Works of Grant Allen

by Grant Allen

  BOTTICELLI. — BIRTH OF VENUS (DETAIL).

  On the right-hand wall, 39, is * *Botticelli’s exquisite Birth of Venus, one of the most lovely embodiments of Renaissance feeling. It was painted, like the Primavera, which it closely resembles in tone and feeling, for Lorenzo de’ Medici’s villa at Castello. In the centre, Venus rises nude from a foaming sea, throned on a scallop shell. Her figure has a strange elusive beauty. Her long fair hair, her wistful face, her lithe ideal form, are wholly Botticellian. The picture, though pagan, is anything but classical: it has modern pessimism in it. As a Tuscan embodiment of the nude, again, compare this unspeakably graceful form with Lorenzo di Credi’s merely human Venus in the Sala Seconda Toscana. The paleness of the flesh-tints only enhances the ideal feeling of the work. To the left, figures resembling the March and April of the Primavera scatter flowers around the goddess. To the right, a draped form, like the May of the Primavera, prepares to throw a brocaded mantle over Venus’s shoulders. All the figures and draperies are instinct with Botticelli’s peculiar flowing movement. This is a picture to linger before for hours. It embodies better than any other the pagan side of this earnest painter’s nature. Yet its paganism is superficial: the ascetic ideal, the profound moral yearning, are everywhere apparent.

  The pictures in the remaining rooms, though in many cases valuable and interesting, do not call for explanation. The next halls to the left, as you continue along the corridor, are devoted to portraits of painters (or what pass for such), chiefly by themselves, but in several instances of doubly doubtful authenticity — that is to say, it is not always certain that they are really the work of the artists whose names they bear, nor again that they represent the person they are said to portray. Among the most important (with this needful reservation) are Raphael, Perugino, Cranach, Holbein the Younger, Van der Helst, Van Dyck, Titian, and Rubens. Of later painters, the most often noticed is the charming if somewhat coquettish Mme. le Brun, familiar from copies; the most noteworthy are Angelica Kaufmann, Ingres, Jules Breton, Watts, Millais, Puvis de Chavannes, Leighton, and Cabanel. The Hall of Baroccio, beyond, contains numerous good pictures of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, among which you may note fine works by Bronzino, Rubens, Guido, Velasquez, etc., outside the range of this guide. At the end of the corridor are three rooms containing a magnificent collection of drawings by the great artists. Students of Morelli will know how to value these — but I do not presume to write for students of Morelli.

  CHAPTER VII.

  THE SCULPTURE IN THE UFFIZI.

  The sculpture in the Uffizi, being almost entirely classical in origin, forms a subject of special study, outside the author’s sphere, and scarcely possible of treatment within the narrow limits which can be given to it in this Guide. Those who wish to pursue it seriously should read the different questions up in Gardner’s “Handbook” or Murray’s “History of Sculpture,” or else in Lübke or Fürtwangler. Moreover, most of the antiques in the Uffizi were freely restored and even rudely modernised during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, before the sanctity of an ancient work was thoroughly recognised. Many of them have, therefore, modern heads and arms. Others are provided with antique heads, which, however, do not always belong to them, violence having been done to neck and torso in order to effect an apparently natural junction. In origin, most of the statues and busts are Roman, or were found at Rome: they were brought here from the Villa Medici on the Pincian Hill by Leopoldo de’ Medici in 1779. They have thus no organic connection with Florence. Nevertheless, I give a brief and quite unauthoritative account here of the most important works, leaving the reader to follow up the subject if he will in more specialist treatises. A good little book on plastic art in general is Marquand and Frothingham’s “History of Sculpture.”

  On the staircase, last landing, to the left is Silenus with the infant Bacchus, in bronze, a Renaissance copy of the antique original at the Villa Pinciana at Rome. The same subject in marble exists in the Louvre. To the right is a bronze statue of Mars. Round them are portrait busts of the Medici, Apollo, etc.

  On the entrance landing, 18, is a horse, rearing, supposed to belong to the group of Niobe (see later); 24, 25 are two Molossian dogs; 19, a celebrated *boar, of Greek workmanship, one of the finest specimens of antique animal sculpture. There is a good bronze copy by Pietro Tacca in the Mercato Nuovo. Behind it, and opposite, are triumphal pillars; in the niches, Hadrian, Trajan, Augustus, and other Roman portrait statues.

