Description of the Festive Preparations for the Nuptials of the Prince Don Francesco of Tuscany

Vasari, Giorgio; Pius V · Lives of the Most Eminent Painters

Section 1 of 29

Some errors in this text were corrected by AI.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FESTIVE PREPARATIONS FOR THE NUPTIALS OF THE PRINCE DON FRANCESCO OF TUSCANY

We will describe, then, with the greatest clearness and brevity that may be permitted by the abundance of our material, how the intention in all these decorations was to represent by the vast number of pictures and sculptures, as if in life, all those ceremonies, effects, and pomps that appeared to be proper to the reception and the nuptials of so great a Princess, forming of them poetically and ingeniously a whole so well proportioned, that with judgment and grace it might achieve the result designed. First of all, therefore, at the Gate that is called the Porta al Prato, by which her Highness was to enter the city, there was built with dimensions truly heroic, which well showed ancient Rome risen again in her beloved daughter Florence, a vast, most ornate, and very ingeniously composed ante-port of Ionic architecture, which, surpassing by a good measure the height of the walls, which are there very lofty, presented a marvellous and most superb view not only to those entering the city, but even at a distance of several miles. And this arch was dedicated to Florence, who--standing between two figures, as it were her beloved companions, of Fidelity and Affection, virtues which she has always shown towards her Lords--in the form of a young and most beautiful woman, smiling and all adorned with flowers, had been set, as was her due, in the most important and most honourable place, nearest to the Gate, as if she sought to receive, introduce, and accompany her new Lady; having brought with her, as it were as her minister and companion, and as the symbol of those of her sons who in the art of war, among other arts, have rendered her illustrious, Mars, their leader and master, and in a certain sense the first father of Florence herself, in that under his auspices and by martial men, who were descended from Mars, was made her first foundation. His statue, dread and terrible, could be seen on the right in the part farthest from her, sword in hand, as if he sought to use it in the service of his new Lady; he likewise having as it were brought with him to accompany his Florence, in a very large and very beautiful canvas painted in chiaroscuro that was beneath his feet (very similar to the whitest marble, as were all the other works that were in these decorations), some of the men of that invincible Martian Legion so dear to the first and second Caesar, her first founders, and some of those born from her, who afterwards followed her discipline so gloriously.

Many of these could be seen issuing full of gladness from his temple, which is now dedicated to S. John in the name of the Christian religion; and in the farthest distance were placed those who were thought to have had a name only for bodily valour, in the central space those others who had become famous by their counsel and industry, such as commissaries or proveditors (to call them by their Venetian name), and in the front part nearest to the eye, in the most honourable places, as being the most worthy of honour, were painted the captains of armies and those who had acquired illustrious renown and immortal fame by valour of the body and mind together. Among these, as the first and perhaps the most honourable, could be seen on horseback, like many others, the glorious Signor Giovanni de' Medici portrayed from life, that rare master of Italian military discipline, and the illustrious father of the great Cosimo whom we honour as our excellent and most valorous Duke; and with him Filippo Spano, terror of the barbarous Turks, and M. Farinata degli Uberti, great-hearted saviour of his native Florence. There, also, was M. Buonaguisa della Pressa, who, at the head of the valiant youth of Florence, winning the first and glorious mural crown at Damiata, acquired so great a name; and the Admiral Federigo Folchi, Knight of Rhodes, who with his two sons and eight nephews performed so many deeds of prowess against the Saracens. There were M. Nanni Strozzi, M. Manno Donati, Meo Altoviti, and Bernardo Ubaldini, called Della Carda, father of Federigo, Duke of Urbino, that most excellent captain of our times. There, likewise, was the Great Constable, M. Niccola Acciaiuoli, he who it may be said preserved for Queen Joanna and King Louis, his Sovereigns, the troubled kingdom of Naples, and who always bore himself both there and in Sicily with such loyalty and valour. There were another Giovanni de' Medici and Giovanni Bisdomini, most illustrious in the wars with the Visconti, and the unfortunate but valorous Francesco Ferrucci; and among those more ancient were M. Forese Adimari, M. Corso Donati, M. Vieri de' Cerchi, M. Bindaccio da Ricasoli, and M. Luca da Panzano. Among the commissaries, not less faithfully portrayed from life, could be seen there Gino Capponi, with Neri his son, and Piero his grand-nephew, he who, tearing so boldly the insolent proposals of Charles VIII, King of France, to his immortal honour, caused the voice of a Capon (Cappon), as the witty poet said so well, to sound so nobly among so many Cocks (Galli). There were Bernardetto de' Medici, Luca di Maso degli Albizzi, Tommaso di M.

Guido, now called Del Palagio, Piero Vettori, so celebrated in the wars with the Aragonese, and the so greatly and so rightly renowned Antonio Giacomini, with M. Antonio Ridolfi and many others of this and other orders, who would make too long a story. All these appeared to be filled with joy that they had raised their country to such a height, auguring for her, in the coming of that new Lady, increase, felicity, and greatness; which was expressed excellently well in the four verses that were to be seen written on the architrave above:

Hanc peperere suo patriam qui sanguine nobis Aspice magnanimos heroas; nunc et ovantes Et laeti incedant, felicem terque quaterque Certatimque vocent tali sub Principe Floram.

Not less gladness could be seen in the beautiful statue of one of the nine Muses, which was placed as a complement opposite to that of Mars, nor less, again, in the figures of the men of science in the painted canvas that was to be seen at her feet, of the same size and likewise as the complement of the men of Mars opposite, by which it was sought to signify that even as the men of war, so also the men of learning, of whom Florence had always a great abundance and in no way less renowned (in that, as all men admit, it was there that learning began to revive), had likewise been brought by Florence under the guidance of their Muse to receive and honour the noble bride. Which Muse, clad in a womanly, graceful, and seemly habit, with a book in the right hand and a flute in the left, seemed with a certain loving expression to wish to invite all beholders to apply their minds to true virtue; and on the canvas beneath her, executed, like all the others, in chiaroscuro, could be seen painted a great and rich Temple of Minerva, whose statue crowned with olive, with the shield of the Gorgon (as is customary), was placed without; and before the temple and at the sides, within an enclosure of balusters made as it were for a promenade, could be seen a great throng of grave and solemn men, who, although all rejoicing and making merry, yet retained in their aspect a certain something of the venerable, and these, also, were portrayed from life. For Theology and Sanctity there was the famous Fra Antonino, Archbishop of Florence, for whom a little Angel was holding the episcopal mitre, and with him was seen Giovanni Domenici, first Friar and then Cardinal; and with them Don Ambrogio, General of Camaldoli, and M. Ruberto de' Bardi, Maestro Luigi Marsili, Maestro Leonardo Dati, and many others. Even so, in another part--and these were the Philosophers--were seen the Platonist M. Marsilio Ficino, M. Francesco Cattani da Diacceto, M. Francesco Verini the elder, and M. Donato Acciaiuoli; and for Law there were, with the great Accursio, Francesco his son, M. Lorenzo Ridolfi, M. Dino Rossoni di Mugello, and M. Forese da Rabatta. The Physicians, also, had their portraits; and among them Maestro Taddeo Dino and Tommaso del Garbo, with Maestro Torrigian Valori and Maestro Niccolo Falcucci, had the first places. Nor did the Mathematicians, likewise, fail to be painted there;

and of these, besides the ancient Guido Bonatto, were seen Maestro Paolo del Pozzo and the very acute, ingenious, and noble Leon Batista Alberti, and with them Antonio Manetti and Lorenzo della Volpaia, he by whose hand we have that first and marvellous clock of the planets, the wonder of our age, which is now to be seen in the guardaroba of our most excellent Duke. For Navigation, also, there was Amerigo Vespucci, most experienced and most fortunate of men, in that so great a part of the world, having been discovered by him, retains because of him the name of America. For Learning, various and elegant, there was Messer Agnolo Poliziano, to whom how much is owed by the Latin and Tuscan tongues, which began to revive in him, I believe is sufficiently well known to all the world. With him were Pietro Crinito, Giannozzo Manetti, Francesco Pucci, Bartolommeo Fonzio, Alessandro de' Pazzi, and Messer Marcello Vergilio Adriani, father of the most ingenious and most learned M. Giovan Battista, now called Il Marcellino, who is still living and giving public lectures with so much honour in our Florentine University, and who at the commission of their illustrious Excellencies has been writing anew the History of Florence; and there were also M. Cristofano Landini, M. Coluccio Salutati, and Ser Brunetto Latini, the master of Dante. Nor were there wanting certain Poets who had written in Latin, such as Claudian, and among the more modern Carlo Marsuppini and Zanobi Strada. Of the Historians, then, were seen M. Francesco Guicciardini, Niccolo Macchiavelli, M. Leonardo Bruni, M. Poggio, Matteo Palmieri, and, among the earliest, Giovanni and Matteo Villani and the very ancient Ricordano Malespini. All these, or the greater part, for the satisfaction of all beholders, had each his name or that of his most famous works marked on the scrolls or on the covers of the books that they held, placed there as if by chance; and with all of them, as with the men of war, to demonstrate what they were come there to do, the four verses that were painted on the architrave, as with the others, made it clearly manifest, saying:

Artibus egregiis Latiae Graiaeque Minervae Florentes semper quis non miretur Etruscos? Sed magis hoc illos aevo florere necesse est Et Cosmo genitore et Cosmi prole favente.

Next, beside the statue of Mars, and somewhat nearer to that of Florence--and here it must be noted with what singular art and judgment every least thing was distributed, in that, the intention being to accompany Florence with six Deities, so to speak, for the potency of whom she could right well vaunt herself, the two hitherto described, Mars and the Muse, because other cities could perhaps no less than she lay claim to them, as being the least peculiar to her, were placed less near to her than the others; and so for the spacious vestibule or passage, as it were, formed before the gate by the four statues to follow, the two already described were used as wings or head-pieces, being placed at the entrance, one turned towards the Castle and the other towards the Arno, but the next two, which formed the beginning of the vestibule, for the reason that they are shared by her with few other cities, came to be placed somewhat nearer to her, even as the last two, because they are entirely peculiar to her and shared with no other city, or, to speak more exactly, because no other can compare with her in them (and may this be said without offence to any other Tuscan people, which, when it shall have a Dante, a Petrarca, and a Boccaccio to put forward, may perchance be able to come into dispute with her), were placed in close proximity to her, and nearer than any of the others--now, to go back, I say that beside the statue of Mars had been placed a Ceres, Goddess of Cultivation and of the fields, not less beautiful and good to look upon than the others; which pursuit, how useful it is and how worthy of honour for a well-ordered city, was taught in ancient times by Rome, who had enrolled all her nobility among the rustic tribes, as Cato testifies, besides many others, calling it the nerve of that most puissant Republic, and as Pliny affirms no less strongly when he says that the fields had been tilled by the hands of Imperatores, and that it may be believed that earth rejoiced to be ploughed by the laureate share and by the triumphant ploughman. That Ceres was crowned, as is customary, with ears of various kinds of corn, having in the right hand a sickle and in the left a bunch of similar ears.

Now, how much Florence can vaunt herself in this respect, whoever may be in any doubt of it may enlighten himself by regarding her most ornate and highly cultivated neighbourhood, for, leaving on one side the vast number of most superb and commodious palaces that may be seen dispersed over its surface, it is such that Florence, although among the most beautiful cities of which we have any knowledge she might be said to carry off the palm, yet remains by a great measure vanquished and surpassed by it, insomuch that it may rightly claim the title of the garden of Europe; not to speak of its fertility, as to which, although it is for the most part mountainous and not very large, nevertheless the diligence that is used in it is such, that it not only feeds bountifully its own vast population and the infinite multitude of strangers who flock to it, but very often gives courteous succour to other lands both near and far. In the canvas (to return to our subject) which was to be seen in like fashion beneath her statue, in the same manner and of the same size, the excellent painter had figured a most beautiful little landscape adorned with an infinite variety of trees, in the most distant part of which was seen an ancient and very ornate little temple dedicated to Ceres, in which, since it was open and raised upon colonnades, could be perceived many who were offering religious sacrifices. On the other side, in a part somewhat more solitary, Nymphs of the chase could be seen standing about a shady and most limpid fount, gazing as it were in marvel and offering to the new bride of those pleasures and delights that are found in their pursuits, in which Tuscany is perhaps not inferior to any other part of Italy. In another part, with many countrymen bringing various animals both wild and domestic, were seen also many country-girls, young and beautiful, and adorned in a thousand rustic but graceful manners, and likewise come--weaving the while garlands of flowers and bearing various fruits--to see and honour their Lady. And the verses which were over this scene as with the others, taken from Virgil, to the great glory of Tuscany, ran thus:

Hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini, Hanc Remus et frater, sic fortis Etruria crevit, Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Flora,

Urbs antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glebae.

