160 
ACCADEMIA DELLE BELLE ARTI. 
is a Cartoon by Bronzino, representing the Descent of our 
Lord into Hades. It is full of figures, most beautifully 
and correctly drawn. Another Cartoon, attributed to Ra- 
phael, is neither genuine nor sufficiently good to be mis¬ 
taken for his hand. 
The Gallery of Casts for the use of students is in the 
same building as the academy. At one end of it is a fre¬ 
sco, representing the repose in Egypt, by Giovanni da 
San Giovanni. 
A very interesting work is now publishing, contain- 
ing illustrations of the Galleria delle Belle Arti, with 
outline engravings and descriptions of the most remarkable 
pictures in this chronological series. 
At one end of this gallery are placed casts of the 
finest of the three bronze gates of the Baptistery. They 
are beautifully executed. 
In this building are also rooms for the exhibition of 
modern specimens and the usual apparatus of such in¬ 
stitutions. 
The manufactory of Pietre commesse, or Florentine 
Mosaic, is carried on here at the public expense. The 
manufacture has evidently gone on improving. The skill 
attained by the workmen in turning the smallest particle 
to account is very entertaining. Like all similar employ- 
ments, it is injurious to the health: and therefore when 
the workmen attain sixty years of age, they are comfort¬ 
ably pensioned by the government for the remainder of 
their lives. 
There are also several dependencies of the Academy 
in the Convento di Santa Caterina, situated in the Via Larga. 
Here are the music rooms and schools of mechanics and 
chemistry, where lectures on these subjects applied to the 
fine arts are delivered, and well attended. 
Here also is a collection of Egyptian antiquities, re¬