Florence: National Museum.—Sculpture—Michael Angelo—Bologna—Cellini.
[First saloon.]—All labelled. Principal objects—By [Michael Angelo], Wounded Apollo, Bacchus and Satyr, Dying Adonis, and an unfinished group of Victory. Donatello, David with the head of Goliath. [G. da Bologna], Virtue conquering Vice. A beautiful series of reliefs, illustrating Music and its effects, chiefly by L. Robbia and Donatello. Second room.—Furniture and glass ware. Wax group by Zumbo. Third hall, the audience chamber of the Podestà.—Majolica, porcelain, and enamelled ware. Fourth hall, originally a chapel, but afterwards the room in which prisoners under sentence of death were confined. The frescoes are chiefly by Giotto, 1301. Among the portraits on the fresco of the east wall, representing heaven, are those of Dante, and of his master Brunetto Latini. The St. Jerome and the Madonna are thought to be by Ghirlandaio. In the adjoining Sacristy are two frescoes, one of which is thought to be by Cimabue and the other by Gaddi. Those who wish to see them must request the door to be opened. Fifth
saloon.—Two triptychs by Orcagna. Works in ivory and rock crystal by [Cellini], Bologna, and N. Pisano. Wood carving by Gibbons. (In this saloon is the stair up to the second floor.) Saloons 6 and 7.—Sculptures by the best Italian artists of the 15th cent., all labelled. Among them may be noted, in the sixth saloon, Donatello’s David, in the centre. In the seventh, in the centre, a Child by Donatello. The famous Mercury, by Bologna. David, by Verrochio. On the wall, a bronze table by Pollaiolo, representing the Crucifixion, and two bas-reliefs, the one on the right by Ghiberti, and the other on the left by Brunelleschi, prepared for the competition for the doors of the Baptistery of Florence, won by Ghiberti. Next, a fine ornament by Donatello. At the beginning of the third wall is a large bas-relief by V. Dante, representing the Brazen Serpent in the Desert; and below it, another representing a Battle, by Bertoldo. These are followed by a cabinet full of sketches by the best artists of the 15th and 16th cents. After these, the famous bust of Cosmo of Medicis in Armour, by Benvenuto Cellini, and his model in bronze of the Perseus, under the loggia. Ascend now to the second floor by the stair in the fifth room. 1st room.—Portraits in fresco by A. Castagno (1450), transferred to canvas a few years ago: viz. Uberti, Acciaoli, Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. Stained glass by Marcilla, 1470-1537. 2d room on the right.—Fine display of glazed terra-cotta work by Luca and Andrea Robbia. Stained glass window by Giovanni da Udini. 3d room (tower).—Tapestry 17th cent. 4th room (on the left of the entrance).—French tapestry and collection of coins. In the next two rooms, 5 and 6, are the Masterpieces of Mediæval Sculpture, which formerly stood in the galleries of the Uffizi. Room 5, in centre, John the Baptist, by Donatello. On the wall, in relief, by B. da Rovezzano, 1507, the Translation of St. Gualberto, on white marble, mutilated. Room 6, in the centre, St. John by Benedetto da Maiano. Young Bacchus, by Sansovino. Apollo, by Michael Angelo. On end wall, the Death of St. Peter, by L. Robbia. By Michael Angelo, the Virgin, Jesus, and St. John (unfinished); the famous Mask of a Satyr (executed in his 15th year); Martyrdom of St. Andrew (unfinished); and Bust of Brutus. Window wall, bust of Battista Sforza, and a Holy Family, by Mino da Fiesole. Entrance wall, Leda, by Michael Angelo. By Mina da Fiesole, a Madonna and a bust of Piero dei Medici. Left wall, by Rossellino, a Madonna and a St. John. Faith, by Civitale, 1484, one of his best works. Five children supporting festoons, by Quercia, 1150, one of his best; and a Madonna, by Verrochio.
Florence: La Badia. House of Michael Angelo.
At the end of the Via Proconsolo, and opposite the National Museum, is [La Badia], founded by Willa, in 978, for the Black Benedictines; rebuilt in 1284 by Arnolfo di Lapo; and again, in part, in 1625 by Segaloni. The church, in the form of a Greek cross, has some good monuments and pictures. The Campanile was built about 1330. The handsome door is by Benedetto da Rovezzano, 1495. The second monument to the right of the entrance is to Gianozzo Pandolfini, by Ferrucci in 1457. On the adjoining altar are beautiful reliefs by Maiano, 1442 to 1497. In the north transept is the mausoleum of the Gonfalonier Bernardo Giugni, d. (1466), by Mino da Fiesole. In the south transept is the mausoleum of Count Ugo of Tuscany (d. 1000). Above is an Assumption, by G. Vasari, and in the Cappella de’ Bianchi, a Madonna appearing to St. Bernard, by F. Lippi.
A little way east from the National Museum, at No. 64 Via Ghibellina, is the [house of Michael Angelo Buonarrotti], a plain building, containing a collection of paintings, sculptures, and sundry objects connected with Michael Angelo, bequeathed to the care of the State by the last member of the family, Cosmo Buonarrotti, in 1858. The gallery is open to the public on Mondays and Thursdays, from 9 to 3. Catalogue in Italian or French, ½ fr. The collection is contained in seven rooms, some very small. In the centre of the first room is a small bust of Michael Angelo, and Nos. 1, 2, and 3 portraits of him at different ages. No. 14, Battle of Hercules, and No. 17, Madonna, both in relief, by Michael Angelo. Nos. 11, 13, 15, and 16 are glazed terra-cotta figures by the Robbias, displaying admirably the fine delicate surface of the enamel peculiar to their productions. Amongst those who have distinguished themselves in the manufactory of earthenware is Luca della Robbia, a Florentine goldsmith and statuary, born in 1388. He made heads and human figures in relief, and architectural ornaments of glazed earthenware, terra-cotta invetriata. The colours are white, blue, green, brown, and yellow. The art of making these glazed earthen figures invented by Luca was taught by him to his brothers Ottaviano and Agostino, and was afterwards practised by his nephew Andrea. The rooms to the left contain drawings and plans of Michael Angelo, many being the original sketches of his greatest works. First room right, the principal room of all, contains the statue of Michael Angelo in a sitting posture, by Novelli; and around the room sixteen pictures illustrating scenes in his life. The lower six are in grisaille. The ceiling is painted in fresco. The next or fourth room contains the family history, illustrated by twenty-one fresco paintings. In the small cabinet off this room are, among other things, a two-edged sword with the
Buonarrotti arms. In the fifth room, No. 74, Michael Angelo, a Madonna in relief, on marble. 77, a cast in bronze of 74, by Jean Bologna, by whom is also 81, a bust of Michael Angelo. Sixth room (the Library), large frescoes, representing the eminent men of Italy. In the seventh chamber, and in the small room off, are Etruscan antiquities.
[San Giovannino], 264. [San Lorenzo], 264. [The Mortuary Chapel]. [The Sagrestia Nuova], 265. [Biblioteca Laurentiana]. [Etruscan and Egyptian Museum], 267. [Santa Maria Novella], 267. [Spezeria], 268. See [Plan], near station.
Florence: San Lorenzo. Road to the Sagrestia Nuova.