  Enter the Long Corridor, and turn to the right. At the end, 38 represents Hercules and the Centaur Nessus. Almost the entire figure of the Hercules is of Renaissance workmanship. So are the head and arms of the Centaur (restored by Giovanni da Bologna). The antique portion, however, is of very fine workmanship.

  Near the left wall, 39, is a *fine Roman sarcophagus, representing the life of the person whose body it contained, from infancy to old age. I give some account of the reliefs, as a specimen. (If the subject interests you, follow up the other sarcophagi with the official guide.) On the right end, in the left portion, is the birth of the subject, represented as a child, with his mother and nurse. In the right portion is his education; he reads a book with his tutor, while above are the Muses, — the tragic Muse, as representing poetry; another, holding a scroll, for history; and a third, Urania, with globe and compasses, for mathematics and astronomy. (The official catalogue refers the last, I think less justly, to the tracing of the subject’s horoscope.) On the face of the sarcophagus, to the right, is his marriage, Hymen holding the torch, and Juno bringing husband and wife together. (The features of the bride would lead one to suppose that he married his grandmother, unless this figure is rather to be recognised as the bride’s mother, with the bride to the right behind her, which the veil makes improbable.) The arrangement highly foreshadows the mediæval Sposalizio. In the centre, the hero, whose features have now the character of a portrait, offers a sacrifice before setting out on a warlike expedition; he is throwing incense on an altar, while an attendant smites a bull, and a boy plays a double flute beside him; in the background is a temple. On the left, as conqueror, in a military cloak, attended by Victory with a palm, he shows mercy to the women and children of the vanquished. On the left end, he is represented hunting, and, farther to the left, as in retirement in old age, now a bearded man, seated on a magisterial chair, while attendants remove his greaves and the rest of his armour, signifying a return from military to civic life. The whole design is very spirited. The running together of the separate scenes, without formal dividing lines, is highly characteristic of antique reliefs.

  On the right wall, opposite, are 45 and *47, busts of Julius and Augustus; several others about. Compare them for age and evolution of features.

  On the left wall, right and left of door, are two more busts of Augustus. Note the features.

  On the right wall is 44, statue of Attis, erroneously restored as a barbaric king. The head is modern. 37 represents Pompeius.

  On the left wall, to the right and left of the door, are 46, *a fine bust of Livia, wife of Tiberius; 48, * *Marcus Agrippa, builder of the Pantheon, with powerful reserved Etruscan features; 52, an athlete. Beside it, 51, Pan and Olympus, the latter modern. Then, right and left, busts, of which 60 is a charming boy, *Britannicus. 56 is a sarcophagus with Phædra and Hippolytus on the left: on the right, Hippolytus hunting the boar; in two compartments. To the left is 59, an athlete, with vase; to the right, 58, a wingless Victory, with palm and wreath; to the right is 62, a sarcophagus, with the Rape of the Leucippidæ by Castor and Pollux.

  The busts which succeed are sufficiently named on the pedestals for the passing visitor. On the left is 67, an athlete — note the numerous variants; on the right, 66, a faun, wrongly restored as a Bacchus; beyond it, 68, a sarcophagus with the labours of Hercules on the face, the Nemean lion, hydra, boar, stag, Augean stables, etc. Notice on the right, 77, the foppish head of *Otho, with his frizzed wig, a fine piece of handicraft; on the left, good busts of Nero,
Caligula, and Galba. Right and left, 74 and 75, are, respectively, Pomona and an athlete. (Notice replicas.) On the left is 78, a sarcophagus with Tritons and Nereids, accompanied by Cupids. In 85 and others notice the curious Roman head-dresses. No. 71 is a charming baby Nero. 81 and 82 are Urania and Ariadne. Note, as we pass here from the Julian and Claudian Cæsars to the later emperors, the sudden loss of aristocratic dignity, now replaced by the coarse and vulgar features of Vitellius, or the mere bourgeois capacity of *Vespasian. Even Titus, though better, has not the fine type of the patrician emperors.

