The art of the Pitti palace, with a short history of the building of the palace, and its owners, and an appreciation of its treasures

Front matter

fj u

V

Zh e Hrt of the flMtti Ipalace

Index

.

%i$ t of Ullustvatfons

PAGE

Donna Velata (See page 296) . . . Frontispiece

By Raphael ; in the Stanza of the Education of Jupiter

FAgADE OF THE PlTTI PALACE .

. 22

Garden -Front of the Pitti Palace .

. 27

Venus and Vulcan with Cupid

. 48

By T intoretto ; in the Hall of V enus

Marriage of St. Catherine .

. 52

By T itian ; in the Hall of Venus

Angelo Doni

By Raphael ; in the Hall of Apollo

Madonna and Child

. 76

By Murillo ; in the Hall of A polio

By Fra Bartolommeo ; in the Hall of A polio

Infant Prince Leopold de Medici

• 95

By Tiber io Tito ; in the Hall of A polio

St. Peter Raising the Widow Tabitha

. 96

By Guercino ; in the Hall of A polio

Mars Preparing for War

. 100

By Rubens ; in the Hall of Mars

Four Philosophers

By Rubens ; in the Hall of Mars

Ecce Homo

By Cigoli ; in the Hall of Mars

Howard, Duke of Norfolk (Detail) .

. 1 12

By Titian ; in the Hall of Mars

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

• 11 5

By Allori ; in the Hall of Mars

vii

14st of Ifllustrattons viii

Hall of Jupiter

Three Ages of Man

By Lotto ; in the Hall of Jupiter

Conspiracy of Catiline

By Rosa ; in the Hall of Jupiter

Annunciation

By A ndrea del Sarto ; in the Hall of Jupiter

Madonna of the Chair

By Raphael ; in the Hall of Saturn

Madonna del Granduca

By Raphael ; in the Hall of Saturn

Vision of Ezekiel .......

By Raphael ; in the Hall of Saturn

Head of Mary Cleophas

Detail from the Deposition , by Perugino ; in the Hall of Saturn

Disputa

By A ndrea del Sarto ; in the Hall of Saturn

St. John Asleep

By Carlo Dolci ; in the Hall of Saturn

Hall of the Iliad .......

The Concert

By Giorgione ; in the Hall of the Iliad

Christ Enthroned

By A . Caracci ; in the Hall of the Iliad

Tobias and the Angel

By Biliverti ; in the Hall of the Iliad

Altar - Piece

By Fra A ngelico ; in the Stanza of Prometheus

Madonna and Child .......

By Fra Filippo Lippi ; in the Stanza of Prometheus

Madonna of the Rose-Bush

By Botticelli ; in the Stanza of Prometheus

The Epiphany . .

By Pinturicchio ; in the Stanza of Prometheus

Stanza della Stufa, with Dupre’s Statues of Cain and Abel ......

La Zingarella

By Garofalo ; in the Stanza della Stufa

Temptation of St. Jerome

By Vasari ; in the Stanza of Justice

PAGE l6o

Xist of Ullustcattons «

PAGE

Stanza of Flora, with Canova’s Venus . . 336

Allegorical Head 347

By Fur ini ; in the Stanza of Flora

Pallas and the Centaur 366

By Botticelli ; in the Royal Apartments

The Amphitheatre, Boboli Gardens . . . 372

PLAN OF THE PITTI PALACE i. Hall of Venus

Bath-room

2. Hall of Apollo

Stanza of Ulysses

3. Hall of Mars

Stanza of Prometheus

4. Hall of Jupiter

Corridor of Columns

5. Hall of Saturn

Stanza of Justice

6. Hall of the Iliad

Stanza of Flora

7. Stanza della Stufa

Stanza dei Putti

8. Stanza of the Education of

Galleria Poccetti

Jupiter

Ube Brt of tbe flMttl palace

Chapter I. Luca Pitti And His Palace

There is no gallery of its size in the world so replete with gems of art and acknowledged masterpieces of the Golden Age of painting in Italy as the Pitti Palace. One cannot but wish that there were more of the masters of the Early Renaissance represented, and it is true that there are no examples of mediaeval devotional art.