Next, opposite to the above-described statue of Ceres, was seen that of Industry; and I do not speak merely of that industry which is seen used by many in many places in matters of commerce, but of a certain particular excellence and ingenious virtue which the men of Florence employ in everything to which they deign to apply themselves, on which account many, and in particular the Poet of supreme judgment (and rightly, as is evident), give them the title of Industrious. How great a benefit this industry has been to Florence, and in what great account it has always been held by her, is seen from this, that upon it she formed her body corporate, decreeing that none could become one of her citizens who was not entered under the name of some Guild, and thus recognizing that by that industry she had risen to no small power and greatness. Now Industry was figured as a woman in a light and easy habit, holding a sceptre, at the head of which was a hand with an eye in the centre of the palm, and with two little wings, whereby with the sceptre there was achieved a certain sort of resemblance to the Caduceus of Mercury; and in the canvas that was beneath her, as with the other statues, was seen a vast and most ornate portico or forum, very similar to the place where our merchants resort to transact their business, called the Mercato Nuovo, which was made even clearer by the boy that was to be seen striking the hours on one of the walls. And on one side, their particular Gods having been ingeniously placed there (in one part, namely, the statue of Fortune seated on a wheel, and in another part Mercury with the Caduceus and with a purse in the hand), were seen assembled many of the most noble artificers, those, namely, who exercise their arts with perhaps greater excellence in Florence than in any other place; and of such, with their wares in their hands, as if they were seeking to offer them to the incoming Princess, some were to be seen with cloth of gold or of silk, some with the finest draperies, and others with most beautiful and marvellous embroideries, and all with expressions of joy. Even so, in another part, some were seen in various costumes trafficking as they walked, and others of lower degree with various most beautiful wood-carvings and works in tarsia, and some again with balls, masks, and rattles, and other childish things, all in the same manner showing the same gladness and contentment.

All which, and the advantage of these things, and the profit and glory that have come from them to Florence, was made manifest by the four verses that were placed above them, as with the others, saying:

Quas artes pariat solertia, nutriat usus, Aurea monstravit quondam Florentia cunctis. Pandere namque acri ingenio atque enixa labore est Praestanti, unde paret vitam sibi quisque beatam.

Of the two last Deities or Virtues, seeing that, as we have said, by reason of the number and excellence in them of her sons they are so peculiar to Florence that she may well consider herself glorious in them beyond any other city, there was placed on the right hand, next to the statue of Ceres, that of Apollo, representing that Tuscan Apollo who infuses Tuscan verse in Tuscan poets. Under his feet, as in the other canvases, there was painted on the summit of a most lovely mountain, recognized as that of Helicon by the horse Pegasus, a very spacious and beautiful meadow, in the centre of which rose the sacred Fount of Aganippe, likewise recognized by the nine Muses, who stood around it in pleasant converse, and with them, and in the shade of the verdant laurels with which the whole mount was covered, were seen various poets in various guise seated or discoursing as they walked, or singing to the sound of the lyre, while a multitude of little Loves were playing above the laurels, some of them shooting arrows, and some appeared to be throwing down crowns of laurel. Of these poets, in the most honourable place were seen the profound Dante, the gracious Petrarca, and the fecund Boccaccio, who with smiling aspect appeared to be promising to the incoming Lady, since a subject so noble had not fallen to them, to infuse in the intellects of Florence such virtue that they would be able to sing worthily of her; to which with the exemplar of their writings, if only there may be found one able to imitate them, they have opened a broad and easy way. Near them, as if discoursing with them, and all, like the rest, portrayed from life, were seen M. Cino da Pistoia, Montemagno, Guido Cavalcanti, Guittone d'Arezzo, and Dante da Maiano, who lived in the same age and were poets passing gracious for those times. In another part were Monsignor Giovanni della Casa, Luigi Alamanni, and Lodovico Martelli, with Vincenzio at some distance from him, and with them Messer Giovanni Rucellai, the writer of the tragedies, and Girolamo Benivieni; among whom, if he had not been living at that time, a well-merited place would have been given also to the portrait of M. Benedetto Varchi, who shortly afterwards made his way to a better life.

In another part, again, were seen Franco Sacchetti, who wrote the three hundred Novelle, and other men, who, although at the present day they have no great renown, yet, because in their times they made no small advance in romances, were judged to be not unworthy of that place--Luigi Pulci, with his brothers Bernardo and Luca, and also Ceo and Altissimo. Berni, also, the inventor and father (and excellent father) of Tuscan burlesque poetry, with Burchiello, with Antonio Alamanni, and with Unico Accolti (who were standing apart), appeared to be showing no less joy than any of the others; while Arno, leaning in his usual manner on his Lion, with two children that were crowning him with laurel, and Mugnone, known by the Nymph that stood over him crowned with stars, with the moon on her brow, in allusion to the daughters of Atlas, and representing Fiesole, appeared likewise to be expressing the same gladness and contentment. All which conception described above was explained excellently well by the four verses that were placed in the architrave, as with the others, which ran thus:

Musarum hic regnat chorus, atque Helicone virente Posthabito, venere tibi Florentia vates Eximii, quoniam celebrare haec regia digno Non potuere suo et connubia carmine sacro.

Opposite to this, placed on the left hand, and perhaps not less peculiar to the Florentine genius than the last-named, was seen the statue of Design, the father of painting, sculpture, and architecture, who, if not born in Florence, as may be seen in the past writings, may be said to have been born again there, and nourished and grown as in his own nest. He was figured by a statue wholly nude, with three similar heads for the three arts that he embraces, each holding in the hand some instrument, but without any distinction; and in the canvas that was beneath him was seen painted a vast courtyard, for the adornment of which were placed in various manners a great quantity of statues and of pictures in painting, both ancient and modern, which could be seen in process of being designed and copied by divers masters in divers ways. In one part was being prepared an anatomical study, and many could be seen observing it, and likewise drawing, very intently. Others, again, considering the fabric and rules of architecture, appeared to be seeking to measure certain things with great minuteness, the while that the divine Michelagnolo Buonarroti, prince and monarch of them all, with the three circlets in his hand (his ancient device), making signs to Andrea del Sarto, Leonardo da Vinci, Pontormo, Rosso, Perino del Vaga, Francesco Salviati, Antonio da San Gallo, and Rustici, who were gathered with great reverence about him, was pointing out with supreme gladness the pompous entrance of the noble Lady. The ancient Cimabue, standing in another part, was doing as it were the same service to certain others, at whom Giotto appeared to be smiling, having taken from him, as Dante said so well, the field of painting which he thought to hold; and Giotto had with him, besides the Gaddi, Buffalmacco and Benozzo, with many others of that age. In another part, again, placed in another fashion and all rejoicing as they conversed, were seen those who conferred such benefits on art, and to whom these new masters owed so much; the great Donatello, Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Fra Filippo, the excellent Masaccio, Desiderio, and Verrocchio, with many others, portrayed from life, whom, since I have spoken of them in the previous books, I will pass by without saying more about them, thus avoiding the tedium that might come upon my readers by repetition. Who they were, and what they were come thither to do, was explained, as with the others, by four verses written above them:

Non pictura satis, non possunt marmora et aera Tuscaque non arcus testari ingentia facta, Atque ea praecipue quae mox ventura trahuntur; Quis nunc Praxiteles caelet, quis pingat Apelles?

Now in the base of all these six vast and most beautiful canvases was seen painted a gracious throng of children, each occupying himself in the profession appropriate to the canvas placed above, who, besides the adornment, were seen to be demonstrating with great accuracy with what beginnings one arrived at the perfection of the men painted above; even as with much judgment and singular art the same canvases were also divided and adorned by round and very tall columns and by pilasters, and by various ornaments of trophies all in keeping with the subjects to which they were near. But, above all, graceful and lovely in appearance were the ten devices, or, to speak more precisely, the ten reverses (as it were) of medals, partly long established in the city and partly newly introduced, which were painted in the compartments over the columns, serving to divide the statues already described, and accompanying very appropriately their inventions; the first of which was the Deduction of a Colony, represented by a bull and a cow together in a yoke, and behind them the ploughman with the head veiled, as the ancient Augurs are depicted, with the crooked lituus in the hand, and with a motto, which said: COL. JUL. FLORENTIA. The second--and this is very ancient in the city, and the one wherewith public papers are generally sealed--was Hercules with the Club and with the skin of the Nemaean Lion, but without any motto. The third was the horse Pegasus, which with the hind feet was smiting the urn held by Arno, in the manner that is told of the Fount of Helicon; whence were issuing waters in abundance, which formed a river, crystal-clear, that was all covered with swans; but this, also, was without any motto. So, likewise, was the fourth, which was composed of a Mercury with the Caduceus in the hand, the purse, and the cock, such as is seen in many ancient cornelians. But the fifth, in accord with that Affection which, as was said at the beginning, was given to Florence as a companion, was a young woman receiving a crown of laurel from two figures, one on either side of her, which, clad in the military paludament and likewise crowned with laurel, appeared to be Consuls or Imperatores; with words that ran: GLORIA POP. FLOREN.

So also the sixth, in like manner in accord with Fidelity, likewise the companion of Florence, was also figured by a woman seated, with an altar near her, upon which she was seen to be laying one of her hands, and with the other uplifted, holding the second finger raised in the manner wherein one generally sees an oath taken, she was seen to declare her intention with the inscription: FIDES. POP. FLOR. This, also, did the picture of the seventh, without any inscription; which was the two horns of plenty filled with ears of corn intertwined together. And the eighth, likewise without any inscription, did the same with the three Arts of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, which, after the manner of the three Graces, with hands linked to denote the interdependence of one art with another, were placed no less gracefully than the others upon a base in which was seen carved a Capricorn. And so, also, did the ninth (placed more towards the Arno), which was the usual Florence with her Lion beside her, to whom various boughs of laurel were offered by certain persons standing around her, as it were showing themselves grateful for the benefits received from her, in that there, as has been told, letters began to revive. And the tenth and last did the same with its inscription that ran thus, TRIBU SCAPTIA, written upon a shield held by a Lion; which tribe was that of Augustus, her founder, and the one in which in ancient times Florence used to be enrolled.

But the finest ornament--besides the beautiful shields on which were the arms of their Excellencies, both the one and the other, and of the most illustrious Princess, and the device of the city, and besides the great Ducal crown of gold, which Florence was in the act of presenting--was the principal device, set over all the shields, and placed there in allusion to the city; which was composed of two halcyons making their nest in the sea at the beginning of winter. This was made clear by the part of the Zodiac that was painted there, wherein the Sun was seen at the point of entering into the Sign of Capricorn, with a motto that said, HOC FIDUNT, signifying that even as the halcyons, by the grace of Nature, at the time when the Sun is entering into the said Sign of Capricorn, which renders the sea smooth and tranquil, are able to make their nests there in security (whence such days are called "halcyon days"), so also Florence, with Capricorn in the ascendant, which is therefore the ancient and most honourable device of her excellent Duke, is able in whatever season the world may bring her to flourish in the greatest felicity and peace, as she does right well. And all this, with all the other conceptions given above, was declared in great part by the inscription which, addressed to the exalted bride, was written appropriately in a most ornate and beautiful place, saying:

INGREDERE URBEM FELICISSIMO CONJUGIO FACTAM TUAM, AUGUSTISSIMA VIRGO, FIDE, INGENIIS, ET OMNI LAUDE PRAESTANTEM; OPTATAQUE PRAESENTIA TUA, ET EXIMIA VIRTUTE, SPERATAQUE FECUNDITATE, OPTIMORUM PRINCIPUM PATERNAM ET AVITAM CLARITATEM, FIDELISSIMORUM CIVIUM LAETITIAM, FLORENTIS URBIS GLORIAM ET FELICITATEM AUGE.

