The next, and indeed the only other church which de serves a particular description, is that of San Lorenzo in the northern part of the city. This also was planned by Brunellesco, but is, both in design and magnificence, in ferior to the Duomo. It has, however, attained to high celebrity, from two buildings attached to it, the Sacristy and the Medicean Chapel. The first was one of the earliest works of Michael Angelo, and is decorated with 7 statues by the same artist ; and although most of them are unfin ished, yet the eye of the connoisseur will easily discern in them, the genius and boldness of design, which so emi nently characterize the productions of that great sculptor.
The chapel which adjoins the hack of the church was begun in 1604 by Ferdinand I. Grand Duke of Tuscany, who intended not only to have removed thither the mau solea of his ancestors, but was in treaty to purchase the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem. The plan of the building was every way worthy of the purpose for which it was intended. " Its form is octagonal, its diameter 94, and its elevation to the vault 200 feet. It is literally lined with lapis lazuli, jasper, onyx, &e. furnished with sarcophagi of porphyry, and supported by granite pilasters with capi tals of bronze. The niches between these pilasters are of touchstone ; beneath is a subterraticous chapel, where the bodies, whose names are engraved on the sarcophagi above, are to repose. The crucifixion of our Saviour, a group in white marble by John of Bologna, with a blessed Virgin by Michael Angelo, and St John by one of his" pupils," grace this dormitory of the dead, and preside over it with appro priate majesty. But, Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurze, before the magnificent monument intended for their recep tion was finished, the Medicean line has failed ; the work is now suspended ; and, if we may judge from the im poverished state of the country, and the agitation of the times, it is not likely to be resumed for many years, if ever." The Laurentian library, which is in the convent annexed to the church, is a collection of valuable manu scripts, first formed by Cosmo and Lorenzo di Medicis, and considerably increased by Leo X. and Clement VII. Of these, however, several of the most valuable have been removed to Paris.
In the other churches of Florence, though not deficient in internal decoration, there is but little to interest the traveller, except the recollections which the tombs of the illustrious men, whose ashes they contain, are calculated to excite. It is indeed impossible to pass by unnoticed the edifices where repose the remains of a Guicciardini or Machiavelli ; of a Michael Angelo or Galileo.
The palaces of Florence are remarkable for a style of architecture peculiar to themselves, to which the long civil wars in the 13th century between the Guelph and Ghibelline families first gave rise. The Palazzo Strozzi
and the Palazzo Ricardi, the latter of which was built by the great Cosmo de Medici, arc curious specimens of this style. They are square, heavy, solid masses, whose strength is their principal ornament. The walls are thick, and broken by few windows, and these of a very diminu tive size, and the whole basement fortified with large unhewn masses of stone. The upper stories are faced with freestone, and the whole is crowned with a very heavy projecting cornice.
In those palaces, which are the property of private per sons, there are many pictures and statues by the best mas ters. Of these, the collections in the Ricardi and Gerini palaces are the most valuable. The Palazzo Vecchio and Pitti, the residences of the grand dukes, and more lately of the king of Etruria, were completely stripped of their pictures and statues by the French, and the only monu ments of art that now adorn them are their painted ceil ings, which it was impossible for the rapacity of the in vaders to remove. But of all the collections of the works of art, no one has acquired so high a reputation as the Medicean gallery. This magnificent building was erected by Cosmo I. in the year 1564 ; but the greatest part of its contents were collected in the succeeding century by the Cardinal Leopold de Medici, son of Cosmo II. and many additions were made by the princes of Lorraine and Austria. The busts of the Medicean princes and other contributors to the gallery adorn the vestibule, and, like the tutelar deities of the place, seem to claim from the passing traveller the homage due to their munificence. The gallery, or corridor, is in the shape of a Greek n, of which the two wings are each 430 feet in length, and the intermediate part 97. The paintings and statues in the gallery are arranged in series of Florentine portraits,—of illustrious foreigners—of painters, &e. and, the busts of all the Roman emperors and their families, from Julius Cmsar to Constantine. The corridor is bordered on one side by a suite of halls or cabinets, each of which is con secrated to some set of masterpieces either in sculpture or painting, or collections of antique and modern medals, coins, gems, &e. Of the former, however, many of the most celebrated now grace the galleries of the Louvre, and the hall of the far-famed Venus de Medici is now a temple bereft of its divinity. Of those that remain, the most remarkable is the group of Niobe and her children ; it consists of 16 figures, which are generally considered as models of the highest perfection ; although it is a subject of debate among critics, whether this group be a copy, or the original, which is ascribed by Pliny the elder to the chissel of Seopas or Praxiteles.