In and out of Florence; a new introduction to a well-known city . e villagesnestling there in their olive orchards heard eachday the bell call from Giottos tower in that greatcity below them, a city ready and eager to welcomeand provide for any sons of worth whom they mightproduce. Florence was fortunate, without doubt, tohave such genius budding and expanding in the oliveorchards of her surrounding hills; but so were theseothers fortunate in having a patron so quickly percep-tive and generous. It is in Florence especially that one sees the most,and for the most part the best, of the work of t
In and out of Florence; a new introduction to a well-known city . e villagesnestling there in their olive orchards heard eachday the bell call from Giottos tower in that greatcity below them, a city ready and eager to welcomeand provide for any sons of worth whom they mightproduce. Florence was fortunate, without doubt, tohave such genius budding and expanding in the oliveorchards of her surrounding hills; but so were theseothers fortunate in having a patron so quickly percep-tive and generous. It is in Florence especially that one sees the most,and for the most part the best, of the work of thedecorative sculptors. The tombs of Santa Croce,Fiesole, San Miniato, and the Badia, the tabernaclein San Lorenzo, and the mutilated reliefs in the Bar-gello, are masterpieces that only Florence can here and there, all over Italy, from Naples toLombardy, are works in their proper places, while inthe museums of London, Berlin, and Paris are stillothers taken from their setting and put against wallsor on pedestals in rows of artistic miscellany. But it. The Hill-side Sculptors 187 is in Florence that one gets most certainly and happilyacquainted with these facile and exquisite carvers. Ihave not counted how many works of distinction theyhave scattered through her churches and public build-ings, but there are more than two score, nearer threescore, perhaps. One begins to realize their abun-dance only after beginning a little to look speciallyfor them. Hardly one of the larger churches is with-out one or more of their tombs or ciboriums, andseveral of the smaller churches have pieces nearly asgood. In the Palazzo Vecchio there is a carveddoorway and the Bargello houses a dozen or moregathered together busts, tondos, and stray bits, be-sides those most precious relics of Benedetto daRovezzanos masterpiece hacked to pieces outsidethe walls by the imperial soldiers In the siege of 1530-But with all this abundance there is in no one place too many of them. They are many, but
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