Amerigo Vespucci.—The reader is referred to the articles AMERICA: a brief account of the derivation and meaning of the word, and VES PUCCI, AMERICO, for facts in relation to the native of Florence who has clearest title to undying fame. But this is the appropriate place •for citation of an interesting passage in Mr. Davies' Ghirlandaio.' Mr. Davies writes that the fresco by Ghirlandaio at Florence in which occurs Amerigo Vespucci's portrait was overlooked by earlier writers. Vasari says that Ghirlandaio's first paintings were "in Ognis santi, the chapel of the Vespucci, where is a Dead Christ and some saints and above in the arch a Misericordia; in which is the portrait of Amerigo Vespucci who made the navigation to the Indies.° The fresco with the Vespucci family above was whitewashed over in 1616. the chattel having passed to the possession of • the Baldovinetti family, and it was lost to sight practically until the end of the 19th century. It is -in -two parts, the lower part Descent from the Cross, the upper part showing the Madonna della Misericordia spreading her mantle wide over the members of the Vespucci family. It is to the upper part of the fresco that the chief . interest attaches, owing to the presence there, as Vasari assures us, of Amer igo Vespucci. The explorer, whose name was to be given to half a world, was, when this pic ture was painted, still trying to learn Latin, wherein he failed, and astronomy, wherein he succeeded, from his uncle Giorgio Antonio Ves pucci. "The bright-faced boy whose head only is seen to the left of the Virgin is said to be Amerigo. He is judged to be about years old— to myself he would seem younger. ° In this fresco °there is not a face which does not carry with it a sense of character—not one which does not convince us that we are looking at the very people who lived in the Vespucci home in Florence and spent their festa days and Sundays on the family estate at Peretola, with the boy who was to be so famous.° After the Tuscany fell, when the centuries of control by the Medici ended, to a Duke of Lorraine (afterward Emperor Francis I) whose wife was Maria Teresa. In 1799 the French expelled the grand duke and in 1801 Tuscany (as the °Kingdom of Etruria") was presented to Infante Louis of Parma. In 1808 ceded to France, a scant six years later it was given back to Grand Duke Ferdinand — who in 1859 was compelled to abdicate. The following year, Tuscany became a part of the progressive kingdom of Victor Emmanuel, and, from 1863 to 1871, was its capital; but then, surrendering its pre-eminence to Rome, it thereby escaped some of the predestinate innovations that have defaced the latter; howbeit the reign of Victor Emmanuel was, as Augustus J. C. Hare says, °commemorated by the tasteless front of S. Croce and the total destruction of the noble walls which enriched the city, and which made Florence, with the exception of Rome, unique among European capitals." See also ITALY for leading national events.
Florentine Art.— The discriminating pas sage that follows forms part of a valuable study by Mr. Bernhard Berenson: °Florentine painting between Giotto and Michelangelo con tains the names of such artists as Oreagna, Masaccio, Fra Filippo, Pollainolo, Verrocchio, Leonardo and Botticelli. Put beside these the greatest names in Venetian art, the Vivanni, the Bellini, Giorgione, Titian and Tintoret. The difference is striking. The significance of the Venetian names is exhausted with their signifi cance as painters. Not so with the Florentines. Forget that they were painters, they remain great sculptors; forget that they were sculptors, still they remain architects, poets and even men of science. They left no form of expression un tried; to none could they say, This will per fectly convey my meaning.' The history of the art of Florence never can be, as that of Venice, the study of a plain development. Each man of genius brought to bear upon his art a great in tellect, which, never condescending merely to please, was tirelessly striving to reincarnate what it comprehended of life in forms that would fitly convey it to others, and in this en deavor each man of genius was necessarily compelled to create forms essentially his own.
But because Florentine painting was pre-emi nently an art formed by great personalities, it grappled with problems of the highest in terest, offered solutions that can never lose their value." Essential Characteristics of the Florentine Genius.—Yoiarte (see Bibliography) writes that °Italy in the 13th century carried on and brought to its crowning point the work of civili zation which France in the 12th century had started by means of the crusades, the establish ment of communal franchises and the founda tion of the University of Paris. The symbol of the successive labor of generations, repre senting runners passing their torches from hand to hand, had never been realized with so much grandeur. The sacred torches had fallen from French hands, and had been picked up by Italy, in whose grasp they emitted a light which dazzled the whole world." But at that time °even Rome, like the rest of Italy, acknowledged the superiority of Florence, for she, together with Siena, had been the first to make the on ward move. In the course of a century, from Dante and Giotto to the first of the Medici, from the two Pisani to Brunelleschi, Donatello and Alberti, Florence reached the summit of human thought, and the apogee of plastic beauty." When it seemed as if she must have been exhausted by the efforts which resulted in the birth of the Renaissance, Tuscany was about to produce the two human beings, Leo nardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who in the domain of art bring more nearly home to us the divine origin of our poor humanity. And again, °Florence has a strong claim upon our affections, for she is the mother of all those to whom the intellect is more than the body." The name of the men of genius exclusive of artists who gave Florence her unrivaled posi tion is legion, beginning with Dante and end ing with Galileo. The most illustrious were Petrarch, Boccaccio, Marcilio, Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Machiavelli, Brunelleschi, Politian, Alberti, Savonarola — that is to say, historians, poets, artists and philosophers—and the only explorer (among great ones) whose fame has so vastly exceeded, we venture to say, his own estimate of the merit of his real achievement. Universality and versatility have been the clear ly marked characteristics of Florentine genius.
Important The Duomo, begun by Arnolfo di Lapo toward the close of the 13th century, continued by Vespignano, Taddeo Gaddi and Andrea Orgagna, and finished in the 15th century by Filippo Brunelleschi, forms, with associated buildings, the most impressive architectural group. Beside it rises the tower by Taddeo Gaddi, who followed the design of his master, Giotto; over against which stands the Battisters di San Giovanni (Octagonal in form) with its incomparable Ghiberti door. The church of San Lorenzo, founded in 1390 and rebuilt by Brunelleschi, contains the tomb of Cosimo, °Father of the Country," and of his father, the merchant prince, Giovanni; and in its sacristy are the celebrated monuments by Michelangelo, of Giuliano de Medici and Lo renzo, Duke of Urbino. Adjoining the church is the Laurenziana Library, which Michelangelo planned, and Vasari, his loyal disciple and friend, completed. The church of Santa Croca, begun in 1294, was adorned by Cimabues and Giotto's paintings. Arnolfo was architect of that church and also of the Palazzo Vecchio, begun four years later. The Loggia del Lanni (Andrea Orgagna, architect) looks out on an open square and is famous (to speak quite frankly) because it is a moderately successful Renaissance adaptation of motives in architec ture and sculpture supremely realized at Athens during the age of classic perfection. The Palazzo Pitti, begun by Brunelleschi and com pleted by contains not only the splendid gallery of paintings, but also a library with unique treasures. Next to be appreciated is Brunelleschi's church of Santo Spirito; and by no means to be overlooked are the palaces Riccardi and Strozzi, the two most important theatres, the Accademia di Belle Arti, the Mag liabechiana Library, the Galleria degli Uffizi, with its inestimable collection of paintings, statues, bronzes, etc.