Seeing – Page 10 – Finding Florence

The Colors of the Della Robbia

Della Robbia glazed ceramic at Bargello Museum

By Rachel Santos

Ever run into gorgeous bursts of ceramic color in Florence or around Tuscany? Tinged with cobalt blue, intense yellow, verdant green, the glazed sculptures of the Della Robbia laboratory are entwined with the history of Florentine craftsmanship. Thanks to a class visit at the Bargello, Rachel Santos digs into the techniques of a family whose origins were documented in the 13th century and whose fortunes transformed in the 1400s when Luca Della Robbia, who trained as a sculptor alongside Donatello, discovered the glazed terracotta technique.

The distinct blue glazes used by the Della Robbia workshop instantly catch your eyes as you enter the first and second floors of the Bargello Museum. The Della Robbia family receives credit for being the first to use the glazed sculpture technique in hopes of creating more distinct and vibrant glazes. Although most known for their blue and white glazes, the Della Robbia family also used green and yellow hues to add even more color to their reliefs. The uniqueness of these glazes came from their chemical compositions; the Della Robbia altered the chemical balance of the glazes to include higher levels of tin and lead in order to increase the durability and opaqueness of the hues. Additionally, chemical studies lead artists and art historians to believe the famous blue glaze came from cobalt pigments. No one, however, can be sure, for these glaze formulas have been kept secret by the Della Robbia workshop. As a result of these special formulas, this family business flourished during the Renaissance, leading to great respectability and prosperity for the family. Be sure to visit the Bargello Museum to see their glazes, their pristine attention to detail and their masterful technique of relief work!

Bargello Museum
Via Proconsolo 4, Florence
Visit the museum website for hours and tickets.

Other places to check out Della Robbia work locally:
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence
Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence

Day trip ideas in Tuscany:
1. The Santuario della Verna is a medieval sanctuary in the countryside near Arezzo dedicated to Saint Francis that contains several important examples of the Della Robbia.
2. Pistoia is a town only a 35-minute train ride from Florence. You can check out Della Robbia works at San Giovanni Fuorcivitas (only 3d sculpture in existence) and the facade of the Duomo. Make sure to stroll around the town while you’re there.

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Why All Students Should Visit The Uffizi

View of frescoed hallway in an Uffizi corridor

By Zack Shattuck
Photo by Petar Milošević

I am not an art major, nor would I call myself a lover of art, but I will say that the Uffizi represents an important historic and cultural gateway to Italy and is a must for all students. Right as you walk into the gallery you are instantly awed by the many sculptures and portraits that line the long halls. Beyond framed artwork, your eyes will also be drawn to the vast and intricate examples of ceiling art. Each of the many rooms in the Uffizi has unique works from artists from around the world. A majority of the art in the Uffizi represents the Italian artists from the Renaissance period such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Botticelli.

Despite my lack of art history expertise, I still found myself browsing through the Uffizi for several hours of contemplation, and dedicating substantial amounts of time to single pieces. Always plan on several hours to slowly peruse the many exhibition halls, and any art or visual comm majors should plan on a full day. The Uffizi is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Florence and can have lines that may take hours to get through, so in order to avoid lengthy waiting times you can choose one of two options. The first is to buy a ticket online with a reserved timeslot (for an extra fee). The other is to arrive early, around 8am. After all, you don’t want to waste your precious time in Florence standing in lines right?

Visiting the Uffizi for the first time can be daunting. In addition to 1) reading up on the museum, 2) setting aside a good chunk of the day for the visit, and 3) making online reservations, it may be helpful to visit the Uffizi in “bite-sized chunks” especially if you’ll be living in Florence for a few weeks or months. Thematic visits are always fun to plan and allow you to follow a focused path throughout a museum. The following is a Madonna and child-themed itinerary courtesy of FUA faculty member Federico Cagnucci. Pressed for time? A shorter version of the itinerary can be experienced by following the items with an asterisk*.

