The South of France-East Half Part 41

It is crowded with nymphs and satyrs, presided over by a statue of Neptune (19 feet high) in a car drawn by four horses. Adjoining is a superb equestrian statue of Cosmo, by Bologna. The horse is admirable.

To the left of the statue is the Palazzo Uguccione (considered to have been designed by Raphael), built in 1551. Adjoining the Loggia dei Lanzi are the extensive buildings "degli Uffizi," the great storehouse of art treasures. On both sides of the Piazza, along the bas.e.m.e.nt floor, extends a wide and lofty colonnade, by Vasari (1560-74), ornamented with 24 statues of the most eminent Italians. On the same side as the Loggia is the Post-Office (Reale Poste). On the opposite side, at the second door from the end, is the entrance to the Galleria degli Uffizi, and six doors farther down, the entrance to the _Biblioteca n.a.z.ionale_, with about 250,000 vols. and 14,000 MSS. Open from 9 to 4. Any book may be had for consultation in the reading-room by writing the name on a slip of paper. The National Library was formed in 1864 by the union of the Palatine Library collected by the Medici with the Magliabecchian Library collected by Antonio Magliabechi in 1700. The arch at the S. end of the colonnade leads to the river Arno and the Ponte Vecchio.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plan of the Uffizi & Pitti Galleries]

[Headnote: UFFIZI GALLERY--VESTIBULES--CORRIDORS.]

+Galleria degli Uffizi.+

Open daily from 10 to 3. Fee, 1 fr. each. Sundays, free. W.C.'s near the portrait rooms; key with the keepers in the corner of the southern gallery. In the top storey of the Uffizi buildings is the famous collection of paintings, statues, and antiquities, united with a similar collection in the Pitti Palace, by long galleries which cross the Arno by the Ponte Vecchio, and extend along the street Via Guicciardini, by the tops of the houses. The payment of a franc admits to both collections, and the visitor may commence at either end; either from the second door left hand, under the Uffizi colonnade, or from the door at the N.E. corner of the Pitti Palace, next to the iron gate opening into the Boboli gardens. But the easiest plan is to commence with the Uffizi, and to descend towards the Pitti gallery by the stair at the top of the western gallery. The only part of the way in which it is possible to go wrong, is where (after having pa.s.sed through the gallery of birds, fishes, and plants, admirably drawn in 1695 by Bart. Legozzi, and a small room with a few beautiful miniature paintings representing scenes in the life of our Lord,) we come to a common stone staircase, which, to enter the Pitti galleries, _ascend_, but to go out, descend. Downstairs, outside, are the Piazza Pitti and the entrance to the Boboli gardens.

Entering the Uffizi by the second doorway under the colonnade, those who wish to save themselves the fatigue of the 126 steps up to the galleries may, for a franc, be carried up in a lift. In the first vestibule are Roman statues and bas-reliefs representing festivals and sacrifices, and busts of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Cosmo I., Francis I., and of others of the Medici. Second vestibule, more Roman statuary, and an inimitable Greek figure of a wild boar; the whole expressing admirably the growling ire kindling in an irritated animal. Two exquisite wolf-dogs, bold, spirited, and true to nature. The horse, said to have belonged to the Niobes group, does not bear close examination.

We now enter the eastern corridor, 178 yards long, with the ceiling painted in arabesques by Poccetti. Ranged on both sides are valuable specimens of ancient statuary, and of Roman busts of emperors and members of the imperial family, Augusti et Augustae. On the walls is hung a valuable and interesting series of pictures, beginning with the stiff gilded Byzantine style of the infancy of the art, as No. 1, a Madonna by Andrea Rico di Candia (1102), and advancing gradually by No. 2, St.

Cecilia, by Cimabue, 130 years later. A marked improvement in colour and grouping is seen in No. 6, Christ in Gethsemane, by Giotto, pupil of Cimabue. No. 17 is a beautiful triptych by Fra. Angelico; No. 24 a Madonna by Credi; No. 29 a Battlepiece by P. Uccello; and No. 61 a Crucifixion by Lippi.

