Walks in Florence, Volume 1Strahan & Company, 1873 - Florence (Italy) |
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altar Andrea Andrea Orcagna Antonio arches arms Arno Arnolfo artist Baccio Baccio Bandinelli Bandinelli Baptistery Bargello beautiful belonged beneath Benedetto da Majano Benvenuto Benvenuto Cellini Bernardo Bigallo bronze Brunelleschi building called Calzaioli Cathedral Cavalcaselle celebrated century chamber chapel Church of San colour copy cupola Dante died Donatello door Duke of Athens Duomo Emperor entrance executed façade figure Florence Florentine Françesco fresco Gallery gates Ghibelline Ghiberti Giotto Giovan Bologna Giuliano Gonfalonier grace Grand-Duke Cosimo Guelphic Guild head houses Italy Jacopo John Loggia Lorenzo Ghiberti Madonna and Child marble Maria Medici Mercato Vecchio Michael Angelo Misericordia monument Nanni di Banco niche Nicolò Orcagna painted painter palace Palazzo Vecchio Piazza picture placed Podestà Pope Porta portrait pupil represented Robbia saint San Giovanni San Lorenzo San Michele San Piero Saviour Savonarola sculptor side Signory supposed tower Tuscan Uffizi Uffizi Gallery Urbino Vasari Virgin walls whilst
Popular passages
Page 375 - I still was downward bent and listening, When my Conductor touched me on the side, Saying: "Speak thou: this one a Latian is." And I, who had beforehand my reply In readiness, forthwith began to speak...
Page 339 - To gain a correct impression of them, indeed, these figures should be seen in their original places, where their supernatural size, the bold grandeur of their attitudes, and something of the classical in their appearance, would give them still greater value. Pippo Spano, in a defiant attitude bending the steel of his rapier in his two hands and with legs apart, challenges the world, and seems capable of victory. There is dignity in the parts, slender wiry activity in the Sibyls, with that peculiarity...
Page 66 - These characteristics occur more or less in different buildings, some in one and some in another. But all together, and all in their highest possible relative degrees, they exist, as far as I know, only in one building in the world, the Campanile of Giotto at Florence.
Page 72 - Florentine general, Nicolb Tolentino, taken prisoner. He perished soon afterwards by a fall over a rock, and the Florentines obtained his remains, which were buried with great pomp in the Cathedral. His portrait was painted by Andrea del Castagno, one of the best artists of the day. Cavalcaselle observes that ' it is a fine work for the period in which it was produced, being actively in motion and true to nature, but it reveals in Andrea more vehemence than grandeur or dignity, and the forms of the...
Page 108 - Piazza, to learn his duties from the captains, or Capo di Guardia : a half-hour glass is turned to mark the interval between the summons and his arrival. Every Giornante is provided with his long black dress, and the hood which covers his face, only leaving holes for the eyes, so that he may not be recognised when upon his labour of mercy. The captain repeats the words, Fratelli, prepariamoci a fare quest...
Page 8 - ... the Medici family, who destroyed the Commonwealth to establish a tyranny ; and, though after the extinction of the Medicean Grand-Dukes, the Government assumed a milder form in the hands of the Austro-Lorraine dynasty, despotic rule did not entirely cease until the expulsion of Leopold II. in 1860. Many barbarous acts of cruelty were perpetrated by the Florentines in the halcyon days of their Republic, both towards citizens who happened to belong to a vanquished minority, and towards captives...
Page 10 - Fiorenza, dentro dalla cerchia antica, Ond' ella toglie ancora e terza e nona, Si stava in pace, sobria e pudica: Non avea catenella, non corona, Non donne contigiate, non cintura Che fosse a veder più che la persona : Non faceva, nascendo, ancor paura La figlia al padre, chè il tempo e la dote Non fuggian quinci e quindi la misura: Non avea case di famiglia vote; Non v...
Page 11 - Florence, within the ancient boundary From which she taketh still her tierce and nones, Abode in quiet, temperate and chaste. No golden chain she had, nor coronal, Nor ladies shod with sandal shoon, nor girdle That caught the eye more than the person did.
Page 358 - ... presenting his belly and heels as well as the legs of his fallen rider to the spectator, suggests the wish rather than the power to overcome a difficulty of no mean kind. Perspective of broken lances, shields, and helmets is laboriously carried out ; and distant episodes of archers, men-at-arms and dogs, show that Uccello already possessed the art of perspective ; but the spectator has before him the lifeless and wooden models of divers figures, their geometrical substance without the final dressing...
Page 225 - Donato fee. Some time later, when the Republic was placed under the protection of the Saviour, Judith and Holofernes were removed within the cortile, and Michael Angelo's statue of David — typical of Jesus Christ, " the Son of David " — was placed before the door of the Palace. In 1560 Donatello's group was conveyed to its present position, at the head of what had been the Prior's entrance to the loggia. It is not one of the sculptor's best productions; Judith is diminutive, and Holofernes, seated...