Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-01-30
OUR EUROPEAN LETTER.
wASDERrNGs IN FLORENCE.

Christmas and New-Year's day with
us are as much holidays here as IN Amer
lea, and are principally devoted to home
visiting, social enjoyments, and present
giving. The latter at least is to be pre-
sumed from the number Of things dis
played in the store-windows, and IRON
occasionally meeting gentlemen in the
streets laden with packages = some
tucked under their arms and others
Rugged to them after the fashion ofoyer-
laden commissionaire. On New-fear's
afternoon more than the usual number
of carriages and people were in the
park. and most Of them stayed some
time in front Of the Casino to listen to
the band. Mr.. Livingston, an Ameri-
can, many years residenth here, was among
them. and had his sixteen horses d.
vided into three teams. He used to
drive them all in one, but this was such
an inconvenience to pedestrians IN these
narrow streets that the municipality
passed An ordinance forbidding any one
TO have more than six horses to one We
hjcle. One of the prettiest drives near
Florence is to the old Notifications, de-
signed by Michael Angelo, and to the
Church of San Miniato, which they adj
Join. BY passing through the Via Ro-
mana, under the old gateway OF the
same name, and gradually ascending
amid olive trees, expresses, roses IN
bloom. and extensive views OF the
town and mountains, the top of the hill
is reached. The mountains are softly
blue in the distance. with the white
snow sprinkled on them as If there had
been a shower of pearls. Nearer to
Ms they are weather-colored, and be-
tween the gaps silvery, sheeny sky
shines through. At our feet the Cathe-
dral dome stands out sharply and clear
" defined Grotto's slender tower rises
gracefully close by, and the Florentine
houses crowd thickly round as if this
were their centre and household hearth.
The church of San Miniato is used only
for funerals now, and the hillside round it
is turned into cemetery, where many
celebrated Florentines lie. Built in the
twelfth century, it is one of the oldest
churches in Florence, and has facdae
Of black-and-whit marble with
GLASS MOSAIC on A GOLD
background over the chief portal. Some
of the columns supporting the fine
arches in the interior are of clear white
marble, and the windows Of the apsis
are Of the same material, but orange i'll
color and cut extremely thin, letting
the light stream through in subdued
yelIowish tints. The churches generally
contain frescoes of great painters and the
two principal art galleries, the Uflizi
and the Pitt, so called after the palaces
in which they are placed, are veritablc
storehouses of easel-pictures, statuary,
and other works of art. The two gal
lories lie respectively on the right and
left banks of the ArnO, and are con-
nected by a covered bridge running over
one side of that used for ordinary traf-
fic. 1t is said that this passage, made
by one of the Medici family, who for
many years alternately ruled Florence
and were driven from il. was construct
ed in imitation of that between the
palaces of Prism and Hector. and was
also designed to form means of escape
in times Of danger. The Ponte Vecchio,
over which it runs, has double line of
small shops, principally of cheap
jewelry, built on it, so that on crossing
it there is some difficulty in seeing
where the bridge ends, and the streets
begin, but in the middle there is an
open space afiording an opportunity of
view up and down stream. The
Tribune, octagonal in shape and coy
cred with n dome, is the chief room in
the Ufiizi, and one of the most cele-
brated in the world on account of its
valuable works Of art.
THE STATUE OF VENUS,
called di Medici, strikes the eye on en-
tering by its perfect symmetry and
light and graceful bearing, and makes
one regret that these charms cannot
oftener be carried into other works
having more serious character. Be
hind it OH the wall is Madonna and
two saints by Andrea del Sarto, painted
in the softest and most harmonious
tones, and by the side of the Madonna
Is a Venus of fascinating loneliness BY
lIuan, In aIother room Niobe and
her fo',t+sen children. antique statues
datniS Hom before the Christian era,
are Hanged round the mother, occupy
Gng the central position, and the most at
tractiye of the group, is endeay oring {
protect her youngest enid from the
arrows which have slain all the rest.
In the cioisters of the Annunciation
the series Of frescoes by Andrea del
Sarto, painted over three hundred years
ago, have all the beautiful colOring,
faultless drawing, and grouping for
which that painter is renowned, and are
in excellent preservation, and the most
pleasing, independently of artistic merit,
of any in Florence. Keen interest is
attached historically to many of the
frescoes by their containing portraits of
celebrated people Of the time when they
were painted. In features they have
curious resemblance to the FlOrentines
of to-day, and seem to have been truth
fully rendered, and lack that air of
being got up expressly to have their
portraits taken, which is so often and so
painfully seen now.
MEN OF LEARNING,
political leaders, and heads of noted
business firms, are grouped in life-like
attitudes, and though as a whole they
cannot lay claim to beauty, most of
them have an appearance Of intelligence
and power. Cimabue's Madonna in
st. Maria Novella, painted over five
hundred years since, is considered one
Of his best pictures. and is a curious
study. 1t looms up, as it were, in the
dimness of the church. a large-framed
woman with no cOloring in particular,
and yet has an expression Of inefiable
tenderness and compassion and SYM
pathy enough for the joys and sorrows
of the whole world. do not wonder
that people far removed above the igno-
rant and uneducated can kneel before