The International Monthly Magazine of Literature, Science and Art | Page 8

walls of the dispensa in the
Bargello; that a society was already formed for the purpose of seeking
with all care for this treasure; that all expenses would be gladly borne
by the society; that should anything be found, we would either leave
the paintings untouched, or have them removed at our expense to the
gallery of the Uffizi, and that we begged of the Grand Duke the
necessary sanction to begin our operations. The answer was favorable,
and I was referred to Marchese Nerli, and to the Director of the
Academy, to make the necessary arrangements. Then the real
difficulties began: first, I was put off on account of the precautions that
were to be taken in working in a prison; then, the Director was ill, or
unavoidably engaged, or absent; I found, in short, that the object was to
tire me out, and that I had to contend with the same power that had
defeated Moreni and my other predecessors in the attempt. This battle
continued many months. I have already spoken too much of my share
in the pursuit of this object, and I will not enter into further
details--some of them ludicrous--of this contention; but I will say
explicitly, that, besides his encouragement, and his repeated offers of
money, (which were not accepted because money was not wanted, at
least not to any amount, and what was wanted I furnished myself,) Mr.
Kirkup did not afford me any assistance. At this stage of the business, I
met indeed with a most valuable ally, without whom I believe I should
have been beaten; and that was Paolo Feroni, a Florentine nobleman

and artist, to whom I have before expressed and now repeat my best
acknowledgments. At the end of this long contention against obstacles
which often eluded my grasp, the Grand Duke, in consequence of a
second memorial I presented to him, issued a decree appointing a
commission to carry out the proposed experiments. This commission
was composed of two members I had myself proposed, viz. the sculptor
Bartolini, and the Marchese Feroni, of myself, of the Direttore of the
Edifizi Pubblici Machese Nerli, and of the Direttore of the Accademia
delle Arti, the two latter ex-officio: further, the decree declines the
proposed voluntary subscriptions, and places at the disposal of the
Commissioners a sum of money which proved more than sufficient to
cover all the expenses of the restoration of the fresco. The
Commissioners employed the painter Marini, and the happy result of
his carefulness and ability is now before the world.
"I will now conclude by asserting, that I had nothing to do with what
has been said or written at Florence of this recovery, either in the
Strenna, or at the meeting of the Scienziati, which was held in 1841, I
believe, and at which the fresco of Giotto was naturally a great object
of interest. I left Florence in May 1840, before the portrait of Dante was
actually uncovered, so that I only saw a portion of the fresco. I have
never heard, or read, or said, or written, anything tending to disparage
the real coöperation of Mr. Kirkup, or of my late lamented friend Mr.
Wilde, or of anybody else in this matter,--nay, that it was at my request
that the editor of the English translation of Kugler's Handbook of the
History of Painting, published in 1842, has in the preface of that book
mentioned Mr. Kirkup as having assisted materially in the recovery.
Besides the Marchese Feroni and the artist Signor Marini, there are
many disinterested witnesses who have stated, and if called upon will
repeat again, all the material points of my narrative; but, better than all,
there is now in London an English gentleman, whom I am happy to be
allowed to call my friend, who was in Florence part of the time, and
saw with his own eyes the share I had in this laborious undertaking,
which ought not to have brought this bitter contention upon me: he was
an intimate friend of Mr. Wilde, with whom he had a long
correspondence on this very subject, after Mr. Wilde's return to
America."

We believe Mr. Bezzi is in error as to the incompleteness of Mr.
Wilde's Life of Dante. Mr. Wilde, more than a year before his death,
informed us that his work was nearly ready for the printer; and at the
same time he confided to us for perusal his admirable translations of
specimens of Italian Lyric Poets. We hope the descendants of our
learned and ingenious friend will place these works, so creditable to his
temper, scholarship, and genius, before the world.

GEORGE CORNEWALL LEWIS.
A work on The Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion has lately
attracted much and apparently well-deserved attention in England. It