Proceeding, then, towards Borg' Ognissanti, a street, as everyone knows, most beautiful, spacious, and straight, there were at the entrance two very large colossal figures, one representing Austria, as a young woman in full armour after the antique, with a sceptre in the hand, signifying her military power as embodied in the Imperial dignity, which now has its residence in that nation and appears to be entirely concentrated there; and the other representing Tuscany, apparelled in religious vestments and with the sacerdotal lituus in the hand, which in like manner demonstrated the excellence that the Tuscan nation has always displayed from the most ancient times in the Divine cult, insomuch that even at the present day it is seen that the Pontiffs and the Holy Roman Church have chosen to establish their principal seat in Tuscany. Each of these had at her side a nude and gracious little Angel, one of whom was seen guarding the Imperial crown, and the other the crown that the Pontiffs are wont to use; and one figure was shown offering her hand most lovingly to the other, almost as if Austria, with her most noble cities (which were depicted under various images in the vast canvas that was as an ornament and head-piece, at the entrance to that street, facing towards the Porta al Prato), wished to signify that she was come parentally to take part in the rejoicings and festivities in honour of the illustrious bridal pair, and to meet and embrace her beloved Tuscany, thus in a certain sort uniting together the two most mighty powers, the spiritual and the temporal. All which was declared excellently well in the six verses that were written in a suitable place, saying:

Augustae en adsum sponsae comes Austria; magni Caesaris haec nata est, Caesaris atque soror. Carolus est patruus, gens et faecunda triumphis, Imperio fulget, regibus et proavis. Laetitiam et pacem adferimus dulcesque Hymeneos Et placidam requiem, Tuscia clara, tibi.

Even as on the other side Tuscany, having yielded the first place at the first Gate to Florence, her Lady and her Queen, was seen with an aspect all full of joy at receiving so great a Princess; having likewise in company with her, in a similar painted canvas beside her, Fiesole, Pisa, Siena, and Arezzo, with the most famous of her other cities, and with the Ombrone, the Arbia, the Serchio, and the Chiana, all depicted in various forms according to custom; and expressing her contentment in the six following verses, written in a way similar to the others, and in a suitable place:

Ominibus faustis et laetor imagine rerum, Virginis aspectu Caesareaeque fruor. Hae nostrae insignes urbes, haec oppida et agri, Haec tua sunt; illis tu dare jura potes. Audis ut resonet laetis clamoribus aether, Et plausu et ludis Austria cuncta fremat?

And to the end that the splendid nuptials might be celebrated with all the most favourable auspices, at the Palazzo de' Ricasoli, which, as everyone knows, is situated at the beginning of the Ponte alla Carraia, there was erected in the Doric Order of composition the third ornament, dedicated to Hymen, their God; and this consisted--in addition to a head-piece of singular beauty, on which the eyes of all who came through Borg' Ognissanti feasted with marvellous delight--of two very lofty and most magnificent portals, between which it stood, and over one of these, which gave access to those passing into the street called La Vigna, was placed with much judgment the statue of Venus Genetrix, perhaps alluding to the House of the Caesars, which had its origin from Venus, or perchance auguring generation and fecundity for the bridal pair; with a motto taken from the Epithalamium of Theocritus, saying:

[Greek: Kypris de, Thea Kypris, ison erasthai allalon.]

And over the other, giving access along the bank of the Arno, through which the procession passed, was the statue of the Nurse Latona, perchance to ward off sterility or the jealous interference of Juno, and likewise with a motto that ran:

[Greek: Lato men doie, Lato kourotrophos ymmin euteknian.]

As a complement to these, executed with singular artistry, upon a great base attached to one of the portals, there was seen on one side, as it were newly issued from the water, and in the form of a most beautiful giant with a garland of lilies, the River Arno, who, as if he wished to give an example of nuptial bliss, was locked in embrace with his Sieve, who had likewise a garland of leaves and apples; which apples, alluding to the balls of the Medici, of which they were the origin, would have been rosy, if the colour had been in keeping with the white marble. And Arno, all rejoicing, was shown speaking to his new Lady in the manner expressed by the following verses:

In mare nunc auro flaventes Arnus arenas Volvam, atque argento purior unda fluet. Etruscos nunc invictis comitantibus armis Caesareis, tollam sidera ad alta caput.

Nunc mihi fama etiam Tibrim fulgoreque rerum Tantarum longe vincere fata dabunt.

And on the other side, as a complement to Arno, on a similar base attached in a similar way to the other portal (the two being turned, as it were, like wings one towards the other), and almost in the same form, were seen the Danube and the Drava likewise in a close embrace, and, even as the others had the Lion, so they had the Eagle as emblem and support; and these, crowned also with roses and with a thousand varieties of little flowers, were shown speaking to Florence, even as the others were speaking to themselves, the following verses:

Quamvis Flora tuis celeberrima finibus errem, Sum septemgeminus Danubiusque ferox; Virginis Augustae comes, et vestigia lustro, Ut reor, et si quod flumina numen habent, Conjugium faustum et foecundum et Nestoris annos, Tuscorum et late nuntio regna tibi.

Then at the summit of the head-piece, in the place of honour, and with a close resemblance to the whitest marble, was seen the statue of the young Hymen, with a garland of flowering marjoram and the torch and veil, and at his feet this inscription: BONI CONJUGATOR AMORIS. On one side of him was Love, who lay all languid under one of his flanks; and on the other side was Conjugal Fidelity, who was holding one arm supported under the other; which was all so pleasing, so full of charm, so beautiful, and so well distributed before the eyes of all beholders, that in truth it is not to be expressed in words. As the principal crown of that ornament--for on them all there was placed a principal crown and a principal device--there were formed in the hands of the Hymen described above two garlands of the same marjoram that crowned his head, which, as he held them, he appeared to be about to present to the happy pair. But most lovely and beautiful of all, and best executed, were the three spacious pictures, separated by double columns, into which the whole of that vast facade was divided, placed with supreme beauty at the feet of Hymen; for in them were depicted all the advantages, all the delights, and all the desirable things that are generally found in nuptials; those displeasing and vexatious being driven away from them with a certain subtle grace. And thus in one of these, that in the centre namely, were seen the Three Graces painted in the manner that is customary, all full of joy and gladness, who appeared to be singing with a certain soft harmony the verses written over them, saying:

Quae tam praeclara nascetur stirpe parentum Inclita progenies, digna atavisque suis? Etrusca attollet se quantis gloria rebus Conjugio Austriacae Mediceaeque Domus? Vivite felices; non est spes irrita, namque Divina Charites talia voce canunt.

These had on one side, forming as it were a choir about them, and coupled becomingly together, Youth and Delight, and Beauty with Contentment in her embrace, and on the other side, in like fashion, Gladness with Play, and Fecundity with Repose, all in attitudes most graceful and in keeping with their characters, and so well distinguished by the able painter, that they could be recognized with ease. In the picture that was on the right of that one, there were seen, besides Love and Fidelity, the same Gladness, Contentment, Delight, and Repose, with lighted torches in their hands, who were chasing from the world and banishing to the nethermost abyss Jealousy, Contention, Affliction, Sorrow, Lamentation, Deceit, Sterility, and other vexatious and displeasing things of that kind, which are wont so often to disturb the minds of human creatures. And in the other, on the left hand, were seen the same Graces in company with Juno, Venus, Concord, Love, Fecundity, Sleep, Pasithea, and Thalassius, setting the genial bed in order with those ancient religious ceremonies of torches, incense, garlands, and flowers, which were customary; of which last a number of little Loves, playing in their flight, were scattering no small quantity over the bed. Above these, then, were two other pictures distributed in very beautiful compartments, one on either side of the statue of Hymen, and somewhat smaller than those described; in one of which, in imitation of the ancient custom so well described by Catullus, was seen the illustrious Princess portrayed from life in the midst of a gracious little company of most beautiful maidens in virginal dress, all crowned with flowers, and with lighted torches in their hands, who were pointing towards the Evening Star, which was seen appearing, and, as if set in motion by them, seemed in a certain gracious manner to move and to advance towards Hymen; with the motto: O DIGNA CONJUNCTA VIRO. Even as in the other picture, on the other side, was seen the excellent Prince in the midst of many young men likewise crowned with garlands and burning with love, not less eager than the maidens in lighting the nuptial torches, and pointing no less towards the newly-appeared star, and giving signs, in advancing towards it, of equal or even greater desire; likewise with a motto that said: O TAEDIS FELICIBUS AUCTE. Above these, arranged in a very graceful manner, there was seen as the principal device, which, as has been told, was placed over all the arches, a gilded chain all composed of marriage-rings with their stones, which, hanging down from Heaven, appeared to be sustaining this terrestrial World;

alluding in a certain sense to the Homeric Chain of Jove, and signifying that by virtue of nuptials, the heavenly causes being wedded with terrestrial matter, Nature and the aforesaid terrestrial World are preserved and rendered as it were eternal; with a motto that said: NATURA SEQUITUR CUPIDE. And then a quantity of little Angels and Loves, all gracious and merry, and all set in fitting places, were seen dispersed among the bases, the pilasters, the festoons, and the other ornaments, which were without number; and all, with a certain gladness, appeared to be either scattering flowers and garlands, or sweetly singing the following ode, from among the spaces between the double columns that divided, as has been told, the great pictures and the great facade, which was arranged in a lovely and gracious manner:

Augusti soboles regia Caesaris, Summo nupta viro Principi Etruriae, Faustis auspiciis deseruit vagum Istrum regnaque patria.

Cui frater, genitor, patruus, atque avi Fulgent innumeri stemmate nobiles Praeclaro Imperii, prisca ab origine Digno nomine Caesares.

Ergo magnanimae virgini et inclytae Jam nunc Arne pater suppliciter manus Libes, et violis versicoloribus Pulchram Flora premas comam.

Assurgant proceres, ac velut aureum Et caeleste jubar rite colant eam. Omnes accumulent templa Deum, et piis Aras muneribus sacras.

Tali conjugio Pax hilaris redit, Fruges alma Ceres porrigit uberes, Saturni remeant aurea saecula, Orbis laetitia fremit.

Quin dirae Eumenides monstraque Tartari His longe duce te finibus exulant. Bellorum rabies hinc abit effera, Mavors sanguineus fugit.

Sed jam nox ruit et sidera concidunt; Et nymphae adveniunt, Junoque pronuba Arridet pariter, blandaque Gratia Nudis juncta sororibus.

Haec cingit niveis tempora liliis, Haec e purpureis serta gerit rosis, Huic molles violae et suavis amaracus Nectunt virgineum caput.

Lusus, laeta Quies cernitur et Decor; Quos circum volitat turba Cupidinum, Et plaudens recinit haec Hymeneus ad Regalis thalami fores.

Quid statis juvenes tam genialibus Indulgere toris immemores? Joci Cessent et choreae; ludere vos simul Poscunt tempora mollius.

Non vincant hederae bracchia flexiles, Conchae non superent oscula dulcia, Emanet pariter sudor et ossibus Grato murmure ab intimis.

Det summum imperium regnaque Juppiter, Det Latona parem progeniem patri; Ardorem unanimem det Venus, atque Amor Aspirans face mutua.

