SANTA MARIA NOVELLA.
457
Four doorways succeed one another along the wall of this
aisle ; they are decorated with carved stone cornices of similar
design, and one of these opens on the Chiostro degli Avelli
the two which follow are permanently closed, and the last leads
to the Cappella della Purità. Two marble busts above these doors
are to the memory of Josephus Zenobi del Rosso, Professor,
1760 ; and Cosmæ Raynor Rossio Melocchio, Knight of St.
Stephen, 1820. In the Cappella della Purità is the Crucifix
before which a celebrated Dominican nun, the Beata Villana,
always prayed. There is nothing otherwise worthy of note in
this plain square room. The next chapel has an altar-piece
by Jacopo Ligozzi (1543-1627), a native of Verona, and
pupil of Paolo Veronese, who lived long in Florence,
where he was much employed by the Grand Duke Ferdinand
II. The subject of this picture is St. Raymond de Penñafort,
a Spanish saint, raising a dead child to life. The groups,
though not free from affectation, are graceful and well placed.
The monument on the left to a member of the Ricasoli family
is the work of Romolo di Taddeo da Fiesole. Giovanni Bat-
tista Ricasoli, whose profile is represented in relief on this
monument, was the counsellor and confidential friend of the
Grand Duke Cosimo I. Born in 1504, the godson of Pope
Leo X., Ricasoli was educated for the Church, and was the
fast friend of the Medici. He became chamberlain to Clement
VII., and accompanied that Pope to Bologna for the corona¬
tion of the Emperor Charles V. In 1533 he escorted Catha-
rine de’ Medici to Marseilles, when she went to marry Henry,
the son of Francis I. The same year he was appointed by the
Pope military commissioner, and was sent to Hungary against
the Sultan Soliman. After the death of Clement VII. he
attached himself to Ippolito de’ Medici, and on his death by
poison, he followed his cousin, Duke Alexander. When Alex-
ander was murdered, in 1537, he attended the court of Cosimo
I., and was created Bishop of Cortona, and sent on various
missions to Charles V. at Madrid, and to Rome. In 1548 he
