spective. The cupola, a kind of Olympus of saints of the Old and New Testament, one of the first in Italy for variety, number, effect, and keeping of the figures, was painted in seven months by Bernardino Campi. This rapid execution appeared so suspicious to the churchwardens, no great connoisseurs, that before paying the artist they exacted from him a certificate by Sojaro and Giulio Campi, as a security for the merit of the work. At the high altar, the Virgin in the clouds holding her son, surrounded by a choir of angels, while below are St. Jerome and St. Chrysanthus, presenting to him the duke and duchess of Milan kneeling, is a chefd'œuvre of Giulio Campi in Titian's style. The countenance of Sforza is characteristic; Bianca's, timid; behind St. Jerome, is his cardinal's hat hung against the wall. The multitude of grand and excellent paintings at Saint Sigismund's is truly dazzling. Pizzighettone, a fortress on the Serio, a confluent of the Adda, was the first prison of Francis I., after his defeat at Pavia its frowning aspect is still in unison with such a recollection. CHAPTER XXV. Literary fame seems, however, to have been useful at both these epochs, and the author of the Annals of Placentia, Antonio of Ripalta, who, like Virgil, had been reduced to slavery after the loss of all his substance, including his books and manuscripts, was set at liberty by his master, the general of Sforza's galleys. Notwithstanding the desolation still apparent in Placentia, it is not utterly destitute of splendour: the two great equestrian statues facing each other, before the public palace, representing Alessandro and his son Ranuccio Farnese, maintain that profusion of monuments which belongs to Italy alone. These statues, which the traditions and civic patriotism of the Placentians, who paid for them,' still extol, do not appear of very pure taste; the horses' heads might be more noble: though not galloping, their tails, their manes, and the gar ments of the cavaliers are exceedingly agitated by the wind. The artist is Francesco Mocchi, a Florentine, pupil of his father Horace, and not of Giovanni Bologna, as stated by Lalande and the travellers who have copied him, in making a Bolognese of the great Flemish sculptor. Such has long been the admiration excited by the horses of Placentia, skilfully founded at all events, that in a work Placentia.— Statues.- Ranuccio.- Public palace. composed in 1769, by several poets of the Palace della Citadella.-Library. Placentia is extensive and deserted. This town has never recovered from its dreadful pillage by Francesco Sforza, in 1448. Then not only the houses were wasted, but the inhabitants were compelled by horrible tortures to deliver up their hidden treasures to the soldiers; women and maidens underwent the extremity of outrage, and ten thousand citizens, reduced to slavery, were sold by auction. This terrible conqueror, whom we have just seen founding a splendid abbey near Cremona, rivalled the excesses of Octavius at no great distance therefrom: many an obscure Melibœus and Meris were then deprived of their heritage the foreign soldier could also repeat to these sons of misfortune, as the veterans of Rome : ... Hæc mea sunt, veteres migrate coloni. affirms, he was dressed and writing in bis chamber." (Ibid.) The cost was 44,107 crowns, 8 pauls (8 8104). town, for the marriage of Duke Ferdinand 1. with the archduchess Maria Amelia, Elisabetta Farnese, queen of Spain. appeared in the fifth canto, and made the following eulogium on the horses: Il due destrier son questi: a me gli addita became extinct, that Ranuccio is too severely treated by the illustrious author; he was skilled in war, understood the art of government, loved learning, and was cherished by the Parmesans. The famous conspiracy of 1611, which he was accused of planning, even Muratori has not denied; it is now admitted by all the historians of Parma, and well might Ranuccio suspect the faith of his nobles when he called to mind the fate of his great grandfather, whom they assassiDated, and threw out of the window.' The public palace, of the end of the thirteenth century, is of Gothic architeeture, majestic and picturesque. The portico of the little square court is much esteemed, as are also the ornaments bordering the windows, in mattone (a kind of bricks), a handicraft of which the secret is apparently lost. The Farnese palace, called the palace della Citadella, unfinished, forsaken, dilapidated, still bears witness to the genius of Vignola, and the part completed is sufficient to show what the magnificence of the whole would have been. The librarian of Placentia was ill when I called to see the library, and his deputy had not the key; consequently I could not obtain access. I was informed it contained thirty thousand volumes, and possessed a palimpsestus of the ninth century, its ast precious article being the Psalterum of the empress Engelberge, consort of Louis II., written with her own hand in the 847 or 57, which had been carried to Paris. CHAPTER XXVI. Cathedral-Churches.