Cañon City record., 1901-04-04
LETTER NNNIII.

LETTER NXNIII.
Beloved had your last letter on
Friday. All your letters have come in
their right numbers have lost count
of mine. but / think seven and two
postcards Is the total. which Is the
same as the numbers of clean and un-
clean beasts proportionately represent
ed in the ark.
Up here we are out OF the deadllness
of the heat. and are thankful for IL.
Vineyards and olives brush the eye be-
tween the hard. upright bars OF TIE
cypress. and Florence s~low is like
hot bath which we dip into and come
out again At the Riccardi chapel l
found Benozzo Gozzoli. not in crumbs.
but perfectly preserved. a procession
of early Florentine youths. turning into
angels when they get to the bay Of the
window where the altar once stood.
The more | see OF them the greater
these early men seem TO me. shall
be afraid to go 90 Venice soon; Titan
Will only half satisfy me. and Tnto-
retto, I know. xiii be actively annoy
ing. I shall stay in my gondola, as
your American lady did ON her donkey
after riding ~ miles TO visit the ruins
of-nainak. was II notg II Is well TO
have the courage OF ones llkings and
dislikings. That is the only true culturr
Ctbe state obtained by use of ''coul-
ter or cutter. cut many things Sc
vereIy which. no doubt, are good for
other people.
Botticelli was shy of. because OF the
I craze about him among the people who
know nothing He j. far more wonder
full than had hoped. both at the Uffizi
and the Academia. but he Is quite
pagan l don't know why l say but"
he is quite typical OF the worlds art
training. Christianity may get hold of
names and dictate the subjects but
the artist breed carries Il fairly level
head through II all. and, like Pater's
Mona Lisa. draws Christianity and
paganism into one. At least wherever
1t reaches perfect expression II has
done So Some Of the distinctly primi-
tives are different: their works inclose
a charm which l. not artistic. Fra An
gellco. after being a great disappoint-
mcnt TO me In some OF his large set
pictures In the Academia and else
where. shows himself lovely In fresco
Though ! think the ''crumb" element
helps him. His great ''CrucihNion' is
big altogether and has so permanent
force In Its aloofness from mere
drama and mere life. In San Marco
the cells OF the monks are quite cbarm-
lug "a row OF little square baudboAes
under a broad raftcrcd corridor, Lnd
In every cell is beautiful little fresco
for the monks TO live up to. But they
no longer live there now. all that part
OF San Marco has become a peep show.
liked being in SaVonarola's room
and was more susceptible to the re
mains OF his presence than l have been
to Michael Angelo or any one else's.
Michael Angelo feel most when he
has left thing unfinished. Then one
can put ones finger into the print Of
the chtscI and believe anything OF the
beauty that might have come out Of
the great stone chrysalis lying cal.ed
and roughed. waiting to be raised up
to life.
Yesterday Arthur and l walked from
here to Ficsole. which we had neglect
ed while In Fiorcnce-6 miles going and
more like II coming back-all because
of Arthur's absurd cross country In.
stinct. which after hours OF river bends.
bare mountain tracks and tottering
precipices brought us out again half a
mile nearer Florence than when we
started.
At Fiesole is the only church about
here whose Interior architecture have
greatly admired. austere, but at the
same time gracious. like a Madonna OF
the best period OF painting. We also
went to look at the Roman baths and
theater. The theatcr Is charming
enough because II is still there; but. for
the baths-oblongs OF stone don't inter
est me Just because they are old. All
stone is old, and these didn't even hold
water to give one the real look OF the
thing. Too tired and even more too
lazy TO write other things except love,
I npsf dpnr halnyna