Day 7: Florence
“Travel like Gandhi, with simple clothes, open eyes and an uncluttered mind.”
-- Rick Steves
The great patrons of the rebirth
At the start of my architectural career, the exquisite buildings of Florence helped shape my design ethic.
The Medicis were the penultimate patrons of Renaissance art and architecture. Working in multiple media such as painting and sculpture, I have, at times, paid homage to the great artists Michelangelo and Botticelli.
Medici Office Building
“Uffizi” means offices. The Uffizi Galleries were once the bureaucratic center of the Medici business empire and the government.
They came to wealth in banking and then quickly went into other industries. To exert their influence, they built their offices abutting the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of government. These buildings were conveniently attached to a covered overhead walkway. Not only did this provide convenience but security since assassinations were frequent.
Weapons were a standard instrument of government. We met our local tour guide Elisabeta at the entry to the vast building that was the Uffizi. Again, we were in an exclusive line that got in quickly. Traveling in the Spring is preferable to me, not only for the mild temperatures but also for minimal crowding. The only time a crush was at the Vatican on a Sunday was a religious holiday.
One of the consistently valuable qualities of all the local tour guides, and our host Colleen, was that they put everything in graspable narratives. They consider the wider cultural perspective of the time. Elisabeta put things in the political intrigue of the time.
Ponte Vecchio
It rained that day. The Ponte Vecchio is an urban marvel. It is a street, market, meeting place, private walkway, and partial shelter from the elements, and yes, a bridge!
Contrapposto!
“Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli is my mother’s favorite piece of art. It has stayed in my head since I first saw it in 1986 and has inspired my light sculpture.
Unlike the straight upright sculpture of ancient Egypt, the Greek classical artists imparted their work with a stance called “contrapposto.” If you stand straight with equal weight in each foot, the body language is symmetrical and rigid; you are standing at attention. If you shift your weight to one foot, what happens is that your hip shifts to the outside of your weighted foot to counter the weight of your weight-free side. Your shoulders then shift opposite your hips. This, in turn, affects the cant of your head. The whole stance has a pleasing, dynamic s-curved shape that shows the body flatteringly and more welcoming. That is contrapposto. Got it?
People say that my light sculpture looks space age and futuristic. This contrasts with the Renaissance painting by Botticelli 550 years ago. Both works employ similar ideas but in different styles and times. One is representational, and one is abstract. Thank you to Lorenzo de Medici for adopting and supporting Sandro Botticelli.
The Duke and Duchess of Urbino
By Piero Della Francesca, these portraits are in stark contrast to the dynamic curves of Michelangelo and Botticelli. A side view portrait removes any intimacy between these nobles and us. They don’t look at us with the sentiment, which is hard to read in their faces. Their stances are rigid and straight. They tower over their vast lands seen behind them.
La Bella Simonetta
The most famous of Sandro Botticelli’s works are the ones that feature Simonetta Vespucci. She is the wife of nobleman Marco Vespucci, whose cousin Amerigo Vespucci is who America is named after. Botticelli was infatuated with Simonetta and considered her the ideal female beauty. The lengthened depiction of her body and her neck is a stylistic choice to make the figure more graceful and appealing.
Galleria dell'Accademia
The climax of the day was to see Michelangelo’s David.
It was raining, but Colleen had arranged for us to go to the front of the line again. Luckily, we were in May and not the heat of summer, where the crush of tourists can be stifling. We happily listened to Colleen’s introduction and roamed around freely at our own convenience.
I made a block print paying homage to Michelangelo. Unlike the refined outlined of the statue, the block print is chiseled crudely into the block.
To me, artistic license is what makes art - art.
True to life representation has its place in art, but what makes art more interesting is when artists depart from mere representation. They diverge from the literal view of things. Michelangelo’s David at first appears true to life at first glance. Then you notice the hands, feet, and head are larger in proportion to the body. They are so finely detailed with muscle, bone, and veins that are so lifelike that you expect them to move any second.
When anatomists dissect corpses, they say that these parts of the body are the hardest to deal with. They are imbued with the individuality of the person. Feet express a person’s individual gait, and of course, the face and head are what we intimately react with. Michelangelo spent many hours dissecting sinew. Gruesome, but it is for the sake of Science and Art!