- Environs.-Santa Maria di Campagna.- Italian lapidarian Juscriptions.Road. The cathedral, rebuilt at the beginting of the twelfth century, is a fine Larmonious Gothic structure, unfortunately disfigured by the modern ornaBeats of the choir and sanctuary. Its paintings have some celebrity: the Pro A remarkable fact is related by S. A. Pezzɔna. Letera al conte Filippo Linati, circa le cose ne dal sig. Millin Intorno la città di Parma, ed. da, p. 10.) Duke Ferdinand, after more than Centary and a balf, feeling some scruple at pos the property of which the conspirators' les had been stripped, charged a learned jurissi, Giambattista Comaschi, also celebrated for Ieder conscience, to examine the documents phets, the Sibyls of the cupola, the four frescos of the roof, are chefs-d'œuvre of Guercino; the Circumcision, the Adoration of the Magi, St. Joseph sleeping, by Franceschini and Quaini, of Bologna, pupils of Guercino, are very fine; the four figures. Charity, Truth, Modesty, and Humility, by the former, though done at an advanced age, are elegant and graceful. In the sanctuary, the compartment of the high altar is one of Camillo Procaccini's good works, but it is outshone by the other three covered with energetic paintings by Ludovico Carraccio. In the choir, the Assumption is also by Procaccini ; the archivolt, painted by Ludovico Carraccio, is an admirable imitation of the cupolas of the Duomo and Saint John's at Parma, by Correggio, and its angels, of colossal stature, are well preserved. His two great paintings, the Translation of the body of the Virgin, the Apostles opening her coffin, taken by the French as a war contribution in 1797, were not restored to the cathedral in 1815, but were placed in the Parma gallery. An able artist of Placentia, the Cav. Gaspardo Landi, one of the best contemporary painters of Italy, has patriotically supplied their places with two paintings on the same subjects. The several chapels present a St. Martin, by Ludovico Carraccio ; frescos by Fiamminghino, the beauties of which are concealed by an obscure position; a fine Resurrection, and a St. Francis, by Fiamminghini; the Ten thousand crucified, an energetic and superb painting by Andrea Sirani, is perhaps by Elisabetta, bis unfortunate daughter; the Saviour, a small Madonna, a charming work of Tagliasacchi, a painter of the end of the seventeenth century, whose fortune seems to have been inferior to his merit. 9 The tower of the cathedral still preserves, fixed in the wall, one of those iron cages of which we have before spoken. The Placentian learned have abundantly discussed the subject of the relating to the trial, and this posthumous Jadge did not doubt the reality of the plot. A like conviction, adds S. Pezzana, has been felt by all who have perused the same papers, still lodged in the archives of the state, and especially by a dis tinguished magistrate, S. Francesco Melegari, president of one of the tribunals at Parma. See ante, book VIII. chap. vii, and xv. 3 See ante, book 1v, ch. viii, and above, cb. xviii. cage, without coming to any clear understanding; but it is, at least, another and indisputable proof of the reality of this punishment. Saint Francis-the-Great is of Gothic architecture, noble and bold. The remarkable paintings are: the Miracle of the loaves and fishes, by Marini, a clever pupil of Bernardino Campi; one of Malosso's Conceptions, which proves the variety of his talent in such compositions; a St. Francis de Paule curing a little child, by an unknown author, and a fine copy of the Martyrdom of St. Laurence, one of those astounding chefsd'œuvre of Titian's old age, buried in the Escurial. The church of Saint Anthony, formerly a cathedral, rebuilt, retains a fine remnant of its old architecture, the northern Gothic vestibule, called the Paradise. On the ceiling of the sanctuary, the Eternal Father in the midst of the angels; an Old man of the Apocalypse holding a