Italy #3: Assorted Artworks
Our hotel in Rome was walking distance from the Vatican, and we stumbled upon this church on the way. Almost invisible, its entrance was easy to miss, appearing like the door of all the buildings next to it. Even that unknown church (Google couldn’t help) gave us a glimpse of the artworks of Italy that we would experience over the next 10 days. It even had a finely polished table at the center, which provided a perfect reflection of its ceiling. So much easier to take a pic via the reflection (us doing just that in the pic below). Later, I felt they could have created this “reflection” system too for ease of photography. But then again, no photos allowed in the Sistine Chapel.
After a point, the endless religious themed sculptures can feel repetitive. So sculptures like these in the Vatican provide a good break.
Only
later after seeing the Statue of David in Florence did I notice something about
the goat (top-left above) – like David, the statue cannot stand on just the
legs, so extra support has to be provided. Contrast how odd the support for the
goat looks against the nearly invisible tree stump behind David. Sometimes you
appreciate genius (Michelangelo) even more when you see alternatives.
Across the Vatican, not-famous churches in Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice, paintings on the ceilings and on domes are very commonplace. See how long this one is, extending across a long walkway of the Vatican.
There is so much artistry even at the famous Trevi fountain.
At Florence, in the Accademia Gallery where the
Statue of David is kept, there are a lot of sculptures.
Florence was the HQ of the world’s first bankers, the insanely rich (and thus very powerful) Medici family. They were huge patrons of the arts, setting up open areas with all the material needed by anyone who wanted to try their hand. No wonder then, Florence is the home of great art and great artists (Michelangelo, da Vinci, Donatello, Vasari, the list is endless). In return, the Medicis were often inserted into the paintings and their statues put in office buildings! Below, Lorenzo Medici (aka Lorenzo the Magnificent), the Birth of Venus (with a Medici favourite as Venus), Primavera (with a Medici and a Medici favourite), and Donatello. All of these are at the Uffizi museum in Florence.
The Medicis weren’t the only rich folks in
Florence. Another businessman Doni got Michelangelo to paint what turned out to
be the only easel painting by the great man. Doni asked for a family portrait
of himself, his wife and their new born baby. Michelangelo came up with The
Holy Family, with Mary and Christ obviously but also Joseph in it – it is
one of the rare occasions when Joseph is prominent in a painting.
If you get tired of the Christian themed paintings, the Uffizi also has some variety thanks to some Dutch paintings and some by Caravaggio. My 13 yo daughter was very happy to see these – no Christianity, people looked normal, were fully clothed (David embarrassed her no end, even worse, people kept staring at him in admiration) and even some degree of savagery. Just what the doctor ordered.
This sculpture, though not famous, was educational. First take a look.
Notice something odd about it, asked our guide?
The upper body is disproportionately large. But no, that’s not a flaw, he told
us. What?! Sculptures and statues were made for a particular viewing angle.
So the artist would sculpt with that in mind. If you view it from the wrong
angle (as is the case with this one), it will look all wrong. But view it from
the intended angle, and it will look right! It got me thinking – this was
another aspect to the Statue of David that Michelangelo had absolutely nailed.
From the angles we saw it (as it was intended and designed for), David looked
anatomically perfect.
It is only right to wrap this blog up with the
last sculpture (incomplete) by Michelangelo, the Bandini Pieta.
It shows a broken Christ as he is being taken down from the cross. Christ is supported by two Mary’s (Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene) and was lowered from the cross by a man named Nicodemus. Michelangelo decided to insert his self-portrait as Nicodemus. Our guide told us that the old Michelangelo took a hammer at the sculpture in anger (at what, the guide wasn’t clear). But other analysis suggests that the reason Michelangelo abandoned it was that the block of marble was flawed and started to develop cracks at the base…
I realized that Florence is the ultimate
exhibition of Michelangelo’s ability to do things differently (David as man,
not boy; converting a family portrait into the Holy Family with a
prominent Joseph; a self-portrait in sculpture).
The perfect end to a so-rich-in-arts tour of Italy.
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