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Untitled Article
finish . It was commenced two hundred years ago ; for a long time nothing was dope to it ; the work has now been resumed eleven years , and it will take twelve more before it is completed . And , after all , what inconsiderate waste to spend so much on the dead , when all , and more than all , that we have , is wanted for the living ! In a small chapel at one side of the church is an inscription , which I viewed with interest , as it is to the memory of Lorenzo de Medicis , though his remains are not , I believe , deposited in that identical spot . It runs thus :
LAURENT . ET JUL . PETRI F . These letters are on the base of a tomb , or rather cenotaph , which bears the following inscription in the middle of a wreath :
PETRO ET JOHANNI DE MEDICIS COSMI P . P . F . H . M . H . N . S . The Pitti Palace , or principal residence of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany : the suite of rooms , which is here shewn to strangers , is extremely splendid , and among the paintings are to be seen some of the master-pieces of the
first artists who ever lived . There are two sea-pieces by Claude ; Judith with the Head of Holophernes by Christofano Ailori ; Cataline's Conspiracy by Salvator Rosa ; Cleopatra by Guido ; and the Parca ^ with the thread of human life , by Michel Angelo , which are all excellent in their respective styles . Raphael's Leo X . is considered to be the first portrait in the world , and in his madonna della Sedula , there is a rich warm glow of beauty and expression which is perfectly charming . I pretend not to any judgment in
the arts , but these two appear to me to be unquestionably the best of Raphael ' s works ; that is , of those which I have seen , for I have not seen the Madonna del Sisto , which is at Dresden . 7 th and 8 th . I spent a part of the morning of these two days in the Florence Gallery . This superb collection of paintings , statues , &c , owes its origin to the family of the Medicis , who were the first to open their eyes to the merit of the ancient works of art , and whose munificent patronage gave
the first impulse to the revival of taste . The treasures which were collected by Lorenzo and by his grandfather Cosmo , have been continually augmented by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany , and they now fill the whole upper story of an immense building nearly five hundred feet in length . It consists of two galleries 430 feet long , of a cross one of 97 , and of twenty rooms on the sides , to which the galleries serve as an approach . In these is deposited a large collection of paintings arranged in their different schools , of ancient
statues , vases , inscriptions , and sarcophagi , ancient and modern bronzes , &c . To all these the public are admitted freely and gratuitously ; but there is a collection of drawings , engravings , cameos , and medals , which can only be seen by special permission , and this is obtained with difficulty . The rooms which are shewn to the public are opened successively by one of the
Custodi , whenever there are assembled a dozen or two of persons who desire it . Through these we were somewhat hurried ; but there were two which were fortunately open the whole morning , as there were artists in them copying pictures . These were the Tribune and the Salle du Baroccio . I entered the first of these rooms with a feeling of veneration , for " Here stands the statue which enchants the world , "
Untitled Article
170 Journal of a Tour on the Continent .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1829, page 170, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2570/page/18/
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