fiery sword in his hand, are full of spirit, boldness, and imagination. Guercino admired these paintings: the artist, Camillo Gavassetti, of Modena, deceased at an early age, happily drew his inspiration from Michael Angelo and Raphael. The painting of the high altar, and others in the sanctuary, representing divers incidents in the life of St. Anthony of Placentia, are by Robert Lalonge, of Antwerp, called also Fiammingo. In the chapel of the Virgin addolorata, the Nativity by Giulio Procaccini, is a graceful composition. Near the great door, an old painting on wood, of the Life and Martyrdom of St. Anthony, apparently in the Greek style of the eleventh century, may be regarded as a curious monument of the infancy of art. Saint Augustine, a superb temple, which some have even erroneously supposed by Vignola, has been an hospital or military magazine for thirty years past, but some of the chief inhabitants of Placentia, justly proud of such an edifice, have patriotically maintained it in good repair. The cloister of Saint John del Canale still retains some old and expressive wrecks of painting, of the close of the twelfth century, considered as precious monuments for the history of the art. In the church, a St. Hyacinth is by Malosso; in the choir, a small oval Circumcision, remarkable, by Gervasio | Gatti, Sojaro's ne Saint Sixtus, & At Saint Sav perhaps Pamfilio Nuvolone; they are at once full of sweetness, vivacity, and harmony. The lower church, constructed in the tenth century, is interesting: among its square columns, ornamented with elegant capitals, is a very beautiful one of alabaster. On the pavement, a mosaic in white and black stones offers the signs of the zodiac, with Latin inscriptions in Roman characters, but by the archeologists and some learned mosaists, it is attributed to the Greek artists who came to Venice in the seventh century. I found in Saint Michael, a church not particularly remarkable, a great picture well painted by the duchess Antonia Bourbon, daughter of Duke Ferdinand, to the present moment a nun at Parma, in a convent of Ursulines; it represented St. Ferdinand, her grandfather, and was given by her to the church in 1797. The cathedral of Placentia also possesses a Virgin alla colonna, another painting by that august hand. The cultivation of the arts by a woman of such noble blood, amid the misfortunes of her family and her own, is rather affecting; one loves so that union of saint, princess, and artist; and among the multitude of impressions caused in Italy by so many paintings, this is perhaps unique. The duchess Bourbon of Parma, on the proposition of the French consulta at Rome, was succoured by Napoleon, a fact honourable to him and the consulta. Santa Maria di Campagna, a church of the Franciscans, near Placeutia, has an admirable cupola painted by Pordenone, as well as many other frescos by born, well preserved; they were cleverly finished by Sojaro, who was able to unitate his predecessor's style so well, that they might be supposed by one hand. Among these numerous masterpieces is the fresco of St. Augustin, in which the child holding the doctor's book is so full of grace; the St. George, deemed by Lanzi worthy of Giulio Romano; the Adoration of the Magi, the Birth of Mary The chapel of Saint Catherine appears the triumph of Pordenone, and * A useful bridge wes erected across the Trebbia in 1921: the inscription, by the learned P. Ramiro Toani, Benedictine of Parms, who died on the 12h of November 1833, esteemed for his lapidary ampesirions, presents an odd assemblage of names, in its allusion to these different engagements: displays his double talent of oil and fresco painting; the Marriage of the Saint is a delightful work that Canova, it is said, was never tired of contemplating when he passed through Placentia. Some other paintings are also due to clever artists, such are the Virgins of Israel meeting David after his victory over Goliath, by Ludovico Crespi; the Apparition of an angel, by Gavassetti; a St. Francis, by Camillo Procaccini; a Salutation of the Virgin, in two parts, by Camillo Boccaccino. greatly esteemed. The Franciscans of Santa Maria di Campagna had a good library, recently given to their convent by her majesty Maria Louisa; they did the honours of it very well, and several were studying there; but it was not without some surprise that, after the collection of the Fathers and other theological works, I remarked a copy of the Encyclopédie, which struck me as a singular