And to the end that no part of either dominion might be left without being present at those happy nuptials, at the Ponte a S. Trinita and also at the Palazzo degli Spini, which is to be seen at the beginning of that bridge, there was the fourth ornament, of an architecture not less magnificent in composition, and consisting of a head-piece with three facades, one of which, turning to face towards the Ponte alla Carraia, became joined to that in the centre, which was somewhat bent and likewise attached to that which in like manner turned to face towards the Palazzo degli Spini and S. Trinita; whence it appeared to have been contrived principally for the point of view both from the one street and from the other, insomuch that both from the one and from the other it presented itself complete to the eyes of all beholders--a thing of singular artifice for him who well considers it, which rendered that street, which is in itself as imposing and magnificent as any other that is to be found in Florence, even more imposing and more beautiful than could be believed. In the facade that came in the centre, there had been formed upon a great base two Giants, immense and most superb to behold, supported by two great monsters and by other extravagant fishes that appeared to be swimming in the sea, and accompanied by two sea-nymphs. These represented, one the great Ocean and the other the Tyrrhenian Sea, and, half reclining, they appeared to be seeking to present to the most illustrious pair, with a certain affectionate liberality, not only many most beautiful branches of coral and immense shells of mother-of-pearl, and others of their sea-riches that they held in their hands, but also new islands, new lands, and new dominions, which were seen led thither in their train. Behind them, making that whole ornament lovely and imposing, were seen rising little by little, from their socles that rested upon the base, two vast half-columns, upon which rested cornice, frieze, and architrave, leaving behind the Sea-Gods already described, almost in the form of a triumphal arch, a very spacious square; and over the two columns and the architrave rose two very well-formed pilasters covered with creepers, from which sprang two cornices, forming at the summit a superb and very bold frontispiece, at the top of which, and above the creepers of the pilasters already described, were seen placed three very large vases of gold, all filled to overflowing with thousands and thousands of different riches of the sea;

and in the space that remained between the architrave and the point of the frontispiece, there was seen lying with rare dignity a masterly figure of a Nymph, representing Tethys, or Amphitrite, Goddess and Queen of the Sea, who with a very grave gesture was presenting as the principal crown of that place a rostral crown, such as was generally given to the victors in naval battles, with her motto, VINCE MARI, and as it were adding that which follows: JAM TERRA TUA EST. Even as in the picture and the facade behind the Giants, in a very large niche that had the appearance of a real and natural cavern or grotto, there was painted among many other monsters of the sea the Proteus of Virgil's Georgics, bound by Aristaeus, who, pointing with his finger towards the verses written above him, appeared to wish to announce in prophecy to the well-united pair good fortune, victories, and triumphs in maritime affairs, saying:

Germana adveniet felici cum alite virgo, Flora, tibi, adveniet soboles Augusta, Hymenei Cui pulcher Juvenis jungatur foedere certo Regius Italiae columen, bona quanta sequentur Conjugium? Pater Arne tibi, et tibi Florida Mater, Gloria quanta aderit? Protheum nil postera fallunt.

And since, as has been told, this facade of the cavern stood between the two other facades, one of which was turned towards S. Trinita and the other towards the Ponte alla Carraia, both these, which were of the same size and height, were likewise bordered in a similar manner by two similar half-columns, which in like manner supported their architrave, frieze, and cornice in a quarter-round, upon which, both on the one side and on the other, were seen three statues of boys on three pedestals, who were upholding certain very rich festoons of gold, composed in a most masterly fashion of conches, shells, coral, sword-grass, and sea-weed, by which a no less graceful finish was given to the whole structure.

But to return to the space of the facade which, turning from the straight, was supported against the Palazzo degli Spini. In it was seen, painted in chiaroscuro, a Nymph all unadorned and little less than nude, placed between many new kinds of animals, who stood for the new land of Peru, with the other new West Indies, discovered and ruled for the most part under the auspices of the most fortunate House of Austria. She was turned towards a figure of Jesus Christ Our Lord, who, painted all luminous in a Cross in the air (alluding to the four exceeding bright stars which form the semblance of a Cross, newly discovered among those peoples), appeared in the manner of a Sun piercing some thick clouds with most resplendent rays, for which she seemed in a certain sense to be rendering much thanks to that house, in that by their means she was seen converted to the Divine worship and to the true Christian Religion, with the verses written below:

Di tibi pro meritis tantis, Augusta propago, Praemia digna ferant, quae vinctam mille catenis Heu duris solvis, quae clarum cernere solem E tenebris tantis et Christum noscere donas.

Even as on the base which supported that whole facade, and which, although on a level with that of the Giants, yet did not like that one project outwards, there was seen, painted as it were by way of allegory, the fable of Andromeda delivered by Perseus from the cruel Monster of the sea. And in that which, turning, faced towards the Arno and the Ponte alla Carraia, there was seen in like manner painted the small but famous Island of Elba, in the form of an armed warrior seated upon a great rock, with the Trident in her right hand, having on one side of her a little boy who was seen sporting playfully with a dolphin, and on the other side another like him, who was upholding an anchor, with many galleys that were shown circling about her port, which was painted there. At her feet, on her base, and corresponding in like manner to the facade painted above, was seen likewise the fable that is given by Strabo, when he relates that the Argonauts, returning from the acquisition of the Golden Fleece, and arriving with Medea in Elba, raised altars there and made sacrifice to Jove upon them; perhaps foreseeing or auguring that at another time our present glorious Duke, being as it were of their company by virtue of the Order of the Golden Fleece, was to fortify that island and to safeguard distressed mariners, thus reviving their ancient and glorious memory. Which was expressed excellently well by the four verses written there in a suitable place, saying:

Evenere olim Heroes qui littore in isto Magnanimi votis petiere. En Ilva potentis Auspiciis Cosmi multa munita opera ac vi; Pacatum pelagus securi currite nautae.

But the most beautiful effect, the most bizarre, the most fantastic, and the most ornate--besides the various devices and trophies, and Arion, who was riding pleasantly through the sea on the back of the swimming dolphin--came from an innumerable quantity of extravagant fishes of the sea, Nereids, and Tritons, which were distributed among the friezes, pedestals, and bases, and wherever a space or the beauty of the place required them. Even as at the foot of the great base of the Giants there was another gracious effect in the form of a most beautiful Siren seated upon the head of a very large fish, from whose mouth at times, at the turning of a key, not without laughter among the expectant bystanders, a rushing jet of water was seen pouring upon such as were too eager to drink the white and red wine that flowed in abundance from the breasts of the Siren into a very capacious and most ornate basin. And since the bend of the facade where Elba was painted was the first thing to strike the eyes of those who came, as did the procession, from the Ponte alla Carraia along the Arno towards the Palazzo degli Spini, it seemed good to the inventor to hide the ugliness of the scaffolding and woodwork that were necessarily placed behind, by raising to the same height another new facade similar to the three described, which might, as it did, render that whole vista most festive and ornate. And in it, within a large oval, it appeared to him that it was well to place the principal device, embracing the whole conception of the structure; and to that end, therefore, there was seen figured a great Neptune on his usual Car, with the usual Trident, as he is described by Virgil, chasing away the troublesome winds, and using as a motto the very same words, MATURATE FUGAM; as if he wished to promise to the fortunate pair happiness, peace, and tranquillity in his realm.

Opposite to the graceful Palace of the Bartolini there had been erected a short time before, as a more stable and enduring ornament, not without singular ingenuity, that ancient and immense column of oriental granite which had been taken from the Baths of Antoninus in Rome, and granted by Pius IV to our glorious Duke, and by him conveyed, although at no little expense, to Florence, and magnanimously presented to her as a courteous gift for her public adornment. Upon that column, over its beautiful capital, which had, like the base, the appearance of bronze, and which is now being made of real bronze, there was placed a statue (of clay, indeed, but in the colour of porphyry, because even so it is to be), very large and very excellent, of a woman in full armour, with a helmet on the head, and representing, by the sword in the right hand and by the scales in the left, an incorruptible and most valorous Justice.

The sixth ornament was erected at the Canto de' Tornaquinci; and here I must note a thing which would appear incredible to one who had not seen it--namely, that this ornament was so magnificent, so rich in pomp, and fashioned with so much art and grandeur, that, although it was conjoined with the superb Palace of the Strozzi, which is such as to make the greatest things appear as nothing, and although on a site altogether disastrous by reason of the uneven ends of the streets that run together there, and certain other inconvenient circumstances, nevertheless such was the excellence of the craftsman, and so well conceived the manner of the work, that it seemed as if all those difficulties had been brought together there for the purpose of rendering it the more admirable and the more beautiful; that most lovely palace being so well accompanied by the richness of the ornaments, the height of the arches, the grandeur of the columns, all intertwined with arms and trophies, and the great statues that towered over the summit of the whole structure, that anyone would have judged that neither that ornament required any other accompaniment than that of such a palace, nor such a palace required any other ornament. And to the end that all may be the better understood, and in order to show more clearly and distinctly in what manner the work was constructed, it is necessary that some measure of pardon should be granted to us by those who are not of our arts, if for the sake of those who delight in them we proceed, more minutely than might appear proper to the others, to describe the nature of the sites and the forms of the arches; and this in order to demonstrate how noble intellects accommodate ornaments to places and inventions to sites with grace and beauty.

We must relate, then, that since the street which runs from the Column to the Tornaquinci is, as everyone knows, very wide, and since it was necessary to pass from there into the street of the Tornabuoni, which by its narrowness brought it about that the eyes of those thus passing fell for the most part on the not very ornate Tower of the Tornaquinci, which occupies more than half the street, it was thought expedient, in order to obviate that difficulty and to make the effect more pleasing, to construct in the width of the above-named street, in a Composite Order, two arches divided by a most ornate column, one of which gave free passage to the procession, which proceeded through the said street of the Tornabuoni, and the other, concealing the view of the tower, appeared, by virtue of an ingenious prospect-scene that was painted there, to lead into another street similar to the said street of the Tornabuoni, wherein with most pleasing illusion were seen not only the houses and windows adorned with tapestries and full of men and women who were all intent on gazing at the spectacle, but also the gracious sight of a most lovely maiden on a white palfrey, accompanied by certain grooms, who appeared to be coming from there towards those approaching, insomuch that both on the day of the procession and all the time afterwards that she remained there, she roused in more than one person, by a gracious deception, a desire either to go to meet her or to wait until she should have passed. These two arches, besides the above-mentioned column that divided them, were bordered by other columns of the same size, which supported architraves, friezes, and cornices; and over each arch was seen a lovely ornament in the form of a most beautiful picture, in which were seen painted, likewise in chiaroscuro, the stories of which we shall speak in a short time. The whole work was crowned above by an immense cornice with ornaments corresponding to the loveliness, grandeur, and magnificence of the rest, upon which, then, stood the statues, which, although they were at a height of a good twenty-five braccia from the level of the ground, nevertheless were wrought with such proportion that the height did not take away any of their grace, nor the distance any of the effect of any detail of their adornment and beauty. There stood in the same manner, as it were as wings to those two main arches, on the one side and on the other, two other arches, one of which, attached to the Palace of the Strozzi, and leading to the above-mentioned Tower of the Tornaquinci, gave passage to those who wished to turn towards the Mercato Vecchio, even as the other, placed on the other side, did the same service to those who might desire to go towards the street called La Vigna; wherefore the Via di S. Trinita, which, as has been told, is so broad, terminating thus in the four arches described, came to present such loveliness and a view so beautiful and so heroic, that it appeared impossible to afford greater satisfaction to the eyes of the spectators. And this was the front part, composed, as has been described, of four arches; of two main arches, namely, one false, and one real, which led into the Via de' Tornabuoni, and of two others at the sides, in the manner of wings, which were turned towards the two cross-streets. Now since, entering into the said street of the Tornabuoni on the left side, beside the Vigna, there debouches (as everyone knows) the Strada di S. Sisto, which likewise of necessity strikes the flank of the same Tower of the Tornaquinci, it was made to appear, in order to hide the same ugliness in a similar manner with the same illusion of a similar prospect-scene, that that side also passed into a similar street of various houses placed in the same way, with an ingenious view of a very ornate fountain overflowing with crystal-clear waters, from which a woman with a child was represented as drawing some, so that one who was at no great distance would certainly have declared that she was real and by no means simulated.

