MNAC

Wherever I go, I tend to visit a lot of museums. It’s a good thing that Barcelona has a museum discount card called “Articket“ that costs 22 euros and gets you into 7 museums! I absolutely recommend this card to any visitor to Barcelona: if you go to only two or three of these, you will not only save money but time, since having the card allows you to skip the long lines outside the most popular institutions like La Pedrera and Museu Picasso. This is a better deal than the integrated Barcelona Card that bundles transportation and museum discounts, but just a few full museum entrances (and not to those listed below).

Here’s my take on the museums we visited in Barcelona.

MNAC: Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

We started our 5-day trip here because I figured that this museum would give us a good base in Catalan history and art. The Romanesque collection is closed until 2012, but the vast Gothic section and the moderns (meaning 18th century to WWII) was worth visiting.

Mnac gothic collection display

This newly renovated museum gets an A+ in museology! Friendly staff greet you and answer questions in any language; you can store your belongings in lockers with 1 euro that you get back, you get a free map with the highlights indicated on it, and if you’re deaf, there’s even a visual guide in sign language! The airy spaces have been divided to provide good flow and to highlight important works. There are plenty of places to sit down and relax. The collection is just the right size to make it digestible in one visit of a few hours, but you can also divide up your visit as the ticket allows you in twice over a certain period. Best of all, we had the museum almost to ourselves.

Casa Mila (La Pedrera)

Start your Gaudi here, not at the much-trodden Sagrada Familia, because in the building’s attic there is an excellent exhibit (renovated in 2006 by the bank Catalunya Caixa) about the modernista architect’s forms and techniques. There are models and well-planned and executed videos that actually made me regret not having taken the audioguide to accompany them. Architecture geeks and engineers will enjoy the references to biomimicry in the juxtaposition of Gaudiesque forms with corn on the cob, sponges, and animal skeletons.

The attic of La Pedrera contains a useful museum about Gaudi

I'd dine in this room!

Oh yeah, the apartment itself is nice too! The flow is remarkably natural and the curation is minimal but clearly well thought out: small details, like a maid’s outfit, suffice to communicate the function of each room without resorting to invasive signage. Having seen the videos in the exhibit upstairs, we found ourselves attuned to the functional and architectural details of the architecture.

Tip: arrive early in the morning to avoid the crowds, and remember that with the Articket you don’t have to wait in line. There is a free exhibition gallery (with access from just down the street) that is currently showing “The Art of Eating” (until July 20 2011), an interesting mix of early modern and contemporary artists’ interpretations of food. Worth stopping in, for free!

Fondació Miró

Miro museum

This museum, located in the green of Monjuic not far from the MNAC, provides an overview of the Catalan artist’s painting, sculpture, textiles, and graphic works. To be honest, I rather prefer the Fondation Maeght near Nice as it better integrates architecture with Miro’s sculptures and the works of his contemporaries. However, you can’t help but love Miro’s adorable figures who seem to speak an alien language…

On the other hand, the temporary exhibits of contemporary art may be fun to visit. We enjoyed “Genius Loci” (until May 29 2011), a series of participatory stage sets accompanied by music that we heard on personal headphones, featuring various artists from the alternative scene in Barcelona.

Museu Picasso

Is it wrong to say I didn’t really love the Picasso Museum? Perhaps it was the crowds, or it was my high expectations: they are very innovative online (they won the Museums on the Web prize for their use of social media in 2010) while at the museum itself there was no wifi and nothing that struck me as terribly innovative. There is an iphone guide that you can download from the website – we didn’t see that before going though. Photos are not permitted (it’s not their fault, copyright legislation), so no photo for this part of this article!

The collection focuses on the development of the artist, with a lot of his early works in which you might search for signs of future genius in scribbles done on cocktail napkins. I particularly enjoyed the 58 paintings in which Picasso deconstructed Velasquez’s Las Meninas, none of which I’ve ever seen before elsewhere. Perhaps this section of the museum is what makes it worth the visit, since nowhere else would you ever get the opportunity to see a complete body of works that really demonstrate the artist’s thought process.

MACBA: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona

MACBA

Ingredients for a contemporary art museum. A good acronym: check. A big white building by a starchitect: check (Richard Meir). An assortment of prankster material from the 70s? I’m afraid the collection rather let me down, as is often the case in contemporary museums. I do love the Gorilla Girls, whose critiques of the art establishment are right on, and there is a wall dedicated to them, but otherwise I’d say there’s a too-heavy concentration on video art in this museum. We got a good laugh out of the temporary exhibit, co-curated with Rome’s Maxxi, on the Otholit Group, which we really did not understand. Fun gift shop.

Next door is the CCCB - center for contemporary culture – near the faculty of philosphy of the University too. The current exhibit at the Center didn’t appeal to me (an artist from Trieste – we get that at home) but it’s worth checking out what’s on and hopping in if you’re interested. They also do films, performances, and other events.

The whole area around these contemporary museums seems to have blossomed – some would say the Raval is being quickly gentrified and that’s a bad thing, but I saw creativity and youth that couldn’t have been negative. Skateboarders congregate in the wide piazza out front.

Skateboarders outside MACBA

Disseny Hub Barcelona

The skeleton of a fetus, printed in 3d

Across the street from the Picasso museum is Barcelona’s modern design museum. The 5 euro entrance is not included in the Articket but we came out with enough ideas to launch a multi-million euro start-up so it was worth it, even if we never quit our jobs in order to make 3D printed solutions for the Italian market.The current exhibits close soon (May 2011) but I get the feeling that anything here is cool, so go in.

We learned about 3D printing solutions for everything from in-vitro diagnostics to jewelry making, and then proceeded to an exhibit that dug up 100 ideas for sustainable living from the 60s and 70s and put contemporary spins on them. Plenty of ideas here. Downstairs there’s one free exhibit, beautifully curated and oh-so-funky.

While in Barcelona we stayed at Erik Vokel’s Gran via Suites (read my review here) – very comfortable self-catering apartments in a great location near Rocafort Metro station. The following museums listed above are easy walking distance from where we stayed: MNAC, MACBA, CCCB, Fondacio Miro.

Roberto Capucci, Evening Dress 1989 - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Roma

A Question of Style: From the 14th of January at the Museum of the Roberto Capucci Foundation at Villa Bardini, an exhibit of 23 dresses by the Italian designer. The exhibition explores the relationship between material and design in Roberto Capucci’s research, focussing on the imprint and style that he applies to design. As he also believes strongly in creating a dialogue with young designers, a number of seminars will accompany the exhibit.

The dresses by Capucci tend to be crafted in brightly coloured taffettas and heavy silks, have strong shapes, and be (to my eye) influenced by Japanese kimonos.

Villa Bardini is also worth the visit, as it sits on the hills above Florence (on Costa San Giorgio, a rather wealthy street) and has vistable gardens.

On now – and no end date specified!

Museum of the Roberto Capucci Foundation
Villa Bardini – Costa San Giorgio 2 – Florence.

Info and bookings: 055 20066210
www.fondazionerobertocapucci.com

The Museum:
Opening hours: 10am–4pm from Wednesday to Friday
Saturday and Sunday 10am-6pm.
Admission: € 6

In order to resolve this problem and to provide a valuable resource to scholars coming to Florence for research, I have created a public, user-editable map of Libraries in Florence.

View Libraries in Florence – Biblioteche Firenze in a larger map

Hopper: Morning Sun, Columbus Museum Ohio

At Milan’s Palazzo Reale is the first major retrospective in Italy dedicated to the American artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967), the famous realist painter. This show moves to Rome in February so if you cannot see it in Milan, you have plenty of time to catch it in Rome.

My Mom went there on her day trip to Milan and has brought back some fun pictures taken in the exhibit’s interactive section (see below), in which visitors get the chance to pose in the same position as the woman in the famous painting “Morning Sun” of 1952.

Mom writes: “One hundred and sixty of the artist’s works are on display — mainly sketches, preliminary studies, and the artist’s ledgers. There were some famous works, but curiously missing was the painting Nighthawks, easily Hopper’s most recognizable painting. But I thought the show was well done and certainly taught me a lot about the artist, his life, his themes, his subjects and his artistic methods.”

Here’s what you can do in the interactive section, I got a good laugh out of this:

This show is on in Milan until January 31 2010 and then in Rome Feb 16 until June 13 2010.

From the press release:

The exhibition presents more than 160 works, including famous masterpieces such as Summer Interior (1909), Pennsylvania Coal Town (1947), Morning Sun (1952), Second Story Sunlight (1960), A Woman in the Sun (1961) and various paintings that have never been exhibited, like the stunning Girlie Show (1941). It explores the whole of Hopper’s oeuvre, and all the techniques used by an artist now viewed as one of the classic painters of the twentieth century.

The exhibition will be staged in Palazzo Reale in Milan from 14 October 2009 to 31 January 2010 and is sponsored by Roche Group, the leading health industry company. Immediately after that it will be held in Rome, at the Fondazione Roma Museum, from 16 February to 13 June 2010, and then at the Fondation de l’Hermitage in Lausanne, from 25 June to 17 October.

The artist

Self Portrait, Whitney Museum

Hopper was born and grew up in Nyack, a small town in New York State. He studied illustration for a short period, then painting at New York School of Art under legendary masters William Mer­ritt Chase and Robert Henri. He visited Europe three times (from 1906 to 1907, in 1909 and 1910) and his experiences in Paris, above all, made a lasting mark on him: he remained a lifelong Francophile, even after settling permanently in New York in 1913.
Despite his imposing physical presence – he was six foot two – he was famous for his reserve, and very rarely wrote or spoke about his work. He died at the age of 84 and his work enjoyed the esteem of critics and the public throughout his career, despite the success of the up-and-coming avant-garde movements, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art.
In 1948 the magazine “Look” named him one of America’s greatest artists; in 1950 the Whitney Museum dedicated an important retrospective to him, and in 1956 he appeared on the cover of”Time”. In 1967, the year of his death, he represented the United States at the prestigious Bienal di São Paulo. Since then Hopper’s work has been celebrated in numerous exhibitions and has inspired countless painters, poets and filmmakers. In a 1995 essay the great novelist John Updike paid an eloquent tribute to his “calm, silent, stoic, luminous, classic” works.

The exhibition
Edward Hopper’s career is closely linked to the Whitney Museum of American Art, which hosted various exhibitions of his works from the first in 1920 at the Whitney Studio Club, to the memorable shows held in the museum in 1960, 1964 and 1980. Since 1968, thanks to the bequest of the artist’s widow Josephine, the Whitney has been home to his entire legacy: more than 3,000 works which include paintings, drawings and etchings.
Curated by Carter Foster, the Whitney Museum curator who granted the loan of the largest nucleus of works, the exhibition, realized with the technical coordination of Carol Troyen, also boasts other important loans from the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, the Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago and the Columbus Museum of Art.
Structured in seven sections according to chronological order and theme, the Italian exhibition covers Hopper’s entire oeuvre, from his education, to his years as a student in Paris, up to his “classic” and best-known period of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, closing with the large, intense images of his later years. The show explores all of the artist’s favourite techniques: oil, watercolour and etching, and devotes special attention to the fascinating relationship between his preparatory drawings and his paintings: a vital aspect of his work that up till now has not been greatly explored in the exhibitions dedicated to him.

