts that were wanting; and he has since done the same for
many statues in the Pitti Palace, which the Duke has conveyed there for
the adornment of a great hall. The Duke has also caused the same Valerio
to make a nude statue of the dwarf Morgante in marble, which has proved
so beautiful and so like the reality, that probably there has never been
seen another monster so well wrought, nor one executed with such
diligence, lifelike and faithful to nature. In like manner, he has
caused him to execute the statue of Pietro, called Barbino, a gifted
dwarf, well-lettered and a very gentle spirit, and a favourite of our
Duke. For all these reasons, I say, Valerio has well deserved that there
should be allotted to him by his Excellency the statue that is to adorn
the tomb of Buonarroti, the one master of all these able men of the
Academy.
As for Francesco Moschino, a sculptor of Florence, enough having been
spoken of him in another place, it suffices here to say that he also is
an Academician, that under the protection of Duke Cosimo he is
constantly at work in the Duomo of Pisa, and that among the festive
preparations for the nuptials he acquitted himself excellently well in
the decorations of the principal door of the Ducal Palace.
Of Domenico Poggini, likewise, having said above that he is an able
sculptor and that he has executed an infinity of medals very faithful to
the reality, and some works in marble and in casting, I shall say
nothing more of him here, save that he is deservedly one of our
Academicians, that for the above-named nuptials he made some very
beautiful statues, which were placed upon the Arch of Religion at the
Canto della Paglia, and that recently he has executed a new medal of the
Duke, very true to the life and most beautiful; and he is still
continually at work.
Giovanni Fancelli, or rather, as others call him, Giovanni di Stocco, an
Academician, has executed many works in marble and stone, which have
proved good sculptures; among others, much extolled is an escutcheon of
balls with two children and other ornaments, placed on high over the two
knee-shaped windows of the facade of Ser Giovanni Conti in Florence. And
the same I say of Zanobi Lastricati, who, as a good and able sculptor,
has executed and is still executing many works in marble and in casting,
which have made him well worthy to be in the Academy in company with
those named above; and, among his works, much praised is a Mercury of
bronze that is in the court of the Palace of M. Lorenzo Ridolfi, for it
is a figure wrought with all the considerations that are requisite.
Finally, there have been accepted into the Academy some young sculptors
who executed honourable and praiseworthy works in the above-named
preparations for the nuptials of his Highness; and these were Fra
Giovanni Vincenzio of the Servites, a disciple of Fra Giovanni Agnolo;
Ottaviano del Collettaio, a pupil of Zanobi Lastricati, and Pompilio
Lancia, the son of Baldassarre da Urbino, architect and pupil of
Girolamo Genga; which Pompilio, in the masquerade called the Genealogy
of the Gods, arranged for the most part, and particularly the mechanical
contrivances, by the said Baldassarre, his father, acquitted himself in
certain things excellently well.
In these last pages we have shown at some length what kind of men, and
how many and how able, have been gathered together to form so noble an
Academy, and we have touched in part on the many and honourable
occasions obtained by them from their most liberal lords, wherein to
display their capacity and ability. Nevertheless, to the end that this
may be the better understood, although those first learned writers, in
their descriptions of the arches and of the various spectacles
represented in those splendid nuptials, made it very well known, yet,
since there has been given into my hands the following little work,
written by way of exercise by a person of leisure who delights not a
little in our profession, to a dear and close friend who was not able to
see those festivities, forming the most brief account and comprising
everything in one, it has seemed to me my duty, for the satisfaction of
my brother-craftsmen, to insert it in this volume, adding to it a few
words, to the end that it may be more easy, by thus uniting rather than
separating it, to preserve an honourable record of their noble labours.
OF THE ACADEMICIANS
OF THE ACADEMICIANS
DESCRIPTION OF THE FESTIVE PREPARATIONS FOR THE NUPTIALS OF THE PRINCE
DON FRANCESCO OF TUSCANY
DESCRIPTION OF THE PORTA AL PRATO
We will describe, then, with the greatest clearness and brevity that may
be permitted by the abundance of our material, how the intention in all
these decorations was to represent by the vast number of pictures and
sculptures, as if in life, all those ceremonies, effects, and pomps that
appeared to be proper to the reception and the nuptials of so great a
Princess, forming of them poetically and ingeniously a whole so well
proportioned, that with judgment and grace it might achieve the result
designed. First of all, therefore, at the Gate that is called the Porta
al Prato, by which her Highness was to enter the city, there was built
with dimensions truly heroic, which well showed ancient Rome risen again
in her beloved daughter Florence, a vast, most ornate, and very
ingeniously composed ante-port of Ionic architecture, which, surpassing
by a good measure the height of the walls, which are there very lofty,
presented a marvellous and most superb view not only to those entering
the city, but even at a distance of several miles. And this arch was
dedicated to Florence, who--standing between two figures, as it were her
beloved companions, of Fidelity and Affection, virtues which she has
always shown towards her Lords--in the form of a young and most
beautiful woman, smiling and all adorned with flowers, had been set, as
was her due, in the most important and most honourable place, nearest to
the Gate, as if she sought to receive, introduce, and accompany her new
Lady; having brought with her, as it were as her minister and companion,
and as the symbol of those of her sons who in the art of war, among
other arts, have rendered her illustrious, Mars, their leader and
master, and in a certain sense the first father of Florence herself, in
that under his auspices and by martial men, who were descended from
Mars, was made her first foundation. His statue, dread and terrible,
could be seen on the right in the part farthest from her, sword in hand,
as if he sought to use it in the service of his new Lady; he likewise
having as it were brought with him to accompany his Florence, in a very
large and very beautiful canvas painted in chiaroscuro that was beneath
his feet (very similar to the whitest marble, as were all the other
works that were in these decorations), some of the men of that
invincible Martian Legion so dear to the first and second Caesar, her
first founders, and some of those born from her, who afterwards followed
her discipline so gloriously. Many of these could be seen issuing full
of gladness from his temple, which is now dedicated to S. John in the
name of the Christian religion; and in the farthest distance were placed
those who were thought to have had a name only for bodily valour, in the
central space those others who had become famous by their counsel and
industry, such as commissaries or proveditors (to call them by their
Venetian name), and in the front part nearest to the eye, in the most
honourable places, as being the most worthy of honour, were painted the
captains of armies and those who had acquired illustrious renown and
immortal fame by valour of the body and mind together. Among these, as
the first and perhaps the most honourable, could be seen on horseback,
like many others, the glorious Signor Giovanni de' Medici portrayed from
life, that rare master of Italian military discipline, and the
illustrious father of the great Cosimo whom we honour as our excellent
and most valorous Duke; and with him Filippo Spano, terror of the
barbarous Turks, and M. Farinata degli Uberti, great-hearted saviour of
his native Florence. There, also, was M. Buonaguisa della Pressa, who,
at the head of the valiant youth of Florence, winning the first and
glorious mural crown at Damiata, acquired so great a name; and the
Admiral Federigo Folchi, Knight of Rhodes, who with his two sons and
eight nephews performed so many deeds of prowess against the Saracens.
There were M. Nanni Strozzi, M. Manno Donati, Meo Altoviti, and
Bernardo Ubaldini, called Della Carda, father of Federigo, Duke of
Urbino, that most excellent captain of our times. There, likewise, was
the Great Constable, M. Niccola Acciaiuoli, he who it may be said
preserved for Queen Joanna and King Louis, his Sovereigns, the troubled
kingdom of Naples, and who always bore himself both there and in Sicily
with such loyalty and valour. There were another Giovanni de' Medici and
Giovanni Bisdomini, most illustrious in the wars with the Visconti, and
the unfortunate but valorous Francesco Ferrucci; and among those more
ancient were M. Forese Adimari, M. Corso Donati, M. Vieri de' Cerchi, M.
Bindaccio da Ricasoli, and M. Luca da Panzano. Among the commissaries,
not less faithfully portrayed from life, could be seen there Gino
Capponi, with Neri his son, and Piero his grand-nephew, he who, tearing
so boldly the insolent proposals of Charles VIII, King of France, to his
immortal honour, caused the voice of a Capon (Cappon), as the witty poet
said so well, to sound so nobly among so many Cocks (Galli). There were
Bernardetto de' Medici, Luca di Maso degli Albizzi, Tommaso di M. Guido,
now called Del Palagio, Piero Vettori, so celebrated in the wars with
the Aragonese, and the so greatly and so rightly renowned Antonio
Giacomini, with M. Antonio Ridolfi and many others of this and other
orders, who would make too long a story. All these appeared to be filled
with joy that they had raised their country to such a height, auguring
for her, in the coming of that new Lady, increase, felicity, and
greatness; which was expressed excellently well in the four verses that
were to be seen written on the architrave above:
Hanc peperere suo patriam qui sanguine nobis
Aspice magnanimos heroas; nunc et ovantes
Et laeti incedant, felicem terque quaterque
Certatimque vocent tali sub Principe Floram.
Not less gladness could be seen in the beautiful statue of one of the
nine Muses, which was placed as a complement opposite to that of Mars,
nor less, again, in the figures of the men of science in the painted
canvas that was to be seen at her feet, of the same size and likewise as
the complement of the men of Mars opposite, by which it was sought to
signify that even as the men of war, so also the men of learning, of
whom Florence had always a great abundance and in no way less renowned
(in that, as all men admit, it was there that learning began to revive),
had likewise been brought by Florence under the guidance of their Muse
to receive and honour the noble bride. Which Muse, clad in a womanly,
graceful, and seemly habit, with a book in the right hand and a flute in
the left, seemed with a certain loving expression to wish to invite all
beholders to apply their minds to true virtue; and on the canvas beneath
her, executed, like all the others, in chiaroscuro, could be seen
painted a great and rich Temple of Minerva, whose statue crowned with
olive, with the shield of the Gorgon (as is customary), was placed
without; and before the temple and at the sides, within an enclosure of
balusters made as it were for a promenade, could be seen a great throng
of grave and solemn men, who, although all rejoicing and making merry,
yet retained in their aspect a certain something of the venerable, and
these, also, were portrayed from life. For Theology and Sanctity there
was the famous Fra Antonino, Archbishop of Florence, for whom a little
Angel was holding the episcopal mitre, and with him was seen Giovanni
Domenici, first Friar and then Cardinal; and with them Don Ambrogio,
General of Camaldoli, and M. Ruberto de' Bardi, Maestro Luigi Marsili,
Maestro Leonardo Dati, and many others. Even so, in another part--and
these were the Philosophers--were seen the Platonist M. Marsilio Ficino,
M. Francesco Cattani da Diacceto, M. Francesco Verini the elder, and M.
Donato Acciaiuoli; and for Law there were, with the great Accursio,
Francesco his son, M. Lorenzo Ridolfi, M. Dino Rossoni di Mugello, and
M. Forese da Rabatta. The Physicians, also, had their portraits; and
among them Maestro Taddeo Dino and Tommaso del Garbo, with Maestro
Torrigian Valori and Maestro Niccolo Falcucci, had the first places. Nor
did the Mathematicians, likewise, fail to be painted there; and of
these, besides the ancient Guido Bonatto, were seen Maestro Paolo del
Pozzo and the very acute, ingenious, and noble Leon Batista Alberti, and
with them Antonio Manetti and Lorenzo della Volpaia, he by whose hand we
have that first and marvellous clock of the planets, the wonder of our
age, which is now to be seen in the guardaroba of our most excellent
Duke. For Navigation, also, there was Amerigo Vespucci, most experienced
and most fortunate of men, in that so great a part of the world, having
been discovered by him, retains because of him the name of America. For
Learning, various and elegant, there was Messer Agnolo Poliziano, to
whom how much is owed by the Latin and Tuscan tongues, which began to
revive in him, I believe is sufficiently well known to all the world.
With him were Pietro Crinito, Giannozzo Manetti, Francesco Pucci,
Bartolommeo Fonzio, Alessandro de' Pazzi, and Messer Marcello Vergilio
Adriani, father of the most ingenious and most learned M. Giovan
Battista, now called Il Marcellino, who is still living and giving
public lectures with so much honour in our Florentine University, and
who at the commission of their illustrious Excellencies has been writing
anew the History of Florence; and there were also M. Cristofano Landini,
M. Coluccio Salutati, and Ser Brunetto Latini, the master of Dante. Nor
were there wanting certain Poets who had written in Latin, such as
Claudian, and among the more modern Carlo Marsuppini and Zanobi Strada.
Of the Historians, then, were seen M. Francesco Guicciardini, Niccolo
Macchiavelli, M. Leonardo Bruni, M. Poggio, Matteo Palmieri, and, among
the earliest, Giovanni and Matteo Villani and the very ancient Ricordano
Malespini. All these, or the greater part, for the satisfaction of all
beholders, had each his name or that of his most famous works marked on
the scrolls or on the covers of the books that they held, placed there
as if by chance; and with all of them, as with the men of war, to
demonstrate what they were come there to do, the four verses that were
painted on the architrave, as with the others, made it clearly manifest,
saying:
Artibus egregiis Latiae Graiaeque Minervae
Florentes semper quis non miretur Etruscos?
Sed magis hoc illos aevo florere necesse est
Et Cosmo genitore et Cosmi prole favente.
