MY DEAR FRIEND,

When I inform you, that the Catalogue alone of the Gallery of Florence, fills a large volume, what an unconscionable request will my dear friend appear to have made, in demanding a regular description of this superb and invaluable collection.

From so young an Amateur as I am, such an attempt, methinks, would be the height of presumption--I had almost said, of profanation. But, to convince you how much I would undertake to oblige you, suffice it to say, that the part properly called the Gallery, consists of two sides of a parallelogram of considerable length, joined together by a third, much shorter.

Round the cornice, the portraits of every great character, of whatever nation he belonged to, from Artaxerxes Memnon, King of Persia, to Dr. Anthony Cocchi, who died at Florence in 1758, are ranged according to their country. Among the English, I observed Wolsey, Cranmer, Cromwell, and Monk.

The wall between the cornice and the moulding, is lined with about an hundred and thirty paintings, by the most celebrated masters: all are admirable; but that which particularly strikes me, is the Mary Magdalen from the Tuscan school. Her hands are joined together with an expression which evinces the anguish of her soul, and the sincerity of her repentance. A skull is on the table before her. Remorse and Despair, in their most aggravated forms, are preying upon her; and yet her beauty is in all its captivating charms. Her face surpasses every conception; and the vest, which has fallen from her shoulders, displays a neck which even an Anchorite would for ever hang upon. She herself, with all the earnestness of her supplication, seems scarce to dare hope to be forgiven.--But, were there a doubt of it, sweet Penitent! I should die distracted.

John de St. John's Bridal Night, is another excellent painting. He has given the Bride all the fondness and beauty of a Venus, but has made her more than the Goddess, by shewing that the height of conjugal love, could not remove her natural modesty.

Her handmaids are leading her into her bed-chamber; but, when she discovers her husband ready to receive her, modesty overcomes her, and prevents her advancing. The longing Bridegroom invites her with the most ardent affection, and, with a smile of tenderness, seems amused with her coyness. She returns his smile, but with a kind of denial; and yet seems wishing to comply, but cannot persuade herself to approach him. Her Friends are encouraging her, and the old Nurse is growing angry at the delay. But I am presuming to be particular. I therefore pass over the rest of the paintings, and come to the statues and busts, which are ranged on bases, at regular distances, along the walls.

At the east end, there is a Horse, whose head and body excel any thing of the kind I ever beheld; but the legs are modern, and do not seem to belong to him.

Were only the head and neck of Leda exposed, all mankind would allow her to be the finest piece of sculpture ever produced: but, whilst we give the Sculptor every credit for his execution, we are provoked at finding him guilty of many inconsistencies.

I should not have said so much of this statue, but that you, like myself, might have been deceived by the good nature of those well-meaning, but shallow writers, who, struck with its first appearance, did not examine farther.

Ganymede is, indeed, an admirable statue; and his Eagle is much superior to Leda's Swan.

Pomona seems really walking, and with a lightness equal to the ease of her person.

As there is no superlative difficulty in forming a figure where no passion is particularly expressed, I will not dwell on Minerva, Bacchus, Apollo, Narcissus, &c. &c. &c. notwithstanding the pleasure I enjoy in admiring them.

The busts contain the heads of all the Roman Emperors, and of some of their wives. The whole is closed by a famous wild boar, and the group of Laocoon.

Parallel to each of the two long sides of the Gallery, there is a set of apartments, included in what is commonly called the Gallery of Florence.

The first on the east side, contains a most admirable Ganymede, a country God, and a few more beautiful statues and basso relievos. The principal subjects of the latter, are, the Rape of Europa, and Mark Anthony's Oration on opening CÆsar's Will.

The next, called the Cabinet of Coins and Medals, contains, as well as those articles and some few busts, two basso-relievo figures of Mars and Venus, in paste exactly like porphyry; and also seven pictures, three of which are Mosaic: those of St. Peter and St. Paul are reckoned remarkably fine.

The third is called the Cabinet of Love, from a little Cupid sleeping on a table, universally allowed to be a masterpiece of sculpture. It also contains a few busts, and the walls are ornamented with twenty-seven paintings; among which is a Venus, by Titian, universally admired: but it has been observed, that she labours under a disadvantage, in being so near the incomparable one in the Tribuna.

The fourth is filled with small statues, busts and pictures.

But the room called La Tribuna is the boast of the whole Gallery. It contains the Venus of Medicis, the Wrestlers, the Listener, and the Fawn, which surpass what I thought it possible for marble to express. Nobody that has heard of Florence, but must have read a particular description of these admirable statues: but, in obedience to your desire, I have set down the following measurements of the Venus of Medicis, taken by myself:

The paintings in the Tribuna are equal to the statues. The most famous is Titian's celebrated Venus, which justly merits the high encomiums universally conferred upon her. She is lying on a bed, with all her beauties displayed. The painter, with great judgment, has given her a passive countenance, and introduced a softness in her air, full of languishing desire, but free from lascivious wantonness. One might compare her to a most beautiful married woman, deprived for the first time of the presence of a beloved husband. In a word, nothing can be more perfect, or more delightful.