The first three sections: “Self Portraits”, “Education and Early Works. Hopper the Illustrator” and “Hopper in Paris”, present a group of promising self portraits, the works from his academic period and the light-filled sketches and works of his Paris period, such as the well-known painting Soir Bleu (1914). The room dedicated to “Defining the Image: Hopper the Etcher”, with masterpieces such as Night Shadows (1921) and Evening Wind (1921), highlights his elegant technique and that “sense of the incredible potential of everyday life” that brought him great success and marked the start of a distinguished career.

The section entitled “Hopper’s Method: from Sketch to Canvas”, which celebrates the artist’s extraordinary talent for drawing, and explores his modus operandi, presents a significant set of preparatory drawings for paintings such as Morning Sun (1952) and the earlier work New York Movie (1939), the sketches for which clearly reveal how his female figure takes shape: starting out almost as a portrait of his wife Jo (his only model), the figure gradually evolves into the pensive usherette with film star looks standing in the movie theatre – one of the artist’s favourite subjects. This section shows how Hopper’s realism is often the result of an amalgamation of several images and situations captured at different times and places, not a simple reproduction from life. The exhibition also exceptionally includes one of his Artist’s Ledger Book, the famous ledgers he and his wife compiled, and which contain sketches of many of his oil paintings.
In the rooms dedicated to “Hopper’s Eroticism” the exhibition gathers some of his most significant images of women absorbed in contemplation, for the most part nude or partially undressed, alone in interiors. Together with the works in the section “Artist’s Essence: Time, Space, Memory” these works are a consummate representation of the artist’s aesthetic, his understated form of realism and above all his ability to reveal beauty in the most common subjects, often with a cinematographic slant that was much appreciated by the critics.

Dawn in Pennsylvania,1942, Terra Foundation

Hopper has long been associated with atmospheric images of urban buildings and the people who inhabit them, but rather than skyscrapers – emblems of the aspirations of the jazz age – he preferred the dilapidated red facades of anonymous shops, and lesser-known bridges. Some of his favourite subjects are images of life in tranquil middle class apartments, often glimpsed through a window from a passing train, and settings like diners and movie theatres; images that have acquired iconic status, as in some of the famous masterpieces presented here: Cape Cod Sunset (1934), Second Story Sun­light (1960) and A Woman in the Sun (1961). Hopper also painted some stunning watercolours during summers spent in Gloucester (Massachusetts), in Maine, and in Truro (Cape Cod) as of 1930. The sea rarely features in these paintings, which show sun-baked sand dunes, lighthouses and humble cottages, enlivened by sensuous contrasts of light and shade; paintings which always hint at a story yet leave the motivations of the protagonists unclear.

The exhibition also features an important photographic, biographical and historical component, tracing American history from the 1920s to the 1960s: the Depression, the Kennedys, the boom years. An opportunity for greater insight into today’s global recession and Barack Obama’s America.
The Edward Hopper exhibition aims to see people as “active subjects” rather than “consumers”, with a view to creating an event that, first and foremost, will be a unique, engaging experience for visitors. With this objective in mind, for the first time in Italy the exhibition exceptionally hosts an interactive and multimedia installation by Gustav Deutsch, the renowned Austrian film maker and video artist (Vienna 1952), who has produced countless films, videos and performances throughout the world. Chosen by Arthemisia, in agreement with Palazzo Reale in Milan, the installation entitled Friday, 29th August 1952, 6 A.M., New York will enable visitors to physically enter Hopper’s world, with a reconstruction of the setting depicted in the painting Morning Sun (1952). In this way visitors will be able to appear in the painting, entering the “set” and moving around at will, like actors in a series of brief plays, filmed by a camera and projected onto a screen.

Educational activities
The exhibition features exclusive, engaging educational activities designed by Francesca Valan for children and young people (aged 5-14) visiting the exhibition. Those who wish to follow the stages in Hopper’s creative process will receive a beautiful sketchpad at the entrance, a scale reproduction of the one that the artist himself used, containing all the indications to venture into his world. Younger visitors (aged 2-5), accompanied by their parents, will be able to take part in a fun treasure hunt, following the instructions printed on a number of special postcards.

all images used with permission

For more info: www.edwardhopper.it

Read my review of Manipulating Reality on the turismo.intoscana.it blog.

Get into every exhibit at Palazzo Strozzi for only 20 euros from now until the end of January 2011 (!!!) with the “Palazzo Ticket” – I got one!

Me with author Jane Fortune at her book launch

Folks! my comprehensive book review of Jane Fortune’s “Invisible Women” is now online and in the paper! Read the article in The Florentine and see below to win your own copy!

Short summary: Invisible Women is an expression of love for the female artists of Florence’s past. Jane Fortune has dug through the archives of the Florentine museums in search of women’s names and their works, which are often in storage and away from the public eye. The book is well written and engaging, and has broad appeal. It makes a great gift for the art-lovers on your holiday list, or really for any woman!

Win a copy of the book!

The prize is one copy of Jane Fortune’s book, generously supplied by The Florentine Press. You must provide arttrav with your snail-mail address upon notification of winning. The book will be shipped in a timely manner by The Florentine Press anywhere worldwide.

From now until Thursday December 17 at midnight European Time, the following actions EACH give you one chance at this random draw (you may do all three).

1) retweet this post (there’s a convenient retweet button at the bottom!). Make sure to include @arttrav in your tweet so I know you tweeted it. You will be contacted by DM if you are the winner.

2) share this post on Facebook (there’s an easy “share” button at the bottom of the post, or just cut and paste the link). Tag @arttrav.com or @Alexandra Korey so that I know you shared it. (If you’re not a fan on facebook, become one! click the heart-shaped fb icon, top right.)

3) Write a comment on this post (preferably after reading the article in The Florentine ) and include your email address in the email field (will not be shown).

Photo: Candida Höfer: “Biblioteca Marucelliana Firenze I 2008″, used by permission.

from 11 December 2009 to 24 January 2010
Open daily 9-19, closed Wednesday
FREE admission!

info: inganni ad arte

Eleonoir Casalegno, very pretty guest star

I did not expect this event to be so successful. Some italian press attributes its success to the presence of a very attractive guest star, Eleonoir Casalegno and to the famous Dj Albertino of Radio DeeJay (Italy’s biggest national rock/pop radio station). As a “foreigner” I had no idea who these people were – I just thought it was cool to have a night event in a museum in Italy, a practise that is already current in most European and American cities.

Despite the pouring rain, throngs of party-going 20 and 30-somethings flooded the Limonaia of Museo Stibbert starting at 9pm. Attendees were decked out in club-wear and high heels (the latter not so much the men…), making people-watching my main activity inside the club area. This museum geek has never seen such pretty girls all decked out and envied their ability to walk in heels. The event organizers succeeded in getting the news out to the club-going crowd who seemed very happy to show up and drink orange juice and coke and party on the Regione’s bill rather than cocktails at some pricey nightclub.

The biggest surprise was that people braved the rain to walk the 400 meters from the Limonaia (club area) to the museum itself, where we were treated to guided tours of Stibbert’s crazy collection of arms. The museum was PACKED – tour guides had to accept more than the usual number per group in order to accomodate us. People listened attentively to the information given by the (excellent) guide and wandered around checking out the unusual objects that Stibbert collected. The arms are set up in diorama type arrangements on mannequins and horses, and we learned about the differences between Islamic and European arms, as well as the shape of arms before and after the use of firearms.

This was a truly enjoyable evening and I hope there will be more like it.

More photos on the Dj al Museo facebook page.

You expected me to use another adjective? famous? important? Sure, it’s those things too. But it’s also very big, has virtually no benches to sit down, and crowded (just about all the time). Just walking through at a normal pace, it takes three hours to get through, and then you wonder “what did I see?”. Well all that is going to change if you print out this article and take it with you (or read it on your iphone while you’re there).

When I take students to the Uffizi, this is the list of works that I make sure they see. I’m giving you a map with the room numbers, a list of important works, and some questions to ask yourself in front of each. This is best done with a friend or two – talking about art, in front of art, is the best way to learn. At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, let me tell you that if you follow this method, you will come out not too exhausted, and you will have learned something too.

Two overall questions:

1) The Renaissance consists of mostly religious works of art, until you hit the Botticelli Room. Try to identify the stories and protagonists in these pieces. How are stories COMMUNICATED to the viewer? Is there a clear narrative in these works? How do you know – or not know – what is going on?

2) Thematically, start thinking about comparing works a) between different periods or artists; b) of the same subject matter. Look closely at, say, two “Annunciations” or two portraits, and think about their similarities and differences.

Map of the Uffizi gallery with room numbers

Must-see works in the museum

Room 2: Giotto, Cimabue, and Duccio: Please look carefully at the three large altarpieces in this room. Take the time to compare them and start to see the differences between them. Which one do you think was done latest? Which one best expresses depth and the human form?

Room 5-6: International Gothic. Looking at the two largest works in this room, Lorenzo Monaco’s Coronation of the Virgin and Gentile da Fabriano’s Adoration of the Magi (1423) – what do you conclude are the characteristics of this international gothic style?

Room 7: the first renaissance painters: Paolo Uccello, Battle of San Romano (1430s), Masaccio’s tiny Madonna and child, Masaccio and Masolino’s Madonna and Child with Saint Anne. Do you start to see any progress in the depiction of space and/or emotion? How do these differ from the International Gothic pieces that are close contemporaries?

image: www.wga.hu

Room 8: Lippi room

. Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child with Angels: consider the tenderness of expression, look at how volume is heightened using a black outline (Lippi taught this trick to Botticelli). Piero della Francesca, double portrait of the Duke of Urbino and his wife: what can you guess about gender differences in this period, just by looking at this painting? Whose world is more closed, and why?

Room 9: Pollaiuolo. Please look at the teeny tiny panels of Hercules on display in a glass case. These are some of the first highly anatomic studies of the renaissance.

Room 10-14: The big Botticelli Room: In class we will study Botticelli’s Primavera, Birth of Venus, Mystic Nativity, Madonna del Magnificat. Also of interest, all the religious paintings by Botticelli; the large Northern Renaissance Portinari Altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes.

image: www.wga.hu

Room 15: Leonardo

da Vinci’s Annunciation, unfinished Adoration of the Magi (examination reveals how he planned and built up painting); the early Baptism of Christ with his teacher Verrocchio (guess which part Leonardo did here). Also in this room, paintings by Perugino.

Hallway: The route now forces you out to the hallway. Check out the “grotesque” decorations on the ceiling and the hallway lined with ancient and modern sculpture. This is an interesting arrangement but for the general viewer you don’t need to stop to look at any of these things in detail. On your left there is a room called the Tribune that is under restoration from now till eternity. You head back into a room, following a path through a series of small rectangular rooms that contain a few Venetian school paintings, works by Durer and some Flemish artists. These may be interesting but they are not what the Uffizi is best known for, so if you’re running out of steam, skip these. From the hallway check out the view of the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio, go around the corner and head to room 25.

Room 25: Don’t miss Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo: think about the position the figures are in – is this natural? That is an original frame, incidentally.

