I a second time visited the Medicean Palace, being near my lodging, the more exactly to have a view of the noble collections that adorn it, especially the bassi-relievi and antique friezes inserted about the stone work of the house. The Saturn, of metal, standing in the portico, is a rare piece; so is the Jupiter and Apollo, in the hall. We were now led into those rooms above we could not see before, full of incompar[Pg 132]able statues and antiquities; above all, and haply preferable to any in the world, are the Two Wrestlers, for the inextricable mixture with each other's arms and legs is stupendous. In the great chamber is the Gladiator, whetting a knife; but the Venus is without parallel, being the masterpiece of one whose name you see graven under it in old Greek characters; nothing in sculpture ever approached this miracle of art. To this add Marcius, Ganymede, a little Apollo playing on a pipe; some relievi incrusted on the palace-walls; and an antique vas of marble, near six feet high. Among the pictures may be mentioned the Magdalen and St. Peter, weeping. I pass over the cabinets and tables of pietra commessa, being the proper invention of the Florentines. In one of the chambers is a whimsical chair, which folded into so many varieties, as to turn into a bed, a bolster, a table, or a couch. I had another walk in the garden, where are two huge vases, or baths of stone.
I went further up the hill to the Pope's Palaces at Monte Cavallo, where I now saw the garden more exactly, and found it to be one of the most magnificent and pleasant in Rome. I am told the gardener is annually allowed 2,000 scudi for the keeping of it. Here I observed hedges of myrtle above a man's height; others of laurel, oranges, nay, of ivy and juniper; the close walks, and rustic grotto; a crypt, of which the laver, or basin, is of one vast, entire, antique porphyry, and below this flows a plentiful cascade; the steps of the grotto and the roofs being of rich Mosaic. Here are hydraulic organs, a fish pond, and an ample bath. From hence, we went to taste some rare Greco; and so home.
Being now pretty weary of continual walking, I kept within, for the most part, till the 6th of December; and, during this time, I entertained one Signor Alessandro, who gave me some lessons on the theorbo.
The next excursion was over the Tiber, which I crossed in a ferry-boat, to see the Palazzo di Ghisi, standing in Transtevere, fairly built, but famous only for the painting รก fresco on the volto of the portico toward the garden; the story is the Amours of Cupid and Psyche, by the hand of the celebrated Raphael d'Urbino. Here you always see painters designing and copying after it, being esteemed one of the rarest pieces of that art in the[Pg 133] world; and with great reason. I must not omit that incomparable table of Galatea (as I remember), so carefully preserved in the cupboard at one of the ends of this walk, to protect it from the air, being a most lively painting. There are likewise excellent things of Baldassare, and others.
Thence we went to the noble house of the Duke of Bracciano, fairly built, with a stately court and fountain.
Next, we walked to St. Mary's Church, where was the Taberna Meritoria, where the old Roman soldiers received their triumphal garland, which they ever after wore. The high altar is very fair, adorned with columns of porphyry: here is also some mosaic work about the choir, and the Assumption is an esteemed piece. It is said that this church was the first that was dedicated to the Virgin at Rome. In the opposite piazza is a very sumptuous fountain.