Next, beside the statue of Mars, and somewhat nearer to that of
Florence--and here it must be noted with what singular art and judgment
every least thing was distributed, in that, the intention being to
accompany Florence with six Deities, so to speak, for the potency of
whom she could right well vaunt herself, the two hitherto described,
Mars and the Muse, because other cities could perhaps no less than she
lay claim to them, as being the least peculiar to her, were placed less
near to her than the others; and so for the spacious vestibule or
passage, as it were, formed before the gate by the four statues to
follow, the two already described were used as wings or head-pieces,
being placed at the entrance, one turned towards the Castle and the
other towards the Arno, but the next two, which formed the beginning of
the vestibule, for the reason that they are shared by her with few other
cities, came to be placed somewhat nearer to her, even as the last two,
because they are entirely peculiar to her and shared with no other city,
or, to speak more exactly, because no other can compare with her in them
(and may this be said without offence to any other Tuscan people, which,
when it shall have a Dante, a Petrarca, and a Boccaccio to put forward,
may perchance be able to come into dispute with her), were placed in
close proximity to her, and nearer than any of the others--now, to go
back, I say that beside the statue of Mars had been placed a Ceres,
Goddess of Cultivation and of the fields, not less beautiful and good to
look upon than the others; which pursuit, how useful it is and how
worthy of honour for a well-ordered city, was taught in ancient times by
Rome, who had enrolled all her nobility among the rustic tribes, as Cato
testifies, besides many others, calling it the nerve of that most
puissant Republic, and as Pliny affirms no less strongly when he says
that the fields had been tilled by the hands of Imperatores, and that it
may be believed that earth rejoiced to be ploughed by the laureate share
and by the triumphant ploughman. That Ceres was crowned, as is
customary, with ears of various kinds of corn, having in the right hand
a sickle and in the left a bunch of similar ears. Now, how much Florence
can vaunt herself in this respect, whoever may be in any doubt of it may
enlighten himself by regarding her most ornate and highly cultivated
neighbourhood, for, leaving on one side the vast number of most superb
and commodious palaces that may be seen dispersed over its surface, it
is such that Florence, although among the most beautiful cities of which
we have any knowledge she might be said to carry off the palm, yet
remains by a great measure vanquished and surpassed by it, insomuch that
it may rightly claim the title of the garden of Europe; not to speak of
its fertility, as to which, although it is for the most part
mountainous and not very large, nevertheless the diligence that is used
in it is such, that it not only feeds bountifully its own vast
population and the infinite multitude of strangers who flock to it, but
very often gives courteous succour to other lands both near and far. In
the canvas (to return to our subject) which was to be seen in like
fashion beneath her statue, in the same manner and of the same size, the
excellent painter had figured a most beautiful little landscape adorned
with an infinite variety of trees, in the most distant part of which was
seen an ancient and very ornate little temple dedicated to Ceres, in
which, since it was open and raised upon colonnades, could be perceived
many who were offering religious sacrifices. On the other side, in a
part somewhat more solitary, Nymphs of the chase could be seen standing
about a shady and most limpid fount, gazing as it were in marvel and
offering to the new bride of those pleasures and delights that are found
in their pursuits, in which Tuscany is perhaps not inferior to any other
part of Italy. In another part, with many countrymen bringing various
animals both wild and domestic, were seen also many country-girls, young
and beautiful, and adorned in a thousand rustic but graceful manners,
and likewise come--weaving the while garlands of flowers and bearing
various fruits--to see and honour their Lady. And the verses which were
over this scene as with the others, taken from Virgil, to the great
glory of Tuscany, ran thus:
Hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini,
Hanc Remus et frater, sic fortis Etruria crevit,
Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Flora,
Urbs antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glebae.
Next, opposite to the above-described statue of Ceres, was seen that of
Industry; and I do not speak merely of that industry which is seen used
by many in many places in matters of commerce, but of a certain
particular excellence and ingenious virtue which the men of Florence
employ in everything to which they deign to apply themselves, on which
account many, and in particular the Poet of supreme judgment (and
rightly, as is evident), give them the title of Industrious. How great a
benefit this industry has been to Florence, and in what great account it
has always been held by her, is seen from this, that upon it she formed
her body corporate, decreeing that none could become one of her
citizens who was not entered under the name of some Guild, and thus
recognizing that by that industry she had risen to no small power and
greatness. Now Industry was figured as a woman in a light and easy
habit, holding a sceptre, at the head of which was a hand with an eye in
the centre of the palm, and with two little wings, whereby with the
sceptre there was achieved a certain sort of resemblance to the Caduceus
of Mercury; and in the canvas that was beneath her, as with the other
statues, was seen a vast and most ornate portico or forum, very similar
to the place where our merchants resort to transact their business,
called the Mercato Nuovo, which was made even clearer by the boy that
was to be seen striking the hours on one of the walls. And on one side,
their particular Gods having been ingeniously placed there (in one part,
namely, the statue of Fortune seated on a wheel, and in another part
Mercury with the Caduceus and with a purse in the hand), were seen
assembled many of the most noble artificers, those, namely, who exercise
their arts with perhaps greater excellence in Florence than in any other
place; and of such, with their wares in their hands, as if they were
seeking to offer them to the incoming Princess, some were to be seen
with cloth of gold or of silk, some with the finest draperies, and
others with most beautiful and marvellous embroideries, and all with
expressions of joy. Even so, in another part, some were seen in various
costumes trafficking as they walked, and others of lower degree with
various most beautiful wood-carvings and works in tarsia, and some again
with balls, masks, and rattles, and other childish things, all in the
same manner showing the same gladness and contentment. All which, and
the advantage of these things, and the profit and glory that have come
from them to Florence, was made manifest by the four verses that were
placed above them, as with the others, saying:
Quas artes pariat solertia, nutriat usus,
Aurea monstravit quondam Florentia cunctis.
Pandere namque acri ingenio atque enixa labore est
Praestanti, unde paret vitam sibi quisque beatam.
Of the two last Deities or Virtues, seeing that, as we have said, by
reason of the number and excellence in them of her sons they are so
peculiar to Florence that she may well consider herself glorious in them
beyond any other city, there was placed on the right hand, next to the
statue of Ceres, that of Apollo, representing that Tuscan Apollo who
infuses Tuscan verse in Tuscan poets. Under his feet, as in the other
canvases, there was painted on the summit of a most lovely mountain,
recognized as that of Helicon by the horse Pegasus, a very spacious and
beautiful meadow, in the centre of which rose the sacred Fount of
Aganippe, likewise recognized by the nine Muses, who stood around it in
pleasant converse, and with them, and in the shade of the verdant
laurels with which the whole mount was covered, were seen various poets
in various guise seated or discoursing as they walked, or singing to the
sound of the lyre, while a multitude of little Loves were playing above
the laurels, some of them shooting arrows, and some appeared to be
throwing down crowns of laurel. Of these poets, in the most honourable
place were seen the profound Dante, the gracious Petrarca, and the
fecund Boccaccio, who with smiling aspect appeared to be promising to
the incoming Lady, since a subject so noble had not fallen to them, to
infuse in the intellects of Florence such virtue that they would be able
to sing worthily of her; to which with the exemplar of their writings,
if only there may be found one able to imitate them, they have opened a
broad and easy way. Near them, as if discoursing with them, and all,
like the rest, portrayed from life, were seen M. Cino da Pistoia,
Montemagno, Guido Cavalcanti, Guittone d'Arezzo, and Dante da Maiano,
who lived in the same age and were poets passing gracious for those
times. In another part were Monsignor Giovanni della Casa, Luigi
Alamanni, and Lodovico Martelli, with Vincenzio at some distance from
him, and with them Messer Giovanni Rucellai, the writer of the
tragedies, and Girolamo Benivieni; among whom, if he had not been living
at that time, a well-merited place would have been given also to the
portrait of M. Benedetto Varchi, who shortly afterwards made his way to
a better life. In another part, again, were seen Franco Sacchetti, who
wrote the three hundred Novelle, and other men, who, although at the
present day they have no great renown, yet, because in their times they
made no small advance in romances, were judged to be not unworthy of
that place--Luigi Pulci, with his brothers Bernardo and Luca, and also
Ceo and Altissimo. Berni, also, the inventor and father (and excellent
father) of Tuscan burlesque poetry, with Burchiello, with Antonio
Alamanni, and with Unico Accolti (who were standing apart), appeared to
be showing no less joy than any of the others; while Arno, leaning in
his usual manner on his Lion, with two children that were crowning him
with laurel, and Mugnone, known by the Nymph that stood over him crowned
with stars, with the moon on her brow, in allusion to the daughters of
Atlas, and representing Fiesole, appeared likewise to be expressing the
same gladness and contentment. All which conception described above was
explained excellently well by the four verses that were placed in the
architrave, as with the others, which ran thus:
Musarum hic regnat chorus, atque Helicone virente
Posthabito, venere tibi Florentia vates
Eximii, quoniam celebrare haec regia digno
Non potuere suo et connubia carmine sacro.
Opposite to this, placed on the left hand, and perhaps not less peculiar
to the Florentine genius than the last-named, was seen the statue of
Design, the father of painting, sculpture, and architecture, who, if not
born in Florence, as may be seen in the past writings, may be said to
have been born again there, and nourished and grown as in his own nest.
He was figured by a statue wholly nude, with three similar heads for the
three arts that he embraces, each holding in the hand some instrument,
but without any distinction; and in the canvas that was beneath him was
seen painted a vast courtyard, for the adornment of which were placed in
various manners a great quantity of statues and of pictures in painting,
both ancient and modern, which could be seen in process of being
designed and copied by divers masters in divers ways. In one part was
being prepared an anatomical study, and many could be seen observing it,
and likewise drawing, very intently. Others, again, considering the
fabric and rules of architecture, appeared to be seeking to measure
certain things with great minuteness, the while that the divine
Michelagnolo Buonarroti, prince and monarch of them all, with the three
circlets in his hand (his ancient device), making signs to Andrea del
Sarto, Leonardo da Vinci, Pontormo, Rosso, Perino del Vaga, Francesco
Salviati, Antonio da San Gallo, and Rustici, who were gathered with
great reverence about him, was pointing out with supreme gladness the
pompous entrance of the noble Lady. The ancient Cimabue, standing in
another part, was doing as it were the same service to certain others,
at whom Giotto appeared to be smiling, having taken from him, as Dante
said so well, the field of painting which he thought to hold; and Giotto
had with him, besides the Gaddi, Buffalmacco and Benozzo, with many
others of that age. In another part, again, placed in another fashion
and all rejoicing as they conversed, were seen those who conferred such
benefits on art, and to whom these new masters owed so much; the great
Donatello, Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Fra Filippo,
the excellent Masaccio, Desiderio, and Verrocchio, with many others,
portrayed from life, whom, since I have spoken of them in the previous
books, I will pass by without saying more about them, thus avoiding the
tedium that might come upon my readers by repetition. Who they were, and
what they were come thither to do, was explained, as with the others, by
four verses written above them:
Non pictura satis, non possunt marmora et aera
Tuscaque non arcus testari ingentia facta,
Atque ea praecipue quae mox ventura trahuntur;
Quis nunc Praxiteles caelet, quis pingat Apelles?
Now in the base of all these six vast and most beautiful canvases was
seen painted a gracious throng of children, each occupying himself in
the profession appropriate to the canvas placed above, who, besides the
adornment, were seen to be demonstrating with great accuracy with what
beginnings one arrived at the perfection of the men painted above; even
as with much judgment and singular art the same canvases were also
divided and adorned by round and very tall columns and by pilasters, and
by various ornaments of trophies all in keeping with the subjects to
which they were near. But, above all, graceful and lovely in appearance
were the ten devices, or, to speak more precisely, the ten reverses (as
it were) of medals, partly long established in the city and partly newly
introduced, which were painted in the compartments over the columns,
serving to divide the statues already described, and accompanying very
appropriately their inventions; the first of which was the Deduction of
a Colony, represented by a bull and a cow together in a yoke, and behind
them the ploughman with the head veiled, as the ancient Augurs are
depicted, with the crooked lituus in the hand, and with a motto, which
said: COL. JUL. FLORENTIA. The second--and this is very ancient in the
city, and the one wherewith public papers are generally sealed--was
Hercules with the Club and with the skin of the Nemaean Lion, but without
any motto. The third was the horse Pegasus, which with the hind feet was
smiting the urn held by Arno, in the manner that is told of the Fount of
Helicon; whence were issuing waters in abundance, which formed a river,
crystal-clear, that was all covered with swans; but this, also, was
without any motto. So, likewise, was the fourth, which was composed of a
Mercury with the Caduceus in the hand, the purse, and the cock, such as
is seen in many ancient cornelians. But the fifth, in accord with that
Affection which, as was said at the beginning, was given to Florence as
a companion, was a young woman receiving a crown of laurel from two
figures, one on either side of her, which, clad in the military
paludament and likewise crowned with laurel, appeared to be Consuls or
Imperatores; with words that ran: GLORIA POP. FLOREN. So also the sixth,
in like manner in accord with Fidelity, likewise the companion of
Florence, was also figured by a woman seated, with an altar near her,
upon which she was seen to be laying one of her hands, and with the
other uplifted, holding the second finger raised in the manner wherein
one generally sees an oath taken, she was seen to declare her intention
with the inscription: FIDES. POP. FLOR. This, also, did the picture of
the seventh, without any inscription; which was the two horns of plenty
filled with ears of corn intertwined together. And the eighth, likewise
without any inscription, did the same with the three Arts of Painting,
Sculpture, and Architecture, which, after the manner of the three
Graces, with hands linked to denote the interdependence of one art with
another, were placed no less gracefully than the others upon a base in
which was seen carved a Capricorn. And so, also, did the ninth (placed
more towards the Arno), which was the usual Florence with her Lion
beside her, to whom various boughs of laurel were offered by certain
persons standing around her, as it were showing themselves grateful for
the benefits received from her, in that there, as has been told, letters
began to revive. And the tenth and last did the same with its
inscription that ran thus, TRIBU SCAPTIA, written upon a shield held by
a Lion; which tribe was that of Augustus, her founder, and the one in
which in ancient times Florence used to be enrolled.
