MICHELOZZO MICHELOZZI. -(1391-1472.)

As a sculptor Michelozzi was worthy to be compared with his master, Donatello, but it was as an architect that he was best known in Florence. He was born in that city about 1391, his father being a tailor; and he was destined, in conjunction with Brunelleschi and Leo Battista Alberti, to make a fresh departure in architecture, after Having linked his name with that of Donatello in the execution of some of the great works which the latter was then engaged upon.

He had the honor of being selected by Cosimo the Elder to build the family palace, now called Riccardi, though one would have thought that the Florentines would have restored the original name. It was there that Cosimo assembled the works which he had purchased on the advice of Donatello, but these collections were dispersed when the French entered the city under Charles VIII. During Cosimo's temporary exile from Florence, Michelozi, his intimate friend, followed him to Venice, and it was during that time that he built for the convent of San Giorgio Maggiore a splendid library, and did several pieces of work for the churches. At Milan he built the Vismara, Palace, the magnificent gate of which has been removed to the Brera Palace. Returning to Florence with his master, he restored the Palazzo Vecchio, built the villa of Careggi, the favorite residence of the Medici, those of Caffagiolo and Mozzi, and enlarged and rebuilt the convent of San Marco.

A fitting pendant to the Riccardi Palace would be the Strozzi Palace, but it is so badly situated in a narrow street that it is impossible to obtain a satisfactory view of it, but this is of all the less consequence, as the two buildings have much in common. The Strozzi Palace, however, can boast of the magnificent Corinthian cornice which has immortalized the name of Simone Pollaiullo, surnamed it Cronaca, who repeated at Siena the design which he had taken originally from the fragment of an ancient cornice found lying among the ruins of the Roman Forum.

The lanterns, or " fanali," of the Strozzi Palace also deserve notice. The artist who made them was named Niccolo Grossi ; and Lorenzo de' Medici, who would often stop at the smithy in which he worked, had nicknamed him "Caparra," because he always insisted upon being paid in advance. These iron lanterns at the corner of the palaces. like the rings for holding torches on fete-days, were only allowed to the most distinguished citizens, and for this reason those who had the privilege of displaying them endeavored to make them as costly and beautiful as possible. The Strozzi key, in the collection of Baron de Rothschild, was at one time regarded as another perfect specimen of his art ; but according to recent investigations it has been found to be the work of a French artist.

The Pandolfini, like the Medici Palace, is typical of its kind. Instead of being built like most of the houses in the fifteenth century, so as to resist attack, it partakes of the character of the Florentine palace of the sixteenth century. Raphael is said to have prepared the designs for it in 1520, the building itself being erected by G. F. da San Gallo and Aristotile, by whom it was not completed until 1620.

Michelozzi is less known as a sculptor than as an architect, though he has left a silver statuette of St. John the Baptist on the Baptistery altar at Florence, and a statue of Faith on the monument of Pope John.

Apart from its architectural interest, the Riccardi Palace, sold in 1659 by the Grand Duke Ferdinand II. de' Medici to the Marquis Gabbriello Riccardi for 241,000 lire, contains many works of art of the highest value, including the famous fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli in the chapel. This work is not only of intrinsic value, but is interesting from the fact that it gives the portraits of many of the most celebrated personages of the day, including the Medici themselves, and the friends with whom they were wont to converse in the Ruccellai Gardens. The Riccardiana, or private library of the Riccardi family, now belonging to the city, contains twenty-four thousand volumes, among them being three thousand six hundred priceless manuscripts, and six hundred editions dating from the first invention of printing.

It was in this palace that Lorenzo the Magnificent was born, and that he presided over the meetings of learned men who formed the Academy. Michael Angelo added the windows under what was formerly a loggia. In the large guard-room is a collection of bas-reliefs, fragments of ancient sculpture, sarcophagi, capitals, and inscriptions, which make a museum in themselves, placed here by the Marquis Riccardi. If this palace possessed no other charm, the chapel, with its fresco by Gozzoli, would suffice to make it one of the most attractive buildings in Florence.

DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANO. -(1423-1464.)

Desiderio was the son of a stone-cutter of Settignano, and it is only quite recently that his name has become famous out of Italy, it may even be said, out of Florence. In the early part of this century his works were confounded with those of Donatello and other celebrities of the day, but his abilities are now hilly recognized, and it is seen that he possessed that tender suavity so often the gift of those who are destined to die young.

Vasari himself knew so little about him that he is all at sea in the dates given in his biography, and yet this artist produced one of the most beautiful works of which Florence, rich as she is in masterpieces of art, can boast. Here and there may be seen in private collections a Madonna or a Predella by him, and he was also the artificer of a beautifully carved statuette of the Infant Jesus in the church of San Lorenzo, while a Magdalen in San Trinita is also believed to be by him.

But if not many great works can be attributed to Desiderio, the tomb of Carlo Marsuppini (see the chapter on Illustrious Florentines) in Santa Croce, opposite the Cavalcanti Chapel, in which his master, Donatello, carved his first bas-relief, is sufficient to keep his memory alive. The defunct Secretary of the Republic is represented in a recumbent position on a couch, clasping a book to his breast. On each side of the richly decorated sarcophagus stands a naked child holding a shield. The base of the tomb is beautifully carved, while the upper part forms a lunette crowned by a vase, with graceful figures holding heavy festoons, which fall down on either side. Although the entire surface is covered with ornamentation the exquisite delicacy of the work causes it to be in very good taste; and I know of no tombs in Florence which can be compared to it, except those of Leonardo Bruni and of Cardinal Portogallo, which have a greater variety of ornament, but are not so chaste. Desiderio's bust of Beatrice d'Este is in the Louvre, and Baron Adolphe de Rothschild has a beautiful Madonna by him.

The bust of Marietta Strozzi is also a masterpiece of sculpture; everything in fact by this artist should be jealously preserved, for nothing can exceed the suavity of expression and the charm with which he invested his creations notably in the case of the two children holding shields at the foot of Marsuppini's tomb. Desiderio, who died in 1464, only thirty-six years of age, is buried in San Piero Maggiore at Florence, and his worth was evidently appreciated during his lifetime, as a pompous epitaph, according to the custom of the age, was prepared, stating that Nature, aggrieved at finding in him her superior, had cut the thread of his days. But the act of vengeance was in vain, for he had immortalized the marble, and the marble had immortalized him."