Page:On the Vatican Library of Sixtus IV.djvu/24

 this latter room was wisely provided with a window looking into the Library, so that the librarian could see what was going forward there.

Habuit Gratiadeus pro fabrica quæ fit apud Bibliothecam pro duabus cameris ad usum bibliothecarii et custodum, ubi erat coquina vetus.

Item habuit magister Franciscus de Mediolano faber lignarius pro una porta de pino intarsiata che va de la camera a la libreria ducati tre. Item per una porta de pino [che] va nela corte ducati doa. [8 January, 1481.]

Item habuit magister Ioannes de Caravagio faber lignarius pro duabus portis duplicibus studii et cameræ ducatos tres, pro fenestra studii et ea quæ respicit in librariam ducatos duos. [Same day.]

III. Comparison of the building with the Accounts.

We will next compare the various extracts from the Accounts which I have collected together with the building, assisted by the accompanying plan (fig. 2), drawn from measurements taken by myself during my visit to Rome in March last.

The building is entered from the Cortile del Papagallo through a marble doorway (fig. 2, A) in the classical style surmounted by the arms of Sixtus IV. On the frieze are the words SIXTUS PAPA IIII. The doorcase is doubtless that made in 1476; but the door, with its gilt nails and other adornments, has disappeared. Within the doorway there has been a descent of three steps at least to the floor of the Library. The four rooms of which it was once composed are now used as the Floreria or Gardemeuble of the Vatican Palace; a use to which they have probably been put ever since the new Library was built at the end of the sixteenth century. My plan shews the building as it was when first built, before other structures abutted against it. To understand its present condition the plan of Letarouilly (fig. 1), must be studied.

The rooms at the east end, by which one of the windows (H, fig. 2) of the Bibliotheca pontificia is blocked, are part of