UFFIZI ITINERARY: MADONNA AND CHILD – FROM RENAISSANCE TO BAROQUE

XIV century: The transition from the Bizantine style of Middle Ages to Renaissance realism in Tuscany (Siena and Florence)

Duccio, Madonna Rucellai
Cimabue, Madonna of Santa Trinita *
Giotto, Madonna of Ognissanti *
Simone Martini, Annunciation *
Pietro Lorenzetti, Madonna with Child in throne with angels

XV century: The International Gothic

Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi *

XV century: Early Renaissance in Florence

Filippo Lippi, Madonna with Child and Saints *
Sandro Botticelli, Madonna of the Magnificat *
Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi
Leonardo da Vinci, Annunciation *
Leonardo da Vinci, Adoration of the Magi

Early Renaissance in Venice

Jacopo Bellini, Madonna with Child
Antonello da Messina, Madonna with Child *

XVI century: High Renaissance and Mannerism

Florence
- Michelangelo, Doni Tondo (Holy Family), originally painted for Palazzo Doni which houses FUA’s DIVA/IDEAS campus! *
- Rosso Fiorentino, Pala dello Spedalingo di Santa Maria Nuova *
- Pontormo, Madonna with Child and Saint John *
- Bronzino, Holy Family Panciatichi
- Raphael, Madonna del cardellino *

Emilia Romagna and Lombardia
- Correggio, Madonna in adoration of Christ
- Parmigianino, Madonna with long neck *
- Lorenzo Lotto, Holy Family

XVII century Baroque in Italy

Rome (followers of Caravaggio): Gherardo delle Notti, Adoration of the Christ *
Florence: Carlo Dolci, Announcement Virgin Mary

Image credit:
“Uffizi Gallery hallway” by Petar Milošević – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uffizi_Gallery_hallway.JPG#/media/File:Uffizi_Gallery_hallway.JPG

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David’s Right Hand

By Jess Mitchell
Photo courtesy of FUA

More than the paintings, more than the architecture, nothing fascinated me more than David’s right hand.

It was the veins that interested me. They slithered down his arm and bulged around his knuckles. They were different from the veins that popped out of the papery skin of the elderly. These veins were visible because of strain, I thought, the work of a shepherd. I wanted to run my finger along the hand and feel the life that pulsed from it.

Art is like magic. It draws on the life we know and adds elements from another place or dimension or world, so that when we walk past a piece, the familiar and the alien work together to capture our attention.

It took a while for that magic to work on me when I went to the Uffizi and Academia. But then I met David. The hand, the veins, the eyes that you wished would glance at you, they wove a story together. There was a sense of life, of a miracle, right before me, and it demanded a response.

My response was to become a photojournalist.

Throughout the Academia and Uffizi, I began to see the statues and paintings as snapshots in time. They were the best types of models because they never sneezed or blinked. I could shoot around them, stare at them for uncomfortably long periods of time, and dig up their stories. David’s story was that he had arrived at the stream to pick his stones to fight Goliath, and he paused in his work to survey his home as he prepared for battle.

Art asks us to meet it halfway, in a special place between reality and imagination. I met art through a right hand, a camera, and a story. And through them, I saw beauty.

Suggestions:

The original David statue sculpted by Michelangelo is housed at the Galleria dell’Accademia. Copies of the statue can be also admired in panoramic locations such as Palazzo Vecchio (where it was originally placed) and Piazzale Michelangelo.

Details on the background, creative process, and historic currents of Michelangelo’s David provided by the Accademica can be consulted before visiting the statue.

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Duomo: Stories Unseen

By Lauren Fromin
Photo courtesy of Erica Kavanagh

We all visit the Duomo in Florence but did you know that the museum dedicated to the cathedral has bene recently renovated? The new museum is a breath of fresh air that recounts Florentine history in a beautiful contemporary setting. Flowing through the halls of The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo are stories unseen by most visitors.

As you enter the main hallway to pass through the Museo’s winding exhibitions, you come face-to-face with a smooth, marbled wall with famous Italian names listed gracefully from floor to ceiling. As is familiar in other flagship museums internationally, a similar wall can be found listing the names of that country’s or time period’s greatest artists. Generally, these walls contain 50-100 names. Behold, the wall of greats in this Florence museum. After having a list of over 1,000 names to engrave, due to space constraints…and financial considerations…(engraving is manual labor) a couple hundred of Florence and Italy’s best were etched into the modern design. This depicts the importance and magnitude of Florence’s talents at the height of some of history’s most important art periods.

A surely breathtaking instance is entering the room housing the original facade design of Santa Maria del Fiore. Having to cut four meters from either side to fit into the exhibit, the rendition holds in place replicated statues in their original positions. However, the original statues are placed at ground level directly underneath the replicated version. This placing is intended to offer the viewer an up close perspective of the body of work in its natural, original form – while respecting the perspective of placement high-up on the facade. The Museo hopes to give off two different observations to understand the artists’ creations.