[Headnote: TUSCAN SCHOOL--TRIBUNA.]

From the two long sides of the gallery large doors open into halls where the pictures are arranged in schools; the first of these being, as is shown on the plan, the +Scuola Toscana+, contained in three rooms, and consisting of 165 paintings, by M. Albertinelli, A. and C. Allori, B.

Angelico, M. A. Anselmi. B. Bandinelli, Fra. Bartolommeo, G. Biliverti, S. Botticelli, A. Bronzino. F. Cambi, J. Casentino, Cigoli, P. di Cosimo, L. di Credi, F. Curradi. C. Dolci. Empoli. P. Francesca, M. A.

Franciabigio. A. L. Gentil, D. and R. Ghirlandaio, F. Giorgio, G. S.

Giovanni, B. Gozzoli, F. Granacci. Ignoto (unknown). Fra F. Lippi. O.

Marinari, Masaccio, T. Manzuoli, G. da Milano, F. Morandini. G. Pagani, M. Pasti, S. Pieri, A. Pollaiolo, Pontormo. G. Ramacciotti, Razzi, Il Rosso, G. F. Rustici. V. Salimbeni, C. Salviati, A. del Sarto, L. Signorelli. Fr. Ubertini. R. Vanni, O. Vannini, G. Vasari, Dom.

Veneziano, A. Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci, Volterrano. F. Zucchero.

The earliest painters are in the inner room. Among the most remarkable of them are, B. Angelico, 1294. A. Botticelli, 1286, a large picture, and 1289 and 1299. Fra. F. Lippi, 1307. D. Ghirlandaio, 1295 and 1297.

G. da Milano, 1293, in ten compartments. A. Pollaiolo, 1301 and 1306; D.

Veneziano, 1305.

In the middle hall--Albertinelli, 1259. Fra. Bartolommeo, 1265; Bronzini, 1271. Cigoli, 1276 his best work. F. Lippi, 1257 and 1268; Razzi, 1279, formerly a banner carried in processions. Leonardo da Vinci, 1252, an unfinished picture.

First hall--Albertinelli, 1259; Allori, 1165; Biliverti, 1261, one of his best works; Bronzino, 1271; Cigoli, 1276; Credi, 1168; Leonardo da Vinci, 1157 and 1159 remarkably fine.

[Headnote: THE TRIBUNA.]

Next to the rooms occupied by the Scuola Toscana is the +Tribuna+, a plain 8-sided hall, 30 ft. in diameter, designed by B. Buondelmonti, and painted and decorated by Poccetti. In this room are preserved five of the most famous antique statues in the world, and forty-two of the choicest pictures in the collection by Alfani, F. Barocci, Fra.

Bartolommeo, A. and L. Caracci, Correggio, Domenichino, A. Durer, Guercino, L. Kranach, F. Francia, Lanfranco, B. Luini, Mantegna, Michael Angelo, L. d'Olanda, P. Perugino, Raphael, G. Reni, Giulio Romano, Rubens, A. del Sarto, Schidone, Spagnoletti, Tiziano, Van Dyck, P. Veronese, and D. Volterra. Facing the door is the +Venus de Medici+, 4 ft. 11 inches high, supposed to be by Cleomenes, son of Apollodorus, which, along with the statue of the Apollino, were brought from the Villa Hadrian, in Tivoli, during the reign of Cosmo III. The group of the Wrestlers, exquisitely finished, wants animation. The Dancing Fawn, attributed to Praxiteles, is one of the most exquisite works of art that remains of the ancients. The head and arms were restored by Michael Angelo. In the _Knife-Grinder_, the bony square form, the squalid countenance, and the short neglected hair, express admirably the character of a slave, still more plainly written on his coa.r.s.e hard hands and wrinkled brow. Among the paintings, six are by Raphael--all gems. 1120 Portrait of a Lady, painted when he was 20; 1123 the Fornarina, every hue as perfect as if transferred to the canvas by the sun--the expression is pert; 1125, the Madonna del Pozzo (Well), attributed also to Franciabigio, beautifully finished; 1127 St. John in the Desert, colouring tawny, but admirable light and shade; 1129 the Madonna del Cardellino (nightingale), one of Raphael's best works, painted when he was 22; 1131 Portrait of Julius II., considered one of the finest portraits in the world. In the Hall of Saturn, in the Pitti Gallery, and in the National Gallery of London, are likewise portraits by Raphael of this impetuous and warlike pope. 1139 Holy Family by Michael Angelo. This picture, one of the few by him in oil, exhibits powerful drawing with dexterous execution. 1112 the Madonna between St.

