Tuesday, July 15... Bargello... Santa Croce... David

This is our last full day in Florence. We get up early (8:45 am) but not out the door till 10:30. These details are included here to give the reader some indication of just how lazy we truly are. But an early start is necessary today, because the Bargello closes at 2pm. Bummer.

Our first stop today is the Bargello, which is the main sculpture museum in town. It has some very famous works, and cannot be missed. It is housed in a former barracks and prison… and looks like it.

Building Exterior

Building Courtyard

Cool Fountain sculpture.
I wasn't sure what this sculpture group was... but then I noticed holes in the nipples of the central figure, and I knew it must be a fountain.

Baptistery Panels.
These are the famous panels created by Ghiberti (on the left) and Brunelleschi (on the right) for the competition (of 1401) to sculpt the baptistry doors for the Baptistry of Florence.  The theme of the panels is "The Sacrifice of Issac". I had read where Ghiberti's panels (which won) were superior to Brunelleschi's due to the greater dynamic and fluid sense of the figures (the newer, Renaissance style emerging), as against Brunelleschi's older style, which was more rigid and angular. Seeing them in person confirmed that they do actually possess those formal properties. In fact, Ghiberti's figures are significantly more fluid and naturalistic, which seeing them in person made clear. It's interesting how viewing sculpture in person makes all the difference. I suppose this is due to sculpture being an actual object in space, rather than the flat illusion of a painting.

Donatello's David.

Donatello's "David" is considered to be the first full length nude sculpture since antiquity. Which is prety cool, I guess. I had always heard it described as being very homoerotic... very feminine for a male figure... and photographs of the sculpture seemed to bear this out. It is often contrasted with Verrochio's "David" (pictured further down this page), whose jaunty pose and boyish energy is contrasted with Donatello.

But having viewed these in person, my mind was completely changed. The Donatello is substantially superior. What seems at first feminine is actually an expression of a physical nature. Why this should seem feminine... I don't know. The position of the hand on the hip strikes the modern viewer as affected and non-masculine... but the power of the figures disposition in 360 degrees is very power... very masculine. By contrast, Verrochio's David looks like an illustration... like a cut out... like a cartoon character.

Verocchio's David.

Michelangelo's Bacchus.

Michelangelo sculpted this in 1496, at the age of 21.  The sculpture is notable for it's accurate depiction of a drunken pose, complete with unbalanced figure and rolling eyes. Michelangelo's sculpture is one of colossal proportions and grand ambition. This works well enough when the figures represent sober and spiritual things... but in this case, the large scale of the drunken Bacchus seems odd, and the mass of the of the figure is more flaccid than strong. I suppose this presupposes some correlation between outward strength and inward seriousness... such that drunkenness and overwhelming physicality are somewhat incompatible. Something to think about.

Michelangelo's Pitti Tondo.

This work was especially relevant to me because I had done a case drawing of this piece from a cast at Pafa. I examined it very closely for severa minutes, hoping to catch a glimpse of some detail that was missing in the case. But this is hard to do, without having them side by side. I could tell that the original has some level of textural detail that was immediately present... but that overall, the cast at Pafa captured the significant details. This is to be expected. Even poor casts are pretty accurate.

After the Bargello we head over to the church of Santa Croce. Michelangelo is buried here, as is Galileo. There is also a huge sculpture that is thought to be the inspriation for the statue of liberty.

Michelangelo's Tomb

Insspiration for the Statue of Liberty???

PAZZI CHAPEL

The Pazzi Chapel is a separate building that is attached to Santa Croce. It was built by Brunelleschi in the 1470s. The simplicity and purity of the design is considered a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture, in as much as it mirrors the symmetries of classical architecture. Oddly enough, though... the plan for the building is not a square (despite symmetry of a circular dome). This is because (like so much in Rome and Florence), the chapel was built upon a pevious structure, whose foundations were not square.

Life-like sculpture of weary Americans.

Androids in front of Santa Croce.

We had planned on heading over to the Duomo next, which we do. But the line is long in the hot sun next to the building... so we blow it off. We head toward the Academy Gallery, in order to see the statue of David. Along the way I hunt down yet another mythic art store... which turns out to be absurd and irrelevant.

We get to the Academy Gallery at around 6:30, and wait in line for maybe 1/2 hour. Finally we are going to see Michelangelo's David. Margaret has seen it before... and I've seen the cast of it everyday for two years at Pafa. So it's no big deal to me... other than that I know everyone will ask me if I saw it... so I must actually go and see it. Which we do.

We also see a selection of Michelanglos slaves and prisoner sculptures.

Margaret checking out nude men.

A room full of casts.

It's been a long, long day. Tons of walking. We stop at a cafe on Via dei Servi, and then head all the way back across the Ponte Vecchio to get some more groceries at the store. Then back to the apartment. Tomorrow we are leaving Florence, which is my excuse for scoring one last cup of Florentine gelato.