Returning to the church, we have, in the first chapel (right) frescoes of the Giotto school, and an Assumption by Allori. Second chapel, frescoes by Gio. da Giovanni. In the third, the Bonaparte chapel, is, to the left, the monument by Pampaloni, 1839, to the memory of the wife of Joseph Bonaparte; and, to the left, another to the memory of their daughter, Julie Clary Bonaparte (d. 1845). The fourth, or the first to the right of the high altar, is the Peruzzi chapel, with reredos
by A. del Sarto. On the walls [Giotto’s best frescoes], representing the stories of St. John the Apostle and of John the Baptist. Fifth, the Bardi chapel. The painting on the altar, representing S. Francesco, is by Cimabue. The frescoes are by Giotto, and represent the life and death of San Francesco.
Chapels of the Choir.—Over the high altar, painting by Andrea Orcagna. The walls and ceiling are covered with frescoes by Agnolo Gaddi, representing the legend of the finding of the cross, and the life of St. Francis. The five following chapels are not of much importance, excepting the third, in the north transept, painted in fresco by Luigi Sabatelli. The sixth is the Niccolini chapel, with frescoes on the roof, painted in the 17th cent. by Baldassarre Franceschini, surnamed il Volterrano. This chapel contains five mediocre statues by Francavilla, and two large paintings on wood by Alessandro Allori, and is also richly decorated with beautiful marbles. In the adjoining chapel, belonging to the Bardi family, is a crucifix by Donatello, one of his earliest and best works, yet not equal to that of his rival Brunelleschi in [S. Maria Novella] (page 267). After the Bardi chapel follow the Zamoyska mausoleum, with a painted reredos by Ligozzi, and the monument to the composer Luigi Cherubini (d. 1842), by Fantacchiotti. Florence: Santa Croce—Galileo—
Bartolini’s Last Work. Having arrived at the fine monument to Luigi, at the east corner of the north aisle, to avoid confusion it is better to return to the main entrance, and walk up the north aisle, commencing with the monument and resting-place of
[ Galileo Galilei,]
who died in the village of Arcetri ([p. 248]), in 1642. Over the cenotaph is his bust, and a representation of his first telescope. Then follows the monument to Pompeio Josephi, a jurist; 3d, to G. Lani (1770), by Spinazzi,—on the column before this monument is a Pietà by A. Bronzino; 4th, to Angelus Tavantus, sarcophagus below flat pyramid; 5th, to Vitt. Fossombroni, by L. Bartolini, 1846; 6th, to Karolus Marzupinus, the learned secretary of the Florentine Republic, by D. Settignano, 1450; 7th, to Antoni Cocchio, 1773; and 8th, to Raffællo Morghen, the illustrious Neapolitan engraver, a beautiful monument, by Fantacchiotti. Fronting it, on the column, is the monument to L. B. Alberti, the last work of [Bartolini].
To the south of the façade a large doorway gives access to the cloisters, around a spacious open court. At the far end, within this enclosure, is the chapel of the Pazzi, one of Brunelleschi’s best works. To
the right of the entrance into the cloisters is a building containing the refectory, with a Last Supper, by Giotto, and above it a Crucifixion and Tree of Jesse. In the smaller refectory, adorned with a fine fresco of Gio. di Giovanni, the Inquisition held its tribunals from 1284-1782. The doorkeeper at the gates has the keys of the Pazzi chapel and of the refectory. In the centre of the enclosure is a statue by Bandinelli which originally stood on the high altar of the Duomo.
Florence: National Museum.
[ The National Museum or Bargello.]
At the southern end of the Via del Proconsolo, and between the Piazzas Sta. Croce and Signoria, is the National Museum, in the Palazzo del Podestà, built in the 13th cent. by Lapo Tedesco and two Dominican friars, Fra. Sisto and Fra. Ristoro. It bore various names, according to the functions of the different dignities who occupied it. When, in the 17th cent., it was converted into a prison and became the seat of the head of the police, it was called the Bargello. In 1864 it was chosen for the National Museum. Open from 10 till 3.30, 1 fr. Free on feast-days. The walls of the court are ornamented with the escutcheons of 204 Podestas (chief magistrates). The rooms on the ground floor are filled chiefly with armour, among which are a bronze cannon cast in 1636, and Donatello’s seated lion, the Marzocco, or the Arms of Florence, a seated lion supporting a shield with its left paw. Ascend to the first floor by the outside staircase in the court. It was built by Agnolo Gaddi. At the top, in the vestibule, are two bells, one cast in 1228 by Bart. Pisano, and the other by Cenni in 1670.