Few words on the Romanesque

Palazzo della Signoria or Palazzo Vecchio

In Italy the lively Romanesque, nourished on classical roots, gave a cool welcome to the French Gothic style. It willingly adopted certain structural elements, such as the pointed arch and clustered columns carrying rib vaults, thus favouring the "upward thrust" corresponding to the medieval spiritual quest; but it set heavy limits on the style's symbolic verticals, and avoided those staggering ornamentations which reduced the mystic ogival manner to the trivialities of flamboyant Gothic in countries beyond the Alps. 

The fusion of Gothic and Romanesque, moreover, happened in different ways in various Italian regions, according to the spirit of local cultures.

An outstanding example of this period is the huge stone mass of the Palazzo della Signoria, or Palazzo Vecchio in Florence (1298-1314), attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio. 

The Crucifixion by Perugino in Borgo Pinti

Pietro Perugino, The Crucifixion, 1493-96
Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi,
Florence

Borgo Pinti is one of the main streets of Florence which takes you to the historical centre. On this street there is the complex of Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi, founded in 1257, and dedicated to the Florentine Carmelitane.

In the Charter House of this complex, Perugino (c.1446/50-1523), an Umbrian painter of the Renaissance period, active between Umbria, Tuscany and Rome, frescoed the theme of the Crucifixion.

The decoration is a triptych and takes up a whole wall, divided by the ceiling vaults and the painted architectural arch elements. The harmonious and luminous scenery contributes to decreasing the emphasis of the drama represented by the scene, that reflects the typical serene and meditative attitude of the artist.

During the summer it is hard to have access to the complex, because the main entrance it is through the local school, which is currently closed for holiday.

An earlier version of the same subject it is visible in the National Gallery of Art in the United States.

If you are curious and you want to know more about it here the link:

The Crucifixion with the Virgin by Perugino

A presto!

Is that Dante?

The Museo of Bargello in Florence is one of those museums less visited by tourists! It has an extensive sculpture collection, including some of the best work by Donatello, Verrocchio, Michelangelo, Cellini and Giambologna. It has a collection of Renaissance medals on the second floor, which includes some wonderful work by Pisanello, a charming collection of Medieval household implements such as combs, hair pins, mirrors and ivory caskets in the so-called Sala degli Avori, or Ivory Room.

This building itself was the official residence of the Captain of the People, later the Podesta` of Medieval Florence, but also as a prison where many convicts awaiting execution would spend their last days. 

In this museum there is a room on the first floor, the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, the place where the convicts would spend their final hours before beginning their journey to the scaffold. Vasari informs us that Giotto (1267-1337), a famous Italian painter, acclaimed for the cycle of Saint Francis in Assisi and for the Arena Chapel in Padua, painted on the altar wall of the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene a portrait of his friend Dante Alighieri, the writer of the Divine Comedy. 

Portrait of Dante, 1337
Fresco, Florence

In 1839 a group of Italian art-lovers, having read this same passage in Vasari's Lives of the Artists, applied for permission to search for the portrait underneath the coat of whitewash that had meanwhile been applied to the walls. They uncovered a largely ruined cycle of frescoes depicting, amongst other subjects, Hell and Paradise. Below the figure of Christ they found the group described by Vasari complete with Giottos's portrait of Dante. 

Unfortunately, the face of the supposed poet was badly damaged. Dante's characteristic profile was quickly returned to him by simple and pragmatic exigency of a restoration policy of the time.

Therefore today its authenticity is more than dubious! 

You know the best thing to do it is just to go and check with your own eyes next time in Florence!!!

A presto!

The Duke and the painter

Piero della Francesca, Federico da Montefeltro

Federico da Montefeltro's portrait in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence is part of the Urbino Diptych executed by Piero della Francesca between 1465 and 1472.

Federico ruled the small, hilly territory in the Marche region. He became duke in 1444, after the murder of his half-brother Oddantonio. He married Battista Sforza, the lady represented on the other side of the Diptych. Federico was a military commander and a man opened to the humanistic culture. In fact, the ducal palace of Urbino became the new architectural model and a cosmopolitan centre for the most recent redevelopments in the art. 

His face was disfigured after he suffered a wound that altered his appearance, therefore since then he was always depicted in strict profile, showing his good side.