It may be here observed that art is seen in the Pitti in all stages of its flowering, from the time of budding to the period of decay ; from the sweet, pure lights of Fra Angelico and the moth-wing tints of Botticelli to the somewhat degenerate art of Salvator Rosa, Guido Reni, and Carlo Dolci ; but of all grades of artists represented in this assembly there is some example of interesting, and usually

Ube Brt of tbe pitti palace typical, work. Here we may revel in the ideal realism of Raphael; the soft glow of Murillo; the devotional seriousness of Fra Angelico, Pinturicchio, Perugino, and Botticelli ; here are spread before us the beautiful Madonnas of Andrea del Sarto, called the “ faultless painter ; ” the quaint worldliness of Fra Filippo Lippi; and the poetic, rippling smiles of Leonardo. There are also many noble examples of the Italian portrait, by those whom Ruskin terms “ patient, powerful workers ” of the fifteenth century, and by many succeeding portrait painters. Nearly all the schools of Italy are represented, from the fifteenth century forward, culminating in the rich glories of the great Venetians, Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto.

The setting for the pictures is florid, and might be trying if the pictures themselves were not of such absorbing interest that the visitor does not have much time to consider the surroundings. The style of interior decoration in the Pitti Palace is of an objectionable late-Renaissance type, gilded bossy ceilings ornamented with indifferent frescoes, and exhibiting what Browning calls “ stucco twiddlings everywhere/’ The rooms are named in romantic taste after various persons and attributes of classic times. Henry James speaks of these apartments as “ those dusky drawing-rooms of the Palazzo Pitti, to which you take your way along that tortuous

2Luca pitti anb Ibis palace tunnel that wanders through the houses of Florence, and is supported by the little goldsmith’s booths on the Ponte Vecchio. In the rich and insufficient light of these beautiful rooms, to look at pictures, you sit in damask chairs and rest your elbows on tables of malachite.” There is no denying that these rooms are gaudy and meretricious in taste; but they are just as historically true to their day as are the more pleasing Gothic and Romanesque interiors to their time. This late Renaissance and its still later decadence are typical of the people who lived in these periods. The latter may be called the Gilded Age. The Golden Age had preceded it. Raphael, Titian, Leonardo, Del Sarto — these need no apology — even medievalists can appreciate these undeniably great painters; but there is a vast horde of men who came after them, not worthy to be named with them, and yet who possessed fine qualities, and produced significant pictures. These pictures, and the very best of them, hang in the Pitti Palace. They have never been given their due. While there is obvious decadence, there is also decided merit to be seen.

While there can be no question that the early pictures in the Stanza of Prometheus are vastly more interesting and satisfying than the works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it would be very narrow to say that all art during these

Zbc Brt of tbe ptttt palace centuries was bad, because it failed to interpret the sacred legends as spiritually, or to portray them as archaically, as did Fra Angelico and Fra Lippo. It happens to be . the fashion now to admire the fascinating immature conceptions of the earlier masters. It is much easier for us to appreciate and love the works of these cloistered souls than to admire the works of the later men who lived in conditions more like our own. But we cannot overlook the fact that we force ourselves into an unnecessary ignorance of two whole centuries of art if we fail to perceive the excellences as well as' the defects in the pictures of such men as the Caracci, Guido Reni, Salvator Rosa, and even Carlo Dolci. These men exhibit a marvellous technical skill; they approach nearer to the outward appearance of natural objects in their drawing than did the early religious painters, even if they are often stagey and artificial. We can make allowance, if we care to do so, for all these shortcomings; just as we make allowance for the technical imperfections in the older masters, as we rejoice to, and are certainly obliged to do. The rage for culture has made it far more interesting to superficial students of art to rave over anything that has to be explained and interpreted, than to admire the works of an age which was less intellectual and dealt less with

Xuca ptttt ant> HMs palace 5

legends, and more with the glad, cheerful facts of life.

The three most prominent schools of art in Italy were the Florentine, which was famous for its comprehension of form ; the Umbrian, in which religious feeling and grace are the predominating features; and the Venetian, — the school in which colour played a greater part than in either of the others.

