278 



THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 



In the villa there is a splendid portrait of Lorenzo the Magnificent by Bronzino ; the figure 

 is in crimson, with black hair contrasted with laurel leaves. The background by a stroke of 

 artistic perception is a portrayal of Florence. The portrait is interesting for the character and 

 vigour it displays. There are four mottoes displayed in the hall Magnanimas, Liberalitas, 

 Fortitudo, Vigilancia doubtless as qualities requisite to the Medici at all times. If the 

 house is entered at the ground-floor level a convenient portico hall is met with under the 

 arcade, and the lower hall has a curious staircase in pietra serena, apparently of Sangallo's time, 

 bracketed off the walls. This ground floor, or basement, now contains a theatre and other 

 rooms. Walking round the house outside, a space of some thirty yards will be found at the 

 back, and the enclosure will be seen to be completed with two back pavilions like those in 

 front. In the centre between them is a fine double staircase of twenty-seven steps leading 

 down to the park. Under the landing is the grotto illustrated (Fig. 286). It is twenty feet 





290. CASTELLO THE GARDEN BEHIND THE VILLA. 



across. There is a pebble mosaic floor and a plain apsidal vault over, with heavy sunk panels 

 in the ribs. The park is of some extent, but, being " English," calls for no special remark. 



The stable block is on the left of the main enclosure of the villa at a lower level. On the 

 opposite side is a garden containing a great lemonaia a hundred yards long. Twenty-six steps 

 in a great flight lead down to this garden, but it is nowadays laid out in serpentine paths with 

 indiscriminate planting. 



In the troublous times of May, 1527, the Medici retired from Florence to Poggio Cajano 

 as a place of refuge. In July, 1539, Cosimo I and Eleonora of Toledo, his bride, spent five 

 days here. Their son, Francesco di Medici, twenty-six years later met his bride, Joan of 

 Austria, at this same villa. Joan died in 1578, and in October, 1587, Francesco and his second 

 wife, the notorious Bianca Capella, a Venetian, both fell suddenly ill, and died while staying 

 here with Cardinal Ferdinando for the seasonal shooting. Naturally poison was freely alleged 

 on all sides as the cause of the tragedy. A year later the survivor, who had meanwhile left the 