Room 26-27: Raphael and the mannerist artists Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, and Rosso Fiorentino: how do Raphael and his school construct portraits? His contemporaries said he did everything with such ease you could not see the art in it.

Room 28: Titian and Venetian art. Observe the languid pose of Titian’s Venus of Urbino (who is she waiting for? Her husband or her lover?). Consider how the Venetian style (and subject matter) of the early Cinquecento is different than Quattrocento Florentine style; look closely at the handling of paint.

Room 29: Parmigianino’s Madonna of the Long Neck is the most famous example of the Mannerist style. It is slightly unfinished, can you see where? Notice the elongated shapes of womens’ bodies; these are compared to the vases that are so prominent in the painting.

As you follow the path to the exit, there are rooms set up for special exhibits.

DO NOT MISS the Caravaggio Room which is right near the exit, after you have gone down one flight of stairs. Here you can see Caravaggio’s Medusa, Bacchus, and the Sacrifice of Isaac.

Also in this room, Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Decapitating Holofernes and Saint Catherine (important works by a female artist).

Further reading on arttrav: listen to the Uffizi podcasts (for kids and adults) for the Giotto room and the International Gothic Room. Read this article on approaching art with kids.

If you found this article helpful, please let me know by writing a comment – and share it with others by retweeting it or sharing it on social bookmarking sites like Digg, etc.

Rome: October 23 2009: The first monographic show in Rome on the most innovative sculptor of the 20th century opens to the public today. “Calder” is on at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome from October 23 2009 until February 14 2010, with 110 works on display. The show was presented on October 21st by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in a vernissage attended by important members of the international arts and culture world (and by this author!).

Curator Alexander S.C. Rower, president of the Calder Foundation of New York, has displayed the famous moving and stable pieces, wire mobiles, bronzes, gouaches, drawings, and oil paintings in essentially chronological order in order to highlight the fundamental aspects of the artist’s career.

Calder’s sculptures enjoy an enormous popularity; they harmonize form, colour, and movement in a whole conceived of as the “universe” – “every element can move around, oscillate back and forth, in a mutual relationship with every other element”.

Alexander Calder’s career spans most of the 20th century and he is one of the most famous and esteemed sculptors of our time. This retrospective exhibition documents Calder’s entire artistic career, not only through his most important works but also with the display of some pieces less known to the general public. For example, the itinerary starts out with some figurative beginnings in oil, gouache and wire sculpture, moving on to bronzes from the 1930s, until the discovery of the abstract and the invention of the mobile and stabile.

A group of small bronzes that Calder made while in Paris in the 1930s is one of the lesser known displays; these figures of acrobats or contortionists demonstrate the artist’s experiments in media (from gesso to metal) and the ways he worked out concepts of movement.

Calder is better known for how he used his innovative genius to revolutionize the course of modern art. The first step in this was the creation of a new sculptural technique: outlining mass and suggesting volume with just a few lines of metalic thread. Calder’s great fame came with the invention of his “mobiles“, hanging mobile works composed of abstract elements that move in ever- changing harmony. He is also known for his monumental outdoor sculptures, made of forged steel, that beautify the world’s public spaces.

The big attractions of the exhibition include some of his most famous mobiles: Untitled from 1933, Spines (Ludwig Museum, 1940), Roxbury Flurry from 1946 and Big Red from 1959 lent by the Whitney Museum of New York; also, Cascading Flowers (1949) from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Le 31 Janvier (1950) from Paris’s Pompidou, The Y from 1960 lent by the Menil Collection in Houston. Of particular note is the massive eight-meter high monumental mobile hung in the grand central hall of the expo building; it is part of the permanent collection of the Pittsburgh airport and of course an important loan for this show.

Attendees will enjoy walking around the rooms of the exhibition, set up on two floors in the pala expo, with the abstract works hanging ethereally from the ceiling. The illumination of the works and space is exceptional; lights cause large white discs to be projected under some of the pieces, creating a shadow game of “art within art”.

INFO: “Calder”, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, via Nazionale 194 – 00184 Roma
Hours: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 10-20; Friday and Saturday 10-22:30; closed Monday
www.palazzoesposizioni.it

Photo credits: images taken from the official website for promotional purposes.

DAVID
When I was a child, we would sing in church this little chorus. “Only a boy named David”. The words went something like:

“Only a boy named David, only a little sling. Only a boy named David, but he could pray and sing. Only a boy named David, only a little brook. Only a boy named David and five little stones he took.”

The chorus goes on to recount a refining moment in the life of a young Jewish shepherd boy as he defeated a Philistine giant named Goliath. Although David’s life took many turns after that battle, eventually he became a King of Israel but in those moments standing before Goliath, he was just a boy who trusted his God.

I am not exactly sure if those words ran through my head the first time I saw Michelangelo’s David. There is disagreement on whether the moments Michelangelo captured were those before Goliath’s defeat or contemplation after the giant’s death. The statue was intended as adornment for Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. It is said that Michelangelo believed David was present within the chosen block of marble and that sculpting was the act of giving life and the highest form of artistic expression; much as a soul exists within a human body. He was commissioned with the task to set David free of the marble restraint. A task he petitioned for at the age of twenty six, fresh from the favourable response received with his Pieta in Rome. Economics played a role in the arts even in 1464 and the Board of the Florence Cathedral together with those charged in bringing David to life, were compelled to consider the cost and transport of material. The block of soft marble chosen had been abandoned for twenty five years, suffering the effects of weather in the Cathedral workshop yard and shamed by previous artistic attempts to shape, but it could not be replaced.

Today one can look up, way up and see the result of Michelangelo’s vision. Towering seventeen feet and weighing 6.2 tons, his presence commands the space built specifically around him in the Galleria Dell’Accademia having been moved in 1873 from his much debated position of political and civic significance, in Piazza della Signoria. It is impossible to ignore David’s nudity. The impact of which exemplifies Michelangelo’s intricate knowledge of anatomy. Tensed muscles, popped veins, a brow furrowed in a concentrated stare. The dramatic S shaped curve of David’s torso, the angled shoulders in opposition to his hips and with the support of his body weight on his back leg while his front leg is relaxed, represents the Renaissance expression of contrapposto or counterpoise. This dynamic off balance creates in David humanness, a physical affinity with the visitor. Almost gently he holds his sling his left hand that is raised to his shoulder. The sling falls across the crease of his spine and is clutched at its end in his right hand, turned from the viewer. Larger in proportion to the body, his hands cup their weapon and his eyes are focused on an unseen distant target. Who is he looking at? What is he thinking?

The last time David and I shared a physical space and I stood looking up, a young woman beside me brought a shaking hand to her mouth in a vain attempt to suppress her emotions. She turned away quickly as I watched and I wondered just how a piece of abandoned marble possessed the power after more than five hundred years to bring one to tears.

I have seen Bernini’s David, and both editions of this topic by Donatello. I have stood before Verrocchio’s David and read of the changes made that moved the head of Goliath from between his legs to rest beneath the sword. I have stood in long lines of visitors waiting patiently for their chance to turn the unexpected corner in the Galleria Dell’Accademia and hesitantly advance the length of a church-like nave lined on either side by unfinished works of Michelangelo and realize with religious reverence they are approaching greatness. But any effort on my part to explain or describe David would be inept at best and inadequate in the least. You must experience him yourself.

Tickets to the Accademia can be purchased online from the official state museum website. It is really not necessary to stand in line, and with a little preparation tickets can be in hand for your visit. It would not be advisable to take in the Uffizzi Gallery and Galleria Dell’Accademia in the same day. You may find the result would be Renaissance art overload and this drastically reduces one’s enjoyment quota.

The complete list of 48 works is not publicly available, but it includes the aforementioned Raphael, the famous Bernini bust of Scipione Borghese (which I don’t think has ever left its home), a Botticelli madonna and Caravaggio’s Young St. John the Baptist. The list involves about 20 works normally exhibited at the Borghese, and the rest are from storage.

If you went to the Borghese right now, would you be angry not to find those 20 works on display? That’s part of the argument against this move that has been put forth by the president and members of the International Council of Museums: moving major works for 6 months will harm international tourism towards Rome. The Borghese isn’t lying empty; it’s hosting the show “Caravaggio / Bacon” … in which the St. John might have found a good place.

The superintendant of Roman Museums, Rossella Vodret, counters that the Japanese are paying for restoration of a number of works AND, more importantly, that this Italia-Japan partnership is likely to bring an immediate return measurable in an increase in visits from wealthy Japanses tourists. This latter statement is based on a 25% increase in Japanese tourism to Italy after the controversial loan of Leonardo’s Annunciation from the Uffizi to Japan.

To this I’d add that making peace with Japanese tourists is a good idea after this summer’s debaucle of a Japanese tourist being hit with an 694 euro bill for a restaurant meal in Rome. (The restaurant has since been shut down, while an offer on the part of the mayor of Rome for a free “replacement” holiday in Italy to the victim was politely turned down as a “waste of taxpayers’ money”.)

But the big question is: should museums make major loans like this, gambling on FUTURE tourism, or keep their works at home to satisfy current tourists?

Source: Japan/Borghese loan reported in Corriere della Sera article 10/10/09 p. 45

For further reading on arttrav: Florentines react to moving Donatello’s bronze David to Milan for three weeks.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Studio planimetrico per San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Firenze, Casa Buonarroti

Rome: Musei Capitolini. From Oct 6 2009 to Feb 7 2010, an exhibit of over 100 drawings highlights Michelangelo’s architectural contribution to the Eternal City. During his two periods of residence in Rome (1505 to 1516, and from 1534 to his death in 1564) he worked on St. Peter’s Basilica, the Piazza del Campidoglio, the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini and Porta Pia, and more. While many of these works remained incomplete, the drawings on exhibit, augmented by contemporary views in print, tell the story of the strong mark that the great artist left on the city of Rome.

Open Tues-Sun, 9-20
For more information, see the exhibition website (only in Italian)

Tessuto in seta e velluto con fondo ricamato con fili dorati e argentati Genova, XVI sec. St Petersburg, Hermitage

This weekend I went to the show “Lo Stile delle Zar” – the fashion of the Tsars, on the relationship between art and fashion and between Russia and Italy from the 15th to 18th centuries. Beautifully displayed at Prato’s Museo del Tessuto – fabric museum – the point of encounter between the two cultures is of course fabrics. This is no great surprise, given the city’s history in the production, first artisanal, then industrial, of highly valued cloth.

Unknown Venetian: Madonna con Bambino, Late 15th c. oil on canvas transfered from panel, Hermitage

The show puts paintings and cloth samples in relation to each other. The section I thought was most interesting was the first room on the ground floor, which had the earliest paintings on display (many from the Hermitage, so not things I’d seen before). The curators selected paintings with particularly stunning fabrics and patterning and set them beside pieces of similar historical fabric. In this setting, one is drawn towards noticing this aspect of the paintings that one might not have paid particular attention to in a regular museum. The lighting and otherwise rather text-free cases made for a lovely viewing experience.

The textile museum itself is also interesting, in an ex-industrial space that has recently been recuperated (a second section of it is due to open soon as a library). A permanent exhibit near the entry describes historical textile processes and the whole museum is set up in accordance with the latest curatorial ideas. The gift shop also has a really cute sheep and material-related gifties.