But the finest ornament--besides the beautiful shields on which were the
arms of their Excellencies, both the one and the other, and of the most
illustrious Princess, and the device of the city, and besides the great
Ducal crown of gold, which Florence was in the act of presenting--was
the principal device, set over all the shields, and placed there in
allusion to the city; which was composed of two halcyons making their
nest in the sea at the beginning of winter. This was made clear by the
part of the Zodiac that was painted there, wherein the Sun was seen at
the point of entering into the Sign of Capricorn, with a motto that
said, HOC FIDUNT, signifying that even as the halcyons, by the grace of
Nature, at the time when the Sun is entering into the said Sign of
Capricorn, which renders the sea smooth and tranquil, are able to make
their nests there in security (whence such days are called "halcyon
days"), so also Florence, with Capricorn in the ascendant, which is
therefore the ancient and most honourable device of her excellent Duke,
is able in whatever season the world may bring her to flourish in the
greatest felicity and peace, as she does right well. And all this, with
all the other conceptions given above, was declared in great part by the
inscription which, addressed to the exalted bride, was written
appropriately in a most ornate and beautiful place, saying:
INGREDERE URBEM FELICISSIMO CONJUGIO FACTAM TUAM, AUGUSTISSIMA
VIRGO, FIDE, INGENIIS, ET OMNI LAUDE PRAESTANTEM; OPTATAQUE
PRAESENTIA TUA, ET EXIMIA VIRTUTE, SPERATAQUE FECUNDITATE,
OPTIMORUM PRINCIPUM PATERNAM ET AVITAM CLARITATEM, FIDELISSIMORUM
CIVIUM LAETITIAM, FLORENTIS URBIS GLORIAM ET FELICITATEM AUGE.
OF THE ENTRANCE TO BORG' OGNISSANTI.
Proceeding, then, towards Borg' Ognissanti, a street, as everyone knows,
most beautiful, spacious, and straight, there were at the entrance two
very large colossal figures, one representing Austria, as a young woman
in full armour after the antique, with a sceptre in the hand, signifying
her military power as embodied in the Imperial dignity, which now has
its residence in that nation and appears to be entirely concentrated
there; and the other representing Tuscany, apparelled in religious
vestments and with the sacerdotal lituus in the hand, which in like
manner demonstrated the excellence that the Tuscan nation has always
displayed from the most ancient times in the Divine cult, insomuch that
even at the present day it is seen that the Pontiffs and the Holy Roman
Church have chosen to establish their principal seat in Tuscany. Each of
these had at her side a nude and gracious little Angel, one of whom was
seen guarding the Imperial crown, and the other the crown that the
Pontiffs are wont to use; and one figure was shown offering her hand
most lovingly to the other, almost as if Austria, with her most noble
cities (which were depicted under various images in the vast canvas that
was as an ornament and head-piece, at the entrance to that street,
facing towards the Porta al Prato), wished to signify that she was come
parentally to take part in the rejoicings and festivities in honour of
the illustrious bridal pair, and to meet and embrace her beloved
Tuscany, thus in a certain sort uniting together the two most mighty
powers, the spiritual and the temporal. All which was declared
excellently well in the six verses that were written in a suitable
place, saying:
Augustae en adsum sponsae comes Austria; magni
Caesaris haec nata est, Caesaris atque soror.
Carolus est patruus, gens et faecunda triumphis,
Imperio fulget, regibus et proavis.
Laetitiam et pacem adferimus dulcesque Hymeneos
Et placidam requiem, Tuscia clara, tibi.
Even as on the other side Tuscany, having yielded the first place at
the first Gate to Florence, her Lady and her Queen, was seen with an
aspect all full of joy at receiving so great a Princess; having likewise
in company with her, in a similar painted canvas beside her, Fiesole,
Pisa, Siena, and Arezzo, with the most famous of her other cities, and
with the Ombrone, the Arbia, the Serchio, and the Chiana, all depicted
in various forms according to custom; and expressing her contentment in
the six following verses, written in a way similar to the others, and in
a suitable place:
Ominibus faustis et laetor imagine rerum,
Virginis aspectu Caesareaeque fruor.
Hae nostrae insignes urbes, haec oppida et agri,
Haec tua sunt; illis tu dare jura potes.
Audis ut resonet laetis clamoribus aether,
Et plausu et ludis Austria cuncta fremat?
OF THE PONTE ALLA CARRAIA.
And to the end that the splendid nuptials might be celebrated with all
the most favourable auspices, at the Palazzo de' Ricasoli, which, as
everyone knows, is situated at the beginning of the Ponte alla Carraia,
there was erected in the Doric Order of composition the third ornament,
dedicated to Hymen, their God; and this consisted--in addition to a
head-piece of singular beauty, on which the eyes of all who came through
Borg' Ognissanti feasted with marvellous delight--of two very lofty and
most magnificent portals, between which it stood, and over one of these,
which gave access to those passing into the street called La Vigna, was
placed with much judgment the statue of Venus Genetrix, perhaps alluding
to the House of the Caesars, which had its origin from Venus, or
perchance auguring generation and fecundity for the bridal pair; with a
motto taken from the Epithalamium of Theocritus, saying:
[Greek: Kypris de, Thea Kypris, ison erasthai allalon.]
And over the other, giving access along the bank of the Arno, through
which the procession passed, was the statue of the Nurse Latona,
perchance to ward off sterility or the jealous interference of Juno, and
likewise with a motto that ran:
[Greek: Lato men doie, Lato kourotrophos ymmin euteknian.]
As a complement to these, executed with singular artistry, upon a great
base attached to one of the portals, there was seen on one side, as it
were newly issued from the water, and in the form of a most beautiful
giant with a garland of lilies, the River Arno, who, as if he wished to
give an example of nuptial bliss, was locked in embrace with his Sieve,
who had likewise a garland of leaves and apples; which apples, alluding
to the balls of the Medici, of which they were the origin, would have
been rosy, if the colour had been in keeping with the white marble. And
Arno, all rejoicing, was shown speaking to his new Lady in the manner
expressed by the following verses:
In mare nunc auro flaventes Arnus arenas
Volvam, atque argento purior unda fluet.
Etruscos nunc invictis comitantibus armis
Caesareis, tollam sidera ad alta caput.
Nunc mihi fama etiam Tibrim fulgoreque rerum
Tantarum longe vincere fata dabunt.
And on the other side, as a complement to Arno, on a similar base
attached in a similar way to the other portal (the two being turned, as
it were, like wings one towards the other), and almost in the same form,
were seen the Danube and the Drava likewise in a close embrace, and,
even as the others had the Lion, so they had the Eagle as emblem and
support; and these, crowned also with roses and with a thousand
varieties of little flowers, were shown speaking to Florence, even as
the others were speaking to themselves, the following verses:
Quamvis Flora tuis celeberrima finibus errem,
Sum septemgeminus Danubiusque ferox;
Virginis Augustae comes, et vestigia lustro,
Ut reor, et si quod flumina numen habent,
Conjugium faustum et foecundum et Nestoris annos,
Tuscorum et late nuntio regna tibi.
Then at the summit of the head-piece, in the place of honour, and with a
close resemblance to the whitest marble, was seen the statue of the
young Hymen, with a garland of flowering marjoram and the torch and
veil, and at his feet this inscription: BONI CONJUGATOR AMORIS. On one
side of him was Love, who lay all languid under one of his flanks; and
on the other side was Conjugal Fidelity, who was holding one arm
supported under the other; which was all so pleasing, so full of charm,
so beautiful, and so well distributed before the eyes of all beholders,
that in truth it is not to be expressed in words. As the principal crown
of that ornament--for on them all there was placed a principal crown and
a principal device--there were formed in the hands of the Hymen
described above two garlands of the same marjoram that crowned his head,
which, as he held them, he appeared to be about to present to the happy
pair. But most lovely and beautiful of all, and best executed, were the
three spacious pictures, separated by double columns, into which the
whole of that vast facade was divided, placed with supreme beauty at the
feet of Hymen; for in them were depicted all the advantages, all the
delights, and all the desirable things that are generally found in
nuptials; those displeasing and vexatious being driven away from them
with a certain subtle grace. And thus in one of these, that in the
centre namely, were seen the Three Graces painted in the manner that is
customary, all full of joy and gladness, who appeared to be singing with
a certain soft harmony the verses written over them, saying:
Quae tam praeclara nascetur stirpe parentum
Inclita progenies, digna atavisque suis?
Etrusca attollet se quantis gloria rebus
Conjugio Austriacae Mediceaeque Domus?
Vivite felices; non est spes irrita, namque
Divina Charites talia voce canunt.
These had on one side, forming as it were a choir about them, and
coupled becomingly together, Youth and Delight, and Beauty with
Contentment in her embrace, and on the other side, in like fashion,
Gladness with Play, and Fecundity with Repose, all in attitudes most
graceful and in keeping with their characters, and so well distinguished
by the able painter, that they could be recognized with ease. In the
picture that was on the right of that one, there were seen, besides Love
and Fidelity, the same Gladness, Contentment, Delight, and Repose, with
lighted torches in their hands, who were chasing from the world and
banishing to the nethermost abyss Jealousy, Contention, Affliction,
Sorrow, Lamentation, Deceit, Sterility, and other vexatious and
displeasing things of that kind, which are wont so often to disturb the
minds of human creatures. And in the other, on the left hand, were seen
the same Graces in company with Juno, Venus, Concord, Love, Fecundity,
Sleep, Pasithea, and Thalassius, setting the genial bed in order with
those ancient religious ceremonies of torches, incense, garlands, and
flowers, which were customary; of which last a number of little Loves,
playing in their flight, were scattering no small quantity over the bed.
Above these, then, were two other pictures distributed in very beautiful
compartments, one on either side of the statue of Hymen, and somewhat
smaller than those described; in one of which, in imitation of the
ancient custom so well described by Catullus, was seen the illustrious
Princess portrayed from life in the midst of a gracious little company
of most beautiful maidens in virginal dress, all crowned with flowers,
and with lighted torches in their hands, who were pointing towards the
Evening Star, which was seen appearing, and, as if set in motion by
them, seemed in a certain gracious manner to move and to advance towards
Hymen; with the motto: O DIGNA CONJUNCTA VIRO. Even as in the other
picture, on the other side, was seen the excellent Prince in the midst
of many young men likewise crowned with garlands and burning with love,
not less eager than the maidens in lighting the nuptial torches, and
pointing no less towards the newly-appeared star, and giving signs, in
advancing towards it, of equal or even greater desire; likewise with a
motto that said: O TAEDIS FELICIBUS AUCTE. Above these, arranged in a
very graceful manner, there was seen as the principal device, which, as
has been told, was placed over all the arches, a gilded chain all
composed of marriage-rings with their stones, which, hanging down from
Heaven, appeared to be sustaining this terrestrial World; alluding in a
certain sense to the Homeric Chain of Jove, and signifying that by
virtue of nuptials, the heavenly causes being wedded with terrestrial
matter, Nature and the aforesaid terrestrial World are preserved and
rendered as it were eternal; with a motto that said: NATURA SEQUITUR
CUPIDE. And then a quantity of little Angels and Loves, all gracious and
merry, and all set in fitting places, were seen dispersed among the
bases, the pilasters, the festoons, and the other ornaments, which were
without number; and all, with a certain gladness, appeared to be either
scattering flowers and garlands, or sweetly singing the following ode,
from among the spaces between the double columns that divided, as has
been told, the great pictures and the great facade, which was arranged
in a lovely and gracious manner:
Augusti soboles regia Caesaris,
Summo nupta viro Principi Etruriae,
Faustis auspiciis deseruit vagum
Istrum regnaque patria.
Cui frater, genitor, patruus, atque avi
Fulgent innumeri stemmate nobiles
Praeclaro Imperii, prisca ab origine
Digno nomine Caesares.
Ergo magnanimae virgini et inclytae
Jam nunc Arne pater suppliciter manus
Libes, et violis versicoloribus
Pulchram Flora premas comam.
Assurgant proceres, ac velut aureum
Et caeleste jubar rite colant eam.
Omnes accumulent templa Deum, et piis
Aras muneribus sacras.
Tali conjugio Pax hilaris redit,
Fruges alma Ceres porrigit uberes,
Saturni remeant aurea saecula,
Orbis laetitia fremit.
Quin dirae Eumenides monstraque Tartari
His longe duce te finibus exulant.
Bellorum rabies hinc abit effera,
Mavors sanguineus fugit.
Sed jam nox ruit et sidera concidunt;
Et nymphae adveniunt, Junoque pronuba
Arridet pariter, blandaque Gratia
Nudis juncta sororibus.
Haec cingit niveis tempora liliis,
Haec e purpureis serta gerit rosis,
Huic molles violae et suavis amaracus
Nectunt virgineum caput.
Lusus, laeta Quies cernitur et Decor;
Quos circum volitat turba Cupidinum,
Et plaudens recinit haec Hymeneus ad
Regalis thalami fores.
Quid statis juvenes tam genialibus
Indulgere toris immemores? Joci
Cessent et choreae; ludere vos simul
Poscunt tempora mollius.
Non vincant hederae bracchia flexiles,
Conchae non superent oscula dulcia,
Emanet pariter sudor et ossibus
Grato murmure ab intimis.
Det summum imperium regnaque Juppiter,
Det Latona parem progeniem patri;
Ardorem unanimem det Venus, atque Amor
Aspirans face mutua.
OF THE PALAZZO DEGLI SPINI.