Art may be roughly subdivided into two principles : one, the idea of illustration, and the other, the idea of decoration. Either of these principles developed to the exclusion of the other is incomplete. If a picture consists of illustration simply, with no consideration of the decorative quality, a newspaper cut or a photograph will serve its turn as well as a painting. On the other hand, a painting which has a beautiful harmony in colour and form, and yet which is not intelligently conceived as a subject, conveys no more complete artistic message than does a kaleidoscope. It may please the eye, but it does not instruct the mind; and art is intended to do both. The purest combination is that of a great subject treated in a real way, in which the facts are portrayed through the medium of beauty. The Florentines, besides being painters, were also sculptors; their art recognized fewer restrictions than that of the Umbrian and the Venetian schools, hence their paintings took on more of

XTbe Hrt of tbe JMttf palace the relief of sculpture, and their sculpture was often pictorial. Colour was never, with them, the chief consideration, as with the Venetians. Many of the most pleasing pictures by Tintoretto are technically faulty in drawing. But there was one ideal before all the schools of the Renaissance, one principle in which they all united. That was, to portray things as they actually were ; to recognize individual peculiarities, and to depict rather than to design. Types were no longer the ideal, as with the Greeks. Apelles would have smoothed away all little personal irregularities in his subject, whereas Leonardo and Durer spent days in trying to catch these individual touches. The Greek ideal of beauty had been to present abstract perfection ; the Renaissance ideal was to show the variety in personal attributes, not to be confused in any one type.

In place of the old Byzantine Guide to Painting, these men of the later Renaissance had Leonardo da Vinci’s priceless advice to help them in their labours. And it would be well if all persons would cultivate their perceptions by the simple means laid down by Leonardo, as, for instance, in the passage which is here quoted : “ When you are well instructed in perspective, and know perfectly how to draw the anatomy and different forms, . . it should be your delight to observe and consider . . . the different actions of men. ... Be quick in sketching these

Xuca pttti anb Ibis palace with slight strokes in your pocket-book, which should always be about you. . . . When it is full, take another; for these are not things to be rubbed out, but kept with the greatest care, because forms and motions of bodies are so infinitely various, that the memory is not able to retain them therefore preserve these sketches as your assistants and masters.”

It is said that “ Titian and Raphael are the painters for women; Michelangelo and Tintoretto the artists for men.” Equally true is it that there are some artists represented in the Pitti Palace who appeal only to sentimentalists.

A majority of the pictures in the gallery may be said to be religious, that is, they represent some subject vitally or apochryphally connected with Biblical teaching. Many deal also with the semimythical acts of saints, which some people, owing to an ignorance of the legends of the Church, find it a little difficult to appreciate. But the calm, unquestioning religion of Fra Angelico differs essentially from the intellectual appreciation of Leonardo da Vinci ; and as widely from the stern, unsympathetic interpretations of Michelangelo. There is no cheerfulness in Michelangelo’s portrayal of spiritual emotion ; the key-note of his religion is gloom — sordid duty — and wrath; as Mr. G. B. Rose expresses it, “ his soul is really with the Hebrew prophets ; ” he has not read aright the Revelation.

8 TIbe Brt of tbe flMttt palace

Fashions change so much in the matter of taste in art, that it is impossible to say always what will be the future standing of certain works, when they exhibit any salient quality. This quality may be either disliked or admired exceedingly at various periods, according to the way in which the spirit of the time determines the standard of excellence. Mrs. Jameson, for instance, was considered a woman of taste in her day ; and yet her choice of the greatest pictures in the Pitti collection includes Guido Reni’s Cleopatra, and Allori’s Judith, and Salvator Rosa’s Cataline! Good enough paintings, all these; but who to-day would select them and say nothing of Giorgione’s Concert, Raphael’s Donna Velata, Tintoretto’s Venus and Vulcan, and Filippo Lippi’s appealing little Madonna!

Particularly exhilarating seems to have been the effect of this gallery upon Horace Bushnell, who notes in his diary during his Italian travels : “ Spent the morning in the Pitti Palace; I go away from the place all in a glow; I seem to have breathed a finer atmosphere, and all my good feelings, if I have any, are invigorated. I feel conscious that my eye is forming and perfecting, and I know that it must be a benefit to us, as regards writing and the conduct of life, to have dwelt in such an atmosphere and felt such an influence.”

