What
shall we do in America?
Speaking of Dutch pictures, I was much struck yesterday, as frequently
before, with a small picture by Teniers the elder. It seems to be a
pawnbroker in the midst of his pledges; old earthen jugs, flasks, a brass
kettle, old books, and a huge pile of worn-out and broken rubbish, which
he is examining. These things are represented with vast fidelity, yet
with bold and free touches, unlike the minute, microscopic work of other
Dutch masters; and a wonderful picturesqueness is wrought out of these
humble materials, and even the figure and head of the pawnbroker have a
strange grandeur.
We spent no very long time at the Uffizi, and afterwards crossed the
Ponte alle Grazie, and went to the convent of San Miniato, which stands
on a hill outside of the Porta San Gallo. A paved pathway, along which
stand crosses marking stations at which pilgrims are to kneel and pray,
goes steeply to the hill-top, where, in the first place, is a smaller
church and convent than those of San Miniato.
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