And to the end that no part of either dominion might be left without
being present at those happy nuptials, at the Ponte a S. Trinita and
also at the Palazzo degli Spini, which is to be seen at the beginning of
that bridge, there was the fourth ornament, of an architecture not less
magnificent in composition, and consisting of a head-piece with three
facades, one of which, turning to face towards the Ponte alla Carraia,
became joined to that in the centre, which was somewhat bent and
likewise attached to that which in like manner turned to face towards
the Palazzo degli Spini and S. Trinita; whence it appeared to have been
contrived principally for the point of view both from the one street and
from the other, insomuch that both from the one and from the other it
presented itself complete to the eyes of all beholders--a thing of
singular artifice for him who well considers it, which rendered that
street, which is in itself as imposing and magnificent as any other that
is to be found in Florence, even more imposing and more beautiful than
could be believed. In the facade that came in the centre, there had been
formed upon a great base two Giants, immense and most superb to behold,
supported by two great monsters and by other extravagant fishes that
appeared to be swimming in the sea, and accompanied by two sea-nymphs.
These represented, one the great Ocean and the other the Tyrrhenian Sea,
and, half reclining, they appeared to be seeking to present to the most
illustrious pair, with a certain affectionate liberality, not only many
most beautiful branches of coral and immense shells of mother-of-pearl,
and others of their sea-riches that they held in their hands, but also
new islands, new lands, and new dominions, which were seen led thither
in their train. Behind them, making that whole ornament lovely and
imposing, were seen rising little by little, from their socles that
rested upon the base, two vast half-columns, upon which rested cornice,
frieze, and architrave, leaving behind the Sea-Gods already described,
almost in the form of a triumphal arch, a very spacious square; and over
the two columns and the architrave rose two very well-formed pilasters
covered with creepers, from which sprang two cornices, forming at the
summit a superb and very bold frontispiece, at the top of which, and
above the creepers of the pilasters already described, were seen placed
three very large vases of gold, all filled to overflowing with thousands
and thousands of different riches of the sea; and in the space that
remained between the architrave and the point of the frontispiece, there
was seen lying with rare dignity a masterly figure of a Nymph,
representing Tethys, or Amphitrite, Goddess and Queen of the Sea, who
with a very grave gesture was presenting as the principal crown of that
place a rostral crown, such as was generally given to the victors in
naval battles, with her motto, VINCE MARI, and as it were adding that
which follows: JAM TERRA TUA EST. Even as in the picture and the facade
behind the Giants, in a very large niche that had the appearance of a
real and natural cavern or grotto, there was painted among many other
monsters of the sea the Proteus of Virgil's Georgics, bound by Aristaeus,
who, pointing with his finger towards the verses written above him,
appeared to wish to announce in prophecy to the well-united pair good
fortune, victories, and triumphs in maritime affairs, saying:
Germana adveniet felici cum alite virgo,
Flora, tibi, adveniet soboles Augusta, Hymenei
Cui pulcher Juvenis jungatur foedere certo
Regius Italiae columen, bona quanta sequentur
Conjugium? Pater Arne tibi, et tibi Florida Mater,
Gloria quanta aderit? Protheum nil postera fallunt.
And since, as has been told, this facade of the cavern stood between the
two other facades, one of which was turned towards S. Trinita and the
other towards the Ponte alla Carraia, both these, which were of the same
size and height, were likewise bordered in a similar manner by two
similar half-columns, which in like manner supported their architrave,
frieze, and cornice in a quarter-round, upon which, both on the one side
and on the other, were seen three statues of boys on three pedestals,
who were upholding certain very rich festoons of gold, composed in a
most masterly fashion of conches, shells, coral, sword-grass, and
sea-weed, by which a no less graceful finish was given to the whole
structure.
But to return to the space of the facade which, turning from the
straight, was supported against the Palazzo degli Spini. In it was seen,
painted in chiaroscuro, a Nymph all unadorned and little less than nude,
placed between many new kinds of animals, who stood for the new land of
Peru, with the other new West Indies, discovered and ruled for the most
part under the auspices of the most fortunate House of Austria. She was
turned towards a figure of Jesus Christ Our Lord, who, painted all
luminous in a Cross in the air (alluding to the four exceeding bright
stars which form the semblance of a Cross, newly discovered among those
peoples), appeared in the manner of a Sun piercing some thick clouds
with most resplendent rays, for which she seemed in a certain sense to
be rendering much thanks to that house, in that by their means she was
seen converted to the Divine worship and to the true Christian Religion,
with the verses written below:
Di tibi pro meritis tantis, Augusta propago,
Praemia digna ferant, quae vinctam mille catenis
Heu duris solvis, quae clarum cernere solem
E tenebris tantis et Christum noscere donas.
Even as on the base which supported that whole facade, and which,
although on a level with that of the Giants, yet did not like that one
project outwards, there was seen, painted as it were by way of allegory,
the fable of Andromeda delivered by Perseus from the cruel Monster of
the sea. And in that which, turning, faced towards the Arno and the
Ponte alla Carraia, there was seen in like manner painted the small but
famous Island of Elba, in the form of an armed warrior seated upon a
great rock, with the Trident in her right hand, having on one side of
her a little boy who was seen sporting playfully with a dolphin, and on
the other side another like him, who was upholding an anchor, with many
galleys that were shown circling about her port, which was painted
there. At her feet, on her base, and corresponding in like manner to the
facade painted above, was seen likewise the fable that is given by
Strabo, when he relates that the Argonauts, returning from the
acquisition of the Golden Fleece, and arriving with Medea in Elba,
raised altars there and made sacrifice to Jove upon them; perhaps
foreseeing or auguring that at another time our present glorious Duke,
being as it were of their company by virtue of the Order of the Golden
Fleece, was to fortify that island and to safeguard distressed mariners,
thus reviving their ancient and glorious memory. Which was expressed
excellently well by the four verses written there in a suitable place,
saying:
Evenere olim Heroes qui littore in isto
Magnanimi votis petiere. En Ilva potentis
Auspiciis Cosmi multa munita opera ac vi;
Pacatum pelagus securi currite nautae.
But the most beautiful effect, the most bizarre, the most fantastic, and
the most ornate--besides the various devices and trophies, and Arion,
who was riding pleasantly through the sea on the back of the swimming
dolphin--came from an innumerable quantity of extravagant fishes of the
sea, Nereids, and Tritons, which were distributed among the friezes,
pedestals, and bases, and wherever a space or the beauty of the place
required them. Even as at the foot of the great base of the Giants there
was another gracious effect in the form of a most beautiful Siren seated
upon the head of a very large fish, from whose mouth at times, at the
turning of a key, not without laughter among the expectant bystanders, a
rushing jet of water was seen pouring upon such as were too eager to
drink the white and red wine that flowed in abundance from the breasts
of the Siren into a very capacious and most ornate basin. And since the
bend of the facade where Elba was painted was the first thing to strike
the eyes of those who came, as did the procession, from the Ponte alla
Carraia along the Arno towards the Palazzo degli Spini, it seemed good
to the inventor to hide the ugliness of the scaffolding and woodwork
that were necessarily placed behind, by raising to the same height
another new facade similar to the three described, which might, as it
did, render that whole vista most festive and ornate. And in it, within
a large oval, it appeared to him that it was well to place the principal
device, embracing the whole conception of the structure; and to that
end, therefore, there was seen figured a great Neptune on his usual Car,
with the usual Trident, as he is described by Virgil, chasing away the
troublesome winds, and using as a motto the very same words, MATURATE
FUGAM; as if he wished to promise to the fortunate pair happiness,
peace, and tranquillity in his realm.
OF THE COLUMN.
Opposite to the graceful Palace of the Bartolini there had been erected
a short time before, as a more stable and enduring ornament, not without
singular ingenuity, that ancient and immense column of oriental granite
which had been taken from the Baths of Antoninus in Rome, and granted by
Pius IV to our glorious Duke, and by him conveyed, although at no little
expense, to Florence, and magnanimously presented to her as a courteous
gift for her public adornment. Upon that column, over its beautiful
capital, which had, like the base, the appearance of bronze, and which
is now being made of real bronze, there was placed a statue (of clay,
indeed, but in the colour of porphyry, because even so it is to be),
very large and very excellent, of a woman in full armour, with a helmet
on the head, and representing, by the sword in the right hand and by the
scales in the left, an incorruptible and most valorous Justice.
OF THE CANTO DE' TORNAQUINCI.
The sixth ornament was erected at the Canto de' Tornaquinci; and here I
must note a thing which would appear incredible to one who had not seen
it--namely, that this ornament was so magnificent, so rich in pomp, and
fashioned with so much art and grandeur, that, although it was conjoined
with the superb Palace of the Strozzi, which is such as to make the
greatest things appear as nothing, and although on a site altogether
disastrous by reason of the uneven ends of the streets that run together
there, and certain other inconvenient circumstances, nevertheless such
was the excellence of the craftsman, and so well conceived the manner of
the work, that it seemed as if all those difficulties had been brought
together there for the purpose of rendering it the more admirable and
the more beautiful; that most lovely palace being so well accompanied by
the richness of the ornaments, the height of the arches, the grandeur of
the columns, all intertwined with arms and trophies, and the great
statues that towered over the summit of the whole structure, that anyone
would have judged that neither that ornament required any other
accompaniment than that of such a palace, nor such a palace required any
other ornament. And to the end that all may be the better understood,
and in order to show more clearly and distinctly in what manner the work
was constructed, it is necessary that some measure of pardon should be
granted to us by those who are not of our arts, if for the sake of those
who delight in them we proceed, more minutely than might appear proper
to the others, to describe the nature of the sites and the forms of the
arches; and this in order to demonstrate how noble intellects
accommodate ornaments to places and inventions to sites with grace and
beauty. We must relate, then, that since the street which runs from the
Column to the Tornaquinci is, as everyone knows, very wide, and since it
was necessary to pass from there into the street of the Tornabuoni,
which by its narrowness brought it about that the eyes of those thus
passing fell for the most part on the not very ornate Tower of the
Tornaquinci, which occupies more than half the street, it was thought
expedient, in order to obviate that difficulty and to make the effect
more pleasing, to construct in the width of the above-named street, in a
Composite Order, two arches divided by a most ornate column, one of
which gave free passage to the procession, which proceeded through the
said street of the Tornabuoni, and the other, concealing the view of the
tower, appeared, by virtue of an ingenious prospect-scene that was
painted there, to lead into another street similar to the said street of
the Tornabuoni, wherein with most pleasing illusion were seen not only
the houses and windows adorned with tapestries and full of men and women
who were all intent on gazing at the spectacle, but also the gracious
sight of a most lovely maiden on a white palfrey, accompanied by certain
grooms, who appeared to be coming from there towards those approaching,
insomuch that both on the day of the procession and all the time
afterwards that she remained there, she roused in more than one person,
by a gracious deception, a desire either to go to meet her or to wait
until she should have passed. These two arches, besides the
above-mentioned column that divided them, were bordered by other columns
of the same size, which supported architraves, friezes, and cornices;
and over each arch was seen a lovely ornament in the form of a most
beautiful picture, in which were seen painted, likewise in chiaroscuro,
the stories of which we shall speak in a short time. The whole work was
crowned above by an immense cornice with ornaments corresponding to the
loveliness, grandeur, and magnificence of the rest, upon which, then,
stood the statues, which, although they were at a height of a good
twenty-five braccia from the level of the ground, nevertheless were
wrought with such proportion that the height did not take away any of
their grace, nor the distance any of the effect of any detail of their
adornment and beauty. There stood in the same manner, as it were as
wings to those two main arches, on the one side and on the other, two
other arches, one of which, attached to the Palace of the Strozzi, and
leading to the above-mentioned Tower of the Tornaquinci, gave passage to
those who wished to turn towards the Mercato Vecchio, even as the other,
placed on the other side, did the same service to those who might desire
to go towards the street called La Vigna; wherefore the Via di S.
Trinita, which, as has been told, is so broad, terminating thus in the
four arches described, came to present such loveliness and a view so
beautiful and so heroic, that it appeared impossible to afford greater
satisfaction to the eyes of the spectators. And this was the front part,
composed, as has been described, of four arches; of two main arches,
namely, one false, and one real, which led into the Via de' Tornabuoni,
and of two others at the sides, in the manner of wings, which were
turned towards the two cross-streets. Now since, entering into the said
street of the Tornabuoni on the left side, beside the Vigna, there
debouches (as everyone knows) the Strada di S. Sisto, which likewise of
necessity strikes the flank of the same Tower of the Tornaquinci, it was
made to appear, in order to hide the same ugliness in a similar manner
with the same illusion of a similar prospect-scene, that that side also
passed into a similar street of various houses placed in the same way,
with an ingenious view of a very ornate fountain overflowing with
crystal-clear waters, from which a woman with a child was represented as
drawing some, so that one who was at no great distance would certainly
have declared that she was real and by no means simulated. Now these
four arches--to return to those in front--were supported and divided by
five columns adorned in the manner described, forming as it were a
rectangular piazza; and in a line with each of those columns, above the
final cornice and the summit of the edifice, there was a most beautiful
seat, while in the same manner four others were placed over the centre
of each arch, which in all came to the number of nine. In eight of these
was seen seated in each a statue of most imposing appearance, some shown
in armour, some in the garb of peace, and others in the imperator's
paludament, according to the characters of those who were portrayed in
them; and in place of the ninth seat and the ninth statue, above the
column in the centre, was seen placed an immense escutcheon, supported
by two great Victories with the Imperial Crown of the House of Austria,
to which that structure was dedicated; which was made manifest by a very
large epitaph, which was seen placed with much grace and beauty below
the escutcheon, saying:
VIRTUTI FELICITATIQUE INVICTISSIMAE DOMUS AUSTRIAE, MAJESTATIQUE
TOT ET TANTORUM IMPERATORUM AC REGUM, QUI IN IPSA FLORUERUNT ET
NUNC MAXIME FLORENT, FLORENTIA AUGUSTO CONJUGIO PARTICEPS ILLIUS
FELICITATIS, GRATO PIOQUE ANIMO DICAT.