Francis and St. John, called also the Madonna delle Arpie, by Andrea del Sarto--rich but subdued colouring, very pleasing to the eye. 1117 the famous rec.u.mbent Venus, by Tiziano. 1118 the Rest in Egypt, by Correggio--wonderful colouring.

[Headnote: THE ITALIAN SCHOOL.]

Six rooms follow in succession from the south side of the +Tribuna+, and contain respectively the Italian, Dutch, Flemish-German, and French schools, and the collection of gems. +The Italian+, or more properly the Lombardo-Venetian Schools contains 115 paintings by Albano, D. Ambrogi.

Baroccio, J. Ba.s.sano, G. Bonatti. Cagnacci, Ca.n.a.letto, A. Caracci, G. da Carpi, G. Carpioni, B. Castiglione, M. Cerquozzi, C. Cignani, Correggio.

Domenichino, B. and D. Dossi. C. Ferri, D. Feti, L. Fontana. Garofalo, L. Giordano, Giorgione, F. Granacci, J. Guercino. J. Ligozzi, B. Luini.

A. Magnasco, A. Mantegna, L. Ma.s.sari, L. Mazzolini, Fr. Minzocchi, Moretto da Brescia. Palma (both), G. P. Pannini, Parmigianino, P. Piola, C. Procaccino, S. Pulzone. G. Reni, P. Reschi, S. Rosa. E. Savonazzi, J.

Sca.r.s.ellino, B. Schidone, F. Solimena. A. Tiarini, Tinelli, Tintoretto, Tiziano, A. Turchi. G. Vanvitelli, P. Veronese, A. Vicentino.

B. Zelotti. S. Zugo. Of those, the most noteworthy are Guido Reni, 998 Madonna; Parmigianino, 1006 Madonna, and 1010 Holy Family; Correggio, 1016 Child's Head; A. Mantegna, 1025 Virgin, with Child in her lap; Caravaggio, 1031 Medusa.

[Headnote: THE DUTCH, FLEMISH, AND FRENCH SCHOOLS.]

_The Dutch School_ contains 135 paintings, of which the best are by Berkeyden, Borch, G. Dow, Galle, Hemskerch, Metsu, Mieris, Netscher, O. Paulyn, Poelemburg; Rembrandt, 922 an Interior, with Holy Family.

R. Ruysch, Ruysdael, Schalken, Stingelandt, Van Aelst, Van der Heyden, Van der Werf, Van Kessel.

_The Flemish and German Schools_, in two rooms, consist of 157 paintings, of which the best are by Cranach 822, Catherine Bore, wife of Luther; 838 Luther; 845 John and Frederick, Electors of Saxony; 847 Luther and Melancthon. C. Gelle or Claude Lorraine, 848 Landscape, considered the gem of this department. G. Dow, 786 Schoolmaster.

A. Durer, 766 His father; 777 St. James; 851 Madonna. Holbein, 765 Richard Southwell. 784 Zwinglius, and 799 Sir Thomas More. Quintin Matsys, 779 St. Jerome. Rubens, 812 Venus and Adonis, but his best pictures are in the Sala della Niobe. Susterman, 699 and 709 Portraits.

