A site specific work for the Limonaia of the Boboli Gardens by artist Domenico Bianchi is dedicated to the magnum opus of Galileo Galilei, Sidereus Nuncius, as this year celebrates the 450th anniversary of the birth of Galileo (as well as the 450th anniverary of the death of Michelangelo, coincidentally).
The work hung inside the Limonaia is over one hundred meters long on one wall and represents the vastness and depth of the universe described by the scientist when he looked at the stars. Individual wooden panels painted with wax, with silver representative areas, are interrupted by occasional verticals.
The composition is a specific reference to symphonic composition in music, with a base theme interrupted by moments of intensity and harmony. There are hermetic and platonic symbols involved, all things that the Renaissance would have loved. This makes the position inside the Medici’s Limonaia – in which the family housed a collection of unusual citrus plants during the winter – particularly relevant, as both this work and the lemon plants celebrate the diversity of nature and the universe.
The slideshow above shows individual parts of Bianchi’s panels displayed and composed differently in other locations.
Visitor information
DOMENICO BIANCHI / SIDEREUS
Limonaia Grande-Giardino di Boboli
Palazzo Pitti
June 13 – July 13 2014
Sign up to receive future blog posts by email