The intention had been, after bringing to those most splendid nuptials
the Province of Austria, with her cities and rivers and with her
ocean-sea, and after having caused her to be received by Tuscany with
her cities, the Arno, and the Tyrrhenian Sea, as has been related, to
bring then her great and glorious Caesars, all magnificent in adornment
and pomp, as is the general custom in taking part in nuptials; as if
they, having conducted thither with them the illustrious bride, were
come before to have the first meeting of kinsmen with the House of
Medici, and to prove of what stock, and how glorious, was the noble
virgin that they sought to present to them. And so, of the eight
above-mentioned statues placed upon the eight seats, representing eight
Emperors of that august house, there was seen on the right hand of the
above-named escutcheon, over the arch through which the procession
passed, that of Maximilian II, the present magnanimous and excellent
Emperor, and brother of the bride; below whom, in a very spacious
picture, there was seen painted with most beautiful invention his
marvellous assumption to the Empire, himself being seated in the midst
of the Electors, both spiritual and temporal, the first being
recognized--besides their long vestments--by a Faith that was to be seen
at their feet, and the others by a Hope in a like position. In the air,
also, over his head, were seen certain little Angels that seemed to be
chasing many malign spirits out of certain thick and dark clouds; these
being intended either to suggest the hope which is felt that at some
time, in that all-conquering and most constant nation, men will contrive
to dissipate and clear away the clouds of those many disturbances that
have occurred there in matters of religion, and restore her to her
pristine purity and serenity of tranquil concord; or rather, that in
that act all dissensions had flown away, and showing how marvellously,
and with what unanimous consent of all Germany, amid that great variety
of minds and religions, that assumption had taken place, which was
explained by the words that were placed above, saying:
MAXIMILIANUS II SALUTATUR IMP. MAGNO CONSENSU GERMANORUM, ATQUE
INGENTI LAETITIA BONORUM OMNIUM, ET CHRISTIANAE PIETATIS
FELICITATE.
Then, next to the statue of the said Maximilian, in a place
corresponding to the column at the corner, was seen that of the truly
invincible Charles V; even as over the arch of that wing, which
commanded the Via della Vigna, there was that of the second Albert, a
man of most resolute valour, although he reigned but a short time. Above
the column at the head was placed that of the great Rudolph, who, the
first of that name, was also the first to introduce into that most noble
house the Imperial dignity, and the first to enrich her with the great
Archduchy of Austria; when, having reverted to the Empire for lack of a
successor, he invested with it the first Albert, his son, whence the
House of Austria has since taken its name. All which, in memory of an
event so important, was seen painted in a most beautiful manner in the
frieze above that arch, with an inscription at the foot that said:
RODULPHUS PRIMUS EX HAC FAMILIA IMP. ALBERTUM PRIMUM AUSTRIAE
PRINCIPATU DONAT.
But to return to the part on the left, beginning with the same place in
the centre; beside the escutcheon, and over the false arch that covered
the Tower of the Tornaquinci, was seen the statue of the most devout
Ferdinand, father of the bride, beneath whose feet was seen painted the
valorous resistance made by his efforts in the year 1529 in the defence
of Vienna against the terrible assault of the Turks; demonstrated by the
inscription written above, which said:
FERDINANDUS PRIMUS IMP., INGENTIBUS COPIIS TURCORUM CUM REGE
IPSORUM PULSIS, VIENNAM NOBILEM URBEM FORTISSIME FELICISSIMEQUE
DEFENDIT.
Even as at the corner there was the statue of the first and most
renowned Maximilian, and over the arch that inclined towards the Palace
of the Strozzi that of the pacific Frederick, father of that same
Maximilian, leaning against an olive-trunk. Above the last column, which
was attached to the above-named Palace of the Strozzi, was seen that of
the first Albert mentioned above, who, as has been told, was first
invested by his father Rudolph with the sovereignty of Austria, and gave
to that most noble house the arms that are still to be seen at the
present day. Those arms used formerly to be five little larks on a gold
ground, whereas the new arms, which, as everyone may see, are all red
with a white band that divides them, are said to have been introduced by
him in that form because, as was seen painted there in a great picture
beneath his feet, he found himself not otherwise in that most bloody
battle fought by him with Adolf, who had been first deposed from the
Imperial throne, when the said Albert was seen to slay Adolf valorously
with his own hand and to win from him the Spolia Opima; and since, save
for the middle of his person, which was white on account of his armour,
over all the rest he found himself on that day all stained and dabbled
with blood, he ordained that in memory of that his arms should be
painted in the same manner both of form and colour, and that they should
be preserved gloriously after him by his successors in that house; and
beneath the picture, as with the others, there was to be read a similar
inscription that said:
ALBERTUS I IMP. ADOLPHUM, CUI LEGIBUS IMPERIUM ABROGATUM FUERAT,
MAGNO PROELIO VINCIT ET SPOLIA OPIMA REFERT.
And since each of the eight above-mentioned Emperors, besides the arms
common to their whole house, also used during his lifetime arms private
and peculiar to himself, for that reason, in order to make it more
manifest to the beholders which Emperor each of the statues represented,
there were also placed beneath their feet, on most beautiful shields,
the particular arms that each, as has been told, had borne. All which,
together with some pleasing and well-accommodated little scenes that
were painted on the pedestals, made a magnificent, heroic, and very
ornate effect; even as not less was done, on the columns and in all the
parts where ornaments could be suitably placed, in addition to trophies
and the arms, by the Crosses of S. Andrew, the Fusils, and the Pillars
of Hercules, with the motto, PLUS ULTRA, the principal device of that
arch, and many others like it used by the men of that Imperial family.
Such, then, was the principal view which presented itself to those who
chose to pass by the direct way with the procession; but for those who
came from the opposite direction, from the Via de' Tornabuoni towards
the Tornaquinci, there appeared, with an ornamentation perhaps not less
lovely, in so far as the narrowness of the street permitted, a similar
spectacle arranged in due proportion. For on that side, which we will
call the back, there was formed, as it were, another structure similar
to that already described, save that on account of the narrowness of the
street, whereas the first was seen composed of four arches, the other
was of three only; one of which being joined with friezes and cornices
to that upon which, as has been told, was placed the statue of the
second Maximilian, now Emperor, and thus making it double, and another
likewise attached to the above-described prospect-scene which concealed
the tower, brought it about that the third, leaving also behind it a
little quadrangular piazza, remained as the last for one coming with the
procession, and appeared as the first for one approaching, on the
contrary, from the street of the Tornabuoni; and upon that last, which
was in the same form as those described, even as upon them were the
Emperors, so upon it were seen towering, but standing on their feet, the
two Kings Philip, one the father and the other the son of the great
Charles V, the first Philip, namely, and also the second, so filled with
liberality and justice, whom at the present day we honour as the great
and puissant King of so many most noble realms. Between him and the
statue of his grandfather there was seen painted in the circumambient
frieze that same Philip II seated in majesty, and standing before him a
tall woman in armour, recognized by the white cross that she had on the
breast as being Malta, delivered by him through the valour of the most
illustrious Lord Don Garzia di Toledo, who was portrayed there, from the
siege of the Turks; and she appeared to be seeking, as one grateful for
that great service, to offer to him the obsidional crown of dog's grass,
which was made manifest by the inscription written beneath, which said:
MELITA, EREPTA E FAUCIBUS IMMANISSIMORUM HOSTIUM STUDIO ET
AUXILIIS PIISSIMI REGIS PHILIPPI, CONSERVATOREM SUUM CORONA
GRAMINEA DONAT.
And to the end that the part turned towards the Strada della Vigna might
have likewise some adornment, it was thought a fitting thing to declare
the conception of the whole vast structure by a great inscription
between the final cornice, where the statues stood, and the arch, which
was a large space, saying:
IMPERIO LATE FULGENTES ASPICE REGES;
AUSTRIACA HOS OMNES EDIDIT ALTA DOMUS.
HIS INVICTA FUIT VIRTUS, HIS CUNCTA SUBACTA,
HIS DOMITA EST TELLUS, SERVIT ET OCEANUS.
Even as was done in the same manner and for the same reason towards the
Mercato Vecchio, in another inscription, saying:
IMPERIIS GENS NATA BONIS ET NATA TRIUMPHIS,
QUAM GENUS E COELO DUCERE NEMO NEGET;
TUQUE NITENS GERMEN DIVINAE STIRPIS ETRUSCIS
TRADITUM AGRIS NITIDIS, UT SOLA CULTA BEES;
SI MIHI CONTINGAT VESTRO DE SEMINE FRUCTUM
CARPERE ET IN NATIS CERNERE DETUR AVOS,
O FORTUNATAM! VERO TUNC NOMINE FLORENS
URBS FERAR, IN QUAM FORS CONGERAT OMNE BONUM.
OF THE CANTO DE' CARNESECCHI.
Now it appeared a fitting thing, having brought the triumphant Caesars to
the place described above, to bring the magnanimous Medici, also, with
all their pomp, to the corner that is called the Canto de' Carnesecchi,
which is not far distant from it; as if, reverently receiving the
Caesars, as is the custom, they were come to hold high revel and to do
honour to the new-come bride, so much desired. And here, no less than in
some of the passages to follow, it will be necessary that I should be
pardoned by those who are not of our arts for describing minutely the
nature of the site and the form of the arches and other ornaments, for
the reason that it is my intention to demonstrate not less the
excellence of the hands and brushes of the craftsmen who executed the
works, than the fertility and acuteness of brain of him who was the
author of the stories and of the whole invention; and particularly
because the site in that place was perhaps more disastrous and more
difficult to accommodate than any of the others described or about to be
described. For there the street turns towards S. Maria del Fiore,
inclining to somewhat greater breadth, and comes to form the angle that
by those of our arts is called obtuse; and that was the side on the
right. Opposite, and on the left-hand side, there is a little piazza
into which two streets lead, one that comes from the great Piazza di S.
Maria Novella, and the other likewise from another piazza called the
Piazza Vecchia. In that little piazza, which is in truth very ill
proportioned, there was built over all the lower part a structure in the
form of an octagonal theatre, the doors of which were rectangular and in
the Tuscan Order; and over each of them was seen a niche between two
columns, with cornices, architraves, and other ornaments, rich and
imposing, of Doric architecture, and then, rising higher, there was
formed the third range, wherein was seen above the niches, in each
space, a compartment with most beautiful ornaments in painting. Now it
is but proper to remark that although it has been said that the doors
below were rectangular and Tuscan, nevertheless the two by which the
principal road entered and issued forth, and by which the procession was
to pass, were made in the semblance of arches, and projected for no
small distance in the manner of vestibules, one towards the entrance and
the other towards the exit, both the one and the other having been made
as rich and ornate on the outer facade as was required for the sake of
proportion.
Having thus described the general form of the whole edifice, let us come
down to the details, beginning with the front part, which presented
itself first to the eyes of passers-by and was after the manner of a
triumphal arch, as has been told, in the Corinthian Order. That arch was
seen bordered on one side and on the other by two most warlike statues
in armour, each of which, resting upon a graceful little door, was seen
likewise coming forth from the middle of a niche placed between two
well-proportioned columns. Of these statues, that which was to be seen
on the right hand represented Duke Alessandro, the son-in-law of the
most illustrious Charles V, a Prince spirited and bold, and of most
gracious manners, holding in one hand his sword, and in the other the
Ducal baton, with a motto placed at his feet, which said, on account of
his untimely death: SI FATA ASPERA RUMPAS, ALEXANDER ERIS. On the left
hand was seen, portrayed like all the others from life, the most
valorous Signor Giovanni, with the butt of a broken lance in the hand,
and likewise with his motto at his feet: ITALUM FORTISS. DUCTOR. And
since over the architraves of those four columns already described there
were placed very spacious friezes in due proportion, in the width
covered by the niches there was seen above each of the statues a
compartment between two pilasters; in that above Duke Alessandro was
seen in painting the device of a rhinoceros, used by him, with the
motto: NON BUELVO SIN VENCER; and above the statue of Signor Giovanni,
in the same fashion, his flaming thunderbolt. Above the arch in the
centre, which, being more than seven braccia in width and more than two
squares in height, gave ample room for the procession to pass, and above
the cornice and the frontispieces, there was seen seated in majestic
beauty that of the wise and valorous Duke Cosimo, the excellent father
of the fortunate bridegroom, likewise with his motto at his feet, which
said: PIETATE INSIGNIS ET ARMIS; and with a She-Wolf and a Lion on
either side of him, representing Siena and Florence, which, supported
and regarded lovingly by him, seemed to be reposing affectionately
together. That statue was seen set in the frieze, exactly in a line with
the arch, and between the pictures with the devices described; and in
that same width, above the crowning cornice, there rose on high another
painted compartment, with pilasters in due proportion, cornice, and
other embellishments, wherein with great fitness, alluding to the
election of the above-named Duke Cosimo, was seen represented the story
of the young David when he was anointed King by Samuel, with his motto:
A DOMINO FACTUM EST ISTUD. And then, above that last cornice, which was
raised a very great distance from the ground, was seen the escutcheon of
that most adventuresome family, which, large and magnificent as was
fitting, was likewise supported, with the Ducal Crown, by two Victories
also in imitation of marble; and over the principal entrance of the
arch, in the most becoming place, was the inscription, which said:
VIRTUTI FELICITATIQUE ILLUSTRISSIMAE MEDICEAE FAMILIAE, QUAE FLOS
ITALIAE, LUMEN ETRURIAE, DECUS PATRIAE SEMPER FUIT, NUNC ASCITA SIBI
CAESAREA SOBOLE CIVIBUS SECURITATEM ET OMNI SUO IMPERIO DIGNITATEM
AUXIT, GRATA PATRIA DICAT.