Now these four arches--to return to those in front--were supported and divided by five columns adorned in the manner described, forming as it were a rectangular piazza; and in a line with each of those columns, above the final cornice and the summit of the edifice, there was a most beautiful seat, while in the same manner four others were placed over the centre of each arch, which in all came to the number of nine. In eight of these was seen seated in each a statue of most imposing appearance, some shown in armour, some in the garb of peace, and others in the imperator's paludament, according to the characters of those who were portrayed in them; and in place of the ninth seat and the ninth statue, above the column in the centre, was seen placed an immense escutcheon, supported by two great Victories with the Imperial Crown of the House of Austria, to which that structure was dedicated; which was made manifest by a very large epitaph, which was seen placed with much grace and beauty below the escutcheon, saying:

VIRTUTI FELICITATIQUE INVICTISSIMAE DOMUS AUSTRIAE, MAJESTATIQUE TOT ET TANTORUM IMPERATORUM AC REGUM, QUI IN IPSA FLORUERUNT ET NUNC MAXIME FLORENT, FLORENTIA AUGUSTO CONJUGIO PARTICEPS ILLIUS FELICITATIS, GRATO PIOQUE ANIMO DICAT.

The intention had been, after bringing to those most splendid nuptials the Province of Austria, with her cities and rivers and with her ocean-sea, and after having caused her to be received by Tuscany with her cities, the Arno, and the Tyrrhenian Sea, as has been related, to bring then her great and glorious Caesars, all magnificent in adornment and pomp, as is the general custom in taking part in nuptials; as if they, having conducted thither with them the illustrious bride, were come before to have the first meeting of kinsmen with the House of Medici, and to prove of what stock, and how glorious, was the noble virgin that they sought to present to them. And so, of the eight above-mentioned statues placed upon the eight seats, representing eight Emperors of that august house, there was seen on the right hand of the above-named escutcheon, over the arch through which the procession passed, that of Maximilian II, the present magnanimous and excellent Emperor, and brother of the bride; below whom, in a very spacious picture, there was seen painted with most beautiful invention his marvellous assumption to the Empire, himself being seated in the midst of the Electors, both spiritual and temporal, the first being recognized--besides their long vestments--by a Faith that was to be seen at their feet, and the others by a Hope in a like position. In the air, also, over his head, were seen certain little Angels that seemed to be chasing many malign spirits out of certain thick and dark clouds; these being intended either to suggest the hope which is felt that at some time, in that all-conquering and most constant nation, men will contrive to dissipate and clear away the clouds of those many disturbances that have occurred there in matters of religion, and restore her to her pristine purity and serenity of tranquil concord; or rather, that in that act all dissensions had flown away, and showing how marvellously, and with what unanimous consent of all Germany, amid that great variety of minds and religions, that assumption had taken place, which was explained by the words that were placed above, saying:

MAXIMILIANUS II SALUTATUR IMP. MAGNO CONSENSU GERMANORUM, ATQUE INGENTI LAETITIA BONORUM OMNIUM, ET CHRISTIANAE PIETATIS FELICITATE.

Then, next to the statue of the said Maximilian, in a place corresponding to the column at the corner, was seen that of the truly invincible Charles V; even as over the arch of that wing, which commanded the Via della Vigna, there was that of the second Albert, a man of most resolute valour, although he reigned but a short time. Above the column at the head was placed that of the great Rudolph, who, the first of that name, was also the first to introduce into that most noble house the Imperial dignity, and the first to enrich her with the great Archduchy of Austria; when, having reverted to the Empire for lack of a successor, he invested with it the first Albert, his son, whence the House of Austria has since taken its name. All which, in memory of an event so important, was seen painted in a most beautiful manner in the frieze above that arch, with an inscription at the foot that said:

RODULPHUS PRIMUS EX HAC FAMILIA IMP. ALBERTUM PRIMUM AUSTRIAE PRINCIPATU DONAT.

But to return to the part on the left, beginning with the same place in the centre; beside the escutcheon, and over the false arch that covered the Tower of the Tornaquinci, was seen the statue of the most devout Ferdinand, father of the bride, beneath whose feet was seen painted the valorous resistance made by his efforts in the year 1529 in the defence of Vienna against the terrible assault of the Turks; demonstrated by the inscription written above, which said:

FERDINANDUS PRIMUS IMP., INGENTIBUS COPIIS TURCORUM CUM REGE IPSORUM PULSIS, VIENNAM NOBILEM URBEM FORTISSIME FELICISSIMEQUE DEFENDIT.

Even as at the corner there was the statue of the first and most renowned Maximilian, and over the arch that inclined towards the Palace of the Strozzi that of the pacific Frederick, father of that same Maximilian, leaning against an olive-trunk. Above the last column, which was attached to the above-named Palace of the Strozzi, was seen that of the first Albert mentioned above, who, as has been told, was first invested by his father Rudolph with the sovereignty of Austria, and gave to that most noble house the arms that are still to be seen at the present day. Those arms used formerly to be five little larks on a gold ground, whereas the new arms, which, as everyone may see, are all red with a white band that divides them, are said to have been introduced by him in that form because, as was seen painted there in a great picture beneath his feet, he found himself not otherwise in that most bloody battle fought by him with Adolf, who had been first deposed from the Imperial throne, when the said Albert was seen to slay Adolf valorously with his own hand and to win from him the Spolia Opima; and since, save for the middle of his person, which was white on account of his armour, over all the rest he found himself on that day all stained and dabbled with blood, he ordained that in memory of that his arms should be painted in the same manner both of form and colour, and that they should be preserved gloriously after him by his successors in that house; and beneath the picture, as with the others, there was to be read a similar inscription that said:

ALBERTUS I IMP. ADOLPHUM, CUI LEGIBUS IMPERIUM ABROGATUM FUERAT, MAGNO PROELIO VINCIT ET SPOLIA OPIMA REFERT.

And since each of the eight above-mentioned Emperors, besides the arms common to their whole house, also used during his lifetime arms private and peculiar to himself, for that reason, in order to make it more manifest to the beholders which Emperor each of the statues represented, there were also placed beneath their feet, on most beautiful shields, the particular arms that each, as has been told, had borne. All which, together with some pleasing and well-accommodated little scenes that were painted on the pedestals, made a magnificent, heroic, and very ornate effect; even as not less was done, on the columns and in all the parts where ornaments could be suitably placed, in addition to trophies and the arms, by the Crosses of S. Andrew, the Fusils, and the Pillars of Hercules, with the motto, PLUS ULTRA, the principal device of that arch, and many others like it used by the men of that Imperial family.

Such, then, was the principal view which presented itself to those who chose to pass by the direct way with the procession; but for those who came from the opposite direction, from the Via de' Tornabuoni towards the Tornaquinci, there appeared, with an ornamentation perhaps not less lovely, in so far as the narrowness of the street permitted, a similar spectacle arranged in due proportion. For on that side, which we will call the back, there was formed, as it were, another structure similar to that already described, save that on account of the narrowness of the street, whereas the first was seen composed of four arches, the other was of three only; one of which being joined with friezes and cornices to that upon which, as has been told, was placed the statue of the second Maximilian, now Emperor, and thus making it double, and another likewise attached to the above-described prospect-scene which concealed the tower, brought it about that the third, leaving also behind it a little quadrangular piazza, remained as the last for one coming with the procession, and appeared as the first for one approaching, on the contrary, from the street of the Tornabuoni; and upon that last, which was in the same form as those described, even as upon them were the Emperors, so upon it were seen towering, but standing on their feet, the two Kings Philip, one the father and the other the son of the great Charles V, the first Philip, namely, and also the second, so filled with liberality and justice, whom at the present day we honour as the great and puissant King of so many most noble realms. Between him and the statue of his grandfather there was seen painted in the circumambient frieze that same Philip II seated in majesty, and standing before him a tall woman in armour, recognized by the white cross that she had on the breast as being Malta, delivered by him through the valour of the most illustrious Lord Don Garzia di Toledo, who was portrayed there, from the siege of the Turks; and she appeared to be seeking, as one grateful for that great service, to offer to him the obsidional crown of dog's grass, which was made manifest by the inscription written beneath, which said:

MELITA, EREPTA E FAUCIBUS IMMANISSIMORUM HOSTIUM STUDIO ET AUXILIIS PIISSIMI REGIS PHILIPPI, CONSERVATOREM SUUM CORONA GRAMINEA DONAT.

And to the end that the part turned towards the Strada della Vigna might have likewise some adornment, it was thought a fitting thing to declare the conception of the whole vast structure by a great inscription between the final cornice, where the statues stood, and the arch, which was a large space, saying:

IMPERIO LATE FULGENTES ASPICE REGES; AUSTRIACA HOS OMNES EDIDIT ALTA DOMUS. HIS INVICTA FUIT VIRTUS, HIS CUNCTA SUBACTA, HIS DOMITA EST TELLUS, SERVIT ET OCEANUS.

Even as was done in the same manner and for the same reason towards the Mercato Vecchio, in another inscription, saying:

IMPERIIS GENS NATA BONIS ET NATA TRIUMPHIS, QUAM GENUS E COELO DUCERE NEMO NEGET; TUQUE NITENS GERMEN DIVINAE STIRPIS ETRUSCIS TRADITUM AGRIS NITIDIS, UT SOLA CULTA BEES; SI MIHI CONTINGAT VESTRO DE SEMINE FRUCTUM CARPERE ET IN NATIS CERNERE DETUR AVOS, O FORTUNATAM! VERO TUNC NOMINE FLORENS URBS FERAR, IN QUAM FORS CONGERAT OMNE BONUM.

Now it appeared a fitting thing, having brought the triumphant Caesars to the place described above, to bring the magnanimous Medici, also, with all their pomp, to the corner that is called the Canto de' Carnesecchi, which is not far distant from it; as if, reverently receiving the Caesars, as is the custom, they were come to hold high revel and to do honour to the new-come bride, so much desired. And here, no less than in some of the passages to follow, it will be necessary that I should be pardoned by those who are not of our arts for describing minutely the nature of the site and the form of the arches and other ornaments, for the reason that it is my intention to demonstrate not less the excellence of the hands and brushes of the craftsmen who executed the works, than the fertility and acuteness of brain of him who was the author of the stories and of the whole invention; and particularly because the site in that place was perhaps more disastrous and more difficult to accommodate than any of the others described or about to be described. For there the street turns towards S. Maria del Fiore, inclining to somewhat greater breadth, and comes to form the angle that by those of our arts is called obtuse; and that was the side on the right. Opposite, and on the left-hand side, there is a little piazza into which two streets lead, one that comes from the great Piazza di S. Maria Novella, and the other likewise from another piazza called the Piazza Vecchia. In that little piazza, which is in truth very ill proportioned, there was built over all the lower part a structure in the form of an octagonal theatre, the doors of which were rectangular and in the Tuscan Order; and over each of them was seen a niche between two columns, with cornices, architraves, and other ornaments, rich and imposing, of Doric architecture, and then, rising higher, there was formed the third range, wherein was seen above the niches, in each space, a compartment with most beautiful ornaments in painting.

Now it is but proper to remark that although it has been said that the doors below were rectangular and Tuscan, nevertheless the two by which the principal road entered and issued forth, and by which the procession was to pass, were made in the semblance of arches, and projected for no small distance in the manner of vestibules, one towards the entrance and the other towards the exit, both the one and the other having been made as rich and ornate on the outer facade as was required for the sake of proportion.