  On the right are 88, Ganymede with the eagle; contrast later at the Bargello with Cellini; 90, vestal, in the act of throwing incense; a nobly modest figure; 95, a sarcophagus representing the Calydonian boar, with the huntress Atalanta: heads mostly modern. This boar should be compared with the one on the staircase. The story is confused; read up in any book of reference under head, Meleager. Near the door of the Tribuna, much restored Muse, and good Hercules resting on his club. To the right and left of the door are two stages in the evolution of *Trajan.

  Enter the Tribuna, which contains five celebrated statues, originally selected as the finest of the collection. As with the pictures, however, the choice reflects rather the taste of the beginning of this century than that of its end. These works are not in themselves of the first æsthetic importance, and many of them have been restored out of all recognition. Their vogue belonged to a day before the discovery of the finest Greek originals. The first is a *Satyr playing on the cymbal, and pressing the krupezion with his feet. Only the torso is antique. The clever head and face, the arms, and part of the feet were restored by a Renaissance sculptor, probably Michael Angelo. The expression is entirely that of Renaissance Italy, not of classical sculpture. The original has been doubtfully referred to the School of Praxiteles. The second, *the Wrestlers, is believed to be a work of the School of Polycleitus. The heads, though probably antique, belong to other statues (of the School of Scopas), and resemble those of the Children of Niobe. They are without expression, and their placidity is wholly out of accord with the action of the vigorous struggling bodies. Many parts of the limbs are modern, and have not been correctly restored in every instance. The third is *the famous and overrated Medici Venus, found in Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli in 1680. The unpleasing pose of the left hand and of the right arm is due to the restorer. An inscription on the base (modern, but said to reproduce the original one) gives the authorship to one Cleomenes, of Athens. A sculptor of that name worked at Rome in the age of Augustus. The fourth is *the so-called Arrotino, a Scythian grinding his knife to flay Marsyas. The subject has been discovered by means of bas-reliefs and medals. The fifth is *the young Apollo, said to be wholly antique. It is probably a copy from an original by Praxiteles, and is supposed to be the handicraft of the same sculptor as the Medici Venus.

  TRIBUNA (UFFIZI GALLERY).

  Return to the Long Corridor. On the left is another sarcophagus with the labours of Hercules. Compare with the previous one. To the right and left are a Polyhymnia and a Mercury; beside the latter, two stages in the evolution of Hadrian. To the right, 103, is a pleasing bust of Plotina, wife of Trajan; to the left, 110, a Bacchanalian scene (Triumph of Bacchus). The god, to the left, is drawn by a male and female centaur. In front, Ariadne is similarly drawn by panthers. Chained slaves precede them: mœnads and fauns accompany. To the right, 112, is a Venus and Cupid. Compare the Venus on the left, 113, in attitude, with the Medici. Beyond it is a sarcophagus with Cupids, and another with Triton and Nereids. At the end, right and left, are two Apollos.

  In the Short Corridor are charming little Cupids, of which 123 is very pleasing; on the left, a Bacchante, with a panther. In the centre, *36, seated Roman portrait statue; beyond, right and left, portrait busts of the Antonine period, betraying the faint beginnings of the Decadence. Number 133 is a Minerva, somewhat rigid in attitude: archaic or archaistic; on the left, 138, is the famous *Thorn-extractor, a graceful statue of a boy athlete: one of many copies.

  In 136, etc., the various stages of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher emperor, are interestingly indicated.

  Number 141 is a beautiful candelabrum; 129 a sarcophagus with Phaethon falling into the Eridanus, represented by a river-god, close by, his sisters metamorphosed into poplars; 145, Venus stooping at the bath, a graceful small statue, like the famous one in the Vatican. The head is modern. On the left, 2, is a Mars, in basalt; opposite, 134, Venus with the sword. Number 35 is a * *magnificent seated portrait statue of a Roman lady, known as Agrippina. The pose and draperies are admirable.

  In the second Long Corridor are busts of Emperors of the Decadence, continuously losing both in character and craftsmanship. Numbers 155 and 156 represent Marsyas, the first restored by Donatello; on the right, 162, a Nereid on a sea-horse, and 169, Discobolus, probably a copy of the famous work of Myron.

  In the room to the left, the Hall of Painters, is a fine antique marble vase of Greek workmanship, known as the Medici vase, and with admirable reliefs of the Sacrifice of Iphigeneia, who may be seen prostrate below the statue of Artemis on the side next the windows.