Important Information:

LO STILE DELLO ZAR. ARTE E MODA TRA ITALIA E RUSSIA DAL XIV AL XVIII SECOLO
Prato, Museo del Tessuto
Sept 19 2009 – Jan 10 2010
Open 10-19, tickets 9 euros, various discounts
Website: http://www.lostiledellozar.it

Photo credits: official photographs, Lo Stile dello Zar press area

The museum will be open for 7 hours each week thanks to volunteers from the association “Amici dei Musei Fiorentini“. Opening hours are each MONDAY from 10am to 5pm. The decision to open on Mondays is to give tourists something to see when other museums are closed – good idea!

The museum “upstairs” at Orsanmichele has been closed for many years due to budget cutbacks that happened soon after the completion of its display and the cleaning of its sculptures. I was in there in 1999 and fear that by 2001 it was closed, but I cannot find the exact dates. There are copies of the sculptures in the outdoor niches.

The sculptures in the niches of Orsanmichele were made for the Guilds of Florence in the early 15th century and represent the triumphs of early Renaissance sculpture. Some of the most important of these are:

• Nanni di Banco’s “Four crowned martyrs”
• Donatello’s Saint Mark
• Ghiberti’s Saint John the Baptist
• The Doubting Thomas by Verrocchio

[Photo source: http://sandstead.com]

If you like this post you might be interested in this article on late medieval politics in Piazza della Signoria.

The Tribune is the nucleus of the Uffizi gallery collection, a small room designed by Bernardo Buontalenti in 1584. The really bad news is that, once restored, we will no longer be able to go inside this room.

The Tribune, or Tribuna, was designed to hold the variegated collection of ancient sculpture and modern painting collected by Grand Duke Francesco I de’Medici (1541-1587). It features a marble-inlay floor and a delicate seashell-encrusted cupola. At the end of the Cinquecento, Buontalenti’s octagonal room with red velvet walls contained the roman Medici Venus Pudica, small bronze busts, recent paintings by Bronzino, Allori, Rosso Fiorentino and Vasari (Mannerist painters who were the height of style at the time), pietre dure works, natural curiosities and ancient and modern plaquettes. The current arrangement, now being dismantled for restoration, is the closest the Uffizi Museum gets to its original display.

photo: wikimedia

In recent years, we accessed the Tribuna from the hallway designed by Vasari, often lining up when the gallery was busy. The delicate floor was covered by a ramp and we shuffled along on this ramp, constrained by its metal handrails. Crowds pushed us along as we attempted to spend some time analyzing the costume and props of the Bronzino ladies or of the fat little Giovanni de’ Medici (see photo). The lighting in this room is almost entirely natural, as its historic arrangement makes it difficult to install other lighting, and we dealt with some awful glare. But at least we were in there.

After the restoration – generously paid for by the Friends of Florence foundation – the Tribune will be closed to the public in order to preserve the floor. We will be able to look in on it from the current doorway as well as from the two rooms that connect to the Tribune on either side. The restoration is due to be finished in June 2011.

The paintings from this room will be displayed in the nearby Barocci room (#35), whose walls will be painted the same red as the original velvet. This display will permit better reading of the paintings in artificial light, but in doing so we lose their historic display in the Tribune, where some rather mediocre pieces were interesting precisely (and only) because of this location. The Tribune will be outfitted with replacement paintings of even more mediocre quality, put however in very fancy gold frames in order to keep the princely feeling of the room.

I guess you can tell how I feel about this. What do you think? Do visitors to the Uffizi cause so much damage to this room that they should not be able to go inside it? Will we fully understand this room and its historic importance when we can only see it from its doorways, with replacement paintings hanging on its red walls?

[photo credit: www.artmediaeditori.com].

© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by Permission.

Due to the popularity of the exhibit “Robert Mapplethorpe: Perfection in Form” at the Galleria dell’Accademia, the Mapplethorpe Foundation has agreed to extend the display through January 10, 2010. This is great news for us residents who avoided the show due to the summer crowds of tourists. The show juxtaposes the work of the modern American photographer with masterpieces of the Renaissance.

Full press release available here.

UPDATE OCT 2011: for the latest information about Florence Museum Cards please click here.

This post contains information about how/where to buy tickets to the Uffizi; special summer 2009 opening hours; a currently available card that gets you into Florence museums, and a proposed “city card”.

A city-wide museum card is much needed by Florence, especially as a way to encourage residents to revisit their own museums. This was part of the political platform proposed by mayoral candidate Matteo Renzi, and a point in the platform that I helped develop for city counsellor candidate Laura De Benedetto (who unfortunately did not win a seat). Museum cards make it possible to make shorter, repeated visits to museums without feeling prohibited by or guilty about the cost. I hope that the city will also offer babysitting services and special events to card holders.

1) In late breaking news: According to The Florentine, the city of Florence is finally developing a city card that would give access to the city’s municipal museums, which are NOT the state museums (museums like the Stibbert and Strozzi Palace are mentioned, though I imagine/hope this would also include the Palazzo Vecchio). Apparently the card should be ready for purchase by late 2009. Proposed costs seem reasonable – 20 euros for a 2 day tourist pass and 50 euros for a yearly resident pass.

2) In other related news… extended Uffizi opening hours for summer 2009: on Tuesday nights from July 1 thorugh till the end of September the museum will be open until 9pm.

NOTE: if you are planning a trip to the Uffizi, do not buy your tickets from online resellers that charge extra. Tickets to the Uffizi can be bought on their official site and should cost no more than 14 euros for the full price ticket during the summer (when special shows are on) and 10,50 euros at other times.

3) The Friends of the Uffizi membership card (Amici degli Uffizi) gives you unlimited access for one calendar year to the state museums of Florence (including the Uffizi and the Accademia). It costs only 100 euros for a family of four, and with this you can skip the lines! It’s a great deal for residents and tourists alike.

For now you can get into state museums and skip the line to the uffizi by purchasing a Amici degli Uffizi card which I really think is a great deal (and I don’t get anything in exchange for saying this). You can buy this on the spot when you arrive (museum hours, so closed monday) or order online if you have sufficient time to wait for the post. The museums included in this card are:

Galleria degli Uffizi
Galleria dell’Accademia
Palazzo Pitti
Galleria Palatina
Galleria dell’Arte Moderna
Galleria del Costume
Museo degli Argenti
Museo delle Porcellane
Giardino di Boboli
Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Museo delle Cappelle Medicee
Museo di Palazzo Davanzati
Museo di San Marco
Giardino della Villa Medicea di Castello
Villa Medicea della Petraia
Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano
Villa Medicea di Cerreto Guidi e Museo storico della Caccia e del Territorio
Cenacolo di Ognissanti
Cenacolo di Andrea del Sarto
Cenacolo di Fuligno
Cenacolo di Sant’Apollonia
Chiostro dello Scalzo

J.M. Pasquesi is a Rome expert

Rome’s coolest museum!

Action, adventure, prisoners, secret passages, sumptuous palace rooms, and treasure galore! Bring a kid, or let this emperor’s tomb turned papal palace, fortress, and even prison bring out the kid in you. No other museum is as fun to visit as maze-like Castel Sant’Angelo. You’ll love scrambling up its ramps and ramparts discovering weapons, artillery, gorgeous frescos, papal bedchambers, a Michelangelo-designed chapel, and glorious terraces with commanding views of St. Peter’s and all Rome. If that’s not enough allure, its covered passage (passetto), a battlement wall connecting it to nearby St. Peter’s, is featured in the blockbuster film, Angels and Demons.

Photo by JM Pasquesi

What makes Castel Sant’Angelo so cool? It has been around a long time, since 135 AD, and its formidable frame played a major role in many of Rome’s most fascinating periods. It all started when emperor Hadrian found himself without a proper resting place. Previously, Augustus (Rome’s first emperor) built a large mausoleum that accommodated most Imperial remains. When space ran out, Trajan, Hadrian’s adoptive father, built a private chamber under his eponymous column, but with no space to spare.

A TOMB

Just across the river from Augustus’ mausoleum, Hadrian built his enormous tomb and a bridge in front of it, for direct access. This bridge, now completely reconstructed and called Ponte Sant’Angelo, is one of Rome’s most famous, thanks to the great Baroque master, Bernini, who designed its glorious angels. Inside, the Imperial remains are long gone, but it once held some six emperors and their family members, ending with Caracalla (217AD).

Today, only the core of that first, splendid monument is intact, but models near the ticket office show how it may have looked, clad with fine marble and decorated with stately trees and statuary. Though most ancient monuments fell into decay or disappeared altogether, this fortress of a building always proved valuable. The last big transformation came with its adoption by the Church, which added fine rooms and frescoes fit for the Papal refuge it became.

A TRAP

The varied history of this castle makes touring it an adventurous treasure hunt. It is a singular experience, to follow its narrow passageways and explore its delightful terraces and dark cells. Surprises are everywhere-from lavish grand halls to teensy papal bathrooms. You can discover hidden courtyards, piles of medieval cannonball, and delicate Renaissance art. Proceed with care! You’ll have to climb up its ramp with hatches overhead, once used to drop hot oil in surprise attacks!

AN ESCAPE

Indeed, the role of fortress was recurring. The formidable frame served to keep enemies out and prisoners in, but the Church really kicked it up a notch when, in 1277AD, it built a battlement wall connecting it to the Vatican, thereby creating an escape route for the Pope when under siege. The Medici pope, Clement VII, put it to the task during the Sack of Rome (1527).

Photo by JM Pasquesi

A MIRACLE

 

 

Of the many stories to tell while touring the splendid rooms of this ancient hulk, I like the legend of how it got its name, Castle of the Angel. In 590AD, St. Gregory the Great was praying for an end to Rome’s great plague when he saw an angel sheathing its sword above the castle. He was convinced it was archangel St. Michael defeating the dread disease. The plague vanished, and the name stuck.

A HANDFUL OF HIGHLIGHTS:

1.   Three models near the ticket booth, depicting the monument at different stages.
2. The tiny museum of Arms and Armor, with artifacts dating from the Stone Age to present, mostly found in and around the site.
3. The papal rooms, with a Michelangelo-designed chapel; a Bramante-designed loggia; and frescoes by the likes of Giulio Romano and others from the Raphael school. [Editor's note: this is one of the most important examples of Roman Mannerist painting.]
4. The angel statue that originally topped the building, by Raffaello da Montelupo, is now protected in an interior courtyard.
5. The apartments of Paul III Farnese, with stuccoes by Sermoneta and Baccio da Montelupo and a charming trompe l’oeil fresco of a servant entering the room.
6. The Cupid and Psyche room, with its frescoes and gilt ceiling, complete with 16^th century bed and clavichord.
7.  The circular treasury room of Paul III, with walnut built-ins and large chests that once held Vatican treasury. It is from this room that you can continue up staircases to the tip-top of the castle roof, for the most amazing 360-degree views over Rome and a look at the angel up-close.

Finally, take a break! Grab a snack and a vista from the rooftop terrace, or relax in the castle’s moat, now a lovely park complete with playground equipment and benches.