Entering within that arch, one found a kind of loggia, passing spacious
and long, with the vaulting above all painted and embellished with the
most bizarre and beautiful ornaments and with various devices. After
which, in two pilasters over which curved an arch, through which was the
entrance into the above-mentioned theatre, there were seen opposite to
one another two most graceful niches, as it were conjoined with that
second arch; between which niches and the arch first described there
were seen on the counterfeit walls that supported the loggia two
spacious painted compartments, the stories of which accompanied
becomingly each its statue. Of these statues, that on the right hand was
made to represent the great Cosimo, called the Elder, who, although
there had been previously in the family of the Medici many men noble and
distinguished in arms and in civil actions, was nevertheless the first
founder of its extraordinary greatness, and as it were the root of that
plant which has since grown so happily to such magnificence. In his
picture was seen painted the supreme honour conferred upon him by his
native Florence, when he was acclaimed by the public Senate as Pater
Patriae; which was declared excellently well in the inscription that was
seen below, saying:
COSMUS MEDICES, VETERE HONESTISSIMO OMNIUM SENATUS CONSULTO
RENOVATO, PARENS PATRIAE APPELLATUR.
In the upper part of the same pilaster in which was placed the niche,
there was a little picture in due proportion wherein was portrayed his
son, the magnificent Piero, father of the glorious Lorenzo, likewise
called the Elder, the one and true Maecenas of his times, and the
magnanimous preserver of the peace of Italy, whose statue was seen in
the other above-mentioned niche, corresponding to that of the Elder
Cosimo. In the little picture, which he in like manner had over his
head, was painted the portrait of his brother, the magnificent Giuliano,
the father of Pope Clement; and in the large picture, corresponding to
that of Cosimo, was the public council held by all the Italian Princes,
wherein was seen formed, by the advice of Lorenzo, that so stable and so
prudent union by which, as long as he was alive and it endured, Italy
was seen brought to the height of felicity, whereas afterwards, Lorenzo
dying and that union perishing, she was seen precipitated into such
conflagrations, calamities, and ruin; which was demonstrated no less
clearly by the inscription that was beneath, saying:
LAURENTIUS MEDICES, BELLI ET PACIS ARTIBUS EXCELLENS, DIVINO SUO
CONSILIO CONJUNCTIS ANIMIS ET OPIBUS PRINCIPUM ITALORUM ET
INGENTI ITALIAE TRANQUILLITATE PARTA, PARENS OPTIMI SAECULI
APPELLATUR.
Now, coming to the little piazza in which, as has been told, was placed
the octagonal theatre, as I shall call it, and beginning from that first
entrance to go round on the right hand, let me say that the first part
was occupied by that arch of the entrance, above which, in a frieze
corresponding in height to the third and last range of the theatre, were
seen in four ovals the portrait of Giovanni di Bicci, father of Cosimo
the Elder, and that of his son Lorenzo, brother of the same Cosimo, from
whom this fortunate branch of the Medici now reigning had its origin;
with that of Pier Francesco, son of the above-named Lorenzo, and
likewise that of another Giovanni, father of the warlike Signor Giovanni
mentioned above. In the second facade of the octagon, which was joined
to the entrance, there was seen between two most ornate columns, seated
in a great niche, with the royal staff in the hand, a figure in marble,
like all the other statues, of Caterina, the valorous Queen of France,
with all the other ornaments that are required in architecture both
lovely and heroic. And in the third range above, where, as has been
said, the painted compartments came, there was figured for her scene the
same Queen seated in majesty, who had before her two most beautiful
women in armour, one of whom, representing France, and kneeling before
her, was shown presenting to her a handsome boy adorned with a royal
crown, even as the other, who was Spain, standing, was shown in like
manner presenting to her a most lovely girl; the boy being intended for
the most Christian Charles IX, who is now revered as King of France, and
the girl the most noble Queen of Spain, wife of the excellent King
Philip. Then, about the same Caterina, were seen standing with much
reverence some other smaller boys, representing her other most gracious
little children, for whom a Fortune appeared to be holding sceptres,
crowns, and realms. And since between that niche and the arch of the
entrance, on account of the disproportion of the site, there was some
space left over, caused by the desire to make the arch not ungracefully
awry, but well-proportioned and straight, for that reason there was
placed there, as it were in a niche, a painted picture wherein by means
of a Prudence and a Liberality, who stood clasped in a close embrace, it
was shown very ingeniously with what guides the House of Medici had come
to such a height; having above them, painted in a little picture equal
in breadth to the others of the third range, a Piety humble and devout,
recognized by the stork that was beside her, round whom were seen many
little Angels that were showing to her various designs and models of the
many churches, monasteries, and convents built by that magnificent and
religious family. Now, proceeding to the third side of the octagon,
where there was the arch by which one issued from the theatre, over the
frontispiece of that arch was placed, as the heart of so many noble
members, the statue of the most excellent and amiable Prince and Spouse,
and at his feet the motto: SPES ALTERA FLORAE. In the frieze
above--meaning, as before, that this came to the height of the third
range--to correspond to the other arch, where, as has been told, four
portraits had been placed, in that part, also, were four other similar
portraits of his illustrious brothers, accommodated in a similar
manner; those, namely, of the two very reverend Cardinals, Giovanni of
revered memory and the most gracious Ferdinando, and those of the
handsome Signor Don Garzia and the amiable Signor Don Pietro. Then, to
go on to the fourth face, since the corner of the houses that are there,
not giving room for the hollow of any recess, did not permit of the
usual niche being made there, in its stead was seen accommodated with
beautiful artifice, corresponding to the niches, a very large
inscription that said:
HI, QUOS SACRA VIDES REDIMITOS TEMPORA MITRA
PONTIFICES TRIPLICI, ROMAM TOTUMQUE PIORUM
CONCILIUM REXERE PII; SED QUI PROPE FULGENT
ILLUSTRI E GENTE INSIGNES SAGULISVE TOGISVE
HEROES, CLARAM PATRIAM POPULUMQUE POTENTEM
IMPERIIS AUXERE SUIS CERTAQUE SALUTE.
NAM SEMEL ITALIAM DONARUNT AUREA SAECLA,
CONJUGIO AUGUSTO DECORANT NUNC ET MAGE FIRMANT.
Above it, in place of scene and picture, there were painted in two ovals
the two devices, one of the fortunate Duke, the Capricorn with the seven
Stars and with the motto, FIDUCIA FATI; and the other of the excellent
Prince, the Weasel, with the motto, AMAT VICTORIA CURAM. Then in the
three niches that came in the three following facades were the statues
of the three Supreme Pontiffs who have come from that family; all
rejoicing, likewise, to lend their honourable presence to so great a
festival, as if every favour human and divine, every excellence in arms,
letters, wisdom, and religion, and every kind of sovereignty, were
assembled together to vie in rendering those splendid nuptials august
and happy. Of those Pontiffs one was Pius IV, departed a short time
before to a better life, over whose head, in his picture, was seen
painted how, after the intricate disputes were ended at Trent and the
sacrosanct Council was finished, the two Cardinal Legates presented to
him its inviolable decrees; even as in that of Leo X was seen the
conference held by him with Francis I, King of France, whereby with
prudent counsel he bridled the vehemence of that bellicose and
victorious Prince, so that he did not turn all Italy upside down, as he
might perchance have done, and as he was certainly able to do; and in
that of Clement VII was the Coronation, performed by him in Bologna, of
the great Charles V. But in the last facade, which hit against the acute
angle of the houses of the Carnesecchi, by which the straight line of
that facade of the octagon was no little interrupted, nevertheless there
was made with gracious and pleasing artifice another masterly
inscription, after the likeness of the other, but curving somewhat
outwards, which said:
PONTIFICES SUMMOS MEDICUM DOMUS ALTA LEONEM,
CLEMENTEM DEINCEPS, EDIDIT INDE PIUM.
QUID TOT NUNC REFERAM INSIGNES PIETATE VEL ARMIS
MAGNANIMOSQUE DUCES EGREGIOSQUE VIROS?
GALLORUM INTER QUOS LATE REGINA REFULGET,
HAEC REGIS CONJUNX, HAEC EADEM GENITRIX.
Such, as a whole, was the interior of the theatre described above; but
although it may appear to have been described minutely enough, it is
none the less true that an infinity of other ornaments, pictures,
devices, and a thousand most bizarre and most beautiful fantasies which
were placed throughout the Doric cornices and many spaces according to
opportunity, making a very rich and gracious effect, have been omitted
as not being essential, in order not to weary the perhaps already tired
reader; and anyone who delights in such things may imagine that no part
was left without being finished with supreme mastery, consummate
judgment, and infinite loveliness. And a most pleasing and beautiful
finish was given to the highest range by the many arms that were seen
distributed there in due proportion, which were Medici and Austria for
the illustrious Prince, the bridegroom, and her Highness; Medici and
Toledo for the Duke, his father; Medici and Austria again, recognized by
the three feathers as belonging to his predecessor Alessandro; Medici
and Boulogne in Picardy for Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino; Medici and Savoy
for Duke Giuliano; Medici and Orsini for the double kinship of the Elder
Lorenzo and his son Piero; Medici and the Viper for the above-named
Giovanni, husband of Caterina Sforza; Medici and Salviati for the
glorious Signor Giovanni, his son; France and Medici for her most serene
Highness the Queen; Ferrara and Medici for the Duke, with one of the
sisters of the most excellent bridegroom; and Orsini and Medici for the
other most gentle sister, married to the illustrious Signor Paolo
Giordano, Duke of Bracciano.
It now remains for us to describe the last part of the theatre and the
exit, which, corresponding in size, in proportion, and in every other
respect to the entrance already described, there will be little labour,
I believe, in making known to the intelligent reader; save only that the
arch which formed the facade there, facing towards S. Maria del Fiore,
had been constructed, as a part less important, without statues and with
somewhat less magnificence, and in their stead there had been placed
over that arch a very large inscription, which said:
VIRTUS RARA TIBI, STIRPS ILLUSTRISSIMA, QUONDAM
CLARUM TUSCORUM DETULIT IMPERIUM;
QUOD COSMUS FORTI PRAEFUNCTUS MUNERE MARTIS
PROTULIT ET JUSTA CUM DITIONE REGIT:
NUNC EADEM MAJOR DIVINA E GENTE JOANNAM
ALLICIT IN REGNUM CONCILIATQUE TORO.
QUAE SI CRESCET ITEM VENTURA IN PROLE NEPOTES,
AUREA GENS TUSCIS EXORIETUR AGRIS.
In the two pilasters that were at the beginning of the passage, or
vestibule, as we have called it (over which pilasters rose the arch of
the exit, upon which was the statue of the illustrious bridegroom), were
seen two niches, in one of which was placed the statue of the most
gentle Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, the younger brother of Leo and
Gonfalonier of Holy Church, who had likewise in the little picture that
was above him the portrait of the magnanimous Cardinal Ippolito, his
son, and, in the picture that stretched towards the exit, the scene of
the Capitoline Theatre, dedicated to him by the Roman people in the year
1513, with an inscription to make this known, which said:
JULIANUS MEDICES EXIMIAE VIRTUTIS ET PROBITATIS ERGO SUMMIS A POP.
ROM. HONORIBUS DECORATUR, RENOVATA SPECIE ANTIQUAE DIGNITATIS AC
LAETITIAE.
In the other niche, corresponding to the first statue, and, like it,
standing and in armour, was seen the statue of Lorenzo the Younger,
Duke of Urbino, with a sword in the hand; and in the little picture
above him he had the portrait of his father Piero, and in the other
picture the scene when the general's baton was given to him with such
happy augury by his native Florence, likewise with an inscription to
explain it, which said:
LAURENTIUS MED. JUNIOR MAXIMA INVICTAE VIRTUTIS INDOLE, SUMMUM IN
RE MILITARI IMPERIUM MAXIMO SUORUM CIVIUM AMORE ET SPE
ADIPISCITUR.
OF THE CANTO ALLA PAGLIA.
At the corner which from the straw that is constantly sold there is
called the Canto alla Paglia, there was made another arch of great
beauty and not less rich and imposing than any of the others. Now it may
perchance appear to some, for the reason that all or the greater part of
those ornaments have been extolled by us as in the highest rank of
beauty and excellence of artistry, pomp, and richness, that this has
been done by reason of a certain manner of writing inclined to overmuch
praise and exaggeration. But everyone may take it as very certain that
those works, besides leaving a long way behind them all things of that
kind as were ever executed in that city, and perhaps in any other place,
were also such, and ordained with such grandeur, magnificence, and
liberality by those magnanimous Lords, and executed in such a manner by
the craftsmen, that they surpassed by a great measure every expectation,
and took away from no matter what writer all force and power to attain
with the pen to the excellence of the reality.
Now, to return, I say that in that place--in that part, namely, where
the street that leads from the Archbishop's Palace into the Borgo S.
