Museum Evaluation 1: The Uffizi Gallery

(I wrote this for my art class, thought i would share it with you guys)

 I choose to visit the Uffizi gallery (for about the 8^th time this trip) and from the Uffizi I decided to write about my favorite piece with it: Filippo Lippi’s “Madonna with child and two angels”. The Uffizi each and every time is a true treat to visit, the amount of priceless art that is held within this single museum astounds me. It seems that no matter where I look I see something that could hold my attention for hours on end. Everyone has heard of the Uffizi gallery, so walking into it—especially for free—is an incredible experience. This definitely prepares my mind to reach a critical mode, yet I also try to maintain the emotional side of my mind, so that I can feel as well as critique. The entire museum is designed to  have the oldest pieces near the front, and the older ones towards the back; a progression of art from pre-renaissance to post-mannerism. Names stand out throughout the gallery, such as Cimabue, Daddi, Botticelli, Van Eyke, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci; all are names that strike a cord in any person that has even a minor appreciation or knowledge of art. There are many beautiful pieces within the museum, most specifically of all is Michelangelo’s “Holy Family”, Botticelli’s “Primavera” and also his “Birth Of Venus”. But my favorite piece, a piece often given ample amounts of credit, is Lippi’s “Madonna with child and two angels”.

            (1) Lippi’s piece is from the early renaissance period, a period that emphasizes both beauty and realism. There was a very distinct difference between the two, and at this time they had not really been combined yet; there were those like Lippi and Botticelli who wholly grasped what it meant to create a beautiful piece. They purposefully disregarded some realistic factors to create a more attractive work of art, and they succeeded in that without doubt. Others, such as Van Eyke, focused solely on realism, loosing in the process much of the beauty. Lippi’s however is the exact opposite. Painted in 1465, it is a beautiful piece far ahead of its time. It captures the serenity of the catholic church at the period, the idea of what the Madonna was suppose to look like. It is Mary done better than ever before (with the possible exception of Fra Angelica and his many annunciations). (2) Lippi was orphaned at a very young age, and soon after put into a monastery to become a monk (hence the title Fra Filippo Lippi), he left the church when he was 17 and soon later distinguished himself as a painter. It creates a funny sense of sympathy, even though he was known as sexually…rampant. He really did have an awful, semi pathetic life with the one exception of his painting. (3) When he lusted after a girl, and was unable to woo her, he would paint her into his commissions. This is seen in his “Madonna with child and two angels” where the beautiful Lucrezia Buti (a woman training to be a nun) was denied to him, yet he still was given permission to paint her into the piece. Eventually he captured her heart, and convinced her to elope with him away from Prato, never to return. (4) It most definitely reminds me of home, my mother used to have a small framed picture of this work. I grew up looking at it, always impressed by the majesty of the Madonna. It reminds me of my childhood, of the beauty of some women, of possibly the beauty of a girl I may meet and fall in love with shortly. It evokes strong, uplifting, yet humbling emotions with in me. Which is partially by design, the viewer was suppose to be at awe of the beauty of Madonna, yet also inspired that she was your personal Saint, a gateway between yourself and God. (5) Made from tempera, as oil painting had not made it this far south yet, it has a very soft and almost flat look. Most of the colors are subtle and meant not to distract from the face of Mary. The most striking aspect of the painting, however, is the intricacy of the veil of the Madonna. Barely visible, it flows and flutters down from her head past her shoulder emphasizing the curves of her face, shoulder, and neck.

