A more detailed account of the palace is given in _Firenze Antica e
Moderna_, where it is described as having “originally been a square
building of the rustic order up to the first floor, with large
protruding ‘bozzi.’ The two upper floors are Doric and Corinthian, with
hammered and flattened ‘bozzi.’ The windows have double arches with
composite columns in the centre, and in the triangles are sculptured
alternately the Medici arms with seven balls and the device of Cosimo
Pater Patriae, a ring with a diamond encircling two feathers, to which
was added later a third feather and the motto _Semper_, the device
of the Magnificent Lorenzo. The palace was at first built with four
doors, but only the one in Via Larga was retained, the three others
being turned into kneeling windows designed by Michelangelo. They are
said to be the first made after such fashion in Florence, and are
highly praised for their beauty and good proportions. Before these
windows were made the two doors at the angle, or at all events the one
opposite the church of S. Giovannino, were always open, and led into
a large internal loggia, called the Loggia de’ Medici. At the angle
of the palace is a magnificent shield containing their well known
arms, with the Lily of France, granted to the Medici by Charles VII.,
on the centre ball. The balls were removed when they were driven out
of Florence in 1527 and the Cross, emblem of the People, put in their
stead; but on the restoration of the family the balls were replaced.
Entering the first courtyard, surrounded with an arcade, are to be seen
columns of pietra serena with composite capitals, and in the frieze are
eight medallions of marble copied from antique cameos and trophies of
medals, by that famous artist, Donatello.”
It will ever remain a mystery why Michelozzi made so small and so
dark a chapel for such a noble palace. It almost seems as if he had
forgotten it in the original plan, and had then placed it where it
would not interfere with the fine suites of rooms. Resting almost
entirely on the vaulted rooms of the ground floor, it is in a corner
of the building, and is built of brick. But all the defects of the
architect vanish before the vivid beauty and the grace of Benozzo
Gozzoli’s frescoes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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