Mon. 12. [12 February 1894] Went to the Hospital of S Maria Nuova
where after much asking we succeeded in having the keys of the
gallery let down to us in a basket and saw the Van der Goes.
Wonderfully lovely - an Adoration with two side panels of the Portinari
family and a beautiful background of bare trees against a blue sky.
The Fra Bartolommeo Last Judgement too much destroyed to judge,
but the grouping must have been very fine. Near S Lorenzo I bought a
Macchiavelli for 4 lire much to my delight. We then went to the
Perugino - Rafael Cenacolo - very peaceful and Peruginesque with
an angel offering the cup of sorrows in the calm background. Then to
the spezeria of S Maria Novella where they still make scents and
where we walked in to a little vaulted chapel covered with fine
frescoes by Spinello Aretino. In the afternoon to the Academia - I like
much an Adoration by [space left blank] which stands on an easel
and the Botticelli more and more. To tea at the Villa Palmieri where
most of them had influenza.