It is unfashionable just now to admire Domen-

Xuca pitti ant) Ibis palace ichino, Caracci, and other late men of the Renaissance. Ruskin is particularly irritated by the naturalistic angels which they painted ; he inveighs against what he calls “ a sky encumbered with sprawling infants — offensive studies of barelegged children, howling and kicking in volumes of smoke ; ” and he remarks with a sigh that the late painters do not seem to know the difference between angels and cupids. And yet, granting all this, why should one therefore shut one’s eyes to the manifest grace and loveliness of the picture by Annibale Caracci in the Pitti, entitled Christ in Glory with Saints, and such pictures as the delightful and too little known Tobias and the Angel, by Biliverti, and Guido Reni’s little Bacchus (which is free from his usual mannerisms).

One should be broad enough to> see and recognize merit wherever it exists, whether or not it happens to be in one’s special line of preference. Mrs. Jameson is right when she claims that the Pitti gallery is rather a selection than a collection of the most valuable gems and masterpieces of art.

The Pitti Palace stands on a slight eminence, the upper ridge, as it were, of a natural depression in a hillside. It was begun in 1441, by Luca Pitti, a wealthy, proud, ambitious rival of the Medici and Strozzi, — a successful merchant, a leading politito Uhc art of tbe plttt palace

cian, a vain tyrant, who, though overbearing and determined in attack, proved weak and irresolute in his final defeat.

Luca Pitti is declared by Guiciardini to have been the first citizen of Florence. He felt early the lust for power, and entered public life while he was very young. It was not a peaceful life at best : there is an old saying, which was once written by some keen observer on the margin of the Sumptuary Statutes :

“If there is a person whom you hate,

Send him to Florence as officer of State.’*

The city was governed by the Priors of the Arts, a company of eight men selected from among the members of the guilds and crafts, and presided over by a Gonfalonier of Justice. This body was called the Signoria, and lived at public charge in the Palazzo Signoria for their term of office, which was two months. Luca Pitti had held various of these positions : he was Prior, Gonfalonier, Ambassador to Rome, — also Ambassador to Sforza, in Milan; and he was most enterprising as a merchant. While he was Gonfalonier he undertook a certain business venture, which, it must be admitted, would have been a credit to the best of men. He sent out ten trading-vessels to England, Constantinople, and Barbary ; such expeditions in those days were

2luca pitti anb t>is palace

II hazardous. But whether he was blessed by Providence or assisted by his familiar devil, the fact remains that his ventures were lucky, and Florence was the richer by over one hundred thousand florins through his boldness. The people immediately recognized their indebtedness, and showered gifts upon him in gratitude. By such means he managed to get the confidence of the Florentines, so that when he decided to spread nets for their entanglement and for his own advancement, the people ran unsuspectingly into the snares laid for them. Wishing to appoint his own officers, he determined to oppose the Medici, and to reign in their stead. This was a bold project, and the only wonder is, not that Luca Pitti was ultimately defeated, but that he was able to keep his head up as long as he did. He had all the vivacity of ambition necessary to a party leader, and he undertook to oppose the liberal movements in the government.

His opportunity soon occurred, as it usually does for those who are bent upon evil.

Cosimo de Medici, not in the least suspecting the personal ambition of Pitti, decided that he could be made useful as a catspaw for the Medici; so he gave Luca the very chance he had been looking for. This occurred when, as Gonfalonier, he called a meeting of the Signoria in order to change the Balia. The Balia was a board of citizens to whom was ftbe Brt o t tbe pitti palace given the power to levy taxes, and to perform other municipal functions. Pitti’s ambition was to have a new Balia elected from among his adherents; and so-, when the Signoria, contented with the existing conditions, refused to appoint a new Balia, he and Cosimo decided to ignore the action of the Signoria, and that the best course for their interests was to call a Parlamento; namely, a general meeting of the citizens in the Piazza Signoria to< vote upon names which were proposed for a new Balia.

