Paris: Grant Allen's Historical GuidesAllen, Grant
History
Paris: Grant Allen's Historical Guides
Allen, Grant
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- Guidebooks
You will note in the windows close by several exquisite =bronze
reliefs=; eight of them, by Riccio, are from the monument of the famous
anatomist, Della Torre, representing his life and death in very
classical detail. (L window) Della Torre lecturing at Verona;
dangerously ill; sacrifice to the gods for his recovery; his death and
mourning: (R window) his obsequies; passage of the soul (as a naked
child with a book) in Charon’s boat (pursued by Furies); apotheosis
(crowned by Fame); and celebrity of the deceased on earth; all designed
in a thoroughly antique manner. (Souls of the recently dead are
frequently represented leaving the body like new-born children.) This
work shows the Renaissance not only as secular and humanist but even as
pagan: early ages would have considered such treatment impious. All the
other reliefs in this very important room should be carefully noted. By
this (R) window, the Annunciation (from Cremona); Judgment of Solomon
(now wholly conceived in the classical spirit); Adoration of the Magi,
in bronze; figures of Galba and Faustina, entirely antique in tone; Paul
shaking off the snake, etc. A portrait medallion of Ludovico il Moro of
Milan (also by this window) may be instructively compared with those in
contemporary Italian paintings upstairs. The next (L) window (with a
rosso antico and marble imitation of the Wolf of the Capitol) contains
the beginning of the reliefs from the tomb of Della Torre, in the same
classical style, together with two exquisite Madonnas by =Mino da
Fiesole=, and other charming works of the same period. The infantile
simplicity of Mino has an unspeakable attraction. Between the windows, a
Pietà from Vicenza, with St. Jerome, beating his breast as always with a
stone, and St. Augustine (I think) writing. On the far wall, note a fine
wooden Annunciation in two figures, from Pisa, of the Florentine 14th
cent. The angel Gabriel and the Madonna are frequently thus separated.
Between them, admirable equestrian figure of Robert Malatesta, of
Rimini, where the action of the horse is particularly spirited. Fine
bust of Filippo Strozzi by Benedetto da Majano on a pedestal close by.
(You will find many works by this artist for this patron at Florence.)
The various Virgins on the R wall should also be carefully studied, as
well as the fine wooden Circumcision—a good rendering of the
traditional scene, where the artist triumphs over his intractable
material—and the exquisitely dainty bust of the Florentine =**=Baptist,
instinct with the tender simplicity of Mino da Fiesole, whose decorative
fragments above must not be overlooked. Do not leave this room without
having carefully examined everything it contains, as every object is
deserving of study. [For instance, I have omitted to mention works so
fine as the self-explanatory High Renaissance Jason, the relief of
Julius Cæsar, the splendid bust of Beatrice d’Este (see for this family
the Perugino, etc., upstairs), and the spirited bronze of Michael
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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