Rome Part 3

Well, the next day we had alot to do. Because we were cutting the trip a day short we had to do the Vatican, St. Peters, and the Galleria Borghese all in one day. We woke up around eight o'clock (not an easy thing to do after walking around rome until four in the morning the day before) and then ate breakfast (two croissants, a glass of orange juice, and a coffee) and then went out headed for the Vatican. Again we naviagted the metro and buses (we really were getting the hang out if by the end) and made it to the Vatican around nine thirty. Really the day can be summarized into three things: 1. we saw the Sistine chapel, it was incredible and also saw Raphael's School of Athens. 2. we saw the galleria Borghese, which holds of all Bernini's sculptures and was my favorite part of the trip, and we saw St. Peter's Cathedral. It was a really long day, considering we had to go across town form the Sistine chapel to get to the galleria Borghese (because we had to make reservations) and then go all the way back to see st peters. It was all incredible though, especially Bernini's artwork. Ive seen st peters, and the Sistine chapel before, but I'd never even heard of Bernini. He was called Michelangelo reincarnated, and truly was as incredible as the best of the world. He worked exclusively for the pope, and was able to create movement within marble that still doesn't seem perfect. Michelangelo's philosophy of sculpting was to remove the unnecessary pieces of marble to expose what God had put int the piece, Bernini's was a step further. He tried to free the marble from what was unnecessary around it and also from its physical limitations, he wanted to turn it into something other than marble. The sistine chapel was...well the sistine chapel is known for: being incredibly beautiful. And st peters is exactly what st. peteres is known for: being really really big.

it was a great day, and the amount of walking that we accomplished still amazes me. Rome really is something special

Rome Part 2

After sleeping for a couple of hours and catching up with my family on the internet, Sean and I decided to set out on the town. Before we left we talked to the people and nothing had opened up. We were kind of worried about what would happen if nothing did open and what the alternatives were, so we looked at the situation and couldn't figure out what to do. We would have to find another hostel most likely and pay more, and then also pay a cancellation fee because it is so short term. But the guy said that if he could find someone to take our room we could cancel our reservation without paying our fee. It was quite funny actually, because we said to cancel our reservation and try to find someone else, and he looked at us funny for a couple of seconds and said "i think i actually can sell you room now..." walked into our room said something to someone in there, came back and said "ok. . .i sold your room." Then we had to decide if we wanted to find another hostel, or come back a day early. Our tickets were open tickets, meaning they could work for any train of that type going to the same place, so i checked train times and there was the same train (a 7 o'clock train) heading back to Florence that we could take. So we decided to do that, leave a day early and not sleep as much that night. We then left, around 8 o'clock to go see as much as we could see at night. We took the metro all the way up to the Spanish steps and went from there do all through Rome back to the Colosseum. The Spanish Steps were exactly how i remember them: a big set of stairs. I still do not understand what is so significant about them, but none the less, Sean and I saw them. We went from there to the Trevi Fountain, which is absolutely beautiful. A photographers dream, it is easily the most beautiful fountain i've ever seen (and even calling it a fountain seems to diminish from the beauty). Yet it still didn't do it for me like many of the other important things i've seen here, in Italy, because its so modern. I believe its 19th century, which always takes away from its importance. We went from there to view the pantheon (only from the outside obviously), the roman forum in the dark, and then the Colosseum in the dark, which is easily the most magnificent thing i've ever seen. Each arch is individually lit, and it stands out from the rest of the world in an unmatched splendor that was screaming "take pictures of me!" Sean and I both have little mini pocket tripods, so we walked around setting up our cameras on the ground looking like complete idiots. It was fantastic. The whole event, starting at 8 at night, ended at four in the morning. We were exhausted, and ready for bed. I never thought we would be the one crawling into a 6 person hostel room at 4 in the morning, but we were.