present to Capuchins. At Pigazzano, on a hill not far from Placentia, is a villager's house, for which S. Giordani, a native of Placentia, has composed the following inscription: Buone genti Che abiterete questa casa Dalla contessa Alba zia paterna This inscription proves, like most of those by this first of the many new lapidarian writers in Italian, that the language, as Perticari pretended, is not, in dignity and precision, inferior to the Latin for the lapidary style I went along the lively, charming road from Placentia to Pavia, which is associated with the reverses of the most warlike nations in history, the Romans and the French, both defeated near the Trebbia,' the former by Hannibal, the latter by Suwarow, two great captains of remote and barbarous countries. Trebia Annibale Lichtensteinio Suwarudio et Melas victorib. Magna. Ex D. angusta a. MDCCCXXI BOOK THE TENTH. FLORENCE. CHAPTER I. Road from Bologna to Florence. - Apennines.Pratolino.-Aspect of Florence. The road from Bologna to Florence crosses the Apennines, which, on that side, have an appearance altogether different from the grandeur of the Alps; they present neither the rude sky, nor the harsh green of the firs on the latter; they neither resound with the roar of torrents or cascades, nor the crashing of the avalanche; no majestic rivers or limpid streams originate there; the vegetation is colourless and scrubby, while instead of the bold precipitous peaks of the Alps darting straight upwards to the skies, the Apennines resemble a pile of hills heaped on each other one would almost say they had been built, and like those edifices that the weakness of man requires ages on ages to complete, they also seem to have been interrupted and resumed. A very fine storm that I witnessed in August among these gloomy, arid, naked mountains, gave them, however, some animation, and a dash of grandeur; the effect of the rainbow and an Italian sun piercing through the clouds and pouring a flood of light into the valley, was marvellous. 1 Dianzi all' ombra di fama occulta e bruna, Quasi giacesti, Pratolino, ascoso; Or la tua donna tanto onor t' aggiunge, Rime, madrigali, 360, t. II. Two other madrigals (359 and 361) are inferior to this: Qui la bassezza altrul divien sublime, etc. Pratolin, re de' prati, e re de' cori, etc. See also Rime, part. 1, 318, 319, 320, 324, 322, 323 and 324. Montaigne wanted to go from Bologna to Rome This road presents some curious natural phenomena: near Pietra Mala, the frontier of Tuscany, is a spring of cold water, called Acqua buja, which takes fire on applying a light, and the little volcano, called Fuoco del legno, with its everburning flame of blue by day and red by night; phenomena investigated by Volta, who attributes them to the disengagement of oxygen gas. Five miles from Florence, on the left, once stood the celebrated villa of Pratolino, built by Prince Francesco, son of Cosmo I., there to receive his mistress Bianca Capello. This voluptuous asylum and the enchantress that dwelt therein were repeatedly sung by Tasso.' Montaigne visited Pratolino and its grotto containing a mechanical apparatus that made water start suddenly from every part, even from the seats when one sat down, excited his admiration somewhat unduly.' The curiosities of Italy seem to have attracted Montaigne's attention in a greater degree than her arts and literature, of which he has scarcely found time to speak in all his travels, so much was he taken up with his own infirmities and the little disasters they produced. The palace, by the great Florentine architect, Bernardo Buontalenti, the friend, master and confident of Duke Francesco, was demolished some years throngh the Marches of Ancona, but being cautioned by a German who had been robbed by brigands near Spoleto, he took the Florence road. Montaigne has given a humorous account of the interested zeal and roguery of the innkeepers whom be encountered (Voyage, t. 11. p. 39 et suiv.). Arrived at Florence, Montaigne was admitted, as well as M. d'Estissac, to the table of the grand duke and Bianca. The most accurate portrait extant of the latter, is the one be drew: "Cette duchesse," says his secretary who wrote the narrative of his travels, "est belle à l'opinion itallenne, un visage agréable et imperieux, le corsage gros, et de tetins à leur souhalt. Elle lui sembla bien avoir la suffisance d'avoir engeolé ce prince, et de le tenir à sa dévotlon longtemps... Le Grand-Duc métoit assés d'eau ; elle quasi pouint." |