Having thus described the general form of the whole edifice, let us come down to the details, beginning with the front part, which presented itself first to the eyes of passers-by and was after the manner of a triumphal arch, as has been told, in the Corinthian Order. That arch was seen bordered on one side and on the other by two most warlike statues in armour, each of which, resting upon a graceful little door, was seen likewise coming forth from the middle of a niche placed between two well-proportioned columns. Of these statues, that which was to be seen on the right hand represented Duke Alessandro, the son-in-law of the most illustrious Charles V, a Prince spirited and bold, and of most gracious manners, holding in one hand his sword, and in the other the Ducal baton, with a motto placed at his feet, which said, on account of his untimely death: SI FATA ASPERA RUMPAS, ALEXANDER ERIS. On the left hand was seen, portrayed like all the others from life, the most valorous Signor Giovanni, with the butt of a broken lance in the hand, and likewise with his motto at his feet: ITALUM FORTISS. DUCTOR. And since over the architraves of those four columns already described there were placed very spacious friezes in due proportion, in the width covered by the niches there was seen above each of the statues a compartment between two pilasters; in that above Duke Alessandro was seen in painting the device of a rhinoceros, used by him, with the motto: NON BUELVO SIN VENCER; and above the statue of Signor Giovanni, in the same fashion, his flaming thunderbolt. Above the arch in the centre, which, being more than seven braccia in width and more than two squares in height, gave ample room for the procession to pass, and above the cornice and the frontispieces, there was seen seated in majestic beauty that of the wise and valorous Duke Cosimo, the excellent father of the fortunate bridegroom, likewise with his motto at his feet, which said: PIETATE INSIGNIS ET ARMIS; and with a She-Wolf and a Lion on either side of him, representing Siena and Florence, which, supported and regarded lovingly by him, seemed to be reposing affectionately together. That statue was seen set in the frieze, exactly in a line with the arch, and between the pictures with the devices described;

and in that same width, above the crowning cornice, there rose on high another painted compartment, with pilasters in due proportion, cornice, and other embellishments, wherein with great fitness, alluding to the election of the above-named Duke Cosimo, was seen represented the story of the young David when he was anointed King by Samuel, with his motto: A DOMINO FACTUM EST ISTUD. And then, above that last cornice, which was raised a very great distance from the ground, was seen the escutcheon of that most adventuresome family, which, large and magnificent as was fitting, was likewise supported, with the Ducal Crown, by two Victories also in imitation of marble; and over the principal entrance of the arch, in the most becoming place, was the inscription, which said:

VIRTUTI FELICITATIQUE ILLUSTRISSIMAE MEDICEAE FAMILIAE, QUAE FLOS ITALIAE, LUMEN ETRURIAE, DECUS PATRIAE SEMPER FUIT, NUNC ASCITA SIBI CAESAREA SOBOLE CIVIBUS SECURITATEM ET OMNI SUO IMPERIO DIGNITATEM AUXIT, GRATA PATRIA DICAT.

Entering within that arch, one found a kind of loggia, passing spacious and long, with the vaulting above all painted and embellished with the most bizarre and beautiful ornaments and with various devices. After which, in two pilasters over which curved an arch, through which was the entrance into the above-mentioned theatre, there were seen opposite to one another two most graceful niches, as it were conjoined with that second arch; between which niches and the arch first described there were seen on the counterfeit walls that supported the loggia two spacious painted compartments, the stories of which accompanied becomingly each its statue. Of these statues, that on the right hand was made to represent the great Cosimo, called the Elder, who, although there had been previously in the family of the Medici many men noble and distinguished in arms and in civil actions, was nevertheless the first founder of its extraordinary greatness, and as it were the root of that plant which has since grown so happily to such magnificence. In his picture was seen painted the supreme honour conferred upon him by his native Florence, when he was acclaimed by the public Senate as Pater Patriae; which was declared excellently well in the inscription that was seen below, saying:

COSMUS MEDICES, VETERE HONESTISSIMO OMNIUM SENATUS CONSULTO RENOVATO, PARENS PATRIAE APPELLATUR.

In the upper part of the same pilaster in which was placed the niche, there was a little picture in due proportion wherein was portrayed his son, the magnificent Piero, father of the glorious Lorenzo, likewise called the Elder, the one and true Maecenas of his times, and the magnanimous preserver of the peace of Italy, whose statue was seen in the other above-mentioned niche, corresponding to that of the Elder Cosimo. In the little picture, which he in like manner had over his head, was painted the portrait of his brother, the magnificent Giuliano, the father of Pope Clement; and in the large picture, corresponding to that of Cosimo, was the public council held by all the Italian Princes, wherein was seen formed, by the advice of Lorenzo, that so stable and so prudent union by which, as long as he was alive and it endured, Italy was seen brought to the height of felicity, whereas afterwards, Lorenzo dying and that union perishing, she was seen precipitated into such conflagrations, calamities, and ruin; which was demonstrated no less clearly by the inscription that was beneath, saying:

LAURENTIUS MEDICES, BELLI ET PACIS ARTIBUS EXCELLENS, DIVINO SUO CONSILIO CONJUNCTIS ANIMIS ET OPIBUS PRINCIPUM ITALORUM ET INGENTI ITALIAE TRANQUILLITATE PARTA, PARENS OPTIMI SAECULI APPELLATUR.

Now, coming to the little piazza in which, as has been told, was placed the octagonal theatre, as I shall call it, and beginning from that first entrance to go round on the right hand, let me say that the first part was occupied by that arch of the entrance, above which, in a frieze corresponding in height to the third and last range of the theatre, were seen in four ovals the portrait of Giovanni di Bicci, father of Cosimo the Elder, and that of his son Lorenzo, brother of the same Cosimo, from whom this fortunate branch of the Medici now reigning had its origin; with that of Pier Francesco, son of the above-named Lorenzo, and likewise that of another Giovanni, father of the warlike Signor Giovanni mentioned above. In the second facade of the octagon, which was joined to the entrance, there was seen between two most ornate columns, seated in a great niche, with the royal staff in the hand, a figure in marble, like all the other statues, of Caterina, the valorous Queen of France, with all the other ornaments that are required in architecture both lovely and heroic. And in the third range above, where, as has been said, the painted compartments came, there was figured for her scene the same Queen seated in majesty, who had before her two most beautiful women in armour, one of whom, representing France, and kneeling before her, was shown presenting to her a handsome boy adorned with a royal crown, even as the other, who was Spain, standing, was shown in like manner presenting to her a most lovely girl; the boy being intended for the most Christian Charles IX, who is now revered as King of France, and the girl the most noble Queen of Spain, wife of the excellent King Philip. Then, about the same Caterina, were seen standing with much reverence some other smaller boys, representing her other most gracious little children, for whom a Fortune appeared to be holding sceptres, crowns, and realms. And since between that niche and the arch of the entrance, on account of the disproportion of the site, there was some space left over, caused by the desire to make the arch not ungracefully awry, but well-proportioned and straight, for that reason there was placed there, as it were in a niche, a painted picture wherein by means of a Prudence and a Liberality, who stood clasped in a close embrace, it was shown very ingeniously with what guides the House of Medici had come to such a height;

having above them, painted in a little picture equal in breadth to the others of the third range, a Piety humble and devout, recognized by the stork that was beside her, round whom were seen many little Angels that were showing to her various designs and models of the many churches, monasteries, and convents built by that magnificent and religious family. Now, proceeding to the third side of the octagon, where there was the arch by which one issued from the theatre, over the frontispiece of that arch was placed, as the heart of so many noble members, the statue of the most excellent and amiable Prince and Spouse, and at his feet the motto: SPES ALTERA FLORAE. In the frieze above--meaning, as before, that this came to the height of the third range--to correspond to the other arch, where, as has been told, four portraits had been placed, in that part, also, were four other similar portraits of his illustrious brothers, accommodated in a similar manner; those, namely, of the two very reverend Cardinals, Giovanni of revered memory and the most gracious Ferdinando, and those of the handsome Signor Don Garzia and the amiable Signor Don Pietro. Then, to go on to the fourth face, since the corner of the houses that are there, not giving room for the hollow of any recess, did not permit of the usual niche being made there, in its stead was seen accommodated with beautiful artifice, corresponding to the niches, a very large inscription that said:

HI, QUOS SACRA VIDES REDIMITOS TEMPORA MITRA PONTIFICES TRIPLICI, ROMAM TOTUMQUE PIORUM CONCILIUM REXERE PII; SED QUI PROPE FULGENT ILLUSTRI E GENTE INSIGNES SAGULISVE TOGISVE HEROES, CLARAM PATRIAM POPULUMQUE POTENTEM IMPERIIS AUXERE SUIS CERTAQUE SALUTE. NAM SEMEL ITALIAM DONARUNT AUREA SAECLA, CONJUGIO AUGUSTO DECORANT NUNC ET MAGE FIRMANT.

Above it, in place of scene and picture, there were painted in two ovals the two devices, one of the fortunate Duke, the Capricorn with the seven Stars and with the motto, FIDUCIA FATI; and the other of the excellent Prince, the Weasel, with the motto, AMAT VICTORIA CURAM. Then in the three niches that came in the three following facades were the statues of the three Supreme Pontiffs who have come from that family; all rejoicing, likewise, to lend their honourable presence to so great a festival, as if every favour human and divine, every excellence in arms, letters, wisdom, and religion, and every kind of sovereignty, were assembled together to vie in rendering those splendid nuptials august and happy. Of those Pontiffs one was Pius IV, departed a short time before to a better life, over whose head, in his picture, was seen painted how, after the intricate disputes were ended at Trent and the sacrosanct Council was finished, the two Cardinal Legates presented to him its inviolable decrees; even as in that of Leo X was seen the conference held by him with Francis I, King of France, whereby with prudent counsel he bridled the vehemence of that bellicose and victorious Prince, so that he did not turn all Italy upside down, as he might perchance have done, and as he was certainly able to do; and in that of Clement VII was the Coronation, performed by him in Bologna, of the great Charles V. But in the last facade, which hit against the acute angle of the houses of the Carnesecchi, by which the straight line of that facade of the octagon was no little interrupted, nevertheless there was made with gracious and pleasing artifice another masterly inscription, after the likeness of the other, but curving somewhat outwards, which said:

PONTIFICES SUMMOS MEDICUM DOMUS ALTA LEONEM, CLEMENTEM DEINCEPS, EDIDIT INDE PIUM. QUID TOT NUNC REFERAM INSIGNES PIETATE VEL ARMIS MAGNANIMOSQUE DUCES EGREGIOSQUE VIROS? GALLORUM INTER QUOS LATE REGINA REFULGET, HAEC REGIS CONJUNX, HAEC EADEM GENITRIX.

Such, as a whole, was the interior of the theatre described above; but although it may appear to have been described minutely enough, it is none the less true that an infinity of other ornaments, pictures, devices, and a thousand most bizarre and most beautiful fantasies which were placed throughout the Doric cornices and many spaces according to opportunity, making a very rich and gracious effect, have been omitted as not being essential, in order not to weary the perhaps already tired reader; and anyone who delights in such things may imagine that no part was left without being finished with supreme mastery, consummate judgment, and infinite loveliness. And a most pleasing and beautiful finish was given to the highest range by the many arms that were seen distributed there in due proportion, which were Medici and Austria for the illustrious Prince, the bridegroom, and her Highness; Medici and Toledo for the Duke, his father; Medici and Austria again, recognized by the three feathers as belonging to his predecessor Alessandro; Medici and Boulogne in Picardy for Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino; Medici and Savoy for Duke Giuliano; Medici and Orsini for the double kinship of the Elder Lorenzo and his son Piero; Medici and the Viper for the above-named Giovanni, husband of Caterina Sforza; Medici and Salviati for the glorious Signor Giovanni, his son; France and Medici for her most serene Highness the Queen; Ferrara and Medici for the Duke, with one of the sisters of the most excellent bridegroom; and Orsini and Medici for the other most gentle sister, married to the illustrious Signor Paolo Giordano, Duke of Bracciano.

It now remains for us to describe the last part of the theatre and the exit, which, corresponding in size, in proportion, and in every other respect to the entrance already described, there will be little labour, I believe, in making known to the intelligent reader; save only that the arch which formed the facade there, facing towards S. Maria del Fiore, had been constructed, as a part less important, without statues and with somewhat less magnificence, and in their stead there had been placed over that arch a very large inscription, which said:

Virtus Rara Tibi, Stirps Illustrissima, Quondam

CLARUM TUSCORUM DETULIT IMPERIUM; QUOD COSMUS FORTI PRAEFUNCTUS MUNERE MARTIS PROTULIT ET JUSTA CUM DITIONE REGIT: NUNC EADEM MAJOR DIVINA E GENTE JOANNAM ALLICIT IN REGNUM CONCILIATQUE TORO. QUAE SI CRESCET ITEM VENTURA IN PROLE NEPOTES, AUREA GENS TUSCIS EXORIETUR AGRIS.