Teniers, 742 a Chemist, and 826 a Landscape. Van Dyck, 783 a Madonna.

_The French School_ is represented by 47 paintings, of which the most noteworthy are by Fabres, 679 the poet Alfieri, and 689 the Countess of Albany, wife of, firstly, Prince Charles, the young Pretender, and afterwards of Alfieri. Gagneraux, 690 A Lion-hunt. Mignard, 670 Madame do Grignan and her Mother, and 688, Madame de Sevigne. N. Poussin, 680 Theseus before his Mother. Rigaud, 684 Portrait of Bossuet.

[Headnote: ROOM OF GEMS.]

_The Room of Gems_ has six upright gla.s.s cases, in which are exposed to view statuettes, vases, cups, caskets, and a variety of ornaments made of lapis lazuli, rock crystal, jasper, agate, aqua marina, turquoise, and gold. In the second gla.s.s case is the most valuable article, a casket of rock crystal, with twenty-four events from the life of Christ engraved upon it by Valerio Belli, by order of Clement VII., who presented it to Catherine of Medicis as a wedding present. The Room of Gems opens into the south or connecting corridor, painted in fres...o...b.. Ulivelli, Chiavistelli, and Tonelli. The most remarkable sculptures here are 129 reliefs on a sarcophagus, representing the Fall of Phaeton into the Erida.n.u.s (the river Po), with the Transformation of his Sisters into Poplar Trees; and the races in the Circus Maximus of Rome; 137 Round altar with reliefs representing the Sacrifice of Iphigenia; 145 Youth extracting a Thorn, a replica of the more famous statue in the Vatican; 145 Venus Anadyomene; 146 Nymph. (The key of the W.Cs. is kept in the little office in the corner of this corridor).

[Headnote: THE VENETIAN SCHOOL--PORTRAITS OF ARTISTS.]

+West Corridor+ and rooms. Rows of Roman statues stand on both sides, and the walls are covered with Italian paintings of a much later date than those in the eastern corridor. The first two rooms contain the +Venetian School+, represented by 82 paintings, and the next four contain portraits of artists, nearly all by themselves. The room behind the Venetian school contains a collection of 80,000 medals and coins.

The 82 pictures which ill.u.s.trate the _Venetian School_ are by twenty-five great masters, T. Ba.s.sano, G. Bellini, P. Bordone, C.

Caliari, D. Campagnole, Giorgione, L. Lotto, A. Maganza, Moretto, Morone, G. Muziano, Padovanino, Palma (both), Pini, Porta, Savoldo, A. Schiavone, Tinelli, Tintoretto, Tiziano, P. Veneziano, C. Veronese, P. Veronese, A. Vicentino. At the head of all stands the immortal Tiziano. His finest portraits are those of the d.u.c.h.ess (599) and of the Duke of Urbino (605), Francesco della Rovere I.; of "Flora," called his Mistress (626); of Giovanni, father of Cosimo I. (614); and of Sansovino (596). Also by Tiziano, 633, Holy Family; 609 Battle between the Venetians and Austrians; 648 Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus; and 618 Sketch of Virgin and Child for his celebrated picture in Sta. Maria at Venice. P. Veronese, 589 Martyrdom of St. Justina; 596 Esther before Ahasuerus, and 636 The Crucifixion. Tintoretto, 617 The Marriage in Cana. In the next two rooms are +Portraits of Artists+ of all nations, from the 15th cent. to the present time. In a niche is the statue (338) of Card. Leopoldo de' Medici, and in the middle of the hall the celebrated +Medici Vase+ (339), with the sacrifice of Iphigenia in relief, by a Greek sculptor. Cardinal Leopold, brother of the Grand Duke Ferdinand, founded this collection in the 17th cent., and left it with 200 portraits; now it has about 500. Among the most remarkable are--288 Raphael, by himself, in 1506, when 23; 225 Van Dyck; 228 Rubens; 232 Holbein; 292 Leonardo da Vinci; 384 Tiziano; 378 Tintoretto; 374, 384, and 459 Annibale Caracci; 368 Antonio Caracci; 403 Guido Reni; 546 Sir Joshua Reynolds; 465 Thomas Murray. The door adjoining the hall of portraits of painters opens into the long series of corridors and stairs leading to the Pitti Gallery. See page 243. +Sala delle Iscrizione.+--The walls are covered with Greek and Roman inscriptions, arranged in 12 divisions according to the subject. In this room are also some very interesting ancient sculptures. Among others (315) the Torso of a Faun. _Cabinet of the Hermaphrodite._--The most important piece of sculpture here is 306 Hermaphrodite reclining on a lion's skin, a valuable Greek work; 318 Bust of Alexander the Great in suffering.

