Page 148 - An account of the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. 1777 to 2012UGLE

148 An Account of the

the original members of the Lodge, J. B. Cipriani, the distinguished painter, an
56
original Member of the Royal Academy, the painter & donor of our beautiful
jewels, & the mention of whose name recalls the early days of the Lodge to
which our attention has been peculiarly & forcibly directed during its centennial
year .... Brethren, it occurred to me that I might, without presumption, ask your
permission to record my retirement from the Chair this evening by presenting
to the Lodge a copy of this portrait. Freemasonry is essentially a conservative
institution, it cherishes the allegories in which its system of morality is veiled, it
hallows the memory of those bright characters who have transmitted to us the
ennobling principles & tenets which are the life blood of the Institution, and it
is in perfect harmony with the Masonic instinct for our Lodge today to revert
to the happy times when Cipriani, Bartolozzi & others were living & working
members of the Nine Muses. There are reasons why, without forgetting other
names, that of Cipriani is enshrined in our memories, & I ask you to treat this
portrait as an additional link in the chain connecting the past with the present,
as a centre around which the shifting sands of time may gather into a Lodge
landmark, & as we sometimes gaze upon these bright and benignant features
perchance a warmer sunshine may cheer us, & our hearts may be refreshed with
recollections which the storms of life have less power to destroy.
(Signed) WALTER WEBB W.M. No 235.

The thanks of the Lodge, inscribed on vellum, were presented to Bro. Walter
Webb at the November meeting of the same year.
Brethren need hardly be reminded that the Uffizi Gallery at Florence contains
a unique collection of portraits of eminent artists, painted, on the invitation of
the Directors of the Gallery, by their own hands, and that such an invitation is
regarded as a high distinction.
In Cipriani’s time the Gallery was controlled by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany.
The portrait measures 23½ inches by 19 inches, inside the frame.
The accompanying plate (No. 12) gives a good idea of it. The artist is shown
as a young man, with fresh complexion, lustrous dark brown eyes, and dark hair
tied in a queue.

56 The actual donor was, it would seem, Bro. Biggin: vide Footnote 4, p. 12.