  The next door to the left leads to the Hall of the Inscriptions, with numerous works of sculpture, many of them of inferior interest, but containing some masterpieces. To the right of the door is a pleasing *Venus Genetrix, covered with a light Coan robe. To the left, *a priestess, with exquisite drapery; and on altars to right and left, Venus Urania and *Mercury, the last very fine. In the centre, on an Egyptian base, is a beautiful group of *Bacchus and Ampelus. Round the walls are inscriptions and reliefs, interesting mostly to the scholar. Near the entrance into the next room, 283, is a figure with Oriental tinge, perhaps an Attis.

  The room beyond, Hall of the Hermaphrodite, has, 318, a colossal head known as the *Dying Alexander, — in reality, a giant of the Pergamenian School. Round the walls are a series of * *fine reliefs of the Augustan period, from the altar of the Augustan Peace, erected by the great emperor in A.D. 12, on his final pacification of the Empire. They are sufficiently explained by their labels. These noble and graceful works exhibit the simple idealism of the age of Augustus. The one which represents the members of the Claudian family is particularly beautiful. In the centre of the room, 306, repetition of the favourite statue of the Hermaphrodite, the lower portion modern. Number 290 is a seated statue of Ceres; 316, an Antinous, not one of the most pleasing representations of the subject; 308, a Ganymede, so restored by Benvenuto Cellini as to be practically his own work. It would be beside my purpose to enter more fully into the contents of these rooms, but many of the sculptures (such as the superb head of Seneca or the colossal torso of a faun) deserve thorough examination at the hands of those who desire to understand classical sculpture.

  In the Long Corridor, again, 186, is a wounded soldier, of the Pergamenian school.

  HALL OF NIOBE (UFFIZI GALLERY).

  The Hall of Niobe, to the left, farther on, contains seventeen groups or single figures of * *Niobe and her children, struck by the arrows of Artemis (some of them duplicates). These are believed to be good Roman copies from the Greek originals of the School of Scopas. The faces and figures of all should be compared with those of the Melian Aphrodite (Venus of Milo), in the Louvre. They seem to have originally occupied the pediment of a temple, with the large standing figure of Niobe herself in the centre (placed here at the right hand end of the hall). The figure opposite is supposed to be that of their tutor or pedagogue. The other figures declined gradually in height from the centre on either side, and ended in prostrate forms, like the one opposite the middle window.

  Enter the Long Corridor again. Here are more portrait busts of the Decadence, several good Roman altars with inscriptions, inferior statues, etc.; near the end, 236, fine sacrificial altar of the age of Augustus, dedicated to his Lares, with the date inscribed by means of the consular years — the thirteenth of Augustus, the first of M. Plautus Silvanus; and, at the end, an altered copy of the Laocoon, an antique
in the Vatican at Rome, of the Rhodian School: this variant is by Baccio Bandinelli, who considered that he had improved upon the original. Later critics have not endorsed his opinion. But the original itself belongs to a late school of Greek sculpture which sacrificed plastic repose to violent action and dramatic movement.

  CHAPTER VIII.

  THE PITTI PALACE.

  Third in importance among the collections of Florence must be reckoned that of the Pitti Palace. Indeed, it is probable that most people would even now regard it as first, or at least second, in rank, owing to the large number of masterpieces of the High Renaissance which it contains; but its comparative poverty in works of the increasingly popular masters of the Early Renaissance will doubtless make it take a less exalted place in the estimation of the coming generation.

  The Palazzo in which it is housed is itself historical. Designed by Brunelleschi, the architect of the Cathedral dome, it was begun about 1440 for Luca Pitti, the head of the great house who formed at that date the chief rivals of the Medici. Luca conspired, however, in 1466 against Piero de’ Medici (son of Cosimo Pater Patriæ, and father of Lorenzo); and, his conspiracy failing, the building remained unfinished till 1549. It then came into the hands of the Medici; and Cosimo I., completing the central block, made it thenceforth his principal residence. It has ever since ranked as the chief Grand Ducal and Royal Palace in Florence. The existing building includes several additions to Brunelleschi’s design, which will be pointed out as you stand before it.