Up to this point Pitti had appeared to consider only the interests of Cosimo; but he was quietly scheming on his own account to surprise his ally, and by a coup d'etat to elect a Balia composed of his own conspirators. This triumph he achieved when, on the 9th of August, 1458, the Parlamento assembled in response to the recognized signal for such a meeting, the ringing of the great bell in the Palazzo Vecchio. Cosimo had agreed to overawe the populace by having two thousand of his soldiers on guard. Meanwhile Pitti had secretly arranged to post six thousand foot-soldiers and three hundred mounted guards, so that after the voters had assembled they could prevent all entrance to or exit from the square, thus warning Cosimo that it would be vain to thwart any proposals which might be made by Luca Pitti. When Pitti nominated his own men for the Balia, Cosimo de Medici, who, with his son

Xuca JMtti anb Ibis palace

I3

Pietro, was within the Palazzo Signoria, surrounded by his guards, realized that he had warmed a viper, and that the balance of power had shifted.

Cosimo dared not oppose such a formidable array ; and the people, many of them of the lower classes, probably would have agreed to anything out of general cheerfulness of spirit. For it must have been a gay sight, — the motley-coloured throng, with the armed men interspersed here and there, seen against the cold gray walls of the venerable palace, with the picturesque Signoria mounted on a platform, making speeches and smiling in an ingratiating if not a sincere way. The people, pleased with the attractions of the pageant, shouted their approval, and when this unanimous assent was obtained, the show was over. In order to give a high-toned and religious aspect to the whole affair, a solemn procession was formed, and the square was evacuated to the sound of the Te Deum. So the citizens withdrew, not suspecting that they had now passed under a new regime which should result in their oppression for some time to come. For no sooner did Luca Pitti gain the supremacy than he started an unmerciful system of taxation.

Cosimo de Medici was now growing old, and was less keen and less strong physically than he had been. Luca ruled him with the iron hand of one who has attained his power through his own cun-

XEbe Brt of tbe ptttt palace ning, and, until the old man’s death, never ceased to oppose and govern the Medicean faction.

During this period of his success Pitti began to think of erecting his great residence, and the Palazzo Pitti was built, — largely, as Machiavelli expresses it, through the people’s “ making him presents for its completion.” Possibly this means that they were unlawfully taxed, or possibly that they were so under the spell of this popular leader that they enjoyed paying this tribute to his success. Another means of completing and enhancing the richness of the work was employed ; Pitti would offer refuge and protection to exiles and thieves within his palace, provided they could assist in its building and its adornment. Ruskin, in “ The Lamp of Power,” sums up Luca Pitti’s method in his drastic way, — “ This rapacious gentleman, who gathered to himself a great fortune by knavery and maladministration of justice, built this as his little town-house, literally out of the spoils of the people of Florence, whom he induced to make presents towards its completion and decoration.”

Cosimo’s famous words were probably spoken to Luca Pitti when he said : “You follow the infinite, and I the finite. You lay your ladders in the sky, and I lean them close to earth, lest I may fly so high that I may fear to fall.” He stood aside, aged and weary, satisfied to let his prosperous rival

OLuca flMtti ant) tfns palace 15

go his own way, saying : “You and I are like two great dogs who rush at each other and then pause and sniff. As both have teeth, each passes on his way. Look to your own business, and I will attend to mine.”

The followers of Pitti were called Del Poggio, because Luca’s palace stood on a hill; while the Medici were alluded to as Del Piano, because their palace was in the plain below.

When Cosimo died, his son Pietro, younger and more active, seeing the plight into which his faction had fallen, decided upon the overthrow of Luca Pitti. As a guileful opening wedge with which to commence his work he introduced a friendly suggestion that an alliance between the houses of Medici and Pitti would not be unattainable — so that Pitti even made the proposition of a marriage between his own daughter and young Lorenzo de Medici. Pietro encouraged the suit, playing with his foe, while he prepared to strike. For in planning to call another Parlamento, Pietro knew that the Signoria were too wise to back Pitti a second time. Even Cambi, who was a quiet, gossiping writer of the day, exclaims, with unwonted fervour, “ Let those who read this learn never to grant a Balia, and never to allow a Parlamento. Better to die sword in hand than to permit a tyrant to be raised up over the city.”

16 Ube Hrt ot tbe BMtti palace

The people were tired of Pitti’s rule, and were only too ready to restore the Medici to power. By the force of his own example, Luca Pitti had inadvertently taught Pietro de Medici how to get the better of him. With fair promises to the last and a placid condition of pseudo-friendship, Medici called a Parlamento in his turn; and lo« ! he had applied the old proverb, “ A villain must be beaten with a villainy ; ” for there in the square were the body of armed men ready to enforce the Medicean rule, just as they had been formerly a host to sustain Pitti.

