A Surprise Rainy Day

The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was check the forecast. I don't mind rain but it's been raining so much here that I wasn't sure if I could put up with any more. When my weather app informed me that there was 0 percent chance of rain, I felt more confident in my ability to take on the day. Before I left the hotel room, however, I made sure to have my rain coat--JUST IN CASE.

Aside from the rain causing me grief, I have learned that Florence is a swamp. For some reason, the mosquitoes have chosen me out of all my roommates to be their victim. Up and down my arms I have been eaten. I would rather chop off my arms than have a mosquito bite. The worst part was, I made sure to put on mosquito repellent before going to bed but when I woke up, I had more bites. RIP my life.

Steve chose me and my friend Megan to join Paula in taking a cab to our first location, the church of Santa Maria Novella. While we were discussing this church, it started to rain. Very cool.

This is a church of the Dominican order. So the Franciscan order is dedicated to humility and service and the Dominican order is considered to be the protectors of Doctrine. Members a part of this order are called "The dogs of God." This church has the best surviving facade from the late medieval/Gothic period. The upper portion of the facade was designed by architect Alberti in the 15th century Renaissance.

The first work of art was Masaccio's The Holy Trinity. I was really excited to see this work because I have studied this one and I have graded tests where students have mentioned this. This fresco is one of the first to use linear perspective. Masaccio studied Roman architecture, which obviously had an impact on this work of art (the use of the triumphal arch, the columns, etc).

This work of art was completed in 1427 and in 1507, the fresco was covered up with some other art work. In the 18th century, it was rediscovered. If you thought it couldn't get any crazier, then hold onto your seats because in 1952, during restoration work, the skeleton in the artwork was discovered. Under the skeleton is the phrase in Latin, "What you are, I once was. What I am, you will become." This can be a warning of mortality or it is a reference to John 17:10-11 when Christ returns to God.

In that same church, was an alter by artist Orcagna. It shows Christ in glory or majesty. It shows signs of a lingering Gothic style. These altar pieces are typically in museums by now so it was cool to see this in its natural element.

On the walls of that altar are some pretty beat up frescoes which detail the Last Judgement. In 1348, the Bubonic Plague broke out (The Black Death), and people thought this was God's punishment; he was ready to separate the good from the wicked. It was the beginning of the end of the world. This impacted art because art became all about repentance and His Judgement; it was very severe in its warning. It took decades for this pessimism to be cleansed from art. The frescoes are also impacted by the writings of Dante.

This is just a pretty stained glass window.

By the stained glass window, in the main apse of the church, are these very fancy frescoes by a guy named Ghirlandaio (Gear-lawn-die-yo). This guy had the most important workshop in Florence. In fact, Michelangelo worked for him when he was about 13-14 years old. Lorenzo the Magnificent of the Medici family saw how gifted Michelangelo was and put him in his own group of artists. Later, when Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Ceiling, he would get help from the people in Ghirlandaio's workshop.

This fresco is all about the life of Mary even though the people who commissioned it had their daughter included in most of the scenes. It was completed around 1488. 

Within the Church of the Holy Trinity is the Sassetti family chapel with art by Ghirlandaio, These frescoes are all about the life of Saint Francis. On the sides of the altar is the family who commissioned it. This is a rare example of a completely intact Renaissance chapel.

We checked out the Strozzi Palace afterward but we didn't go inside. The Strozzi family was one of the first millionaire families of Florence. The palace was way over the top and it was completely unprecedented. I wasn't really wowed so I didn't take a picture.

After the palace, Steve bought us all gelato. I ate mine too quick to take a picture. It's honestly a bummer.

This is a sculpture grouping by Nanni di Banco called Four Crowned Saints. It was done for the stone makers guild. These four guys were martyred by Dioclecian, the guy who hated Christians, after they refused to make him a Pagan sculpture. Their names are unknown. This work of art shows the movement from Gothic style art to Classical/Renaissance sculpture. This particular grouping was considered Nanni di Banco's masterpiece. The original is currently in a museum and this is just a replica.

This is a sculpture by Donatello called Saint George. The original is also in a museum. It was done for the guild of armor & sword makers. This sculpture probably included a sword, a reference that George was ready to fight. The story goes that there was a Dragon in Libya who required human sacrifices. The people in the town were sacrificing their neighbors and whatever to keep the dragon under control. Well, Saint Geezy comes into town, saves the damsel, and kills the dragon. He was later killed because he wouldn't deny his Christian beliefs.

This sculpture reinvented the use of schiacciato, which is the use of reliefs in 1 point perspective. 

We also checked out the copy of Donatello's Saint Mark but it had bird poop on his shoulder so I didn't take a picture. We'll have the opportunity to see it in a museum, I believe, so I'll post a picture when he doesn't have bird poop on him. RIP Mark.

This sculpture was done for the Linen guild. You'll see it eventually but there was a huge focus on Mark's drapery and it is no wonder why. There is extreme use of realism and it is considered that this sculpture was the end of the International Gothic Style and the start of Renaissance. It was carved from one block of marble. Because it was intended to be viewed looking up, the hands, torso, and head are just slightly bigger than normal. The story goes that when the people who commissioned it saw the statue, they were mad because he looked weird. Donatello talked them down and said that he was going to be finishing it once it got placed in its niche where it belongs. They agreed. With that, Donatello put up the sculpture and covered up the work space. Supposedly he didn't do any work at all and just pretended to still be working on it. When it was unveiled, they were very pleased. 

The last sculpture we looked at was Verrocchio's Christ & Thomas. Verrocchio taught da Vinci and there are rumors that he was apprenticed by Donatello but we don't know about that. This sculpture covers John 20: 24-29. Christ is in an act of blessing and Thomas is seen visibly lower than Christ. I didn't take a picture because by this point, I didn't want pictures of replicas--I wanted the real deal. RIP.

I bought a coke for lunch and went to a fun extra little thing that a few of us paid for--a real Italian cooking class! WOW, the food was incredible. They were teaching us how to make ravioli from scratch and they gave me the vegetarian recipe. I've never had food so good. We got to keep our aprons too. Incredible.