Lorenzo, dividing the above-named Strada della Paglia, forms a perfect
crossing of the ways, was made the ornament already mentioned, much
after the likeness of the ancient four-fronted Temple of Janus; and, for
the reason that from there the Cathedral Church could be seen, it was
ordained by those truly religious Princes that it should be dedicated to
sacrosanct Religion, in which how eminent all Tuscany, and Florence in
particular, has been at all times, I do not believe that it is necessary
for me to take much pains to demonstrate. And therein the intention was
that since Florence had brought with her, as was told at the beginning,
as her handmaids and companions, to give the first welcome to the new
bride, some of the virtues or attributes that had raised her to
greatness, and in which she could well vaunt herself, the intention, I
say, was to show that there also, for a no less necessary office, she
had left Religion, that she, awaiting the bride, might in a certain
manner introduce her into the vast and most ornate church so near at
hand. That arch, then, which was in a very broad street, as has been
told, was seen formed of four very ornate facades, the first of which
presented itself to the eyes of one going in the direction of the
Carnesecchi, and another, following the limb of the cross, faced towards
S. Giovanni and the Duomo of S. Maria del Fiore, leaving two other
facades on the cross-limb of the cross, one of which looked towards S.
Lorenzo and the other towards the Archbishop's Palace. And now, to
describe in order and with as much clearness as may be possible the
composition and the beauty of the whole, I say--beginning again with the
front part, to which that at the back was wholly similar in the
composition of the ornaments, without failing in any point--that in the
centre of the wide street was seen the very broad entrance of the arch,
which rose to a beautifully proportioned height, and on either side of
it were seen two immense niches bordered by two similar Corinthian
columns, all painted with sacred books, mitres, thuribles, chalices, and
other sacerdotal instruments, in place of trophies and spoils. Above
these, and above the regular cornices and friezes, which projected
somewhat further outwards than those which came over the arch in the
centre, but were exactly equal to them in height, was seen another
cornice, as of a door or window, curving between the one column and the
other in a quarter-round, which, seeming to form a separate niche, made
an effect as graceful and lovely as could well be imagined. Above that
last cornice, then, rose a frieze of a height and magnificence in accord
with the proportions of so great a beginning, with certain great
consoles, carved and overlaid with gold, which came exactly in
perpendicular lines with the columns already described; and upon them
rested another magnificent and very ornate cornice, with four very
large candelabra likewise overlaid with gold and, like all the columns,
bases, capitals, cornices, architraves, and every other thing, picked
out with various carvings and colours, and also standing in line with
the great consoles and the columns above described. Now in the centre,
springing above the said consoles, two cornices were seen rising, and
little by little forming an angle, and finally uniting as a
frontispiece, over which, upon a very rich and beautiful base, was
seated an immense statue with a Cross in the hand, representing the most
holy Christian Religion, at whose feet, one on either side of her, were
seen two other similar statues which seemed to be lying upon the cornice
of the above-named frontispiece, one of which, that on the right hand,
with three children about her, represented Charity, and the other Hope.
Then in the space, or, to speak more precisely, in the angle of the
frontispiece, there was seen as the principal device of that arch the
ancient Labarum with the Cross, and with the motto, IN HOC VINCES, sent
to Constantine; beneath which was seen set with beautiful grace a very
large escutcheon of the Medici with three Papal crowns, in keeping with
the idea of Religion, for the three Pontiffs whom she has had from that
house. And on the first level cornice, on either side, was seen a statue
corresponding to the niche already described which came between the two
columns; one of which, that on the right hand, was a most beautiful
young woman in full armour, with the spear and shield, such as Minerva
used to be represented in ancient times, save that in place of the head
of Medusa there was seen a great red cross on her breast, which caused
her to be recognized with ease as the new Order of S. Stephen, founded
so devoutly by our glorious and magnanimous Duke. The other on the left
hand was seen all adorned with sacerdotal and civil vestments in place
of arms, and with a great cross in the hand in place of a spear; and
these, towering over the whole structure in most beautiful accord with
the others, made a very imposing and marvellous effect. Next, in the
frieze that came between that last cornice and the architrave that
rested upon the columns, where according to the order of the composition
there came three compartments, were seen painted the three kinds of true
religion that have been from the creation of the world down to the
present day. In the first of these, which came on the right hand
beneath the armed statue, was seen painted that kind of religion which
reigned in the time of natural law, in those few who had it true and
good, although they had not a perfect knowledge of God, wherefore there
was seen figured Melchizedek offering bread and wine and other fruits of
the earth. Even so, in the picture on the left hand, which came in like
manner beneath the statue of peaceful Religion, was seen the other
religion, ordained by God through the hands of Moses, and more perfect
than the first, but all so veiled with images and figures, that these
did not permit the final and perfect clearness of Divine worship to be
fully revealed; to signify which there were seen Moses and Aaron
sacrificing the Paschal Lamb to God. But in the central picture, which
came exactly beneath the large and above-described statues of Religion,
Charity, and Hope, and over the principal arch, and which in proportion
with the greater space was much larger, there was seen figured an altar,
and upon it a Chalice with the Host, which is the true and evangelic
Sacrifice; about which were seen some figures kneeling, and over it a
Holy Spirit in the midst of many little Angels, who were holding in
their hands a scroll in which was written, IN SPIRITU ET VERITATE; so
that it appeared that they were repeating those words in song, Spiritus
meaning all that concerns the sacrifice natural and corporeal, and
Veritas all that appertains to the legal; which was all by way of image
and figure. Beneath the whole scene was a most beautiful inscription,
which, supported by two other Angels, rested on the cornice of the
central arch, saying:
VERAE RELIGIONI, QUAE VIRTUTUM OMNIUM FUNDAMENTUM, PUBLICARUM RERUM
FIRMAMENTUM, PRIVATARUM ORNAMENTUM, ET HUMANAE TOTIUS VITAE LUMEN
CONTINET, ETRURIA SEMPER DUX ET MAGISTRA ILLIUS HABITA, ET EADEM
NUNC ANTIQUA ET SUA PROPRIA LAUDE MAXIME FLORENS, LIBENTISSIME
CONSECRAVIT.
But coming to the lower part, and returning to the niche which came on
the right hand, between the two columns and beneath the armed Religion,
and which, although in painting, by reason of the chiaroscuro appeared
as if in relief; there, I say, was seen the statue of our present most
pious Duke in the habit of a Knight of S. Stephen, with the cross in his
hand, and with the following inscription, which had the appearance of
real carving, over his head and above the niche, saying:
COSMUS MEDIC. FLOREN. ET SENAR. DUX II, SACRAM D. STEPHANI
MILITIAM CHRISTIANAE PIETATIS ET BELLICAE VIRTUTIS DOMICILIUM
FUNDAVIT, ANNO MDLXI.
Even as on the base of the same niche, between the two pedestals of the
columns, which were fashioned in the Corinthian proportions, there was
seen painted the Taking of Damiata, achieved by the prowess of the
valiant knights of Florence; as it were auguring for those his new
knights similar glory and valour. And in the lunette or semi-circle
which came above the two columns, there was seen his private and
particular escutcheon of balls, which, by the red cross that was added
to it with beautiful grace, made it clearly manifest that it was that of
the Grand Master and Chief of the Order.
Now, for the public and universal satisfaction, and in order to revive
the memory of those who, born in that city or that province, became
illustrious for integrity of character and for sanctity of life, and
founders of some revered Order, and also to kindle the minds of all
beholders to imitation of their goodness and perfection, it was thought
right and proper, since there had been placed on the right hand, as has
been related, the statue of the Duke, founder of the holy military Order
of S. Stephen, to set on the other side that of S. Giovanni Gualberto,
who was likewise a knight of the household, according to the custom of
those times, and the first founder and father of the Order of
Vallombrosa. Most fittingly, even as the Duke was beneath the armed
statue, in like manner he was seen standing beneath the sacerdotal
statue of Religion, in the habit of a knight, pardoning his enemy;
having in the frontispiece over the niche a similar escutcheon of the
Medici, with three Cardinal's hats, and on the base the story of the
miracle that took place at Badia di Settimo, when the friar, by the
command of the above-named S. Giovanni Gualberto, to the confusion of
the heretics and simonists, passed with his benediction and with a
cross in his hand through the midst of a raging fire; with the
inscription likewise in a little tablet above him, which made all that
manifest, saying:
JOANNES GUALBERTUS, EQUES NOBILISS. FLOREN., VALLIS UMBROSAE
FAMILIAE AUCTOR FUIT, ANNO MLXI.
With which was terminated that most ornate and beautiful principal
facade.
Entering beneath the arch, one saw there a passing spacious loggia, or
passage, or vestibule, whichever we may choose to call it; and in
exactly the same manner were seen formed the three other entrances,
which, being joined together at the intersection of the two streets,
left in the centre a space about eight braccia square. There the four
arches rose to the height of those without, and the pendentives curved
in the manner of a vault as if a little cupola were to spring over them;
but when these had reached the cornice curving right round, at the point
where the vault of the cupola would have had to begin to rise, there
sprang a gallery of gilded balusters, above which was seen a choir of
most beautiful Angels, dancing most gracefully in a ring and singing in
sweetest harmony; while for greater grace, and to the end that there
might be light everywhere beneath the arch, in place of a cupola there
was left the free and open sky. And in the spaces or spandrels,
whichever they may be called, of the four angles, which of necessity,
narrow at their springing, opened out as they rose nearer to the cornice
in accordance with the curve of the arch, were painted with no less
grace in four rounds the four beasts mystically imagined by Ezekiel and
by John the Divine for the four writers of the holy Evangel. But to
return to the first of those four loggie or vestibules, as we have
called them; the vaults there were seen distributed with very graceful
and lovely divisions, and all adorned and painted with various little
scenes and with the arms and devices of those religious Orders which
were above or beside them, and in whose service, principally, they were
there. Thus on the facade of that first one on the right hand, which was
joined to the Duke's niche, there was seen painted in a spacious picture
the same Duke giving the habit to his knights, with those observances
and ceremonies that are customary with them; in the most distant part,
which represented Pisa, could be perceived the noble building of their
palace, church, and hospital, and on the base, in an inscription for the
explanation of the scene, could be read these words:
COSMUS MED. FLOR. ET SENAR. DUX II, EQUITIBUS SUIS DIVINO
CONSILIO CREATIS MAGNIFICE PIEQUE INSIGNIA ET SEDEM PRAEBET
LARGEQUE REBUS OMNIBUS INSTRUIT.
Even as in the other on the opposite side, attached to the niche of S.
Giovanni Gualberto, was seen how that same Saint founded his first and
principal monastery in the midst of the wildest forests; with an
inscription likewise on the base, which said:
S. JO. GUALBERTUS IN VALLOMBROSIANO MONTE, AB INTERVENTORIBUS ET
ILLECEBRIS OMNIBUS REMOTO LOCO, DOMICILIUM PONIT SACRIS SUIS
SODALIBUS.
Now, having despatched the front facade, and passing to that at the
back, and describing it in the same manner, the less to hinder a clear
understanding, we shall say, as has also been said before, that in
height, in size, in the compartments, in the columns, and, finally, in
every other ornament, it corresponded completely to that already
described, save that whereas the first had on the highest summit in the
centre the three great statues described above, Religion, Charity, and
Hope, the other had in place of these only a most beautiful altar all
composed and adorned after the ancient use, upon which, even as one
reads of Vesta, was seen burning a very bright flame. On the right hand,
towards S. Giovanni, there was seen standing a great statue in becoming
vestments and gazing intently on Heaven, representing the Contemplative
Life, which came exactly in a perpendicular line over the great niche
between the two columns, as has been described in the other facade; and
on the other side another great statue like it, but very active, with
the arms bare and with the head crowned with flowers, representing the
Active Life; in which statues were comprised very fittingly all the
qualities that appertain to the Christian Religion. In the frieze
between the one cornice and the other, which corresponded to that of the
other part, and which was likewise divided into three compartments,
there were seen in the largest, which was in the centre, three men in
Roman dress presenting twelve little children to some old and venerable
Tuscans, to the end that these, being instructed by them in their
religion, might demonstrate in what repute the Tuscan religion was held
in ancient times among the Romans and all other nations: with a motto to
explain this, taken from that perfect law of Cicero, which said: ETRURIA
PRINCIPES DISCIPLINAM DOCETO. Beneath which was the inscription, similar
and corresponding to that already given from the other facade, which
said:
FRUGIBUS INVENTIS DOCTAE CELEBRANTUR ATHENAE,
ROMA FEROX ARMIS IMPERIOQUE POTENS.
AT NOSTRA HAEC MITIS PROVINCIA ETRURIA RITU
DIVINO ET CULTU NOBILIORE DEI,
UNAM QUAM PERHIBENT ARTES TENUISSE PIANDI
NUMINIS, ET RITUS EDOCUISSE SACROS;
NUNC EADEM SEDES VERAE EST PIETATIS, ET ILLI
HOS NUMQUAM TITULOS AUFERET ULLA DIES.
In one of the two smaller pictures, that which came on the right hand,
since it is thought that the ancient religion of the Gentiles (which not
without reason was placed on the west) is divided into two parts, and
consists, above all, of augury and sacrifice, there was seen painted
according to that use an ancient priest who with marvellous solicitude
was standing all intent on considering the entrails of the animals
sacrificed, which were placed before him in a great basin by the
ministers of the sacrifice; and in the other picture an augur like him
with the crooked lituus in the hand, drawing in the sky the regions
proper for taking auguries from certain birds that were shown flying
above.
Now, descending lower, and coming to the niches; in that, I say, which
was on the right hand, was seen S. Romualdo, who in this our country, a
land set apart, as it were, by Nature for religion and sanctity, founded
on the wild Apennine mountains the holy Hermitage of Camaldoli, whence
that Order had its origin and name; with the inscription over the niche,
which said:
ROMUALDUS IN HAC NOSTRA PLENA SANCTITATIS TERRA, CAMALDULENSIUM
ORDINEM COLLOCAVIT ANNO MXII.