The painter who executed the work was Piero della Francesca (1416/17-1492), the best known of the second generation of humanist painters. He provided a new approach to painting: a close link between art and geometry, as well as between poetical expression and mathematical rules. He worked across Italy, from Rome, to Rimini, to Ferrara, to then starting the execution of the Story of the True Cross in 1452 in the Church of San Francesco, Arezzo. Later in the 1460's he started to work for the court of Duke Federico da Montefeltro, executing even this interesting artwork.

Piero became the new artist, the personality to have in the court. In fact, he produced so many masterpieces, so loved and appreciated by art lovers!

Palazzo Davanzati in Florence - a different museum

Florence

Imagine a different day in Florence! You want to escape the crowd and the confusion of the city center, where to go? what to do? i have an idea...go and visit Palazzo Davanzati.

In the past this palace belonged to the Davizzi family, wealthy merchants in the late fourteenth century. They constructed the palace, which later was purchased by the Davanzati family in the late sixteenth century.

This palace brings you back in time, show you the structure of what the modern palaces are going to be, so don't miss this place next time you are in Florence!!!

Palazzo Davanzati
Florence

Palazzo Davanzati


Address:  Via Porta Rossa 13 – Firenze – Tel. 055 2388610

Hours: Weekdays: 8.15 am – 1.50 pm; open second and fourth Monday of the month.

Holidays: 8.15 – 1.50 pm – open first, third and fifth Sunday of the month.

Closed on: the second and fourth Sunday of the month; the first, third and fifth Monday of every month. December 25, January 1, May 1

A presto!!

Simona

Welcome "Primavera"!!!

Primavera di Botticelli - Birth of Venus by Botticelli

… “arbitrium tu, dea, floris habe.”
Saepe ego digestos volui numerare colores,
nec potui: numero copia maior erat.

   Ovidio, Fasti, V, 210 sgg  .

.. "Goddess, take charge of the flowers,"
I often wanted to count the colors of the plants he'd
set out, but I couldn't: the profusion was beyond  counting.         

Today the northern hemisphere celebrates the first day of Spring!
... what better example than the Primavera or Birth of Venus by Botticelli, a key works in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence!


Are you planning a trip, or you have a strong passion or an interest in art...I organize private art group cafe' such as lectures at university and galleries, but also community education classes.


Questions? you can contact me HERE


A presto!!

Madonna and Child by Jacopo Sansovino

Madonna and Child by Sansovino © Copyright ANSA

For the art lovers this is a wonderful thing happened in Florence in the last few days! Medical technology has helped restore to life a terracotta Madonna and Child by Renaissance sculptor Jacopo Sansovino.
Florence art critics said they did not know exactly when the artwork had been broken and who was responsible for a series of restorations, which ruined it, altering the shape and colour of the piece. 


The work was presented to the media in Florence before its return to the Civic Museum of Vicenza.

Madonna and Child by Sansovino© Copyright ANSA

Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino (1486-1570) was a sculptor and architect, and best known for his works around St Mark's square in Venice.

Florence: Palazzo Pitti

Palazzo Pitti is just over the other side of ponte Vecchio in Florence. On October 19th I spent an intensive day around galleries to see some of the wonderful exhibitions around the city!! 

My first stop with my dad was at Palazzo Pitti to see the exhibition of Caravaggio e i Caravaggeschi

That's before we enter the exhibition: I have got the tickets on my hands!!

That's what we see from the window of the palace...the Boboli garden...

...and a beautiful view of Florence

....and before we get down on the steps....

....towards the exit!!

More about Florence

Florence is a place to visit!! If you have limited time have a walk along the Ponte Vecchio and the beautiful center of the city!!

Ponte Vecchio in black and white by Simona Albanese

Florence in black and white by Simona Albanese

Bronzino in Florence

On October 19th I left Rome early in the morning to spend the day in Florence with my dad, where I have enjoyed Bronzino's exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in the afternoon after visiting Caravaggio e i Caravaggeschi's exhibition at the Pitti Palace.

The artworks on display were appropriately chosen, the explanations were exhaustive....in Italian and in English....plus the building the exhibition was in I believe it has its own fashion. I would go back!!

A posting from Florence

Yesterday my dad and my mum have enjoyed the day with some friends in Florence, visiting the Boboli gardens and some other main city sites. These are some of the photos....

my dad