21 
some time in Pietro dei Medici's house; thence it was 
taken in 1495, after Pietro’s banishment, and placed 
on the Ringhiera of Palazzo Vecchio. — On the sides 
of the steps leading to this portico, notice the. 
Two Lións in cipollino marble, the left one bears 
the name of its sculptor, Flaminio Vacca; the other is 
believed to bę of Greek origin; they were both pla- 
ced here in 1789 — Beneath the Loggia in the mid¬ 
dle is the 
Dying Ajax supported by a soldier, or Ajax drag¬ 
ging the corpsé of Patrocles; it is believed to be of 
Greek workmanship, and was restored by thę sculptor 
Stefano Ricci in 1830. 
Centauro. — Hercules in the act of killing the 
Centaur Nesso is by Gian Bologna — The 
Rape of Polixene — is a modern and fine group 
by the living sculptor Pio Fedi finished in the year 
1864 and placed under this Loggia in 1866. 
Here are also six ancient colossal statues of fe¬ 
males, said to represent Vestals and priestesses of Ro¬ 
mulus; they are ancient, but restored sculpture; and 
were brought, with the lion above named, from the 
Villa Medici in Rome. — In the back wall were in¬ 
serted in 1860 a barometer and a thermometer (1) 
Enter now on your left the colonnade of the, 
Uffizi. — This majestic building is the work of 
Giorgio Vasari, executed from 1561 to 1574 by order. 
of the Gran-Duke Cosimo 1 de’ Medici, and completed 
by Buontalenti, in order to establish the Civil and 
Criminal Courts of Justice on the ground floor, on 
(1) There’is a small copy of this Portico at Munich in Baviera.