Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/284

276 FLORENCE tombs of Michel Angelo, Machiavelli, Galileo, Leonardo Aretino, Guicciardini, Alfieri, Ugo Foscolo (since June 24, 1871), and of many other illustrious men. Florence abounds in palaces of a singularly solid, heavy style of architecture, resembling prisons or fortresses. They were built in ages of turbulence and civil strife, for defence and security rather than for display or luxury. Their great size and height, the rough massiveness of their lower stories, and the huge cornices frowning over their fronts, give them a very impressive appearance. The two principal palaces, the Palazzo Vec- chio and the Palazzo Pitti, contain celebrated collections of works of art. The gallery in the Palazzo V ecchio exhibits portraits of many celebrated Florentines, from Cosmo il Vecchio (died in 1464) to Cosmo the first grand duke (died 1574). The Pitti gallery, which is very rich and extensive, contains many of the best works of Michel Angelo, Titian, Salvator Rosa, Andrea del Sarto, Murillo, Rubens, and several of Raphael's, including the celebrated "Ma- donna della Seggiola." The gallery in the Uffizi is considered one of the choicest and most varied in Europe. It displays in the picture halls a historical series of the Tuscan and Venetian schools, arranged chronological- ly, and exhibiting the finest specimens of the Italian masters. The French, German, Dutch, and Flemish schools are also richly represent- ed. Among the statues in the room called the tribune are the famous Yenus de' Medici, the Apollino, the " Dancing Faun," the " Wres- tlers," and the " Knife Grinder." The finest paintings of the entire collection are hung in the tribune. In another hall is a series of portraits of eminent painters, chiefly executed by them- selves. The gallery has also a series of busts of the Roman emperors from Caesar to Con- stantine, which is unsurpassed except in the Capitoline museum in Rome; and there are halls devoted to sculptures of the 15th and 16th centuries, original drawings of the old masters, engravings, ancient bronzes, medals, gems, ca- meos, and intaglios, the whole forming one of the finest collections in the world. The library is rich in autographs, letters, and portions of the works of Boccaccio, Poliziano, Machiavelli, Michel Angelo, Tasso, Alfieri, Monti, and oth- ers. The Uffizi is connected with the Pitti pal- ace by a passage which crosses the Ponte Vec- chio. This is lined with tapestries, paintings, drawings, and engravings, and in the middle of these was once a bathing room connecting with the waters of the Arno. Besides these famous collections, the city abounds in galleries, muse- ums, and choice works of art. The national library, formed in 1864 by the union of the Magliabecchian and the Palatine, contains over 200,000 printed volumes and 14,000 MSS. ; the Marucellian 60,000, and the Riccardian 30,000 volumes ; and the Laurentian 9,000 MSS. Of the university, which was opened in 1438, nothing but the theological library is now left. There are many literary institutions, the chief of which was formerly the academy della Crusca, founded in 1582, whose object was the improvement of the Italian language. It is now incorporated with two still older societies in what is known as the royal Flor- entine academy. There are agricultural and fine-art academies, a medical college, an acad- emy of fine arts for ladies, an athenaeum, an Egypto-Etruscan museum of antiquities, a museum of Italian art and manufactures, and 10 theatres. The Boboli gardens, named from a family which once had a house in the vicinity, are divided into endless walks, shady pathways, waters crowned with elaborately sculptured fountains and filled with gold fish, and groves adorned with statues, among which are a Nep- tune executed in 1565 by Stoldo Lorenzi, Pe- gasus by Costoli, four large unfinished statues by Michel Angelo which he intended as a part of his monument to Pope Julius II., Apollo and Ceres by Baccio Bandinelli, Paris and Helen by Rossi da Fiesole, and four satyrs and a Venus by Giovanni da Bologna. The acad- emy contains some of the finest examples of early Florentine art, illustrating the lives of the Saviour, the Virgin, saints, martyrs, and apostles, Fra Angelico's " Last Judgment," with many choice works of Bartolommeo, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, and other masters. The Egypto-Etruscan museum was a convent in the 16th century, and is adorned with fres- coes from the pencil of Raphael. For many years it was devoted to secular uses ; and in 1826, while the proprietor, a coach builder, was preparing to whitewash the walls of the former refectory, was discovered beneath dirt and coats of whitening the fine fresco of the " Last Supper," in which the border of the dress of St. Thomas bears the autograph of Raphael with the date M.D.V. To this build- ing quite recently have been transferred the Etruscan remains formerly in the Uflfizi gallery. This is a most valuable collection of papyri, bassi rilievi, statues, vases, sarcophagi, bronzes, jewelry, pottery, and other relics of great an- tiquity. The museum of natural history was opened in 1780. Napoleon's sister, Elisa Bac- ciochi, grand duchess of Tuscany, added a school of public instruction. In 1859 Victor Emanuel founded a school for more advanced studies. The museum is very rich in palseonto- logical, zoological, geological, and mineralogical collections, and is celebrated for its wax prepa- rations exhibiting a complete series of perfect specimens of human and animal anatomy. It contains also a valuable collection of physical and astronomical instruments, among them the telescopes constructed by Galileo. Attached to the building, and adjoining the Boboli gar- dens, are the botanical gardens, remarkable for rare plants, and for the great number of species, which have increased from 826 in 1842 to more than 120,000 in 1873. A new observatory was opened in 1871 under Do- nati's direction. The charitable institutions are numerous, including asylums for the blind,