For more on Castel Sant’Angelo and how to tour Rome, check out J.M. Pasquesi’s award-winning guide, Rome with Kids: an insider’s guide, or visit www.RomeWithKids.com. If you’re already in Rome and want to buy her book, it is available at the following locations: Almost Corner Bookshop, Lion Book store, Anglo-American Book store, and from the front desk of both the Albergo del Senato and the Hotel Raffaello.

Open Tuesday through Friday, 9-19. Tickets cost 5 euro.

The commission of an organ decoration (“perghamo degli orghani”) from Luca della Robbia probably dates to 1431, but work commenced in 1432 and lasted until 1438. Donatello was in Rome in 1432-3; when he returned he was given the commission for a second “pergamo” which, in the contract itself, was put into comparison with the work by Luca in that the cost of Donatello’s work was not to exceed that of Luca’s. The two works are almost the same size (to within a few inches) and both depict dancing children inspired by Antique sources. Luca della Robbia’s shows the importance of real children in Renaissance Florence, while Donatello’s shows the influence of the Antique motif of putti (pudgy nude children) on this period.

Luca della Robbia’s Cantoria illustrates Psalm 150, “Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius…” To alleviate any doubts that this is the case, the entire passage is expressely carved in three friezes on the work (although these friezes are not in the present museum display, see below). There are eight groups of idealized music-making adolescents and children of both genders disposed on two levels and separated vertically by double fluted pilasters, as well as two thinner side panels. Luca’s antiquizing tendancies have long been noted, and various models in Muse and child sarcophaghi as well as in Greek coins have been proposed for elements in this work. However, it has also been demonstrated that these children are modeled on the real youths of the city who belonged to the laudesi youth confraternities that were gaining popularity at the time . We know this because the older children on the top panels wear contemporary costume – for example, see the very chastely draped young women playing authentic fifteenth-century citharas in the third panel of the top register or the short tunics worn by any of the male trumpeters. Luca made careful notes of Antique precedents but also made observations from nature, resulting in a harmonious combination of which Alberti was the prime exponent. Although often used as a foil for the “greater renaissance work” of Donatello, Luca’s reliefs are breathtakingly realistic, delicate and powerfully observed.

Like Luca’s, Donatello’s Cantoria is composed on two levels. The upper level consists of a continuous frieze of putti similar to those in Prato in that the figures are winged and wear shifts, but the Florence composition has greater internal force due to the multidirectional movement of the higher relief figures across a larger plane. Their movement is not limited by pilasters as in the Prato Pulpit and in Luca’s Cantoria, but rather they pass behind independent, round columns covered in mosaic. The lower level is divided into four squares by heavily sculpted consoles. Here there are two bronze portrait roundels (one of which may be Antique) and two plaques with pairs of unwinged naked putti flanking a central, antiquizing object. Every surface of the work is encrusted with a variety of antique and medieval motifs including vases, seashells, rosettes, egg and dart, and acanthus, although these are nineteenth-century reconstructions based on fragments and hence not to be taken too much into consideration. Unlike Luca della Robbia’s work, which we have seen illustrates Psalm 150, the subject of Dontello’s Cantoria is obscure to us, although numerous proposals have been made in the last century of scholarship, none of which is entirely satisfactory.

Near-contemporary sources tell us that when the works were installed, high over the apsidal sacristy doors, they were rather hard to see. Vasari says that Donatello took this into mind and left his sculptures roughly finished so that the eye would adjust to them better in position, and that as a result his work was better than Luca della Robbia’s. While this has been repeated for about 400 years, it is completely untrue. Donatello was working under a tighter deadline than Luca, and also had another similar project going on in Prato. So he cut corners and didn’t highly finish the work, perhaps taking into account the fact that nobody would notice it as the work was so high up. But this was certainly not an aesthetic decision on Donatello’s part. While Vasari and the generation that follow valued the “non-finito” of sculpture, this aesthetic derives from an appreciation of Michelangelo’s unfinished works, and cannot be extended backwards one century to Donatello.

Both Cantorie were dismounted from their original position in the Duomo in 1688 on the occasion of a Medici wedding. Some parts were probably reused for other works. Luca’s was reconstructed in 1883 but dismounted again for the recent restoration, and the museum has decided to only put up the relief panels in the present display (the photo above was taken before the cantoria was dismantled). I don’t know where they put the two remaining friezes of text! The reconstruction of Donatello’s work dates to around the second world war and cannot be considered entirely reliable.

Bibliography:
*Janson, Horst W. The Sculpture of Donatello (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957). [This is the book from which I pieced together most of the above story, and I could not live without this on my bookshelf. It's out of print but worth every penny: Janson, Sculpture of Donatello]
Marquand, Allen. Luca Della Robbia (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1914).
Mode, Robert L. “Adolescent confratelli and the cantoria of Luca della Robbia,” Art Bulletin LXVIII/1 (Mar., 1986), pp. 67-71.
Pope-Hennessy, John. Luca della Robbia (Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1980).
Pope-Hennessy, John. Donatello Sculptor (NY: Abbeville Press, 1993). [Donatello: Sculptor amazon link]
Rosenauer, Arthur. Donatello (Milan: Electa, 1993).

Artist: Linda Apple. Image source: http://tinyurl.com/kidptg

Exposing children to art from a young age develops cognitive and verbal skills, arguably good things. But it may be daunting to enter a museum with kids: they may be easily bored, they probably won’t resist long, and you may not be sure what to do to help them approach the works. I have recently had the pleasure of talking about teaching art history with a colleague of mine in art education, and we have found that some of the tricks I use in my university classes are the same as those recommended for use in elementary and middle schools. The following are some ideas for approaching art with school-age children that apply also to adults. While classroom techniques are similar, the points below are designed with the museum setting in mind.

A note before we begin: Be aware that not all museums are very child friendly. In the USA, almost every museum, from smaller university art museums to the biggies like the Washington National Gallery, the HIGH in Atlanta, and the Art Institute of Chicago have family programmes that make art accessible. The National Museum in London is wonderful for this. In Italy, this is rarer. The Uffizi is crowded and has no signs specific to children, little place to sit down and rest, and no place to eat, drink, or pee until you get to the end. Oddly enough, the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale in Naples has really fun signs for kids! When travelling, it may be better to try one of the smaller private museums. [There will be a future post under "Museums" about child-friendly options in Florence.]

1) Watch your child! what is he/she interested in looking at? Rather than picking out the masterpiece of art history that you know everyone should learn about, follow your kid’s eyes. He or she may be more interested in another piece (or in some lint on the ground…). If the child is NOT looking at the art, now’s the time to try to direct his or her attention to the wall, leading perhaps to the pieces you wish to discuss.

2) Ask for a reaction: Depending on age, your child may have more or less sophisticated reactions to art, but from an early age should be able to express like and dislike. Ask questions such as: do you like this painting? is it scary? is that a pretty colour? Sometimes, childrens’ answers will naturally lead you to discuss the work: why do you like it? what makes it scary, is it because it’s dark?

Raphael's Portrait of Maddalena Doni (Pitti Palace, Florence). Image in the public domain.

3) Pick pieces with people in them – they are easier to discuss:
Representational art has two main benefits when it comes to interpretation. First, it can tell us about the culture that produced it – what those people wore, what their ideals were. Second, we can more easily relate to quasi-timeless aspects like body language, facial expression, and gesture.
The portrait of Maddalena Doni (left) by Raphael kicked off a really fun conversation in my Italian Renaissance art history class. Someone immediately commented that she looked unhappy. This is in fact a double portrait; to the left of Maddalena, in a separate frame, is her husband Agnolo, and this is a wedding commemoration. Not exactly a joyous bride! I asked “who would want to go on a two week cruise with these people?” – and there were not a lot of takers. I asked why we know she is unhappy, which lead to a discussion of facial expression and body language or pose. But I also asked what else we can know about this couple from this painting; what information the clothing and landscape convey about the couple’s social status and gender roles.
My colleague in art education, Carole, said she used a similar approach with grade school children by showing them a reproduction of Wood’s American Gothic, asking the kids who would want to go spend a week on their farm. One boy said that the man holding a pitchfork was a devil-worshipper, which could lead to a conversation with older students about the manner in which we interpret symbols.

4) Make it relevant: Often, ideas or things represented in art are still part of our life today. A toddler will recognize another toddler (real or painted), point, and say “baby”. Objects and people in Renaissance paintings are sometimes recognizable as objects in our own homes, making for good conversation – how is that bed different from yours? Look, that lady is sewing just like your grandma does!
Sculpture and architecture might seem less accessible, but if you can discuss the object’s contemporary function, you can ask your young student to play-act how people might have reacted to this work in the past. For example, take Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio (see post here). Ask the child what message the government is trying to project with this building! how do they know that?
Furthermore, the function of much art is not that different from the function of personal propoganda or advertising today. Teenage girls might respond favourably to comparisons between portraits of women in the Renaissance and current magazine ads, which present very different ideals of beauty and sexuality.

5) Talking about style… building comparisons: One of the goals of art history is to develop an ability to recognize stylistic differences between works, generally in order to place works into a chronology that demonstrates a sequence (not so much a progression!) of stylistic change. Young children probably don’t care about this at all. But you can attune them to subtle as well as obvious differences between pieces that will enhance their critical skills. Not all museums make it easy for you to develop comparisons between works in a single room, as it is traditional to group works from the same time period or artist together, and it is more difficult to compare these than to compare works that are more disparate. (An exception to this is the newly rennovated Art Gallery of Ontario, where I spent my early years, now arranged thematically!) Here are some types of works that are easily comparable:

• two objects that depict the same subject, like two images of a Madonna and Child, two portraits, etc.
• Two works by the same artist, early and late in the artist’s career. How has the artist evolved? what is the artist’s range of style and subject matter?
• two pieces that might have the same function, like two big altarpieces.

6) Buy postcards: I still have a book into which I pasted postcards purchased on every museum visit before the age of ten. It’s a pretty full book. My mother had me write down the artist and title of the work pictured. I also pasted in postcards received in the mail. An even more interactive idea is to go to the museum shop FIRST and allow your child to pick one card to buy, then look for it in the gallery. Watch out though – if you’re in Italy, chances are that will be the one work taken away for restoration, or on loan somewhere else.

Other online resources:

• There are podcasts on this website to listen to in the first three rooms of the Uffizi Museum in Florence. These are for children old enough to guide themselves with a digital music device (ipod).
• Fun art-related online games from the National Gallery of Art (Washington)

Further reading:

• The Come Look with Me Series introduces art thematically or by region.
• For travel in Italy, I own a copy of this fun, self-published activity book that keeps kids looking not only at art, but around town at people, streets, cars, gelato, and everything else. Great way to keep them busy while waiting for slow restaurant service. See: Kids Europe Italy Discovery Journal
• The Phaidon Art Book for Children is perfect for practising at home before you go to the museum, or for reinforcing concepts afterwards. The large illustrations are tempting while the text boxes prompt young minds (and give parents more ideas about how to approach art with your kids!).

