Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-05-11

Veil", who bears a striking resemblance
to his Sistine Madonna in Dresden.
There are also masterpieces by Andrea del
Sarto, Titan, Van Dyck, Tintoretto,
Giorgione and Perugino, Raphael's
teacher.
In the Uffici gallery are the Venus OF
Medici, found in Hadrian's villa near
Tivoli, two Venuses by Titan, and his
"Flora", the Madonna del Cardinello "a
small grey bird with red crest which is
in the hand Of the child John the Bap-
tist) by Raphael, and works by Bellini,
Botticelli, Giotto, Sippi, Leonardo da
Vinci, Michael Angelo. IA painting),
Durer, etc.
There are few paintings OF subordinate
value, making 1t a kind of continuation Of
the "Tribuna" Of the Uffici gallery.
The Palazzo Vecchio, which dates from
1898, was formerly the seat Of the Signoria,
the government of the republic, and is
now the town hall. The Riccardi palace
is the old palace OF the Medici. The
Bargello (now containing the national
museum) is the oldest of all "a. d. 1860
and used to be the headquarters OF the
police (bargello). 1t seemed to us the
finest old castle we had seen; it was more
as one imagines the castles of the knights
OF the middle ages to be, more like the
pictures one sees.
The Cathedral square reminds one
rather OF the square in Pisa, there being
also cathedral, baptistry, and beethoven.
The bronze doors and reliefs on these
buildings are very old and interesting,
and with the aid OF good guide book
hours can be spent studying them. The
baptstry used to be the cathedral; all
the children born in Florence are now
baptized there. Dante was among its
illustrious number. Nearly all of the
great artists seem to have lived here
sometime during their lives, thus making
more points of interest to visit, as in each
house some drawings or sketches have
been preserved. Several nice excursions
may be made from Florence; we only took
one, as our time was rather limited, and
that was to the Certosa di Val d. Ema.
The castle itself resembles medieval
fortress. The monastery, which was
founded there in 1341, has now only few
monks OF the brotherhood left. A funny
old monk who, as he informed us later
| on, had taken us in charge because he
WAS the only clay broser who speek
English and French, showed us through
he series Of chapels and the cloisters.
Everything is kept extremely clean.
The monk showed us the large dining
room where they eat ON Sundays and
festivals, and the rooms which were &C.
cupied by Pope Plus VII when he was
obliged to leave Rome. When we told
him that we had seen Leo XIII while in
Rome he said that he had never had that
great honor. Beautiful grounds belong
to the monastery, and as we were admir-
ing the view from one Of the upper win
dows we saw one OF the brothers (they
dress in white with peaked hoods) COM
ing slowly up the hill. He was out for
his recreation" the other monk in
formed us, and smiled all over at the
thought that his turn was coming soon.
The first clear day we had we climbed
the tower OF the Palazzo Neccho, 30S feet
high, passing, about half way up, the cell
where Savonaroia, the Dominican frar,
was confined for the week before he was
burned at the stake on the square in
front of the palace. The cell is not more
than three by six feet, with an opening
about four inches by two feet for a
window. In the monastery OF st. Marks,
once so well known but now suppressed,
we saw his rooms in which his bine,
writing desk, crucifix and autographs
have been preserved, also a piece of his
robe, piece Of the stake at which he was
burned, and his chair, the one from
which 50 many copies have been made :;
some saw in Ellsworth.
Near by is the academy of fine arts,
containing paintings by Botticelli, Sippi,
Fra Angelica, and Michael Angeles cele-
brated "David'', which he made from an
enormous piece OF marble thrown away
as spoiled. and the Medici chapel, the
burial place OF the family, a chapel de-
signed by Michael Angelo for Pope
Clement VII Of Medici, with monuments
and statues by himself, but which he left
unfinished after the abolition of the re-
public, fearing the hatred of Alessandro
OF Medci after the death OF the pope.
There are lots and lots of other inter-
esting things to tell about, but some
must be left out or else we won't have
time to tell about Venice, Verona and
Milan.
VENICE.
Venice couldn't possibly be omitted
it was perfectly fascinating-the queer
est Of any place we have yet seen. We
had splendid chance to watch the
"huge open lair drawing room" as Bae-
deker calls st. Marks square.
We had rooms in the house of the old
clock tower to the left of the church of
St. Mark. The tower was built in 1896;
pictures Of 1t are in all the old paintings,
representing events which took place on
st. Marks during the reign OF the Doges.