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PALAZZO  RICCARDI.
which  it  rests.  Rings  for  torches  and  banners  are  attached
to  the  windows,  and  at  one  corner  is  a  beautiful  fanale  by
Niccolò  Caparra.  Here  Charles  VIII.  of  France,  Pope
Leo  X.,  and  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  were  lodged.  Here
also  the  Duke  Alessandro,  illegitimate  brother  of  Catherine
de’  Medici  and  the  last  male  lineal  descendant  of  Cosimo
Pater  Patriae,  was  murdered  by  his  distant  cousin  Lorenzino,
who  had  been  the  minister  of  his  pleasures.  The  room
where  this  crime  was  committed  was  pulled  down  afterwards,
and  has  been  kept  in  ruins  ever  since.  The  palace  was  sold
to  the  Riccardi  by  Ferdinand  II.  in  1659,  but  was  repurchased -
  by  the  Grand  Duke  in  the  last  century,  and  is  now
public  property.
•The  Riccardi  Palace,  notwithstanding  its  early  date  (1430),  illustrates -
  all  the  best  characteristics  of  the  style.  It  possesses  a  splendid
façade,  300  ft.  in  length  by  90  in  height.  The  lower  story,  which  is
considerably  higher  than  the  other  two,  is  also  bolder,  and  pierced  with
only  a  few  openings,  and  these  placed  unsymmetrically,  as  if  in  proud
contempt  of  those  structural  exigencies  which  must  govern  all  frailer
constructions.’—  Fergusson.
The  court  of  the  palace  is  surrounded  by  many  of  the
sarcophagi  which  once  stood  outside  the  Baptistery,  some  of
them  exceedingly  interesting  and  curious.  The  great  Gallery
is  painted  with  the  Apotheosis  of  the  Medici  by  Luca
Giordano  (1632-1705).  It  was  here  that  Charles  VIII.
of  France  received  the  deputies  of  the  Republic  to  discuss
the  terms  of  the  treaty  he  proposed  with  the  city;  and  here,
when  the  King,  impatient  of  delays,  threatened  to  sound  his
trumpets,  he  received  the  famous  answer  of  Pietro  Capponi-If -
  you  sound  your  trumpets,  we  will  sound  our  bells
and  the  answer  saved  Florence.
But  the  gem  of  the  palace  is  the  Chapel  (of  which  the
keys  are  kept  at  the  Accademia).  It  is  entirely  covered  by
most  glorious  frescoes  of  Benozzo  Gozzoli  (1400-1478),
painted  by  lamplight,  as  there  was  originally  no  window  to
the  chapel.  The  altar-piece,  removed  to  make  the  present
window,  must  have  represented  the  Virgin  and  Child,  to