Detail of evil people-eating monster in hell

The detached fresco fragments of the massive fresco cycle depicting the Triumph of Death and Last Judgement are on display in a special room off the Camposanto in Pisa (part of the Piazza dei Miracoli or Cathedral Complex). These scary frescoes are attributed to to either Francesco Traiani (active 1321-63) or Buonamico Buffalmacco (active 1320-36), probably executed in the 1330s. They were drastically damaged in the 1944 bombing of Pisa (see photo) and detached for conservation. They were originally located along one of the short walls of the Camposanto courtyard, which functioned as a burial ground for the city’s elite. Ancient sarcophaghi line the lower part of the walls, while the floors are still paved with medieval tombstones, worn down by the feet of time. The themes of the painting, which read more as separate panels than as a unified narrative whole, are congruent with their location in a cemetery.

Camposanto frescoes: memento mori

They remind the (live) viewer of imminent death and the necessity of living a Christian life. The story depicted at the bottom left corner of the Triumph fresco is the “Meeting of three living and three dead”, a 13th century legend in which three noble young men on horses, out on a hunting trip, encounter three corpses in their open tombs in varying states of decomposition, complete with bloating and snakes coming out of their bodies, and one is a skeleton. The dead function as a memento mori, to remind the living that they will soon become that way too. The skeleton speaks: “Such as I was you are, and such as I am you will be. Wealth, honor and power are of no value at the hour of your death.”

Pisa camposanto photos

Good photos of this cycle are hard to come by. I have tried to teach this material with the photos available in published sources and never been able to communicate the power of the original. This weekend I got some good detail photos, which I have only slightly enhanced by increasing the contrast in photoshop. Finally you can see that the hell scene is one of the most gruesome in Italy, especially remarkable for its time. I particularly love this multi-eyed monster, which looks almost like a modern abstract painting in this cropped detail shot.

Do feel free to use these photos in your classes! (If you’re using them in a website, I’d appreciate a link back to this page).

If you’re visiting Pisa and looking for a place to stay, HotelTravel.com has a good selection of accomodation with discount prices; visit Pisa Hotels for more information.

A book for more information: Radke and Paoletti’s Art in Renaissance Italy offers pre-war black and white photos and an analysis of the entire cycle (page 153).

Photos:

Amongst the more quality items in the collection is the famous Barberini “Togato”, a standing male sculpture of the first century representing a patrician man holding the busts of his ancestors – reflective of contemporary practise and privilege of the patrician classes to have these items made. However, since it is in itself a white marble sculpture, to us there is not much differentiation between the “real” and the “sculpted”, so that it rather disconcertingly looks like this man is holding two severed heads. His own head was also severed; the one on this sculpture is not the original.

My photos show some of the most interesting sculptures juxtaposed with power plant machinery, such as the sign that says Franco Tosi (1933) with a greek maiden, and the dials from a 1930’s diesel motor here.

Lunch Suggestion: “Doppio Zeroo” wine bar, (via ostiense 68). A stylish but reasonably priced pizzeria/tavola calda/wine bar frequented by office workers (always a good sign).

On your way back to Piramide metro station, you can’t possibly miss the Piramide di Caio Cestio, a 27 metre high brick pyramid faced with white marble, and tucked into the city walls, which kinda takes away from the original effect.

Official website and opening hours at: www.centralemontemartini.org
Open Tuesday through Sunday (closed Monday), 9.00-19.00.

Stunning fireworks and reflections captured by Lapo

Our friend Lapo has allowed me to use some of his beautiful photos of travels in Italy, and, inspired by these photos of the ponte vecchio, I figured I should post something about this famous old bridge, over which runs the Vasari Corridor - below find information about reservations to get inside the Corridor.

City Panorama featuring the ponte vecchio (Lapo)

There has probably been a bridge at this narrow part of the Arno since Roman times; there is mention of a bridge in the year 996, but earlier versions often succumbed to the force of the water during occasional flooding. The current version was built in 1345 by Neri di Fioravante, with three strong arches in order to support buildings on either side, as if it were a continuation of the street that precedes it (Via Por San Maria).

Ponte Vecchio at Dusk (Lapo)

The particular wooden store fronts that spill out onto the walkway were first home to butchers and vegetable sellers, until, in 1593 the grand duke Ferdinand I de’ Medici decided that this was too smelly. The problem was that the famous VASARI CORRIDOR (that links the Palazzo Vecchio to the Boboli Gardens and Pitti Palace – a handy escape route for the family) passes over the tops of the then-butcher-shops: if you look at the top level of the bridge you can see an even row of square windows lined with pietra serena (grey stone). In order to not pass above odors of mature prosciutto and rotting greens, the Duke decided that the new occupants should be goldsmiths – more appropriate to the luxury of the ruling family.

The bridge gets to be extra “Old” as it is the only bridge to survive the German bombing of August 1944, perhaps due to widespread knowledge that the treasures of the Uffizi Gallery were “hidden” here in the corridor above.

UPDATED Nov 2009: For those interested, you can book a visit for 10+ people to the Vasari Corridor by sending an email request here (prenotazioni@operalab.it) or calling Firenze Musei – Opera Laboratori Fiorentini at +39 055 294883 or +39 055 2654321 (this second number is almost always busy!). Visits are Tuesday and Thursday at 9.00 and 11.30, and on Wednesday and Friday at 14.00 and 16.30.

The corridor houses the museum’s collection of artists’ self portraits, which artists have been sending them for free ever since word got out (and apparently, they have way too many to display even here). There are some charming views onto the ponte vecchio, too. I took these two photos during a visit a few years ago.

Through a little round window over ponte vecchio from Vasari's corridor

Looking down the corridor

Located in the center of Florence, this is a rare FREE museum, and* if you use this guide to learn what you’re looking at, it’s very interesting to both adults and children. You can explore it freely and get a sense of what life was like during the Renaissance. This is one of my favourite places to bring visitors to Florence, especially kids.

Open weekdays, 8.15 – 13.30, 2 euros. Via porta Rossa. *Right, no longer free.
Updated Jan 2010 with new photos and text.

EARLY HISTORY

The palazzo was commissioned in the mid 14th century by the Davizi family, who were members of the Arte della Calimala (wool guild). The Davizi had to sell in 1516 due to financial difficulty, and the building changed hands twice before being owned by the Davanzati family (that give the building its name), who had it until 1838; at which point it was converted into apartments and fell into a state of disrepair.

A cassone in metal and velvet

Purchased in 1904 by the antique dealer Elia Volpi, It was restored and opened in 1910 as a museum. The collection of this museum was always in flux, since Volpi also used it partially as an antique showroom and the objects were for sale! In his restoration, the frescoes were enthusiastically in-filled, and the furnishings reflected the scholarship of the day on how the early Renaissance palazzo must have looked. This initiative must be taken into consideration in light of the late 19th century revival of the Florentine Trecento, fathered by Americans like Bernard Berenson (the art historian) and Herbert Horne (the collector; his place is also a museum).

A complicated history characterizes the war periods, with lots of changing of hands. In the 50’s the palazzo reopened as a state museum, but the money for restoration was not enough to keep it standing. It was closed in 1995 because the building was falling down. It is now being opened again after 10 years of restoration.
The restoration has been major. The whole building had to be secured; floors were taken up and relaid, walls consolidated and frescoes repainted. The architectural framework is now safe and the work that is left to be done is on the walls and then the refurnishing of the museum. It’s an interesting place to visit already, and will be even more so when completed. Hopefully the scholars on board will take into account the vast scholarship now available on domestic architecture and furnishings, which has blossomed in the past 40 years, when choosing how to set up the new museum. New literature on the Palazzo Davanzati would also be a big step, since there are only a few books on it and they are not highly informative.

Palazzo Davanzati facade

EXTERIOR

The facade was added to a grouping of medieval tower houses that were purchased with the intent of unifying them. The topmost level is an open loggia that was added in the 16th century.

INTERIOR: Ground Floor

The palazzo is in some ways typical of trecento family architecture in that it is rather well reinforced. The ground floor, now accessed by large doors set in arches, was before an open space (loggia) for commercial use. These kinds of spaces were typical of Florentine palaces of the 14th century, and can be related to the city’s strong merchant population. The loggia was used for storage or business, while the family lived upstairs, in this case with two levels of living quarters and the top level dedicated to cooking and servants.

The entrance loggia is now used as an exhibition space. Usually on display is the prized birth tray by Lo Scheggia, the younger brother of Masaccio [2010: this is now exhibited in the upstairs bedroom]. A birth tray is an object commissioned either to celebrate or to encourage a birth in the family. The front of Lo Scheggia’s tray shows the “gioco della civetta“, a game that youths played apparently in a piazza. Although this game continued into the 19th century i have been unable to figure out exactly what was involved, other than that three participants are required, and that the one in the middle has to place his feet on top of those of his companions… !! The back of the tray shows two little boys, or “putti”, also playing. They are trying to grab each others’ private parts.

Through the loggia you reach an open courtyard and a stone stairway reaching to the first floor. Notice that, beyond the first floor, the upper part of the stairway is built in wood, not stone. This might be done so that, in case of riot, the family could hole up upstairs and knock down the stairway so that nobody could get at them. This remains part of tower-home mentality. On the other hand, the concept of a courtyard as a communicative space for the whole building is rather new. It indicates a certain amount of spatial planning. Also, the courtyard was a private space for the family. The use of a courtyard as both a practical and a familial space was theorized in the 15th century, and the courtyard became a standart part of palace architecture.

UPSTAIRS

Great room on first floor, view to right

On the first floor above ground, the “piano nobile” in Italian, the front room was for business affairs. In correspondence with the three openings of the loggia below are three holes in the ground that can be revealed by opening up trap doors. These permitted the owner to check who was coming in, and in case of undesireables, drop heavy things on their heads. A storage nook in the wall behind one of these holes now contains a stone ball and I imagine this space was used to store defense objects like that. The room has a few pieces of furniture and paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries now on display, suggestive of what it might have looked like before. On the central wall of this room, adjacent to the courtyard, take note of the well, which permitted residents to draw water throughout the whole house.

The room of the Parrots

The Sala dei Pappagalli (room of the parrots). A room adjacent to this one is set up like a dining room, and has a large fireplace. The much-restored frescoes on the wall (at this point more rightly called wall paintings than true frescoes) have a pattern of diamonds and parrots after which the room is named.

A very small room in between this one and the next was a bathroom, with a potty hole. Florentines reinvented indoor personal hygeine, which was known to the Ancients but lost in the middle ages.

Next to this bathroom was the study, or studiolo. Its wall paintings are now lost, but it is suggestively set up with objects that one might find in the man of the house’s room used for storage of business and recreational items. On display are a forziere (safe or strongbox), a cassone covered with velvet (more rightly found in a bedroom), some chairs, some small bronze statuettes, and some paintings with mythological scenes.

Accessed from the hallways is a bedroom set up with an antique bed and crib, as well as with other objects that would be found in the Renaissance home, like devotional paintings and a cassone. There is an “ensuite bathroom” with wash basin and other apparatus (though no hole connected to the central drainage system here).

Sections of the upper floors of the buliding are still under restoration, but each has the same layout as the first floor, and was used for family living.

The third floor hosted the kitchens, since this was most convenient for dispelling the heat of cooking, as well as in case of fire. There is an interesting display of practical objects from everyday life, like spinning tools and cooking pots. Servants’ quarters were also up here. As of Summer 2009, the kitchens are open for guided visits (free with entry) every hour on the hour. You must phone to reserve a slot, or be available to wait until there is a free space on the tour.

