New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-04-25
The Nedici Tomb.

The Boston Transcript says: ut will b
remembered that in The sacristy of tn
Church Of San Lorenzo, in Florence, al
tached TO which is the famous chapel of tn
Medici family, are the sarcOphagi OF some O
tho male members of this great and power
in marble of Michael Angelo, that wer,
sculptured in memory of these affluent ant
Influential patrons. We have been favored
by a lady correspondent with the folio wins
translation from recent number O.
LItalie, of Rome: On account of neces
sary repairs. the celebrated tomb o.
Duke Lorenzo III. dc Medici, in the
basiica of San Lorenzo, at Florence was
opened to-day. Two bodies were found
in this tomb, one lying above the
other, but in opposite directions. The one
which reposes under the statue of 'Twi
! light" has the head bare. is clothed in a
| dark cOlOred tunic, and the head rests on
| the side OF the coffin nearest the wall. Near
! the head lie the feet Of the other body. The
one which rests under the statue of
Aurora is covered with a long robe of
velvet. The head, turned toward the outer
wall of the tomb. is inclined upon the shout
der. The feet of his companion in this
sleep of death are stretched out at his
lett. Professor Paganucci proceeded to
raise these remains, which he had
hardly touched when they became
dust. The clothes scarcely resisted a
breath, with the exception Of the linen,
which is still partially preserved. The
skull of the body clothed in the dark color
was taken from the coffin and Carefully ex-
amined. 1t belonged to q young man, and
was III perfect state Of preservation as
were nearly all the bones in the tomb. The
other skull belonged to person still
younger. The body of Duke 20 IL. is
therefore the one which lies under the statue
Twilight the other is that of Duke
Alexander. The garment OF the latter
proved to be, on close examination, a
long linen robe, very fine, with open
work embroidery OF an extremely beau
tiful design. gathered at the top and
finished with little collar exuuisitelv
embroidered. All that the mausoleum con-
tanned was carefully collected and placed
in large baskets lined with cloth, and carried
to the middle OF the chapel tor more par
ticular examination and description. Pro
fessor Paganucci and Dr. Focess both ex-
smined the two skulls. That Of Duke
Lorenzo is short with all the sutures intact
The left part of the skull is more depressed
than the right. The lower jaw is strongly
developed, the chin square, tie teeth, thirty
two III number, very beautiful and per
'ectly preserved. In the back part of
the skull to the LETT of the occipital bone
there is hole. caused probably by de-
The skull OF Duke Alexander
is smaller and more symmetrical it
would be called fine head. While the
professor and doctor were absorbed in their
the artists Cont and Vinea
made drawings OF these skulls The notary
wrote report Of the proceedings, which
WAS signed by all his assistants. The skulls
the brains reduc, d to brown dust
mixed with little brilliant fragments of
resin, which had become detached from the |
substance used for -mbaiming, and which |
had penetrated the cerebral cavity by the |
large occlpital opening. The dust being
it was proposed to measure
the respective capacity of the skulls,
and certain quantity of pepper was in
PRODUCED. The skull Of Alexander re-
ceived 700 grammes; that Of Duke Lorenzo |
740 grammes.' Ii this is an authentic iden- |
titicatiOn Of the remains OF Lorenzo H., it |
seems to set at rest the mOoted question as |
TO the actual occupants of this tomb, which |
Il will be IT member.d is Immediately under |
he statue called Lorenzo On the 'Penseur,'
\ seated figure between the two reclining |
,nrs, symbolical of Evening Twilight |
md Morning Dawn and opposite it's COM
,aniOn Of Julian i'll the costume of q
Roman general, likewise supported by the
tclinins figure known as Day and
Night"