Pictures in the rooms of the first floor.
A half length, a little smaller than the life, representing St. Catharine. A rare ancient picture, by Vettori Carpacio.
Our Lady with her babe and St. John. The proportion of the figures two feet high. An incomparable performance of Andrea del Sarto.
A small picture representing a father with his two children praying, by Giovanni Holbens.
A Nativity of our Saviour, containing eighteen figures two feet high. The posture of our Lady that offers her breast to her babe, and that of the babe itself, are most graceful; St. Joseph with them completes one of the best groups that the art of painting ever produced; and equally graceful is another group of three angels playing upon musical instruments. Two other angels descend from heaven in an attitude of adoration. Many more beautiful attitudes of devotion are those of the shepherds, that fill up the left side of this astonishing performance of the immortal Raphael.
There are two fine prints of this picture.
Our Lady with her babe, St. Catharine and St. Francis. The proportion of the figures two feet. An excellent and well preserved performance of Paolo Veronese.
The view of a noble temple, our Saviour coming out of it, meets with Magdalen, who is by him converted in the presence of some other women. An excellent and well preserved performance, done in his first manner, by Andrea del Sarto.
Two half lengths as big as the life of two women, one the mistress, the other her maid. The mistress was probably a portrait. She holds the looking glass with one hand, and with the other adjusts her head, listening to the maid that speaks to her. This is one of the best works of Domenichino.
Our Lady with her babe, the Magdalen, St. John, and St. Jerome. The figures are about three feet high, painted with the greatest gracefulness, by Francesco Mauzzoli, called il Parmigianino.