THE MADONNA DEL POZZO (OF THE WELL)

FROM THE PAINTING BY FRANCIABIGIO IN THE UFFIZI

And so we are at the end of the pictures but only to return again and again not unwilling at the moment to enjoy the "belly vista" from the open space at the end of the corridor behind the "Laocoon," which turns out to be the roof of the Loggia de' Lanzi. From this high point one may see much of Florence and its mountains, while, on looking down, over the coping, one finds the busy Piazza Bella Signoria below, with all its cabs and wayfarers, and across it, far away, Fiesole.

Returning to the gallery, we come quickly on the right to the first of the neglected statuary rooms, the beautiful Sala di Niobe, which contains some interesting Medicean and other tapestries, and the sixteen statues of Niobe and her children from the temple of Apollo, which the Cardinal Ferdinand de' Medici acquired, and which were for many years at the Villa Medici at Rome. A suggested reconstruction of the group should be found by the door. I cannot pretend to a deep interest in the figures, but I like to be in the room. The famous Medicean vase is in the 'middle of it. All the way back to the entrance hall we can, if we like, devote ourselves to sculpture, for the Uffizi has a collection of priceless antiques which are not only beautiful but peculiarly interesting in that they can be compared with the work of Donatello, Verrocchio, and other of the Renaissance sculptors. For in such a case comparisons are anything but odious and become fascinating. There is, for example, a Mercury in marble, who is a blood relation of Donatello's bronze David in the Bargello; and certain reliefs of merry children will be found who are cousins of the same sculptor's cantoria romps. Not that Donatello ever reproduced the antique spirit as Michelangelo nearly (lid in his Bacchus, and Sansovino absolutely did in his Bacchus, both at the Bargello: Donatello was of his time, and the spirit of his time animates his creations, but be had studied the Greek art in Rome and profited by his lessons, and his evenly-balanced humane mind had a warm corner for pagan joyfulness. Among other statues to note is a Sacerdotessa, wearing a marble robe with long folds, whose hands can be seen through the drapery; Bacchus and Ampelos, superbly pagan, while a sleeping Cupid is most lovely. Among the various fine heads is one of Cicero. But each thing in turn is almost the best. The trouble is that the Uffizi is so vast, and the Renaissance seems to be so eminently the only proper study of mankind when one is in Florence, that to attune oneself to the enjoyment of antique sculpture needs a special effort which not all are ready to make.

Finally there is the Ara Pacis room, by the entrance door.

The ceilings of the Uffizi rooms and corridors also are painted, thoughtfully and dexterously, in the Pompeian manner; but there are limits to the receptive capacity of travellers' eyes, and I must plead guilty to consistently neglecting them. With the tapestries alone one can spend a very amusing morning.

There is on the first landing of the staircase a room in which exhibitions of drawings of the Old Masters are held, and this is worth knowing about, not only because of the riches of the portfolios in the collection, but also because once you have passed the doors you are inside the only picture gallery in Florence for which no entrance fee is asked.