In the two pilasters that were at the beginning of the passage, or vestibule, as we have called it (over which pilasters rose the arch of the exit, upon which was the statue of the illustrious bridegroom), were seen two niches, in one of which was placed the statue of the most gentle Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, the younger brother of Leo and Gonfalonier of Holy Church, who had likewise in the little picture that was above him the portrait of the magnanimous Cardinal Ippolito, his son, and, in the picture that stretched towards the exit, the scene of the Capitoline Theatre, dedicated to him by the Roman people in the year 1513, with an inscription to make this known, which said:

JULIANUS MEDICES EXIMIAE VIRTUTIS ET PROBITATIS ERGO SUMMIS A POP. ROM. HONORIBUS DECORATUR, RENOVATA SPECIE ANTIQUAE DIGNITATIS AC LAETITIAE.

In the other niche, corresponding to the first statue, and, like it, standing and in armour, was seen the statue of Lorenzo the Younger, Duke of Urbino, with a sword in the hand; and in the little picture above him he had the portrait of his father Piero, and in the other picture the scene when the general's baton was given to him with such happy augury by his native Florence, likewise with an inscription to explain it, which said:

LAURENTIUS MED. JUNIOR MAXIMA INVICTAE VIRTUTIS INDOLE, SUMMUM IN RE MILITARI IMPERIUM MAXIMO SUORUM CIVIUM AMORE ET SPE ADIPISCITUR.

At the corner which from the straw that is constantly sold there is called the Canto alla Paglia, there was made another arch of great beauty and not less rich and imposing than any of the others. Now it may perchance appear to some, for the reason that all or the greater part of those ornaments have been extolled by us as in the highest rank of beauty and excellence of artistry, pomp, and richness, that this has been done by reason of a certain manner of writing inclined to overmuch praise and exaggeration. But everyone may take it as very certain that those works, besides leaving a long way behind them all things of that kind as were ever executed in that city, and perhaps in any other place, were also such, and ordained with such grandeur, magnificence, and liberality by those magnanimous Lords, and executed in such a manner by the craftsmen, that they surpassed by a great measure every expectation, and took away from no matter what writer all force and power to attain with the pen to the excellence of the reality.

Now, to return, I say that in that place--in that part, namely, where the street that leads from the Archbishop's Palace into the Borgo S. Lorenzo, dividing the above-named Strada della Paglia, forms a perfect crossing of the ways, was made the ornament already mentioned, much after the likeness of the ancient four-fronted Temple of Janus; and, for the reason that from there the Cathedral Church could be seen, it was ordained by those truly religious Princes that it should be dedicated to sacrosanct Religion, in which how eminent all Tuscany, and Florence in particular, has been at all times, I do not believe that it is necessary for me to take much pains to demonstrate. And therein the intention was that since Florence had brought with her, as was told at the beginning, as her handmaids and companions, to give the first welcome to the new bride, some of the virtues or attributes that had raised her to greatness, and in which she could well vaunt herself, the intention, I say, was to show that there also, for a no less necessary office, she had left Religion, that she, awaiting the bride, might in a certain manner introduce her into the vast and most ornate church so near at hand. That arch, then, which was in a very broad street, as has been told, was seen formed of four very ornate facades, the first of which presented itself to the eyes of one going in the direction of the Carnesecchi, and another, following the limb of the cross, faced towards S. Giovanni and the Duomo of S. Maria del Fiore, leaving two other facades on the cross-limb of the cross, one of which looked towards S. Lorenzo and the other towards the Archbishop's Palace. And now, to describe in order and with as much clearness as may be possible the composition and the beauty of the whole, I say--beginning again with the front part, to which that at the back was wholly similar in the composition of the ornaments, without failing in any point--that in the centre of the wide street was seen the very broad entrance of the arch, which rose to a beautifully proportioned height, and on either side of it were seen two immense niches bordered by two similar Corinthian columns, all painted with sacred books, mitres, thuribles, chalices, and other sacerdotal instruments, in place of trophies and spoils.

Above these, and above the regular cornices and friezes, which projected somewhat further outwards than those which came over the arch in the centre, but were exactly equal to them in height, was seen another cornice, as of a door or window, curving between the one column and the other in a quarter-round, which, seeming to form a separate niche, made an effect as graceful and lovely as could well be imagined. Above that last cornice, then, rose a frieze of a height and magnificence in accord with the proportions of so great a beginning, with certain great consoles, carved and overlaid with gold, which came exactly in perpendicular lines with the columns already described; and upon them rested another magnificent and very ornate cornice, with four very large candelabra likewise overlaid with gold and, like all the columns, bases, capitals, cornices, architraves, and every other thing, picked out with various carvings and colours, and also standing in line with the great consoles and the columns above described. Now in the centre, springing above the said consoles, two cornices were seen rising, and little by little forming an angle, and finally uniting as a frontispiece, over which, upon a very rich and beautiful base, was seated an immense statue with a Cross in the hand, representing the most holy Christian Religion, at whose feet, one on either side of her, were seen two other similar statues which seemed to be lying upon the cornice of the above-named frontispiece, one of which, that on the right hand, with three children about her, represented Charity, and the other Hope. Then in the space, or, to speak more precisely, in the angle of the frontispiece, there was seen as the principal device of that arch the ancient Labarum with the Cross, and with the motto, IN HOC VINCES, sent to Constantine; beneath which was seen set with beautiful grace a very large escutcheon of the Medici with three Papal crowns, in keeping with the idea of Religion, for the three Pontiffs whom she has had from that house. And on the first level cornice, on either side, was seen a statue corresponding to the niche already described which came between the two columns; one of which, that on the right hand, was a most beautiful young woman in full armour, with the spear and shield, such as Minerva used to be represented in ancient times, save that in place of the head of Medusa there was seen a great red cross on her breast, which caused her to be recognized with ease as the new Order of S. Stephen, founded so devoutly by our glorious and magnanimous Duke. The other on the left hand was seen all adorned with sacerdotal and civil vestments in place of arms, and with a great cross in the hand in place of a spear; and these, towering over the whole structure in most beautiful accord with the others, made a very imposing and marvellous effect. Next, in the frieze that came between that last cornice and the architrave that rested upon the columns, where according to the order of the composition there came three compartments, were seen painted the three kinds of true religion that have been from the creation of the world down to the present day. In the first of these, which came on the right hand beneath the armed statue, was seen painted that kind of religion which reigned in the time of natural law, in those few who had it true and good, although they had not a perfect knowledge of God, wherefore there was seen figured Melchizedek offering bread and wine and other fruits of the earth.

Even so, in the picture on the left hand, which came in like manner beneath the statue of peaceful Religion, was seen the other religion, ordained by God through the hands of Moses, and more perfect than the first, but all so veiled with images and figures, that these did not permit the final and perfect clearness of Divine worship to be fully revealed; to signify which there were seen Moses and Aaron sacrificing the Paschal Lamb to God. But in the central picture, which came exactly beneath the large and above-described statues of Religion, Charity, and Hope, and over the principal arch, and which in proportion with the greater space was much larger, there was seen figured an altar, and upon it a Chalice with the Host, which is the true and evangelic Sacrifice; about which were seen some figures kneeling, and over it a Holy Spirit in the midst of many little Angels, who were holding in their hands a scroll in which was written, IN SPIRITU ET VERITATE; so that it appeared that they were repeating those words in song, Spiritus meaning all that concerns the sacrifice natural and corporeal, and Veritas all that appertains to the legal; which was all by way of image and figure. Beneath the whole scene was a most beautiful inscription, which, supported by two other Angels, rested on the cornice of the central arch, saying:

VERAE RELIGIONI, QUAE VIRTUTUM OMNIUM FUNDAMENTUM, PUBLICARUM RERUM FIRMAMENTUM, PRIVATARUM ORNAMENTUM, ET HUMANAE TOTIUS VITAE LUMEN CONTINET, ETRURIA SEMPER DUX ET MAGISTRA ILLIUS HABITA, ET EADEM NUNC ANTIQUA ET SUA PROPRIA LAUDE MAXIME FLORENS, LIBENTISSIME CONSECRAVIT.

But coming to the lower part, and returning to the niche which came on the right hand, between the two columns and beneath the armed Religion, and which, although in painting, by reason of the chiaroscuro appeared as if in relief; there, I say, was seen the statue of our present most pious Duke in the habit of a Knight of S. Stephen, with the cross in his hand, and with the following inscription, which had the appearance of real carving, over his head and above the niche, saying:

COSMUS MEDIC. FLOREN. ET SENAR. DUX II, SACRAM D. STEPHANI MILITIAM CHRISTIANAE PIETATIS ET BELLICAE VIRTUTIS DOMICILIUM FUNDAVIT, ANNO MDLXI.

Even as on the base of the same niche, between the two pedestals of the columns, which were fashioned in the Corinthian proportions, there was seen painted the Taking of Damiata, achieved by the prowess of the valiant knights of Florence; as it were auguring for those his new knights similar glory and valour. And in the lunette or semi-circle which came above the two columns, there was seen his private and particular escutcheon of balls, which, by the red cross that was added to it with beautiful grace, made it clearly manifest that it was that of the Grand Master and Chief of the Order.

Now, for the public and universal satisfaction, and in order to revive the memory of those who, born in that city or that province, became illustrious for integrity of character and for sanctity of life, and founders of some revered Order, and also to kindle the minds of all beholders to imitation of their goodness and perfection, it was thought right and proper, since there had been placed on the right hand, as has been related, the statue of the Duke, founder of the holy military Order of S. Stephen, to set on the other side that of S. Giovanni Gualberto, who was likewise a knight of the household, according to the custom of those times, and the first founder and father of the Order of Vallombrosa. Most fittingly, even as the Duke was beneath the armed statue, in like manner he was seen standing beneath the sacerdotal statue of Religion, in the habit of a knight, pardoning his enemy; having in the frontispiece over the niche a similar escutcheon of the Medici, with three Cardinal's hats, and on the base the story of the miracle that took place at Badia di Settimo, when the friar, by the command of the above-named S. Giovanni Gualberto, to the confusion of the heretics and simonists, passed with his benediction and with a cross in his hand through the midst of a raging fire; with the inscription likewise in a little tablet above him, which made all that manifest, saying:

JOANNES GUALBERTUS, EQUES NOBILISS. FLOREN., VALLIS UMBROSAE FAMILIAE AUCTOR FUIT, ANNO MLXI.

With which was terminated that most ornate and beautiful principal facade.

Entering beneath the arch, one saw there a passing spacious loggia, or passage, or vestibule, whichever we may choose to call it; and in exactly the same manner were seen formed the three other entrances, which, being joined together at the intersection of the two streets, left in the centre a space about eight braccia square. There the four arches rose to the height of those without, and the pendentives curved in the manner of a vault as if a little cupola were to spring over them; but when these had reached the cornice curving right round, at the point where the vault of the cupola would have had to begin to rise, there sprang a gallery of gilded balusters, above which was seen a choir of most beautiful Angels, dancing most gracefully in a ring and singing in sweetest harmony; while for greater grace, and to the end that there might be light everywhere beneath the arch, in place of a cupola there was left the free and open sky. And in the spaces or spandrels, whichever they may be called, of the four angles, which of necessity, narrow at their springing, opened out as they rose nearer to the cornice in accordance with the curve of the arch, were painted with no less grace in four rounds the four beasts mystically imagined by Ezekiel and by John the Divine for the four writers of the holy Evangel. But to return to the first of those four loggie or vestibules, as we have called them; the vaults there were seen distributed with very graceful and lovely divisions, and all adorned and painted with various little scenes and with the arms and devices of those religious Orders which were above or beside them, and in whose service, principally, they were there. Thus on the facade of that first one on the right hand, which was joined to the Duke's niche, there was seen painted in a spacious picture the same Duke giving the habit to his knights, with those observances and ceremonies that are customary with them; in the most distant part, which represented Pisa, could be perceived the noble building of their palace, church, and hospital, and on the base, in an inscription for the explanation of the scene, could be read these words:

COSMUS MED. FLOR. ET SENAR. DUX II, EQUITIBUS SUIS DIVINO CONSILIO CREATIS MAGNIFICE PIEQUE INSIGNIA ET SEDEM PRAEBET LARGEQUE REBUS OMNIBUS INSTRUIT.