CONCLUSIONS

The walls of all these rooms were once decorated with frescoes; where they do not represent realistic scenes they were patterned in imitation of the tapestries that would have hung on special occasions or in winter to keep warm. Those that are now on view are heavily restored (ie, in-painted). They must be taken only as illustrative of the “early renaissance palazzo” but not considered for stylistic elements.

The art-historic significance of this palazzo is mainly its architecture, as an example of a typical domestic building of the mid trecento. However, the various changes in the quattrocento and the major restorations of the 19th and early 20th century make it hard to use as a “document”. However, many forward thinking elements, like the courtyard that gives access to all the rooms, and the desire to create a logical space for family life, are important predecessors of the great 15th century palaces, like those built by the Strozzi and Medici.

FOR FURTHER READING

-Highly recommended for quality of scholarly text as well as images: Jacqueline Marie Musacchio, Art, Marriage, and Family in the Florentine Renaissance Palace (YUP 2009).
-Marta Ajmar and Flora Denni’s At Home in Renaissance Italy is the catalogue of a wonderful exhibition at the V&A in 2006

I’m listing the Piero Pilgrimage under Tuscany, but really it just starts there – in the end you cross the entire country, spend some time in the Marches and finish on the East coast in Rimini! This itinerary does not include the museums in Milan and Perugia, nor the Uffizi in Florence, all three of which house important works by Piero. Rather, the trip follows Piero’s path through works still found in-situ, or in their city of production in the case of Urbino.

First let’s start with a map to see the path of travel…

Click to enlarge map

Leaving Florence (or anywhere nearby), take the A1 highway to Arezzo. From Arezzo onwards take small roads – first follow signs for Borgo San Sepolcro. About half an hour outside of Arezzo, stop at Monterchi, then continue to Borgo. From Borgo, cross the mountains on a treacherous pass to Urbino (great views!). To top it off, follow the road to Pesaro, and take a few kilometres of autostrada for just one more fresco (and a cool church by Alberti) in Rimini. The way home (3.5 hours) is all autostrada. This is best done with an overnight stay on the east coast. There are plenty of other wonderful things to see in the area that are not covered in this trip dedicated to Piero.

A little bit about Piero della Francesca (circa 1412/20?-1492) is also de riguer here. Born in the town of Borgo San Sepolcro, Piero trained in Florence, probably in the workshop of Domenico Veneziano. Highly influenced by Masaccio, he can be classified as one of the foundational artists of the Renaissance. He was a skilled mathematician and the author of a treatise on scientific perspective and of other books on math. His style is highly linear and calculated, characterized by an infused calm that derives from a lack of motion.

Following the “Piero Trail” takes you to see the following works and locations:

Arezzo: Church of San Francesco, Fresco cycle of the Legend of the True Cross (circa 1460).
(Click here for an animated diagram of the chapel and its scenes (labels in italian) from the official site.)

The high chapel of this church is decorated with a large fresco cycle commemorating the True Cross, and incorporating a little bit of local propoganda along the way. The story is narrated in ten fields that recount elements of the legend. The theme of the cross is also ingeniously incorporated visually into some of the scenes, for example the Annunciation (left altar wall) has a cross-shape built into the architecture, as does the tent shape to the right of this same wall.

This work makes a nice starting point for understanding Piero’s unique contribution to Renaissance painting. It is not the earliest work on the Piero trail, nor the latest, but it shows his mature style towards 1460. This style is characterized by obsession with perspective to the point of sacrificing movement, monumentality of form, repetition of elements, alternation and variation of colours and figures.

Tickets must be purchased in advance by phoning 0575 352.727 or through this website (which however does not always work). Photos are not permitted inside the church, and after-restoration photos are not available online.

Arezzo, Duomo: Fresco of Saint Mary Magdalen. Located on a wall at the left side of the apse.

arezzo duomo saint

This fresco was probably executed while Piero was working on the nearby cycle mentioned above. Elements such as the figure’s clothing and facial type recall those seen in the Legend of the True Cross frescoes, such as the flipped over cape. The facial shape however is less rigorously oval and may point to a slightly later dating. The form and colour are typically Piero, monumental and clear.

Monterchi: Madonna del Parto

Madonna del Parto at Monterchi (image: web gallery of art)

This deceptively simple fresco hides ingenious compositional tricks and levels of deep meaning. When this small, remote town moved the fresco (already detached over a century ago) to the schoolhouse from its previous location in a cemetary chapel outside of town, local women protested. The work has had a talismanic function for many centuries, due to its representation of the pregnant Virgin Mary. Back in the mid fifteenth-century, when it was painted by Piero (but we’re not sure where or when, exactly), women had a lot to pray for, since pregnancy and childbirth were very dangerous affairs.

Piero’s pregnant Madonna is approachable and human. She looks just about as uncomfortable as any woman would be about eight months along. She stands with her weight in a heavy contrapposto pose, leaning on one foot and holding her back. On the other hand, she is majestic and monumental. Her perfect oval face and eyes open just a slit betray a reassuring calmness. Moving outwards now, she stands in a tent whose rich pomegranite-patterned damask (heavily damaged) sides are being pulled back by two carbon-copy angels. The angels are the same figure, reversed, which gives the composition balance. Nonetheless, Piero introduces variety (another prized element in renaissance composition) by alternating the colours of their robes, wings and boots.

Within this monumental fresco, of which just this detached fragment remains, are the Christian themes of birth and resurrection. Mary is shown here as the container of, or tabarnacle of, Christ. The composition and subject matter hence refer to the miracle of transubstantiation, or the host, the central mystery of Christianity.

Borgo San Sepolcro, Museo Civico

Borgo san Sepolcro (the town of the holy sepulchre) is Piero’s birth place, and he worked here too. The town hall houses a museum, but is also the original locaton of Piero’s fresco of the Resurrection.

Resurrection (image from the Web Gallery of Art)
Although a religious subject, the topic is appropriate to a town named after the holy sepulchre. Piero here plays with perspective, showing us a scene in perfect perspective, with Christ who is entirely frontal and not shown within that perspectival scheme. This is a trick he got from Masaccio’s Trinity (SMN, Florence).

Madonna della Misericordia (image from the Web Gallery of Art)
This altarpiece (shown in a reconstructed state and missing its original frame) was made for a local confraternity, whose members are shown protected by the tent-shape of the Madonna’s robe. This is a very early work by Piero, which shows in the somewhat inept rendering of some of the figures. The use of a gold background was probably something Piero wouldn’t have liked, but perhaps was required by the patron. It didn’t allow him to work in perspective and to create realistic spaces.

Urbino, Galleria Nazionale (in Palazzo Ducale)

Palazzo ducale in Urbino (back view)

This lovely Renaissance palace is entirely due to one man, the patron Federico da Montelfeltro, a powerful condottiere (mercenary soldier) and eventually Duke of Urbino. Besides being a good warrior, Federico was very proud of his humanist education. He learned Latin, astronomy, music, mathematics and all that good stuff. With the profits of warfare, Federico da Montefeltro built up a large court in Urbino to rival all others in Italy. From 1468 onwards, he invested more money in art and architecture than any other italian ruler.

The palace was begun in the 1450’s, and Federico had work done on it for the next 30 years. The architects involved were Maso di Bartolomeo, Luciano Laurana, and finally the Sienese Francesco di Giorgio.

The courtyard is a light and airy renaissance space, in brick and articulated in white local marble. The effect is graceful and sophisticated. All around this courtyard is a long inscription in latin that is practically a biography of the patron! In short form, it says something like: “Federico Duke of Urbino, Count of Montefeltro and Casteldurante, Gonfaloniere of the holy roman church and head of the italian confederation, started from scratch this building for his own glory and those of his ancestors. He, who has fought many wars, six times lead armies, eight times won against the enemy, winner of all wards, has increased his dominion. His justice, clemency, liberality, morality equal and ornament, during peace, his victories.”

Piero's Madonna di Senigallia in Urbino (web gallery of art)

The palace is entirely visitable (no reservation required) and houses the National Gallery of the Marches. This Museum has two important, yet small-sized works, by Piero: The Flagellation and the Madonna di Senigallia.

The Madonna di Senigallia shows the influence Piero felt of Northern european artists in two main ways. First, northern artists used oil paint; here, piero mixed his tempera with a little oil (called “tempera grassa”, or fat tempera), which allowed him a longer drying time. Second, his delicate treatment of light reflects (pun!) northern usage; observe the reflections in the objects on the shelf at right, and the rendering of dust on sunlight streaming through the window at the left.

Rimini, Alberti’s Tempio Malatestiano, Piero’s Sigismondo Malatesta Fresco

Rimini, Tempio Malatestiano by Alberti

In the late 1440’s, the Lord of Rimini, Sigismondo Malatesta, started rennovating this Gothic church in Rimini. He had a builder from Verona, Matteo de’Pasti, get started on the inside, just rennovating one chapel. The project grew exponentially, and eventually he had Alberti on the project. In 1450 Alberti designed the marble encasing for the earlier structure, which is still visible on the side of the building and at the top of the unfinished facade. This expansive restoration project, which was never finished, involved putting a Renaissance marble “icing” on all internal and external features. On the outside, Alberti’s job was to regularize the Gothic structure, whose proportions he found disturbing. The front and sides show his obsession with mathematics and proportion, and his strong reliance on Classical precedents.

The chapels inside are decorated in low-relief sculptures by Agostino di Duccio and his workshop.

A detached fresco by Piero della Francesca (you were probably wondering how he fit in!) has been put on display in one of the chapels in the right aisle. It was originally located above the entrance to the sacristy. The fresco shows the patron, Sigismondo Malatesta, adoring Saint Sigismund. It was originally made for the entrance wall of the church’s sacristy. (It has now been moved into the last chapel on the right for easy access.) It is dated 1451, so is a relatively early work by Piero. The simple composition in accurate perspective and the lack of motion are characteristic. The architecture, with the white pilasters in the background, are clearly Albertian and a reference to the church in which the fresco is located.

Bibliography (just Rimini):
Tavernor: On alberti and the art of buliding (1998)
Wittkower 1949: Architectural principles in the age of humanism.
Stanko Kokole, Agostino di Duccio in the Tempio Malatestiano (PhD Dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, 1997)
Pasini, Pier Giorgio (ed.): Il tempio malatestiano: Splendore cortese e classicismo umanistico (Skira, 2000) Piero della francesca a rimini: l’affresco nel tempio Malatestiano (1984)
JV Field: Piero della Francesca: A Mathematician’s art (2004) [see amazon link below].

Further reading for your trip from Amazon.com (click this link for search results)

Ospedale degli Innocenti

Brunelleschi’s building in Piazza S.S. Annunziata is easily recognized by its majestic portico, a series of round arches punctuated by roundels of swaddled babes by the Della Robbia family. But many visitors to and even residents of the city do not know much about its function. This article covers the history of the Innocenti as an institution.

The building opened its doors as a foundling hospital, the ancestor of the modern day orphanage, in 1445. This was in response to the city’s problem of infant abandonment, which had recently come more to the patricians’ attention, not in the least because often, abandoned babies were products of the servant-master relations of these same patricians. Unwanted babies were often exposed to the elements or drowned. The city responded to this terrible fact mainly because of the concern for the unbaptised souls of the children. The Institution of the Innocenti sought mainly to remedy this problem.