You will definitely have to take a few steps back to admire the facade’s structure completely, but if you step back too many times, you might run into Ghiberti’s bronze Gates to Paradise. The first set of doors engineered by the young artist at the time, in his early 20s, are displayed in glass protectors, adding an even more ‘heavenly’ appeal. The story goes, Ghiberti beat out Brunelleschi in a competition to sculpt the doors for the Battistero (Baptistry). Supposedly Brunelleschi gave up sculpting due to this and went into architecture. Why are they called the Gates to Paradise, you ask? This other story goes that later on in time Michelangelo walked up to them and at first site declared them the doors to heaven. The doors in turn inspired the young Michelangelo to become a sculptor.

Finally, you enter the Pietà room. On display, isolated on one side of this room, though in its full glory, you come across an original Michelangelo masterpiece. Not to be confused with La Pietà, the statue situated in St. Peter’s in Rome, but Pietà Bandini. An equally remarkable piece of work, with an interesting analysis. Michelangelo wanted this sculpture to dress his tomb, in Rome, where he planned to be buried. As you may know, Michelangelo is buried in Florence instead. An old Michelangelo was so keen to perfect this piece, that in the end he forgot one major component to most human forms. One of the legs of Christ is missing entirely in the sculpture. The extremely informed and witty director of the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Monsignor Verdon, synthesized in one of his own papers on the subject, that Michelangelo had spent all of his life being the best and creating the most amazing, perfect works of art. But by the time he reached an old age, he had began to question his entire life’s work and wondered if he had lived a life of any real worth. Indirectly, his art suffered under this mindset and this statue now famously represents Michelangelo’s own tribute to his death.

These are just a few of the stories waiting to be heard while visiting Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. Never settle for the work of art itself, but alway seek to understand where is came from and how exactly it came to be what it is. The stories will not only humor you, but surely inspiration will find its way to you as well.

Find out how, when, and what to visit at the Opera del Duomo website (in English).

Tip: A special joint ticket for the current Palazzi Strozzi exhibition also includes entrance to the Opera del Duomo until January 24th!

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5 Best Views of Florence

Florence’s city center is full of beautiful architecture and art history. Sometimes you need to get a complete sense of the city from above, to truly see how it’s surrounded by valleys and divided by the Arno river. Luckily, several places offer fantastic views of the city. This week our Social and Web Marketing class shares both well-known and more hidden spots in town for beautiful views. Some of these views will cost a small fee while others are completely free. Which are the best views of Florence that you’ve found during your time in Italy?

1. The most popular and free place to get a great view is from Piazzale Michelangelo (above image), known as the “balcony of Florence” and completed in 1869 when Florence was the capital of Italy. This large piazza is on the south side of the river. It overlooks the city, so be prepared for a bit of a hike. It might take some legwork, but this view of Florence is totally worth the walk.

2. A less touristy place to get a view of the city is from Cascine Park. The park runs parallel to the river on the north side and is west of the city center. Founded by the Medici family, it’s Florence’s largest public park and offers beautiful views of both the city and the Arno River:

3. For a small fee of €4 you can see Florence from atop the newly renovated Porta San Niccolò, a tower that is part of the ancient city walls located on the south side of the river in the neighborhood of the same name. It is the only medieval tower that wasn’t “shortened” according to city wall standards because the hills framing it provided enough height for protection during times of warfare:

4. The Duomo, Florence’s most famous church monument, offers two unparalleled views from Brunelleschi’s dome, a revolutionary feat of architecture and engineering, and Giotto’s bell tower. From the top you can see a 360° view of the city. It’s definitely worth purchasing the complete admission fee of 15 euros, as you are able to visit the church, climb the dome and the bell tower, and the newly renovated Duomo museum. For any in Florence from now until January 24th, a special joint ticket is being offered for access to both the Duomo and Palazzo Strozzi museums!

5. The Bardini Garden on the south side of the river offers a wonderful and different view of Florence for an €8-10 admission fee. The beauty, serenity, and calmness of the garden, combine with the great view makes it well worth the price. It is very relaxing to walk around and enjoy the various sculptures and garden areas while soaking in the Florence skyline. Secret: Did you know that this garden is connected to the grounds of Palazzo Pitti? If you opt for the complete Pitti / Boboli ticket, the Bardini garden is included! The Villa of the Bardini complex also hosts temporary exhibitions that are always worth checking out.

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