On The North Is An Open Space Communicating With The Piazza Del Gran
Duca.
The Gallery occupies the whole first floor of this vast building.
The rez de chaussee is occupied, on the west side, by the bureaux of
Government, and on the south and east sides by shopkeepers, in whose shops
is always to be seen a brilliant display of merchandize.
As there are
arcades on the three sides of this parallelogram, they form the favorite
meridian promenade of the belles and beaux of Florence, particularly on
Sundays and holidays, after coming out of Church. I ascended the steps from
a door on the east side of the building, to visit the Gallery.
The quantity and variety of objects of art, of the greatest value, baffle
all description, and it would require months and years to attempt an
analysis of all it contains. I shall therefore content myself with pointing
out those objects which imprinted themselves the most forcibly on my
imagination and recollection. In a chamber on the left hand of one wing of
the Gallery stands the Venus de' Medici, sent back last year from France.
In the same chamber with her are the following statues: the extremely
beautiful Apollino; the spotted Faun; the Remouleur or figure which is
in the act of whetting a sickle. All these were in Paris, and are now
restored to this Gallery. In this chamber two pictures struck me in
particular: the one the Venus of Titian, a most voluptuous figure; the
other a portrait of the mistress of Rafaello, called "La Fornarina," from
her being a baker's daughter.
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