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| Picture of the Florence Cathedral I took from the East side |
From the moment I stepped off the train in Florence, I
sensed a shift in energy. Everything felt smaller and more intimate –
which actually makes a lot of sense, considering that Florence’s relatively
conservative metropolitan population of 360,000 is DWARFED by Rome’s more than
2.6 million. And yet I don’t think it is necessarily the smaller size of
Florence that gives it a more intimate aesthetic. All the historic sites
in Florence are concentrated in one small area, and not just concentrated, but
bound together by a rich Renaissance heritage and connection to the Medici
dynasty.
This blog is intended to summarize the highlights of my trip
to Florence from a historical standpoint. I will be attempting to tie the
architectural sites and artwork that I visited to the architects and artists who
created them, and, by extension, to the patrons of those architects and artists
– which were almost always members of the Medici family. Aaand we’ll
probably delve into my personal opinions on art theory along the way. So
it goes. No time to waste! Andiamo!
It’s impossible to start discussing Florentine art and
architecture at all without first recognizing the family that made it all
possible. The Medicis were a Renaissance political power family that rose
to prominence in the mid-fifteenth century under Cosimo de’ Medici. The
family became the hereditary grand dukes of Tuscany, and they also produced
three Popes during their long reign – which lasted from approximately 1434
(Cosimo the Elder rises to power) to 1743 (death of Anna Maria Luisa de’
Medici). Florence was built, adorned, and celebrated under the patronage
of the Medicis.
The very first site we visited after arriving in Florence,
the iconic Florence Cathedral (also known the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the
Flower, or, more simply, Il Duomo Firenze), was completed under Cosimo
the Elder. Construction on the current structure actually began in the
late 13th century under Arnolfo di Cambio (on the site of an earlier
structure dedicated to St. Reparata). However, it was under the patronage
of Cosimo the Elder in the early 15th century that the building was
imbued with its immortalizing grandeur.
The dome of the Cathedral was completed in 1436 under the
direction of master architect and goldsmith, Filippo Brunelleschi.
Brunelleschi won the job over Lorenzo Ghiberti, after having lost a previous
competition for the design of the bronze baptistery door panels to Ghiberti.
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| Ghiberti's bronze baptistery doors (In the Il Duomo museum) |
Brunelleschi was a taskmaster. We were told on a tour
of the Il Duomo museum that Brunelleschi once pretended to be sick just
to see if work on the dome could proceed without his direction (it could not!)
The gargantuan cupola structure is actually comprised of two domes,
an inner and an outer dome that support each other. I don’t think the
idea of the two interlocking domes really clicked in my mind until I was
climbing in the narrow, slanted, dark space between the two.
Yes, I climbed to the top of Brunelleschi’s big, bad dome –
and I’ll be the first to admit that the climb was terrifying. However,
the claustrophobic spiral staircases, slanted walls, and dizzying heights were
all worth it for the view at the top! I felt tremendous relief when I
finally saw the sunlight at the crest of the final staircase. I didn’t stay up
there too long though, as a thunderstorm was rolling in!
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| View from the Top of the Florence Cathedral. Palazzo Vecchio tower on the far left side |
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| Selfie from the top of the Florence Cathedral. The bell tower is just above my head in the picture |
The giant tower on the left side of the first above
photo is actually Palazzo Vecchio, the historic town hall and political
center of Florence. Piazza della Signori, the square in front of
this building – which I walked through probably half a dozen times during my
stay in Florence – is home to many famous sculptures. Here’s one of
Perseus holding the head of Medusa, by Benvenuto Cellini.
A replica of Michelangelo’s David also keeps watch
over the Piazza, but the replica simply doesn’t capture the grandeur of the
original – which now stands in Galleria Accademia, a museum we visited on our second
day in Florence.
Seeing David in person was a truly breathtaking
encounter – rivaled only, in my opinion, by catching a glimpse of the Sistine
Chapel ceiling for the first time. Thanks, Michelangelo. The
statue simply radiates power, from the massive scale of the hands, to the
individual veins bulging out on the forearms. However, the external
feature I admired most about the statue was its facial expression.
David’s gaze is cool and collective; Michelangelo captures the contemplative
countenance that only the victorious combatant is blessed with. The
statue does, after all, depict David in the aftermath of his fight with
Goliath.
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| Michelangelo's David |
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| The countenance of David |
I stared up in awe at David’s face for some 10 to 15
minutes. How could Michelangelo ever have acquired enough detail to
lend life – to lend emotion – to a solid piece of marble? Amazing.
Oh, and then there’s always the fact that Michelangelo completed this
masterpiece at just 29 years of age. Ho hum.
If I had to choose one other piece of artwork that really
stood out to me on this particular trip, it would be Botticelli’s La Primavera
(springtime). This piece, which was painted for Lorenzo di
Pierfrancesco de’ Medici in the late 1470s, is housed in Florence’s famous
Uffizi Gallery Museum. Venus and Cupid are depicted in the central plane
of the painting. On the right, Zephyrus seems to be chasing Flora into
becoming the beautiful woman of Spring. On the left are the three graces,
and Mercury. I like this painting because it represents Spring as a
confluence of ideas – a renewal of both the tangible and the intangible.
The tangible is in the vibrant colors, while the intangible is in the youth of
Venus, and the actions of the other characters that make the scene as a whole
come to life.
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| Botticelli's La Primavera |
The rest of Uffizi was incredible, by the way. The
gallery was built under the patronage of Cosimo I de’ Medici (not to be
confused with Cosimo the elder!) in the mid-16th century.
Today, it houses countless masterworks (in addition to La Primavera),
including Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Raphael’s Madonna of the
Goldfinch, Titian’s Venus of Urbino, and Michelangelo’s Doni
Tondo. The courtyard of the museum is also pretty neat – as it
houses modern statues of the many famous artists, authors, and intellectuals
associated with Florence.
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| Michelangelo's statue in the Uffizi courtyard |
Alright. Enough with the art already! I’d
like to switch gears here and talk briefly about an encounter I had at the
leather market of St. Lawrence on my last afternoon in Florence. St.
Lawrence is an open-air, mile-long stretch of tent stall vendors selling
purses, belts, wallets, jackets, and gloves. It’s a chaotic environment,
where bargaining is the key to survival.
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| The bustling stalls of the San Lorenzo Market |
After pricing wallets all along the stretch of the
market, I finally managed to snag one for just 25 Euro! The original
price was 50 Euro, but over the course of about five minutes, I was able to
talk the vendor down to 35, 30, 28, and finally 25 Euro – which really makes me
wonder how much it was actually worth. Anyways, I had fun negotiating,
and I got an authentic Florentine leather wallet out of the deal!
The market was the last major excursion I made in Florence
before catching a train back to Rome at 5:30 yesterday. Three full days
and two nights sure flew by in a hurry! By my calculations, we went to
five different museums, not to mention countless other historical sites.
Talk about a busy weekend! Now that I’m back in Rome, I feel I can
appreciate Florence as a unique piece of the richly embroidered puzzle that is
Italy.
The Uffizi Gallery website calls Florence “the cradle of the
Renaissance”, and that it most certainly is. Florence is the city
of the Medicis. It’s the home city of Brunelleschi…and Ghiberti, and
Dante, and Boccaccio, and Machiavelli, and Galileo, and So. Many.
Other. Great. Minds. And for three incredible days, it was
the home of yours truly. Ho vissuto a Firenze, y Firenze vive.
Grazie per aver letto,
Brock
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