The portico, or loggia, by Brunelleschi was begun in 1419. The construction of the orphanage was financed by a sum left in the will of Francesco Datini (the famous “merchant of Prato”), though also by the silk guild and the Commune of Florence. Public structures for the poor and helpless were one of the proper ways to spend money in Renaissance Florence: a humanist text by Matteo Palmieri (della vita civile) says:

Those who have some natural defect of illness or of age… deserve public subsidy… If they are small children, their preservation is at stake… for the future comfort and betterment of the common wealth.

The institution was for common good, and it contributed to civic pride. The importance of a beautiful facade by a prominent architect, Brunelleschi, can be linked to this matter. The loggia, which for the first time incorporates a rational system of architecture based on the ancients, is an important monument in the development of Renaissance architecture, and a matter of pride for the Florentines.

Infant abandonment in Renaissance Florence

For the first two centuries of the Innocenti’s operation, children could be left anonymously in a basin placed inside a window underneath the portico (see photo). In 1660, this original entry was closed and replaced by an entrance at the left-hand side of the portico, which can be seen now. In both cases the child immediately passed into the relative safety of the hospital, while the identity of the parent or “agent” leaving the child would be (theoretically) protected (although my reading of the archival documents reveal that often they were spied upon by internal staff). When a child was brought in, the staff immediately recorded pertinent information in a large book for that year. All subsequent information was written on the same page, including whether the child died or was reclaimed by its parents. These records still exist in the Archivio degli Innocenti and provide an important historical record for scholars.

Florence was not the only city with a foundling hospital, though it was one of the first. Over its hundreds of years of operation, thousands of babies were left there for mercy. The original intent of the institution was to place the infants under the care of wetnurses and raise all the children for productive lives in society. In the first years of its operation, this was marginally possible. The death rate of the “innocentini” was about 30%, which was only slightly greater than the rate for children in society at large (a surprising fact for us, but due to lack of medicine and hygeine). As the number of babies at the institution swelled, however, they were not able to feed the children due to the difficulty of hiring wetnurses willing to work there.

Wetnursing was the practise of all wealthy and middle-class families; children were usually sent into the countryside to be nursed while the mothers were able to become more easily pregnant again. The problem with this system was that the woman taking in someone else’s child had to have enough milk for the “guest”, either by nursing two babies, or because her own child had died. Often, children were abandoned at the Innocenti because women wanted to take on a (well-paying) wetnurse job, so that the institution actually contributed to its own problems. Infectious diseases were also rampant. In later centuries, many babies arrived already with syphillis due to being the offspring of prostitutes, and this was transmitted to the women breastfeeding the child, so again, it was a vicious circle. In some years of the nineteenth century the death rate was around 90%.

In the twentieth century it is too bad that Mussolini survived his stay there (yes, he was an Innocentino too). The institution closed its doors soon after the permanence of this illustrious tyrant, though to this day the “Casa dei Bambini” still operates there with limited functions for the temporary lodging and outplacement of babies who cannot be cared for by their parents. There is also a daycare centre, an archive, and a two museums in the building.

Museum of the Hospital of the Innocents (MUDI)

The centerpiece of the Galleria dello Spedale (art gallery) is a famous altarpiece by Ghirlandaio made for the annexed church and other objects that make up the artistic heritage of the instutite. The MUDI, Museo degli Innocenti now also offers childrens’ workshops in Italian, English, French and Spanish to encourage to play and learn with art – here’s the website for information about the workshops.

INFO:
Museo deli Innocenti: open every morning 8,30 – 14,00, closed Wednesday. 4E entry.
Official website: www.istitutodeglinnocenti.it

Select Bibliography:
Di Bello, Giulia. Senza nome ne’ famiglia: i bambini abbandonati nell’ottocento (Florence: L. Manzuoli, 1989).
Gavitt, Philip. Charity and Children in Renaissance Florence: The Ospedale degli Innocenti, 1410-1536 (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1990). [Buy Gavitt's Charity and Children on Amaon.com]
Grandi, Casimara. Benedetto chi ti porta, maledetto chi ti manda: l’infanzia abbondonata nel Triveneto (Secoli XV-XIX) (Canova: Edizioni Fondazione Benetton, 1997).
Grieco, Allen J., and Lucia Sandri. Ospedale e città: L’Italia di Centro-Nord, XIII – XVI secolo (Florence: Le Lettere, 1997).
Kertzer, David. Sacrificed for Honor: Italian Infant Abandonment and the Politics of Reproductive Control (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993). [Buy "Sacrificed for Honor" on Amazon.com]
Macelli, Anna Maria. “Gettatelli a Prato nell’Ottocento,” Archivio Storico Pratese, Anno LXIV (1988), I-II, pp. 49-139.
Matthews Grieco, Sara. “Breastfeeding, Wet-Nursing and Infant Mortality in Europe, 1400-1800,” Historical Perspectives on Breastfeeding (Unicef: 1991), pp. 15-60.
McLure, Ruth. Coram’s Children: The London Foundling Hospital in the 18th Century (New Haven, 1981).
Sandri, Lucia, ed. Gli Innocenti a Firenze (Florence: Edizioni Scelte, 1996).
Trexler, Richard. “Infanticide in Florence: New Sources and First Results,” History of Childhood Quarterly 1 (1973), pp. 98-116.
—– “The Foundlings of Florence, 1395-1455,” History of Childhood Quarterly 1 (1973), pp. 259-84.

Fra Angelico annunciation at the top of stairs

The Dominican Observant convent of San Marco was built starting 1436 and frescoed almost in its entirety by Fra Angelico from 1440-50 (approx.). It is a marvel of the effective use of painting in functional, religious spaces.

Arttrav offers a podcast of san marco to lead you through these spaces.

Opening hours: Monday-Friday: 8.15-13.50; Saturday: 8.15-18.50; every second Sunday: 8.15-19.00. Admission 4 euros. Located in Piazza san Marco.

*podcast player isn’t working: here’s the direct link to the file: http://www.arttrav.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/san_marco.mp3

This series of free podcasts about the Uffizi gallery in Florence was designed with young viewers in mind, but should be handy for adults too

This is the third part with a presentation of the next room you encounter in the museum after Giotto. This room contains important altarpieces from the International Gothic period (14-teens and 20s). We examine the bright colours and innovations of Gentile da Fabriano and Lorenzo Monaco. Their style seems very much in contrast with the Renaissance we’re about to see, and in some ways steps backwards from the Giotto we just met. But there are innovations in these works that are forerunners of the Renaissance – after all, they were made at just the same time that Masaccio was developing his groundbreaking representations of perspective and shadow!

You can read the text of this podcast by downloading the pdf file.

*due to media player problems you can click this link to hear the mp3 directly, or download it: uffizi kids podcast #3

Video lesson

International Gothic room at the Uffizi

This is the text of the podcast

Part 3: Gothic colours and animals

So we’re done with Giotto and we want to see what happened next in Florentine Art. Now you should be in a room called the “international gothic room”. There are two paintings here that dominate the room due to their size. One is very big and colourful and it’s on the same wall as the door that you just came through. The other is a slightly smaller altarpiece just to the right of the door, with a big gold frame. Are you in the right room?

These two paintings are examples of a style that was popular in florence in the first part of the 1400’s. This style is called “International Gothic”. It’s “international” because painters used this style in other countries too, not just in Italy. The other word, “Gothic”, is a word we use to describe a type of painting that tends to be very detailed and colourful. We’ll take a good look at these two large paintings together and you’ll see what I mean.

Lorenzo Monaco: Coronation of the Virgin

First let’s look at the HUGE painting that has a man putting a crown on a woman in the center, and three panels that stick up at the top.

This painting was done by a guy named Lorenzo Monaco. In English, that’s Lawrence the Monk. I don’t know about you, but I usually think of monks who wear dark robes and are kinda quiet. Well this painting is certainly not quiet!! If paintings could make noise through their colours, this painting would be a huge party! The most dominant colour here is probably gold. Now I want you to pause and try to make a list of all the colours you see.

Did you make a list? Check it twice? OK let’s see if you got the colours I did. I see white, four types of grey, blue, two pinks, bright green, yellow and brown. Maybe you see even more colours than I do. Why do you think the artist made this work so colourful? I want you to think about that for yourself.

Gentile da Fabriano: Adoration of the magi

Now let’s look at the other work, which also has a gold frame in three parts. It’s on the wall to the left of the one you were just looking at.

The artist who painted this one is called Gentile da Fabriano. His name is interesting because Gentile in italian means “nice”. I think he must have been a nice guy. His last name is not a real last name like you and I have, but the name of the city that he comes from – Fabriano. In the old days, most people did not have a first AND last name like John Smith, or if they did, they didn’t bother to use it. So often people would be their first name, and then either their city of birth (especially if they moved somewhere else), or their occupation. My name would be “Alexandra from Toronto”. What would your Renaissance name be?

Now what I like best about Gentile’s nice painting here are the fun details that he puts into it. You can tell that he is really observing nature and trying to put it into the painting. The picture represents the newborn Jesus held by his mother on the left side. There are three men, who are three kings, who come to visit. All the other people are the whole group of people who travel with these kings. Look how many people there are! They wind all the way to the back of the painting in a long curvy line! Can you see their faces? Each person is unique – just like you and I. Can you see emotion in their expressions? Are they surprised, or happy, or excited, or talking, or working? Look at all their colourful, patterned outfits, and the funny hats!

Amongst these details there are a lot of animals. Maybe you have already noticed some. You can’t miss the horses, which the kings probably rode to get there. There are two horses at the front right of the painting, and one has his bum to us. I think this was meant to be funny. What other animals do you see besides the horses? Is that a dog at the front? Doesn’t look much like a dog to me but I guess that is what it’s supposed to be. I challenge you to find at least 3 birds and one monkey, and 2 farm animals. If you find any more, tell your parent that you win a gelato.

Now we’ve seen that these two paintings from the “International Gothic” style have two main characteristics: bright colour, and lots of detail. I asked you to think about why this is. I’ll give you ONE interpretation, but maybe you came up with another answer that is just as true as mine. Like the work by giotto in the last room, these two paintings were also made for churches. 600 years ago, they did not have electric lights. In churches, people lit candles, often in front of these paintings. So one reason for all the bright colours is that people could see them better in a dark church. The gold background also helps reflect this candlelight. As for the detail, one explanation is that it brings pleasure. Just like we enjoy looking at all the animals and fun stuff in a painting, I bet that viewers enjoyed doing that back when these paintings were made.

Start with the Introduction to the Uffizi. This is the Second Part – the Giotto Room, which is a presentation of the first room you enter off the hallway. This room features a large enthroned Madonna by Giotto in the center, and similar shaped works by Duccio and Cimabue. The podcast compares these works which might at first look similar to you. What we have here is actually the Tuscan Proto-Renaissance, and the small distinctions between the works show a move towards a more naturalistic style.

*due to media player problems you can click this link to hear the mp3 directly, or download it: uffizi kids podcast #2

* due to podcast player problems click here to download or listen to the uffizi kids #1 podcast

The second part is about the Giotto painting in room #2: click here

The third part is about the International Gothic room right next door: click here