Meanwhile, Pitti’s friends had seen that he was about to be tricked^ and had tried to warn him. Niccolo Soderini came to him, and tried to induce him to guard against the treachery which was soon to be practised upon him by the Medici; but Luca had practically deserted his own party, for he was hoping for further reconciliation with Pietro through the fact that one of his nieces had married Giovanni Tornabuoni, and he counted on this fact, together with his projected alliance, to cement the friendship of his opponent. Niccolo pleaded with him in vain, exclaiming, “ I can do the city no> good alone, but I can foresee the evils that will befall her. This resolution of yours will rob the country of its liberty; you will lose the government, and I shall lose my property, and the rest will be banished.”

Xuca BMtti anb Ins palace l7

And Soderini proved to be somewhat of a prophet. When Luca Pitti’s adherents found that their chief was on the verge of defeat, they began deserting to the Medicean side, so that by the time Pietro was ready to act, the material for his triumph was ready to his hand. Pitti, seeing at last that he had trusted not wisely but too well, and that his enemy now had him on the hip, mistook his fear for a conscientious scruple, and fell an easy prey, without much opposition, to the plots of Pietro de Medici.

In fact, the victory of Pietro was conducted on a positively courteous plan. The Priors invited Pitti and his friends to a meeting, at which Pietro was too ill to appear. Certain propositions were made, resulting in the promise of the Pitti faction to lay down their arms; and these promises were ratified by protestations of undying friendship! Then Pitti was conducted to the sick-room, and he and Pietro had quite a sentimental interview, in which the terrible Luca is reported to> have wept !

The Medicean Parlamento was held on the 2d of September, 1464; Luca Pitti had made no effort to thwart the proposals for the new Balia; in fact, some historians affirm that, seeing that his glory had waned, Luca, anxious to save his own neck, had gone with compromises to Pietro, betraying his party in order to ensure his own safety. The fact that he himself, although undeniably the ringleader,

18 Ube Bvt of tbe pitti palace

was the only man in his party to escape specific punishment, gives colour to this theory. The followers of Pitti were banished ; he himself, although receiving no sentence, was practically ruined; the marriage between his daughter and Lorenzo de Medici was broken off; and his friends turned against him, and began demanding the return of their gifts, assuming that they had been but loans; and the elderly man, who had so gloried in his vanity and power, sank away out of public life, and there is no further record of his career.

Though the ultimate fate of Pitti is unknown, he succeeded in leaving behind him as a symbol of his power one monument, which has always borne his name in spite of the fact that for centuries it was the property of his rivals, the Medici. This monument is the Pitti Palace — that building in Florence which exhibits, among the numerous palaces of the city, the special feature of the feudal survival in the early Renaissance.

Luca Pitti had employed the best architect of his day — Brunelleschi, the great Florentine, who had built the dome of the cathedral in Florence. Cosimo de Medici had employed Michelozzo in erecting his palace; and Pitti wished to outdo his rival. It must be confessed that he succeeded. Brunelleschi received the commission for the design in 1440. He was then a mature man of sixty years of age, with

much previous experience to guide him, so that he brought to bear upon this work the accumulated wisdom of a long and useful life.

When purchasing the land for his palace, Luca Pitti showed much foresight in the selection of a noble situation, to display to the best advantage the magnificence which he intended to lavish upon his house. Pie bought a house and vineyard belonging to one Monna Bandecca, a member of the well-known family of Rossi, who owned some dwellings on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio. Then he bought the piece of land now occupied by the Boboli Gardens, — then called Bogoli, — for which he gave 450 florins. Also he had to pay indemnities for many houses which had to be destroyed to enlarge the space for his new mansion, so that the whole undertaking was a costly one. The people also expressed some disapproval of this lavish outlay, claiming that he would ruin himself, and airing their discontent at his extravagance. Luca met their objections by inviting about one hundred of the chief complainers to a great banquet, arranging that each guest upon this occasion should have for his seat a large sack of money. After this, the criticism abated; his friends hastened to make him gifts of propitiation.