Thurs. 8. [8 February 1894] In the morning to the Bargello - what a
lovely piece of domestic building. I don't feel happy about
Donatello's statues; they seem to me a little feeble but his bas reliefs
are delicious. The David with a hat I like and the St George.
Verrochio's David, Benvenuto's casts for the Perseus, Gian da
Bologna's Mercury which looks as if he were really really flying
Ghiberti's competition model, and then the della Robbia's - Luca's
much the nicest with only 2 or at most 3 colours - a white virgin on a
blue ground and white lilies with green leaves wreathed about her. In
the afternoon to our Professor's lecture - then to the Scalzo where we
saw lovely Andrea del Sarto frescoes, the history of John the Baptist
and I began to have a proper feeling for him. Then to the S Annuntiata
where there were more of his frescoes, in colours, particularly a birth
of the Virgin and a healing of a woman with a demon - then to the
Baptistery gates which are a pure joy.