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3 September 1869 — Milan | |
Friday. 3rd [September 1869]. Had a better night & woke better tho’ shakesome. At 12 I fortified with soup & then we set off sightseeing again. We had a cab fetched & drove straight to the church of San Maurizio Maggiore which is a most beautifully decorated church mostly painted by B. Luini. The screen behind the altar and one of the chapels are most wonderfully beautiful. An old woman (who recognized Henry at once) came & unlocked a door & going thro’ it one suddenly found one self in a much larger church & wh originally belonged to the Monastery. This is also beautifully painted & a gallery or triforium runs round the whole of this chapel. We went up into it and in every recess is painted a saint’s head & the ceiling painted with lovely patterns. From here we went to the Basilica de Sant’Ambrogio. It is the oldest church in Milan and most curious. In the Apse is a very fine Mosaic & also a very fine old one in a little chapel at the back of the altar. The pulpit is most curious being composed of an early Christian sarcophagus & has a curious old bronze eagle fastened to it. There is a chapel painted by Gaudenzio Ferrari but it is falling rapidly to decay. We drove to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana where we were shown books, manuscripts palimpsests & autographs & a lovely fresco by Luini representing the Scourging of Christ & having on each side the portraits (in a kneeling position) of the monks for whom it was painted. We then went up to the 2nd floor to see the pictures. There are some exquisite Luinis & Leonardos and Raffaelle’s celebrated cartoon “The School at Athens”. Also a most wonderfully fine portrait of a gentleman by Moroni. Leaving the Library we went to the Hotel, dropped our glasses & Murray & then went to the Galleria where I had some lemonade & Hy his coffee. We then bought some Italian books for me to read to try & improve my knowledge of the language. We went back to the hotel stopping at the Casa Poldi en route. The Count was out so we could not see his fine things. Today I dined down at the table d’hôte and afterwards we walked out to the gallery & Henry had his coffee. It was not a very warm evening so we did not sit out very long. Hill seems better this evening especially after an interview with a lady’s maid who had come straight from seeing her (Hill’s) sister. | |
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