Men and Women

Lucrezia: di Baccio del Fede, a cap-maker's widow, says Vasari, who ensnared Andrea "before her husband's death, and who delighted in trapping the hearts of men."

41

Fiesole: a hillside city on the Arno, three miles west of Florence.

42

Morello: the highest of the Apennine mountains north of Florence.

43

The Urbinate: Raphael Santi (1483-1520), so called because born at Urbino.

44

Vasari: painter and writer of the "Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters," which supplied Browning with material for this poem and for "Fra Lippo."

45

Agnolo: Michel Agnolo Buonarotti, painter, sculptor, and 1architect (1475-564).

46

Francis: Francis I of France (1494-1547), who invited Andrea to his Court at Fontainebleau, where he was loaded with gifts and honors, until, says Vasari, "came to him certain letters from Florence written to him by his wife . . . with bitter complaints," when, taking "the money which the king confided to him for the purchase of pictures and statues, . . . he set off . . . having sworn on the Gospels to return in a few months. Arrived in Florence, he lived joyously with his wife for some time, making presents to her father and sisters, but doing nothing for his own parents, who died in poverty and misery. When the period specified by the king had come . . . he found himself at the end not only of his own money but . . . of that of the king."

47

Agnolo . . . to Rafael: Angelo's remark is given thus by Bocchi, "Bellezze di Firenze"; "There is a bit of a manikin in Florence who, if he chanced to be employed in great undertakings as you have happened to be, would compel you to look well about you."

48

Cue-owls: the owl's cry gives it its common name in various languages and countries; the peculiarity of its cry as to the predominant sound of oo or ow naming the species. This Italian <a`>ulo> is probably the <Bubo>, of the same family as our cat-owl. Buffon gives its note, <he-hoo>, <boo-hoo>; hence the Latin name, <Bubo>.

49

Scudi: Italian coins.

50

The New Jerusalem: Revelation 21.15-17.

51

Leonard: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer, who, together with Rafael and Agnolo, incarnates the genius of the Renaissance. He visited the same Court to which Andrea was invited, and was said to have died in the arms of Francis I.

52

Vanity, saith the preacher: Ecclesiastes 1.2.

53

Epistle-side: the right-hand side facing the altar, where the epistle is read by the priest acting as celebrant, the gospel being read from the other side by the priest acting as assistant.

54

Basalt: trap-rock, leaden or black in color.

55

Onion stone: for the Italian <cipollino>, a kind of greenish-white marble splitting into coats like an onion, <cipolla>; hence so called.

56

Olive-frail: a basket made of rushes, used for packing olives.

57

Lapis lazuli: a bright blue stone.

58

Frascati: near Rome, on the Alban hills.

59

God the Father's globe: in the group of the Trinity adorning the altar of Saint Ignatius at the church of Il Gesu in Rome.

60

Weaver's shuttle: Job 7.6.

61

Antique-black: Nero antico. Browning gives the English equivalent for the name of this stone.

62

Tripod: the seat with three feet on which the priestess of Apollo sat to prophesy, an emblem of the Delphic oracle.

Thyrsus: the ivy-coiled staffer spear stuck in a pine-cone, symbol of Bacchic orgy. These, with the other Pagan tokens and pictures, mingle oddly but significantly with the references to the Saviour, Saint Praxed, and Moses. See also line 92, where Saint Praxed is confused with the Saviour, in the mind of the dying priest. Saint Praxed, the virgin daughter of a Roman Senator and friend of Saint Paul, in whose honor the Bishop's Church is named, is again brought forward in lines 73-75 in a queer capacity which pointedly illustrates the speaker and his time.

63

Travertine: a white limestone, the name being a corruption of <Tiburtinus>, from <Tibur> , now Tivoli, near Rome, whence this stone comes.

64

jasper: a dark green stone with blood-red spots, susceptible of high polish.