Even as in the other on the opposite side, attached to the niche of S. Giovanni Gualberto, was seen how that same Saint founded his first and principal monastery in the midst of the wildest forests; with an inscription likewise on the base, which said:

S. JO. GUALBERTUS IN VALLOMBROSIANO MONTE, AB INTERVENTORIBUS ET ILLECEBRIS OMNIBUS REMOTO LOCO, DOMICILIUM PONIT SACRIS SUIS SODALIBUS.

Now, having despatched the front facade, and passing to that at the back, and describing it in the same manner, the less to hinder a clear understanding, we shall say, as has also been said before, that in height, in size, in the compartments, in the columns, and, finally, in every other ornament, it corresponded completely to that already described, save that whereas the first had on the highest summit in the centre the three great statues described above, Religion, Charity, and Hope, the other had in place of these only a most beautiful altar all composed and adorned after the ancient use, upon which, even as one reads of Vesta, was seen burning a very bright flame. On the right hand, towards S. Giovanni, there was seen standing a great statue in becoming vestments and gazing intently on Heaven, representing the Contemplative Life, which came exactly in a perpendicular line over the great niche between the two columns, as has been described in the other facade; and on the other side another great statue like it, but very active, with the arms bare and with the head crowned with flowers, representing the Active Life; in which statues were comprised very fittingly all the qualities that appertain to the Christian Religion. In the frieze between the one cornice and the other, which corresponded to that of the other part, and which was likewise divided into three compartments, there were seen in the largest, which was in the centre, three men in Roman dress presenting twelve little children to some old and venerable Tuscans, to the end that these, being instructed by them in their religion, might demonstrate in what repute the Tuscan religion was held in ancient times among the Romans and all other nations: with a motto to explain this, taken from that perfect law of Cicero, which said: ETRURIA PRINCIPES DISCIPLINAM DOCETO. Beneath which was the inscription, similar and corresponding to that already given from the other facade, which said:

FRUGIBUS INVENTIS DOCTAE CELEBRANTUR ATHENAE, ROMA FEROX ARMIS IMPERIOQUE POTENS. AT NOSTRA HAEC MITIS PROVINCIA ETRURIA RITU DIVINO ET CULTU NOBILIORE DEI, UNAM QUAM PERHIBENT ARTES TENUISSE PIANDI NUMINIS, ET RITUS EDOCUISSE SACROS; NUNC EADEM SEDES VERAE EST PIETATIS, ET ILLI HOS NUMQUAM TITULOS AUFERET ULLA DIES.

In one of the two smaller pictures, that which came on the right hand, since it is thought that the ancient religion of the Gentiles (which not without reason was placed on the west) is divided into two parts, and consists, above all, of augury and sacrifice, there was seen painted according to that use an ancient priest who with marvellous solicitude was standing all intent on considering the entrails of the animals sacrificed, which were placed before him in a great basin by the ministers of the sacrifice; and in the other picture an augur like him with the crooked lituus in the hand, drawing in the sky the regions proper for taking auguries from certain birds that were shown flying above.

Now, descending lower, and coming to the niches; in that, I say, which was on the right hand, was seen S. Romualdo, who in this our country, a land set apart, as it were, by Nature for religion and sanctity, founded on the wild Apennine mountains the holy Hermitage of Camaldoli, whence that Order had its origin and name; with the inscription over the niche, which said:

ROMUALDUS IN HAC NOSTRA PLENA SANCTITATIS TERRA, CAMALDULENSIUM ORDINEM COLLOCAVIT ANNO MXII.

And on the base the story of the sleeping hermit who saw in a dream the staircase similar to that of Jacob, which, passing beyond the clouds, ascended even to Heaven. On the facade which was joined to the niche, and which passed, as was said of the other, under the vestibule, was seen painted the building of the above-named hermitage in that wild place, carried out with marvellous care and magnificence; with the inscription, which in explanation said:

SANCTUS ROMUALDUS IN CAMALDULENSI SYLVESTRI LOCO, DIVINITUS SIBI OSTENSO ET DIVINAE CONTEMPLATIONI APTISSIMO, SUO GRAVISSIMO COLLEGIO SEDES QUIETISSIMAS EXTRUIT.

In the niche on the left hand was seen the Blessed Filippo Benizi, one of our citizens, who was little less than the founder of the Servite Order, and without a doubt its first ordinator; and he, although he was accompanied by seven other noble Florentines, the one niche not being large enough to contain them all, was placed therein alone, as the most worthy; with the inscription above, which said:

PHILIPPUS BENITIUS CIVIS NOSTER INSTITUIT ET REBUS OMNIBUS ORNAVIT SERVORUM FAMILIAM, ANNO MCCLXXXV.

With the story of the Annunciation, likewise, on the base, wherein was the Virgin supported by many little Angels, with one among them who was shown scattering a beautiful vase of flowers over a vast multitude that stood there in supplication; representing the innumerable graces that are seen bestowed daily by her intercession on the faithful who with devout zeal commend themselves to her. In the other scene, in the great picture that came in the passage below, were the same S. Filippo and the seven above-mentioned noble citizens throwing off the civil habit of Florence and assuming that of the Servite Order, and shown all occupied with directing the building of their beautiful monastery, which is now to be seen in Florence, but was then without the city, and the venerable and most ornate Church of the Annunziata, so celebrated throughout the whole world for innumerable miracles, which has been ever since the head of that Order; with the inscription, which said:

SEPTEM NOBILES CIVES NOSTRI IN SACELLO NOSTRAE URBIS, TOTO NUNC ORBE RELIGIONIS ET SANCTITATIS FAMA CLARISSIMO, SE TOTOS RELIGIONI DEDUNT ET SEMINA JACIUNT ORDINIS SERVORUM D. MARIAE VIRG.

There remain the two facades which formed as it were arms, as has been told, to the straight limb of the cross. These were smaller than those already described, which was caused by the narrowness of the two streets that begin there; wherefore, since less space came to be left for the magnificence of the work, in order consequently not to depart from the due proportion of height in their much smaller size, with much judgment the arch which gave passage there had on either side not a niche but a single column; over which rose a frieze in due proportion, in the centre of which was a painted picture that crowned the ornamentation of that facade, but not without an infinity of such other embellishments, devices, and pictures as were thought to be proper in such a place. Now, that whole structure being dedicated to the glory and power of the true Religion and to the memory of her glorious victories, they chose the two most noble and most important victories, won over two most powerful and particular adversaries, human wisdom namely, under which are comprised philosophers and heretics, and worldly power: and on the part facing towards the Archbishop's Palace was seen depicted how S. Peter and S. Paul and the other Apostles, filled with the divine spirit, disputed with a great number of philosophers and many others full of human wisdom, some of whom, those most confused, were seen throwing away or tearing up the books that they held in their hands, and others, such as Dionysius the Areopagite, Justinus, Pantaenus, and the like, were coming towards them, all humble and devout, in token of having recognized and accepted the Evangelic truth; with the motto in explanation of this, which said: NON EST SAPIENTIA, NON EST PRUDENTIA. In the other scene towards the Archbishop's Palace, on the other side from the first, were seen the same S. Peter and S. Paul and the others in the presence of Nero and many of his armed satellites, boldly and freely preaching the truth of the Evangel; with the motto--NON EST FORTITUDO, NON EST POTENTIA, referring to that which follows in Solomon, whence the motto is taken--CONTRA DOMINUM. Of the facades which came under the two vaults of those two arches, in one, on the side towards the Archbishop's Palace, was seen the Blessed Giovanni Colombini, an honoured citizen of Siena, making a beginning with the Company of the Ingesuati by throwing off the citizen's habit on the Campo di Siena and assuming that of a miserable beggar, and giving the same habit to many who with great zeal were demanding it from him; with the inscription, which said:

ORIGO COLLEGII PAUPERUM, QUI AB JESU COGNOMEN ACCEPERUNT; CUJUS ORDINIS PRINCEPS FUIT JOANNES COLOMBINUS, DOMO SENENSIS, ANNO MCCCLI.

And in the other, on the opposite side, were seen other gentlemen, likewise of Siena, before Guido Pietramalesco, Bishop of Arezzo, to whom a commission had been given by the Pope that he should inquire into their lives; and they were all intent on making manifest to him the wish and desire that they had to create the Order of Monte Oliveto, which was seen approved by that Bishop, exhorting them to put into execution the building of that vast and most holy monastery, which they erected afterwards at Monte Oliveto in the district of Siena, and of which they were shown to have brought thither a model; with the inscription, which said:

INSTITUITUR SACER ORDO MONACORUM QUI AB OLIVETO MONTE NOMINATUR, AUCTORIBUS NOBILIBUS CIVIBUS SENENSIBUS, ANNO MCCCXIX.

On the side towards S. Lorenzo was seen the building of the most famous Oratory of La Vernia, at the expense in great part of the devout Counts Guidi, at that time lords of that country, and by the agency of the glorious S. Francis, who, moved by the solitude of the place, made his way thither, and was visited there by Our Lord the Crucified Jesus Christ and marked with the Stigmata; with the inscription that explained all this, saying:

ASPERRIMUM AGRI NOSTRI MONTEM DIVUS FRANCISCUS ELEGIT, IN QUO SUMMO ARDORE DOMINI NOSTRI SALUTAREM NECEM CONTEMPLARETUR, ISQUE NOTIS PLAGARUM IN CORPORE IPSIUS EXPRESSIS DIVINITUS CONSERVATUR.

Even as on the opposite side was seen the Celebration held in Florence of the Council under Eugenius IV, when the Greek Church, so long at discord with the Latin, was reunited with her, and the true Faith, it may be said, was restored to her pristine clearness and purity; which was likewise made manifest by the inscription, saying:

NUMINE DEI OPTIMI MAX. ET SINGULARI CIVIUM NOSTRORUM RELIGIONIS STUDIO, ELIGITUR URBS NOSTRA IN QUA GRAECIA, AMPLISSIMUM MEMBRUM A CHRISTIANA PIETATE DISJUNCTUM, RELIQUO ECCLESIAE CORPORI CONJUNGERETUR.

As for the Cathedral Church, the central Duomo of the city, although it is in itself stupendous and most ornate, nevertheless, since the new Lady was to halt there, met by all the clergy, as she did, it was thought well to embellish it with all possible pomp and show of religion, and with lights, festoons, shields, and a vast and very well distributed quantity of banners. At the principal door, in particular, there was made in the Ionic Order of composition a marvellous and most graceful ornament, in which, in addition to the rest, which was in truth excellently well conceived, rich and rare beyond all else appeared ten little stories of the actions of the glorious Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, executed in low-relief, which, since they were judged by all who saw them to be of admirable artistry, it is hoped that some day they may be seen in bronze in competition with the marvellous and stupendous gates of the Temple of S. Giovanni, and even, as in a more favoured age, more pleasing and more beautiful; but at that time, although of clay, they were seen all overlaid with gold, and were let in a graceful pattern of compartments into the wooden door, which likewise had the appearance of gold. Above which, besides an immense escutcheon of the Medici with the Papal Keys and Crown, supported by Operation and Grace, were seen painted in a very beautiful canvas all the tutelary Saints of the city, who, turned towards a Madonna and the Child that she was holding in her arms, appeared to be praying to her for the welfare and felicity of Florence; even as over all, as the principal device, and with most lovely invention, was seen a little ship which, with the aid of a favourable wind, appeared to be speeding with full sail towards a most tranquil port, signifying that Christian actions are in need of the divine grace, but that it is also necessary on our part to add to them, as not being passive, good disposition and activity. Which was likewise made clearly manifest by the motto, which said, [Greek: Syn Theo]; and even more by the very short inscription that was seen beneath, saying: