of Europe are also here. A long series of remarkable busts of Roman Emperors are also chronologically arranged in this gallery, and an excellent copy of the Laocoon group is also kept here. Among the paintings, Raphael's Madonna of the Goldfinch, his Madonna with the Scroll and his St. John in the Wilderness are in the hall called the Tribune, and the same room contains two of Titian's matchless Venuses, and Albert Durer's Adoration of the Magi. Leonardi da Vinci's Head of Medusa and Corregio's picture on the same subject are in a neighbouring room.
A covered passage connects this Uffizi gallery with the Pitti gallery on the other side of the Arno, and the whole of this passage is lined with portraits of the Medici family and also of historical characters of all countries and ages.
The Pitti palace was commenced by Pitti a merchant in 1440, but as he was unable to finish it, he sold it to the wife of Cosmo and it thenceforward became the palace of the Medici of Florence. It is a massive building of rough hewn stone, more strong and massive than elegant in its external appearance, but the great halls inside are paved and decorated with the finest stones and richest marbles that money could buy or art could arrange. The hall of flowers and other rooms are superb in their beauty. The rooms are now filled with about 500 pictures of the highest merit, Raphael's Madonna della Seggiola, his Madonna del Bladachino and his Holy Family, Michael Angelo's celebrated Fates, Titian's Bella and his Magdalene, Murillo's Virgin Mary and Christ