Rome Part 1

What a crazy couple of days. It feels as if ive been away from home (meaning Florence) for a lifetime. The original plan was to go to rome for three days/two nights. To see the Roman Forum the first day (including the Coloseium) the Vatican the second day, and the trevi fountain/pantheon/spanish steps/galleria borghesi the third. The only problem was somehow we miss booked our rooms and only had a bed for 1 on the second night. I think that between when i looked at availability and booked the room they lost the second spot and i didnt know. We figured we would see if anything opened up for the second night (considering we had to pay a down payment allready). The train ride over wasnt bad at all, and i had expected it to be rough. We paid 16 euro for the slow train all the way down to Rome, nearly four hours long. But the view was beautiful, we brought snacks and watched movies on our ipods the entire time. It passed quickly, less than two movies and we have 34 total. Once we got in Rome things were hectic, there was no bathroom on the train so we had to find a bathroom which is never a easy thing when youve "really got to go". The whole world became clear once that was over. Sean and I walked down to our hostel through Rome, it probably took about forty five minutes, to find a really Roman man awaiting us. He took offense when we asked for "Hostel di Roma" and corrected us calling it "HOTEL di Roma". He had a hardcore chin strapy mustache beard thing (you know what im talking about) but was wonderful from the very beginning. However, he said EVERYTHING was booked for the next day but if anything opened up they would make room; he even mentioned something about throwing a mattress up on the roof if need be (i still dont know how serious he was). But he seemed very optimistic and was very friendly so we figured we would wait around and see what became available. He  followed this by showing us the entire city of rome via map. What to do, how to do it, when to do it, what buses to take, how to get  a bus pass (we bought an unlimited three day bus and subway pass for 11 euro each), where to get food ect. He had given the speech a couple of times i would guess so he ran threw it pretty quick, amazingly i was able to follow everything he said. We then set out on the town. We wandered about, took a bus towards the coliseum, got some pizza, and then found the Roman Ruins (aka the Roman Forum). It was beautiful, we were able to walk all the way around them and got some incredible pictures. The age of most of these structures is incredible, imagining what it most of been like back in full bloom is awesome. We walked all around and then headed down the main street and suddenly, directly in front of us, was the Coliseum. It was just as magnificent and beautiful as i remember it being. We went in, and spent a couple of hours just moseing around, even ate some food we had with us. The power of that building, but good and bad, is overwhelming to me. After that we headed home to take a nap. it was nearly 6 and we slept utnil about 8. a wonderful thing, naps are.

Status Update: Rome Day 1

so, me and sean couldnt get two for tomorrow night. we are going to come home tomorrow instead, so we figured might as well make it a night out here....after taking a nap we walked all from the spanish steps to the colliseum and took hundreds of pictures. after taking the right bus in kinda the right\wrong direction we are finall home at2:30 in the morning

My goodness, ive been busy

School, school, school, planning spring break, and school.
This has been my last week, which is why i havnt written much on here. There has not been alot of time or material. But material will be here very shortly.

Sean flies in tomorrow for the week, i am going to show him around florence and then we are going to go to Rome and Venice. Ive been doing my research and have figured out the train tickets, train times, prices, hostels, museums, architecture, churches, food, ect in rome, and the same for venice.

but the homework load has been insane. Probably more the last week than the entire month before, i believe the teachers fell behind their lesson plan and what not, but forced all the assingments on us early trying to get it back before spring break (because they want to have stuff to grade over break). But it is all over now.

Literally the only other thing i have been doing is watching movies with friends, because its been so cold, and on the sunny days (like today) playing frisbee/soccer with Dakota. Its odd seeing a big wide open field, but we found one today (it was only a 35 minute walk....) and had a good time. Wore shorts for the first time since coming here, they felt kinda akward...

but rome and venice info is on its way, very shortly!

Fiesole

Well, i have had a really fantastic couple of days. Sunday i got invited to go with Jeremy Ball (my philosophy teacher), his family, Ken (my art teacher) and his wife, and Marci (the english teacher) to Fieosele--a small town that overlooks all of Florence. We took the bus (1.20 for a 90 minute bus ticket, not too bad) up there. Its only about 20 minutes away, and actually a pretty nice drive. Ive always liked standing up on buses as they twist and turn. To try to keep your balance, and there was plenty of twisting and turning. Alethia and I (jeremy's 13 year old daughter) were seeing who could go the longest without holding onto anything. We both didnt make it very long and it didnt take very long to get there either. As soon as i stepped of the bus i knew i was somewhere special. The entire place is small, cute, and dominated by one bell tower that overlooks the entire town. We looked around a little, and then headed towards the central attraction of the town: a 1st centuary amphetheator that is almost perfectly perserved. Just walking up to this old hunk of stone seemed...off. I am pretty sure that we associated ruins with, well, being ruined. But this place was nearly prestine. Apparently it had been burried at one point of another, and it wasn't until recently that they discovered and unburried it. As any anthropoligist knows, burrying something is probably the best way to preserve it, so some of these ruineds seemed too nice to be as old as they are. Besides that, there really wasnt much else noteworthy, besides the breaktaking view of Florence, and the awesome food they had there...here is a link to pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=206600&id=723772976&l=883052a7c4