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Old Pictures In Florence
by
218. Barret. A kind of cap.
230. Zeno. The founder of the sect of Stoics, and hence supposedly not stirred by “naked High Art.”
232. Some clay-cold vile Carlino. Commercial dealers in art are unmoved by true beauty, but they go into ecstasies over uninspired work like that of Carlino. (Carlo Dolci, 1616-1686.)
236. A certain precious little tablet. Mr. Browning wrote to Professor Corson that this was a lost “Last Supper” praised by Vasari. The stanza in which this line occurs explains ll. 17-24.
237. Buonarroti. Michael Angelo.
241. San Spirito, etc. “Holy Spirit” and “All Saints,” old churches in Florence.
244. Detur amanti. “Let it be given to the one who loves it.”
245. Koh-i-noor. A famous Indian diamond presented to Queen Victoria in 1850.
246. Jewel of Giamschid. The splendid fabulous ruby of Sultan Giamschid, sometimes called “The Cup of the Sun” and “The Torch of Night.” Byron (“The Giaour”) says that the dark eyes of Leila were “bright as the jewel of Giamschid.” The carbuncle of Giamschid is one of the treasures sought by the Caliph in Beckford’s Caliph Vathek.
246. The Persian Sofi. The Sufi or Sofi is a title or surname of the Shah of Persia.
249. A certain dotard, etc. Radetsky (1766-1858) was in 1849-1857 governor of the Austrian possessions in Upper Italy. “The worse side of the Mont St. Gothard” is the Swiss side. “Morello” is a mountain near Florence. There had been frequent insurrections against Austria, but they had been fruitless. Browning prophesies the time when there shall be a great national council (a Witanagemot) by which, when Freedom has been restored to Florence, a new and vigorous Art shall be brought in. It will then be perceived that a monarchy nourishes the false and monstrous in art, and that “Pure Art” must come from the people.
258. The stone of Dante. The stone where Dante used to draw his chair out to sit. For this and other references in stanza XXXIV see Mrs. Browning’s “Casa Guidi Windows,” Part I. In this poem she suggests “a parliament of the lovers of Italy.”
260. Quod videas ante–“Which you may have seen before.”
263. Hated house. The poet hates the rule of the House of Lorraine, and prefers the days of the painter Orgagna, in the fourteenth century, when Italy was free.
273. Tuscan. The literary language of Italy and not given to superlatives such as are indicated by “issimo.”
275. Cambuscan: a reference to “The Squire’s Tale,” left unfinished by Chaucer.
276. Alt to altissimo. “High to highest.”
277. Beccaccia. A woodcock.
281. Shall I be alive. According to Giotto’s plan the tower was to have had a spire fifty braccia or cubits (about 95 feet) high. This spire has never been built.