_Cabinet of Cameos._--A very precious collection of ancient and modern cameos, statuettes, and enamels, including those presented by Sir William Currie in 1863.

[Headnote: THE HALL OF NIOBE.]

_Sala del Baroccio._--Against the walls are beautiful tables in pietradura or Florentine mosaic, and one in the centre of the room by Jacopo Antella, in 1615, from designs of Ligozzi. This hall contains 172 pictures, chiefly by Italian artists. The great picture in size and merit is 169, by Baroccio, The Madonna del Popolo or "The Virgin interceding with her Son;" 163 is Susterman's portrait of Galileo; 191, by Sa.s.soferrato, a Madonna; 207, one of Carlo Dolce's best works, "St.

Galla Placida." +Sala della Niobe.+--The hall of Niobe was built in 1774, by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, for the famous statues supposed to have been by Scopas or Praxiteles, and found near the Porta S. Paolo at Rome in 1583, representing Niobe and her children struck by thunderbolts from Apollo. They const.i.tute one of the finest and most powerful groups in the world, but stationed as they are round the cold, flat, white wall of an oblong saloon, each on his separate pedestal, the illusion of design and composition is not only destroyed but individual criticism invited, a test all of them cannot bear. It is believed that originally they formed a group on the pediment of a temple. Niobe is rather large, nearly nine heads high, but the child she protects is without a fault in form. This group is of one piece of marble. All the others are in single figures. But the soul and source of all that is interesting in these statues is the wonderful figure of the wounded and dying youth, represented lying on his back, his legs just crossing each other, the left hand reclining on his breast, and his right arm slightly raised. As a statue, it commands the highest admiration, and as a chaste and powerful picture of death, the keenest sympathy. Behind the statue of Niobe is a very large picture by Rubens--Henri IV. at the battle of Ivry--a performance of wonderful spirit, but unfinished; and opposite it, 147 The entry of Henri IV. into Paris; 144 Van Dyck, a portrait; 152 Honthorst, Fortune-teller.

[Headnote: THE HALL OF BRONZES.]

_Sala dei Bronzi._--In two rooms; among these ancient bronzes the most remarkable are the bronze heads of Sophocles and Homer, and the Torso 428 found near Leghorn--a torso is the trunk of a statue that has lost the arms and legs; 426 The head of a horse; 424 The figure of a youth, 5 feet in height, called the Idolino, found at Pesaro in 1530. The pedestal is attributed to Ghiberti. A tablet containing a list of the Roman Decurions, dated A.D. 223. _Galleria Feroni._--In this room are arranged the pictures bequeathed by the Marchese Leopoldo Feroni, of which the best are, an Angel with a Lily, by C. Dolce; A Butcher's Shop, by Teniers the younger; and a Holy Family, by B. Schidone. Outside, in the corridor, is 131, Portrait of Pasquali Paoli, the Corsican patriot, by Richard Cosway; and 110 and 113, Landscapes, by Agostina Ta.s.si, the master of Claude Lorraine.

[Headnote: THE WAY FROM THE UFFIZI TO THE PITTI GALLERIES.]

THE CONNECTING GALLERIES.