St. Catherine also by Titian, is another excellent painting, and the Virgin Mary, with the infant Jesus on her knees, like all Carlo Dolce's pictures, is divine and beautiful.

Had I found the visitation of St. Elizabeth and St. John, fondling the little Jesus on the Virgin's lap, and several others, in any place but where there is so much to admire, I should have thought each of them worthy a particular description.

The next four chambers contain the Venus Anadyomene, and a few more statues in marble; together with a variety of beautiful vases, plates, cups, and tables, richly inlaid with lapis lazuli and other rich stone; near four hundred paintings in the Flemish manner; a collection of original designs, or rough sketches, of the best masters, and another of prints; but these are very inferior to those of the moderns, and are only meant to show the progress of the art.

The cabinet of jewels and precious stones, cameos, intaglios, &c. closes the Eastern range.

It is with great pain that I find myself inadequate to an entertaining description of these invaluable treasures. The picture of St. Lawrence conducted to the tyrant; Hercules after he had killed the Giants, by Alexander Allori; Helena Forman, by Paul Rubens; the pearl fishery, in lapis lazuli, by Anthony Tempesta; the Rape of Dejanira, by Giordano; the copy of Correggio's Mary Magdalen, and many others I could gaze upon for ever. But the objects of admiration I here meet with, are too numerous to permit me to send you even a list of them.--I have already transgressed the bounds I had proposed to myself; but having gone thus far, I will proceed in the same style through the apartments on the west side.

The first then is called the Cabinet of Medals, and contains a well arranged collection, amounting to the astonishing number of upwards of fourteen thousand. Many false antiques have been admitted, that amateurs may have an opportunity of studying the difference between them and real ones. Over the seven bureaux, in which the medals are preserved, the Labours of Hercules are represented in as many silver groupes, copied from John Bologna.

But these are not the only masterpieces contained in this chamber. Over the chimney there is a hand in relief, by Michael Angelo, equal to his most celebrated work; and the walls are ornamented by thirty-six pictures, painted at Florence.

The second and third rooms contain the portraits of several hundred painters, most of them drawn by themselves. What a satisfaction to contemplate the characters of those celebrated masters, whose works have afforded us the highest gratification. But as admittance has never been refused to the most humble candidate for fame, who may choose to send his portrait, many have gained a place here, who will soon be forgotten every where else. In point of execution, my friend the Princess BelmontÉ, I am afraid, is among this number; but as a patroness of the arts and sciences, she is justly entitled to a place in the gallery of Florence; and, as long as St. Cecilia is held in veneration, the tuneful, the generous BelmontÉ will ever be remembered.

The fourth is filled with the heads of illustrious persons, and a variety of inscriptions. On one of which, Seraspandes and Rhodaspes, the sons of Phraates, are mentioned; and it is particularly valued because Justin, the only Roman historian who takes notice of these Princes being at Rome, omitted their names.

The fifth contains a beautiful statue of an hermaphrodite, which gives name to the chamber; an Adonis, by Michael Angelo; Venus Victrix; Venus Celeste, and a Bacchus. All excellent statues; and near fifty valuable paintings.

The present Grand Duke fitted up the sixth hall for the reception of Niobe, and her fourteen children, with a taste and magnificence worthy these admirable statues.

The collection of old paintings in the next room is also the work of the reigning Prince. They are accompanied by several busts and statues.

The eighth contains copies in bronze, not only of the Venus of Medicis, and the most admired pieces in the preceding apartments, but of every other celebrated statue, of which the Dukes of Florence have not been able to procure the original. Among these are the Quirinal group of horses; the Capitol Gladiator; the Vatican Apollo, and Meleagre; the little Spanish fawn; the Farnese Hercules, Bull, and Flora, and many others, which the severest critics have allowed to be equal to the originals.

But it is not copies only which here ravish the sight. John Bologna's incomparable Mercury soon arrests the eye. He is absolutely flying, and in so easy, and so natural an attitude, that it is some moments before one perceives that he is supported by the breath of Zephyr, on which he is rising into the air.

From this we pass into the cabinet of bronze antiques, where a variety of miniature Gods and Goddesses, animals, and monsters; altars, tripods, and lamps; helmets, rings, and bracelets, &c. &c. are preserved in fourteen cases.

We now close the Gallery with the Tuscan Museum, whose chief contents are the instruments used by the ancients in their funeral ceremonies, with a variety of urns, in which the burnt bones of the dead were deposited.

There let them rest in peace, and if sleep has not already overpowered you, indulge it now--I shall not be offended with you. I am aware, that however refined and extatic the satisfaction, the objects I have mentioned afford to the senses, this pleasure is not to be communicated in a description by so humble a Dilettante as your poor friend. I have, therefore, nearly confined myself to an abridgment of the catalogue, which, as I before apprised you, fills a large volume. And since a long list, even of painters, and sculptors, statues, and paintings, must ever be dry and tautological, what can we expect from its epitome? But to me, I confess, it has afforded the greatest satisfaction; that of proving that to please you, I willingly risk exposing myself.