And today that means Florence, Firenzie. We started at the Galleria Degli Uffizi. It was a walking tour. We met our guide, who told us some jokes and trivia about the Medici as we waited to get into the museum. The Uffizi is in a 16th century palace turned administrative center (Uffizi means “offices”) turned museum, and one of the most popular and important in Italy.
The last of the ruling Medici family gave the art to the city, and the Uffizi became one of the first modern museums. It officially opened in 1765, making it one of the early modern museums in the world. Think of that. This has been a museum longer than the U.S. has been a country. It’s always nice to get a dose of perspective and history. And this place has plenty of both. There are 101 rooms here, and even still parts of the collection have to displayed in other venues for space.
The guided tour took hours off of wait, so for that alone it was worth it, but we saw some incredible works. These were just a few of the things we saw:
This thing is only 2,050 years old or so. (Scholars compare the statue to impressions on coins to date this to around 30 B.C.) You can see the changes around the eyes and mouth, and cleaning has removed some of the facial details. That’s a reworked statue of a young Prima Porta Augustus. That’s the head, but the experts would tell you the body is certainly a few decades younger than the head. Such is this museum that this all barely gets a mention, but he seems to be telling us to slow down, take a moment. This is fitting.
I like reliefs. And these pillars tell the story of military victories.
This statue of the god, Apollo, is one of at least four or five in the museum. This particular one is a second century piece, later restored by Giovan Battista Pieratti in the first half of the 17th century. Pieratti was both a sculptor and an architect. But a person that had one of those roles often had both.
And this dog was also a second century work. Something a little more lasting than Instagram, perhaps:
The signage, I believe, says the myth here is that this was the sarcophagus used for Hippolytus of Rome, a very important theologian of the ancient Christian Church:
So important was he that there are many legends surrounding him — and how often do you say that about a writer and religious scholar? Maybe his biggest influence has to do with time. He wrote the story of the world, spanning from creation (about 5500 B.C., based on the Septuagint) to the year 234. Pretty much all of the chronographical works that came after leaned on his work. He had a falling out with powerful Roman leaders and died in exile in Sardinia. And somehow this sarcophagus got attached to his story. But that the sign says it is a myth …
Here’s some of the detail on the side:
The boar is very important locally, but you could just study the faces for a good long while, couldn’t you?
This is Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels by Duccio di Buoninsegna. It is the largest known painted panel from the 13th century. We learned all about the painting process during our visit. Seems you just didn’t go down to the store and pick up the new pigments. They were resourceful, the old painters, and getting ready to paint sounds as time-consuming as the art itself:
Giotto di Bondone created this from 1306 to 1310. The Madonna with child and angels motif is a common one, but this one was influential. How Bondone handled the space influenced artists for the next hundred years. See the angels holding flowers in the bottom foreground?
That’s apparently the oldest still life.
This took 10 years of a master’s effort. And such an artist was Cimabue that he was willing to break from his Byzantine tapestry style and adapt to the work of younger painters. It’s all about the proportions:
Apparently the scrolls have to do with Christ’s incarnation and the virgin, Mary.
Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Mone Cassai was one of the first Renaissance painters and this 1425 work of Jesus, Mary and Mary’s mother, Anne, is thought to be one of his works.
This is really cool. The Battle of San Romano, by Paolo Uccello, is one of the paintings that changed everything:
It is one of three paintings commissioned to depict the Florentines’ military victory over the nearby Sienese near Pisa in 1432. (Both sides claim the win.) The war itself marginalized the political heft of the Tuscany region, and reshaped Italian politics for generations. And look at how the sizes of the bodies change in that painting above. That’s perspective, and this is one of the first mathematical demonstrations of that in art.
No one knows what this Sandro Botticelli painting is supposed to mean, but it isn’t for lack of trying:
The painting, which has themes of love, peace and prosperity has at least 138 plant species meticulously included in it. It is one of his most discussed, and most controversial, works.
The sign on this one says “two angels move the canopy curtains back to allow the faithful to see the Virgin and the Christ Child while another two angels show Jesus the nails and the crown of thorns of His Passion.”
This is definitely how I’m going to redecorate our house next time:
Just look at that ceiling:
I am standing next to greatness. This is the only panel that Michelangelo painted. The Doni Tondo features the Holy Family has a Hellenistic feel to it, doesn’t it?
That’s St. John the Baptist looking on from behind the wall, the males in the background are painted to look like statues. The painting was created in 1507 and the Medici family bought it before the century was out. The frame itself is a work of art, and it is thought that that was designed by Michelangelo, too.
By Zeus’ head! That’s Zeus’ head!
This is thought to be a 2nd century piece and was restored by Innocenzo Spinazzi in the 18th century. Spinazzi was originally hired by Grand Duke Leopold (you might remember his later name, Emperor Leopold II) to work on restoring classic works. Overtime he became a professor and the best sculptor in Florence.
Here’s a 2nd century rendition of the mighty Hercules:
And even as a 2nd century piece, this is a copy. The original was a 4th century B.C. thought to be from a sculptor named Lysippos. Behind his back Hercules is holding the fabled apples from the Garden of Hesperides. Lysippos was one of the three great sculptors of the Classical Greek era, and helped bring about the Hellenistic period. He was also Alexander the Great’s personal sculptor. In fact, just a few years ago a bronze bust believed to be Alexander was discovered/recovered from thieves. It is believed to be a Lysippos original, which is … what’s the term for “beyond exceedingly rare”? It would be the first.
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, you may know him as simply Raphael, painted Madonna of the Goldfinch. It was painted as a wedding gift for a prominent merchant in 1505. If you look closely you can see damage to some of the wood:
There was a landslide in 1547 and the art was destroyed. But then it was rebuilt by Raphael’s friend, Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, a prominent painters of altarpieces, frescoes, and portraits. The Medicis got it in the 17th century, and it has been on display for most of the time sense. It was most recently restored in 2010.
Styles of art have to intersect somewhere. This altarpiece, a 1500 example of Il Garofalo’s work, is one such work. It has to do with the soft lines and the bright colors:
It’s titled Madonna and Child Enthroned with St. Martin and St. Rosalia.
This is The Virgin in Adoration of the Child:
It’s a 16th century oil on canvas work from Antonio Allegri, or Correggio. The frame is a 17th century piece.
And this is Madonna of the Long Neck, for obvious reasons:
It is oil on wood, and was left incomplete, the 1540 painting was taken by the French after Napoleon came through in 1799. it was returned in 1815 and has been at the Uffizi since just after World War II. It was restored in the 1990s.
I got jostled about for this one. While we have seen so many magnificent works from globally renowned masters, everyone knows this name, so there was a crowd, a jostling crowd. But when you’re standing a foot away from a Leonardo da Vinci …
The Baptism of Christ is dated from 1470 to 1475. And if the dates are right and the scholars are right, da Vinci did his work on this in his late teens and early 20s. Researchers believe parts of the landscape, the representation of Jesus and the angel in profile are da Vinci’s work. Andrea del Verrocchio was his mentor, and this is maybe his technically his work. But the student oftentimes surpasses the teacher.