And on the base the story of the sleeping hermit who saw in a dream the
staircase similar to that of Jacob, which, passing beyond the clouds,
ascended even to Heaven. On the facade which was joined to the niche,
and which passed, as was said of the other, under the vestibule, was
seen painted the building of the above-named hermitage in that wild
place, carried out with marvellous care and magnificence; with the
inscription, which in explanation said:
SANCTUS ROMUALDUS IN CAMALDULENSI SYLVESTRI LOCO, DIVINITUS SIBI
OSTENSO ET DIVINAE CONTEMPLATIONI APTISSIMO, SUO GRAVISSIMO
COLLEGIO SEDES QUIETISSIMAS EXTRUIT.
In the niche on the left hand was seen the Blessed Filippo Benizi, one
of our citizens, who was little less than the founder of the Servite
Order, and without a doubt its first ordinator; and he, although he was
accompanied by seven other noble Florentines, the one niche not being
large enough to contain them all, was placed therein alone, as the most
worthy; with the inscription above, which said:
PHILIPPUS BENITIUS CIVIS NOSTER INSTITUIT ET REBUS OMNIBUS
ORNAVIT SERVORUM FAMILIAM, ANNO MCCLXXXV.
With the story of the Annunciation, likewise, on the base, wherein was
the Virgin supported by many little Angels, with one among them who was
shown scattering a beautiful vase of flowers over a vast multitude that
stood there in supplication; representing the innumerable graces that
are seen bestowed daily by her intercession on the faithful who with
devout zeal commend themselves to her. In the other scene, in the great
picture that came in the passage below, were the same S. Filippo and the
seven above-mentioned noble citizens throwing off the civil habit of
Florence and assuming that of the Servite Order, and shown all occupied
with directing the building of their beautiful monastery, which is now
to be seen in Florence, but was then without the city, and the venerable
and most ornate Church of the Annunziata, so celebrated throughout the
whole world for innumerable miracles, which has been ever since the head
of that Order; with the inscription, which said:
SEPTEM NOBILES CIVES NOSTRI IN SACELLO NOSTRAE URBIS, TOTO NUNC
ORBE RELIGIONIS ET SANCTITATIS FAMA CLARISSIMO, SE TOTOS
RELIGIONI DEDUNT ET SEMINA JACIUNT ORDINIS SERVORUM D. MARIAE
VIRG.
There remain the two facades which formed as it were arms, as has been
told, to the straight limb of the cross. These were smaller than those
already described, which was caused by the narrowness of the two streets
that begin there; wherefore, since less space came to be left for the
magnificence of the work, in order consequently not to depart from the
due proportion of height in their much smaller size, with much judgment
the arch which gave passage there had on either side not a niche but a
single column; over which rose a frieze in due proportion, in the centre
of which was a painted picture that crowned the ornamentation of that
facade, but not without an infinity of such other embellishments,
devices, and pictures as were thought to be proper in such a place. Now,
that whole structure being dedicated to the glory and power of the true
Religion and to the memory of her glorious victories, they chose the two
most noble and most important victories, won over two most powerful and
particular adversaries, human wisdom namely, under which are comprised
philosophers and heretics, and worldly power: and on the part facing
towards the Archbishop's Palace was seen depicted how S. Peter and S.
Paul and the other Apostles, filled with the divine spirit, disputed
with a great number of philosophers and many others full of human
wisdom, some of whom, those most confused, were seen throwing away or
tearing up the books that they held in their hands, and others, such as
Dionysius the Areopagite, Justinus, Pantaenus, and the like, were coming
towards them, all humble and devout, in token of having recognized and
accepted the Evangelic truth; with the motto in explanation of this,
which said: NON EST SAPIENTIA, NON EST PRUDENTIA. In the other scene
towards the Archbishop's Palace, on the other side from the first, were
seen the same S. Peter and S. Paul and the others in the presence of
Nero and many of his armed satellites, boldly and freely preaching the
truth of the Evangel; with the motto--NON EST FORTITUDO, NON EST
POTENTIA, referring to that which follows in Solomon, whence the motto
is taken--CONTRA DOMINUM. Of the facades which came under the two vaults
of those two arches, in one, on the side towards the Archbishop's
Palace, was seen the Blessed Giovanni Colombini, an honoured citizen of
Siena, making a beginning with the Company of the Ingesuati by throwing
off the citizen's habit on the Campo di Siena and assuming that of a
miserable beggar, and giving the same habit to many who with great zeal
were demanding it from him; with the inscription, which said:
ORIGO COLLEGII PAUPERUM, QUI AB JESU COGNOMEN ACCEPERUNT; CUJUS
ORDINIS PRINCEPS FUIT JOANNES COLOMBINUS, DOMO SENENSIS, ANNO
MCCCLI.
And in the other, on the opposite side, were seen other gentlemen,
likewise of Siena, before Guido Pietramalesco, Bishop of Arezzo, to whom
a commission had been given by the Pope that he should inquire into
their lives; and they were all intent on making manifest to him the wish
and desire that they had to create the Order of Monte Oliveto, which was
seen approved by that Bishop, exhorting them to put into execution the
building of that vast and most holy monastery, which they erected
afterwards at Monte Oliveto in the district of Siena, and of which they
were shown to have brought thither a model; with the inscription, which
said:
INSTITUITUR SACER ORDO MONACORUM QUI AB OLIVETO MONTE NOMINATUR,
AUCTORIBUS NOBILIBUS CIVIBUS SENENSIBUS, ANNO MCCCXIX.
On the side towards S. Lorenzo was seen the building of the most famous
Oratory of La Vernia, at the expense in great part of the devout Counts
Guidi, at that time lords of that country, and by the agency of the
glorious S. Francis, who, moved by the solitude of the place, made his
way thither, and was visited there by Our Lord the Crucified Jesus
Christ and marked with the Stigmata; with the inscription that explained
all this, saying:
ASPERRIMUM AGRI NOSTRI MONTEM DIVUS FRANCISCUS ELEGIT, IN QUO
SUMMO ARDORE DOMINI NOSTRI SALUTAREM NECEM CONTEMPLARETUR, ISQUE
NOTIS PLAGARUM IN CORPORE IPSIUS EXPRESSIS DIVINITUS CONSERVATUR.
Even as on the opposite side was seen the Celebration held in Florence
of the Council under Eugenius IV, when the Greek Church, so long at
discord with the Latin, was reunited with her, and the true Faith, it
may be said, was restored to her pristine clearness and purity; which
was likewise made manifest by the inscription, saying:
NUMINE DEI OPTIMI MAX. ET SINGULARI CIVIUM NOSTRORUM RELIGIONIS
STUDIO, ELIGITUR URBS NOSTRA IN QUA GRAECIA, AMPLISSIMUM MEMBRUM A
CHRISTIANA PIETATE DISJUNCTUM, RELIQUO ECCLESIAE CORPORI
CONJUNGERETUR.
OF S. MARIA DEL FIORE.
As for the Cathedral Church, the central Duomo of the city, although it
is in itself stupendous and most ornate, nevertheless, since the new
Lady was to halt there, met by all the clergy, as she did, it was
thought well to embellish it with all possible pomp and show of
religion, and with lights, festoons, shields, and a vast and very well
distributed quantity of banners. At the principal door, in particular,
there was made in the Ionic Order of composition a marvellous and most
graceful ornament, in which, in addition to the rest, which was in truth
excellently well conceived, rich and rare beyond all else appeared ten
little stories of the actions of the glorious Mother of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, executed in low-relief, which, since they were judged by all who
saw them to be of admirable artistry, it is hoped that some day they may
be seen in bronze in competition with the marvellous and stupendous
gates of the Temple of S. Giovanni, and even, as in a more favoured age,
more pleasing and more beautiful; but at that time, although of clay,
they were seen all overlaid with gold, and were let in a graceful
pattern of compartments into the wooden door, which likewise had the
appearance of gold. Above which, besides an immense escutcheon of the
Medici with the Papal Keys and Crown, supported by Operation and Grace,
were seen painted in a very beautiful canvas all the tutelary Saints of
the city, who, turned towards a Madonna and the Child that she was
holding in her arms, appeared to be praying to her for the welfare and
felicity of Florence; even as over all, as the principal device, and
with most lovely invention, was seen a little ship which, with the aid
of a favourable wind, appeared to be speeding with full sail towards a
most tranquil port, signifying that Christian actions are in need of
the divine grace, but that it is also necessary on our part to add to
them, as not being passive, good disposition and activity. Which was
likewise made clearly manifest by the motto, which said, [Greek: Syn
Theo]; and even more by the very short inscription that was seen
beneath, saying:
CONFIRMA HOC DEUS QUOD OPERATUS ES IN NOBIS.
OF THE HORSE.
On the Piazza di S. Pulinari, not in connection with the tribunal that
was near there, but to the end that the great space between the Duomo
and the next arch might not remain empty, although the street is very
beautiful, there was made with marvellous artistry and subtle invention
the figure of an immense, very excellent, very fiery and well-executed
horse, more than nine braccia in height, which was rearing up on the
hind-legs; and upon it was seen a young hero in full armour and in
aspect all filled with valour, who had just wounded to death with his
spear, the butt of which was seen at his feet, a vast monster that was
stretched all limp beneath his horse, and already he had laid his hand
on a glittering sword, as if about to smite him again, and seemed to
marvel to what straits the monster had been reduced by the first blow.
That hero represented the true Herculean Virtue, which, as Dante said so
well, chased through every town and banished to Hell the dissipatrix of
kingdoms and republics, the mother of discord, injury, rapine, and
injustice, that evil power, finally, that is commonly called Vice or
Fraud, hidden under the form of a woman young and fair, but with a great
scorpion's tail; and, slaying her, he seemed to have restored the city
to the tranquillity and peace in which she is seen at the present day,
thanks to her excellent Lords, reposing and flourishing so happily.
Which was demonstrated in a manner no less masterly by the device,
placed fittingly on the great base, in which, in the centre of an open
temple supported by many columns, upon a sacred altar, was seen the
Egyptian Ibis, which was shown tearing with the beak and with the claws
some serpents that were wound round its legs; with a motto that said
aptly: PRAEMIA DIGNA.
OF THE BORGO DE' GRECI.
Even so, also, at the corner of the Borgo de' Greci, to the end that in
the turn that was made in going towards the Dogana, the eyes might have
something on which to feast with delight, it was thought well to form a
little closed arch of Doric architecture, dedicating it to Public
Merriment; which was demonstrated by the statue of a woman crowned with
a garland and all joyous and smiling, which was in the principal place,
with a motto in explanation, saying: HILARITAS P.P. FLORENT. Below her,
in the midst of many grotesques and many graceful little stories of
Bacchus, were seen two most charming little Satyrs, which with two skins
that they held on their shoulders were pouring into a very beautiful
fountain, as was done in the other, white and red wine; and as in the
other the fish, so in this one two swans that were under the boys,
played a trick on him who drank too much by means of jets of water that
at times spurted with force from the vase; with a graceful motto that
said: ABITE LYMPHAE VINI PERNICIES. Above and around the large statue
were seen many others, both Satyrs and Bacchanals, who, shown in a
thousand pleasing ways drinking, dancing, singing, and playing all those
pranks that the drunken are wont to play, seemed as if chanting the
motto written above them:
NUNC EST BIBENDUM, NUNC PEDE LIBERO PULSANDA TELLUS.
OF THE ARCH OF THE DOGANA.
It appeared, among the many prerogatives, excellences, and graces with
which fair Florence adorned herself, distributing them over various
places, as has been shown, to receive and accompany her illustrious
Princess, it appeared, I say, that the sole sovereign and head of them
all, Civil Virtue or Prudence, queen and mistress of the art of ruling
and governing well peoples and states, had been passed over up to this
point without receiving any attention; as to which Prudence, although to
the great praise and glory of Florence it could be demonstrated amply in
many of her children in past times, nevertheless, having at the present
time in her most excellent Lords the most recent, the most true, and
without a doubt the most splendid example that has ever been seen in her
up to our own day, it was thought that their magnanimous actions were
best fitted to express and demonstrate that virtue. And with what good
reason, and how clearly without any taint of adulation, but only by the
grateful minds of the best citizens, this honour was paid to them,
anyone who is not possessed by blind envy (by whose venomous bite
whoever has ruled at any time has always been molested), may judge with
ease, looking not only at the pure and upright government of their
happily adventuresome State and at its preservation among difficulties,
but also at its memorable, ample, and glorious increase, brought about
certainly not less by the infinite fortitude, constancy, patience, and
vigilance of its most prudent Duke, than by the benign favour of
prosperous Fortune. All which came to be expressed excellently well in
the inscription set with most beautiful grace in a fitting place,
embracing the whole conception of the whole ornament, and saying:
REBUS URBANIS CONSTITUTIS, FINIB. IMPERII PROPAGATIS, RE MILITARI
ORNATA, PACE UBIQUE PARTA, CIVITATIS IMPERIIQUE DIGNITATE AUCTA,
MEMOR TANTORUM BENEFICIORUM PATRIA PRUDENTIAE DUCIS OPT.
DEDICAVIT.
At the entrance of the public and ducal Piazza, then, and attached on
one side to the public and ducal Palace, and on the other to those
buildings in which salt is distributed to the people, there was
dedicated well and fittingly to that same Civil Virtue or Prudence an
arch marvellous and grand beyond all the others, similar and conforming
in every part, although more lofty and more magnificent, to that of
Religion already described, which was placed
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