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SANTA CROCE.

by the side of his brother, Lorenzo the Magnificent, in 1478. The general aspect of the church is fine and devotional. The Campanile, or tower for the bells, is the work of Giotto, and is a remarkable edifice; with all its altitude, it has but four stories. The architect intended to surmount the tower with a spire, and the piers are visible which were to support the erection. As a matter of course, we looked after Dante's stone, where he was wont to gaze upon the growing wonder of the rising cathedral. Close by are the modern statues of Arnolfo and Brunelleschi.

In front of the Duomo and Campanile stands the Baptistery of St. John. The bronze gates of this building are the chief supports of its fame. They must be wondrously beautiful to have caused Michael Angelo to say that they were fit to be the gates of Paradise! The south gate, designed by Giotto, was completed by Andrea Pisano in 1330, and its erection was celebrated as a festival all through Tuscany. The northern and eastern gates were added in 1400-1422, by Ghiberti. The north gate illustrates the life of Christ, the south the life of John, and the east the events of the Old Testament. The Baptistery is an octagon, supporting a cupola and lantern. The wall was erected by Arnolfo, 1293. Vast figures in mosaic adorn the dome, and the Lucifer of Dante appears in the frescos. All the baptisms of Florence occur here; and several of our party, at various visits, saw the ceremony of christening.

From this place we turned our attention to the Westminster Abbey of this city, -Santa Croce. This was established by monks sent by St. Francis, 1212, and Arnolfo commenced this church 1294. The exterior is as rude as anything can be in architecture, but the interior is grave and majestic. Here are the monuments of Michael Angelo, Dante, Alfieri, by Canova; Machiavelli, Fossombroni, Alberti, Galileo. A series of chapels are well worthy of careful notice, and in one is Bartolini's exquisite monument to a Russian princess.

We had read and heard so much of the gorgeous Chapel of the

CHURCH OF ST. LORENZO.

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Medici, that we fully expected a treat; nor were we at all disappointed, although I do not think it has been marked by good taste. It was intended for the resting-place of the holy sepulchre. This chapel is far from completed. The walls are literally covered up with the richest specimens of marble, lapis-lazuli, jasper, chalcedony and Florentine mosaic, in which all the colors and shadings are natural to the stones employed. All the coats of arms of the Tuscan states and cities are ranged around, in mosaic work. Nothing can be more elegant than the cenotaphs of the Medici family. The bodies are in a crypt beneath this chapel. Seventeen millions of dollars have been expended upon this sepulchral palace!

The church of St. Lorenzo, which dates from 1425, has much that is beautiful; and this cannot fail to be the case where Brunelleschi designed and Donatello adorned a building. The sacristy, or a small chapel, is the great attraction of this church. This small erection was designed by Michael Angelo to receive monuments for Lorenzo de Medici, the grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and Giuliano de Medici, a son of the Magnificent. The monuments to these individuals are in white marble, by Michael Angelo, and are regarded as his undoubted masterpieces. They have a strong characteristic resemblance, and are somewhat enigmatical, as it is hard to tell what Day and Night, Morning and Evening, have to do with these worthies. No satisfactory solution has been afforded; but there is the marble, and there, as long as that marble lasts, will men congregate to admire, and wonder at the near approach of sculpture to language.

The figure of Lorenzo creates awe. He sits in armor, and he chains the eye. Poor, indeed, are most other statues after this has been seen. I do not like the chapel in which they stand; each should have a Gothic sanctuary for its own sole occupation, of which it should be the shrine.

I scarcely ever walked out but I found myself attracted to

230

PALAZZO VECCHIO.

the Palazzo Vecchio. This building was erected 1298, and was the dwelling-place of the Gonfaloniere. In 1540, when the republic died, it became the palace of Cosmo I. I know few buildings that can compare with it in dark, awful grandeur. The battlements are massive, and the overhanging machiolations, and the tower springing up from their support, give it an imposing air, such as I have seen nowhere else. All around are wonderful things. There, is an equestrian statue of Cosmo I.; there, a fountain of Neptune. Near this fountain, in the days of the republic, stood the Tribune. Here is the glorious David of Michael Angelo; and there, as a match, is Hercules destroying Cacus, by Bandinelli. The David is far the finest, and belongs to the same class of statuary with the Medicean statues just alluded to in the sacristy. Here are large porticos, which you ascend by steps, and in front a spacious square. On these porticos are some wonderful pieces of artistic excellence. There, at the corner, stands the Perseus of Benevenuto Cellini, the casting of which is so graphically recorded in his life. At the other end, as a match-piece, is the Rape of the Sabines, by John of Bologna. Judith slaying Holofernes, by Donatello, is a pretty bronze, but small. Here are several colossal females, lions, &c.