Santa Maria Novella
There are too many frescos to count here. And too many cloisters with too many tombs to count either. The cloisters are all individually distinct by their architectural choices and their most notable features. (The Green Cloister has lots of grass and large trees.)
The Spanish Chapel was surprisingly more austere than the main sanctuary of the church. The sheer size of the frescos is astounding. They are all so expertly made and beautiful in an aesthetically pleasing way. I am sure that I am missing the feeling that the original viewers would have felt. My perspective half a century away is one of reverence to my ancestors and their religious interest in their contemporaries.
The main cathedral is in no way a place of austere. It is incredibly extravagant in tone and filled to the brim with art and other items that merely showcase the wealth maintained by their patron families. It is in fact, by definition, palatial and that completely defeats the purpose of it being a church in terms of preferred tone of a church.
The art is beautiful, but it does not inspire feelings of religious reverenceI would expect from a church of the time. The involvement of the Medici and other contemporaries of the time is also exceedingly confusing. Maybe this church was meant for those who were already aristocratic and the artwork was meant to be an ego boost for themselves.
Fiesole
It is amazing to be sitting in an amphitheater that is over one-thousand years old, and very odd. The best we could do in the United States as far as man-made materials that old would at most be shattered pottery. It is also strange to think that this theatre and the pottery found here would be ancient by even Renaissance era standards. It makes me wonder what archaeologist would have done with these discoveries in the 1400s.
The amount to which the whole hill itself is relatively untouched by human hands is also amazing to consider. The hill, if it were in America, would have been blasted in order to make the street climbing it easier on travelers. In Italy, it is treacherous for all parties involved on that road. In America, we are lucky to find artifacts from previous civilizations, even fragments of those. The obvious philosophy of building in Italy revolves around the necessity of making a new building instead of conforming to the existing environment. So many of the buildings in Florence are original to the Renaissance and only slightly later. In America, we remove the old to make way for the new, whenever possible.
Uffizi Gallery
The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci
It took three years to complete, some attributing part of it to his mentor Verrochio but the consensus is that he did it alone. It is my favorite da Vinci painting and work overall, barely overtaking Madonna of the Rocks. Its simplicity and depth is surprising if you compare it to other paintings of the age. To an initial viewer, it will appear to only be a normal rendition of the “annunciation” motif that popularly runs in Renaissance art. However, knowing that da Vinci was not an expressly a religious man, it calls into question just how deep the religious iconography goes before it begins to be secular under the surface. Some also speculate to his interest in science being shown here, notably in the design of the angel’s wings closely resembling the wings in his flying machine blueprints.
Accademia Gallery
David
I was interested in the David when we arrived at the Piazzo della Signoria, seeing it in its original place in Florence. It did not have the impact it would later have seeing it in the Accademia, but it was amazing seeing it in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.
Seeing it down the hall in the Accademia was astounding. It had the greatest initial impact of any sight we visited in Florence. Most of the time I spent near him was used to watch others walking around him. I wrote a poem about it (that I am not going to share) that discussed how we as tourists circle around the David today just like Michelangelo did as he carved him. It also calls to attention that some people pay more attention to him than others, giving him a discerning look that his maker must have had. I walked around him a few times, interested in how his pose changes based on where you stand, especially in the perceived intensity of his mood. This is the most fun that I had looking at a piece of art on this trip, if not only for the other people around me.
Overall Thoughts From the Last Entry during the second classroom meeting:
I will look up.
I will look around at my surroundings.
I will look below the surface.
I will consider the context.
Everything that is old is new again. (This is a quote from somewhere, I just can’t find it.)
Quiet is okay. (I knew this, it just seems much more apparent here than in America.)
Take care of yourself, others won’t do it for you.
Don’t be afraid to strike out alone.
Be prepared to make mistakes.
Be prepared to be confused.
Be honest with yourself in terms of your opinions.
Ask for help.
Know how safe you are.
Be willing to be ignorant. (Pretending to be knowledgeable helps no one.)
Be discrete when you are a guest in a foreign country.
Pace yourself.
Think about the history of the very street you walk on every day.
