Bargello Museum Where Scupltures Come Alive

It was supposed to be a very rainy day today. While it did pour heavily overnight, we have been very fortunate, and the skies were clear by morning.

We walked a bit, and I showed Hera a small plaque that we had walked by several times, but had not noticed. It showed the water level of the horrible flood that Florence suffered in 1966 when the Arno over flowed its banks. It is hard to imaging the water level being so high. Flooding so much, and then leaving loads of mud once the waters receded. Imagine the art that was damaged or lost. Imagine the hardships for the people living here.

I had been saving the Bargello museum for a rainy day, as it was only a few steps from our apartment. But with our trip soon coming to an end, we decided not to wait any longer.

The Bargello was built in 1255, and was the original seat of government for Florence, then later used as a prison. It would be worth a visit for the architecture alone, but the real treasures are the sculptures that it holds, along with other art as well.

Unlike a painting, that is looked at head on, sculpture is a more holistic experience. The material it is made of, its size, and most importantly, how it looks from various angles. Walking around a great sculpture, one can see it move. It comes alive.

Many will not know Giambologna's name, but most will recognize his statue of Mercury, that many other artists made replicas of. (photography was not allowed inside of the museum)

Also held at the museum are the orginal entries by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi as they competed for the Baptistry's doors. Both are excellent, and I would find it hard to pick one over the other.

What I most appreciated in the museum was the four seperate sculptures of David, that showed the evolution as well as the interconnections of the various artists over a couple of generations.

We first see Donatello's early David, who has a classical and impersonal feel. The young Donatello, an apprentice of Ghiberti, was sculpting in a Gothic style, but soon started to break away from his Master, and started to sculpt in a more realistic and dimensional manner.

Twenty years later, Donatello's second David, is a complete person. An individual with delicate features, perhaps too delicate, almost feminine. But this is the David that Michelangelo would admire as he grew up in the Medici's court.

The next generation's Master sculpture was Verrochio, better know as Leonardo Da Vinci's teacher. He created what I find to be the most realistic David. The nimble shepherd boy who slew the giant. Verrochio's David looks light, boyish and real.

Michalangelo has one of his early unfinished David's here. Good, but nowhere as powerful as the iconic David that everyone knows.

All too often, we see art in isolation. And artists separated from the world they lived in. But seeing pieces together, and realizing how one generation of teachers taught and influenced the next, makes it all come alive.

A museum not to be missed.

Photographer's note: I have done the entire shoot with my Lumix 20mm 1.7mm prime lens. A fantastic lens. I used it usually at 2.8mm or 1.7mm on manual mode setting.

Cheers,

Anthony & Hera