Donatello presides over this room (under Brunelleschi).  The vivacious, speaking terra-cotta bust of the young S. Lorenzo on the altar is his; the altar railing is probably his; the frieze of terra-cotta cherubs may be his; the four low reliefs in the spandrels, which it is so difficult to discern but which photographs prove to be wonderful scenes in the life of S. John the Evangelist—­so like, as one peers up at them, plastic Piranesis, with their fine masonry—­are his.  The other reliefs are Donatello’s too; but the lavabo in the inner sacristy is Verrocchio’s, and Verrocchio’s tomb of Piero can never be overlooked even amid such a wealth of the greater master’s work.

From this fascinating room—­fascinating both in itself and in its possessions—­we pass, after distributing the necessary largesse to the sacristan, to a turnstile which admits, on payment of a lira, to the Chapel of the Princes and to Michelangelo’s sacristy.  Here is contrast, indeed:  the sacristy, austere and classic, and the chapel a very exhibition building of floridity and coloured ornateness, dating from the seventeenth century and not finished yet.  In paying the necessary fee to see these buildings one thinks again what the feelings of Giovanni and Cosimo and Lorenzo the Magnificent, and even of Cosimo I, all such generous patrons of Florence, would be, if they could see the present feverish collection of lire in their beautiful city.

Of the Chapel of the Princes I have little to say.  To pass from Michelangelo’s sacristy to this is an error; see it, if see it you must, first.  While the facade of S. Lorenzo is still neglected and the cornice of Brunelleschi’s dome is still unfinished, this lapidary’s show-room is being completed at a cost of millions of lire.  Ever since 1888 has the floor been in progress, and there are many years’ work yet.  An enthusiastic custodian gave me a list of the stones which were used in the designs of the coats of arms of Tuscan cities, of which that of Fiesole is the most attractive:—­Sicily jasper, French jasper, Tuscany jasper, petrified wood, white and yellow, Corsican granite, Corsican jasper, Oriental alabaster, French marble, lapis lazuli, verde antico, African marble, Siena marble, Carrara marble, rose agate, mother of pearl, and coral.  The names of the Medici are in porphyry and ivory.  It is all very marvellous and occasionally beautiful; but...

This pretentious building was designed by a natural son of Cosimo I in 1604, and was begun as the state mausoleum of the Grand Dukes; and all lie here.  All the Grand Duchesses too, save Bianca Capella, wife of Francis I, who was buried none knows where.  It is strange to realize as one stands here that this pavement covers all those ladies, buried in their wonderful clothes.  We shall see Eleanor of Toledo, wife of Cosimo I, in Bronzino’s famous picture at the Uffizi, in an amazing brocaded dress:  it is that dress in which she reposes beneath us!  They had their jewels too, and each Grand Duke his crown and sceptre; but these, with one or two exceptions, were stolen during the French occupation of Tuscany, 1801-1814.  Only two of the Grand Dukes have their statues—­Ferdinand I and Cosimo II—­and the Medici no longer exist in the Florentine memory; and yet the quiet brick floor is having all this money squandered on it to superimpose costly marbles which cannot matter to anybody.