Between the Uffizi and Pitti Galleries is a series of pa.s.sages and stairs finished in 1564, and opened on the occasion of the marriage of Francesco de' Medici with Joanna of Austria, of whom the statue of "Abundance" in the Boboli gardens is supposed to be a likeness. The walls of the stairs and corridors on the Uffizi side of the Arno are covered with a rich and valuable collection of engravings, const.i.tuting a complete history of the art from the 15th cent. to the present time.

The corridor on the +Ponte Vecchio+ crossing the Arno is occupied with a glorious collection of drawings by the great masters. The first part of the corridor on the south side of the Arno contains numerous portraits of the Medicean family, and then follows (on the long pa.s.sage behind the Via Guicciardini) a vast collection of tapestry, executed in the 16th and 17th cent. in Paris and Florence. The best are those representing the festivities at the marriages of Henry II. with Catherine de' Medici, and of Henry IV. with Maria de' Medici, executed in 1560 after designs by Orlay. From the tapestry gallery a short stair ascends to a room hung with pictures painted in chiaroscuro, or in one colour, by several of the old painters. From this another short stair leads to the long narrow gallery on the wall of the Boboli gardens. This gallery is hung with water-colour drawings, by Bartolommeo Ligozzi, in 1695, representing with wonderful truthfulness, figures of birds, fishes, and plants. To these ill.u.s.trations of natural history succeeds a series of miniature paintings of scenes in the life of our Lord. Now we come to the common stone stair leading upwards to the Pitti Gallery, and downwards to the door fronting the Piazza Pitti, and next the gate leading into the Boboli gardens. At the top of the stair is a large vestibule, with a window looking into the gardens. The names of the Sale and Stanze (Halls and Rooms) are on the catalogues. Each room is provided with two of these catalogues, one in Italian and another in French. The halls are painted in fresco, and adorned with statuary and rich tables of Florentine mosaic.

THE PITTI GALLERY.

The vestibule opens into the _Sala dell' Illiado_, painted by Sabatelli in 1837, and having in the centre a statue of "Charity," by Bartolini.

Nos. 191 and 225 are a.s.sumptions, by Andrea del Sarto, and 184 is his Portrait, painted by himself. No. 185, a Concert, is a remarkable picture, and one of the few existing by Giorgione. Tiziano is represented by some of his best portraits:--No. 200, Philip II. of Spain; 201, Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici; 215, Portrait; and 228, the Head of Jesus. 208, the Madonna del Trono, by Fra. Bartolommeo. 219, P.

Perugino, Adoration of the Child Jesus. 188, S. Rosa, his own Portrait; and 218, Warrior. 190, Sustermans, a Prince of Denmark. 224, Rod.

Ghirlandaio, Portrait of a Lady. 230, Parmigianino, the Madonna col lungo Collo. 235, Rubens, Holy Family. 286, Ba.s.sano, House of Martha.

[Headnote: PITTI GALLERY--HALLS OF SATURN, JUPITER, MARS, APOLLO.]

_Sala di Saturno._--The frescoes on the ceiling are by Pietro da Cortona. The gems of this room may be considered:--151, Portrait of Pope Julius II.; and 165, the Madonna del Baldacchino, by Raphael. The others by Raphael are the Portraits of (158) Card. Bibbiena; and of (171) Inghirami and (174) the Vision of Ezekiel. 150, Charles I. of England and Henrietta Maria, by Van Dyck. 164, a Deposition, by Perugino.

_Sala di Giove._--Ceiling painted by P. da Cortona. In the centre of the room statue of "Victory," by Consani, and at the sides five Tables in Florentine mosaic. The most remarkable picture in this, the Saloon of Jupiter, is 113, the Three Parcae, or Fates, by Michael Angelo. Then follow Nos. 118, Andrea del Sarto and Wife; and 124, an Annunciation, by A. del Sarto. No. 133 is a Battle-piece, by Salvator Rosa. In the lower corner, right hand, is his own Portrait, with the initials S. A. R. O.