Sunday, November 13, 2011

Firenze! All for Art and Art for All!

If I were to write a blog post about my weekend it would go like this.


Art. Art art. Art art ART art. Art art art aRt ART-ART, art art art art art Art art art! Art art a-r-t, art art art, (art art, ART!) art art. Lunch. ART, art art art, tart, art art art art Art, art art art.... ART.


Ok, that's enough of that.


But that's really what happened. Not even a joke. So much art that at one point I thought that my head was going to explode, my eyes were going to pop out of my skull, and my feet were going to fall off. ALL AT THE SAME TIME. And it was wonderful.


Ok, so now I'm going to attempt to list all of the things/places that we went as a class to see. This will be difficult and it will be incomplete, I apologize in advance.


Day 1 (Friday)
Santa Maria Novella: (yep, waiting in line for this one was 11/11/11 11:11.)
      Trinity-- Masaccio
      Strozzi Chapel-- Filippino Lippi
      Tornabuoni Chapel-- Domenico Ghirlandaio


Accademia
      David--Michelangelo
      The Prisoners--Michelangelo (my presentation. Boo-yah)
      St. Matthew-- Yup, Michelangelo


Santa Trinita
     Sassetti Chapel--Domenico Ghirlandaio


Ok, that was exhausting. But so worth it. Presentation out of the way, life is better. Then a group of us decided that we would all go out to dinner.  Kelly had found this place that was on the other side of the river and it was absolutely delightful. I'm terribly sorry that I don't remember the name (I mean, I Remember the Name, but I don't know the name of this restaurant) but it was lovely. There were about 10 of us and we attempted half-sizes (a complete misnomer. Anything that comes in a bowl/plate twice the size of your head is not a half-size serving.) And everything was delicious. I personally had the ravioli with the walnut cream sauce, but I was also lucky enough to sample some traditional Florentine soup and the best gnocchi I think I've ever had (with truffle oil? yes please.)


After that we all walked back toward the Duomo (what a lovely landmark/meeting place, artistic and everything.) but separated back into our various parts of town where we were residing for the weekend. At that point I realized that I really needed something to do for the second round of 11/11/11 11:11.  So I'm in Florence, I'm not attending the Bob Dylan concert like I had thought about (let's be real, how sweet would that be?)?), and I have no where to be/no one to see. So I sat in the Piazza Signoria for a bit and when that clock got closer, I pulled out three coins from my wallet and decided that the best way to celebrate this once in a life time occasion was to throw three coins in the fountain there. I hoped that it works like the Trevi Fountain works, you know, three coins and you return to [Rome] (or in this case, Florence).  11:11 hits and in went the coins to a very satisfying (and hopefully lucky) ker-plunk, and I instantly became the happiest person in the world! (ok, just kidding, but it was fun, and I enjoyed it.) Then back to the hostel for some shut-eye.

Day 2 (Saturday)
Bargello
      Bacchus--Michelangelo
      (Tondo) –Michelangelo
      David --Donatello (Life. Made.)
      Sacrifice of Isaac --Ghiberti and Brunelleschi (as the ‘audtion’ piece for the Baptistry Doors or Gates of Paradise)
      Pitti Tondo-- Michelangelo
     And two lions wearing crowns.  

Lunch at a native bakery where I had to be able to recognize my number when it was said very quietly in a very loud bakery. I'm telling you it's a skill. 

Uffizi
     Freaking everything.
     Primavera--Botticelli
     Birth of Venus--Botticelli
     Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Medici Medal-- Botticelli
     Annunciation-- Botticelli
(Everything mentioned thus far in this heading is in one singular room)
     Adoration of the Magi-- Leonardo da Vinci
     Annunciation-- Leonardo da Vinci
     Baptism of Christ--Verrocchio (and Leonardo, but it was only one angel)
     Rest During Flight into Egypt --Correggio
     Madonna and Child in Glory--Correggio
     Adoration of the Child-- Correggio
     Madonna of the Gold Finch--Raphael
     Pope Leo X with Cardinals...--Raphael
     Madonna of the Harpies-- Andrea del Sarto

And those are just the things we had presentations on.  They forcibly kicked us out at 6:30. Literally dragged us from the premise, it's a wonder we weren't escorted by armed guards.

Then I had about an hour of trying to communicate with a guy at the cell phone store about how I had accidentally locked myself out of my phone and would love to get back in, but my Italian was almost as bad as his English, or so I assume, I used my Italian. Then out for a night with the girls.  Tried Boar, had a lot of fun, if you really want to know the stories, you should ask me sometime. Things that happen in Florence.

Day 3 (Sunday)
Pitti Palace
       Pallas and the Centaur-- Botticelli
       Portrait of Agnolo-Doni-- Raphael (this is the cover of my text book for this class. How appropriate.) 
       David-- Verrocchio (That makes a complete set of Davids.)

      And maybe a dozen other things we talked about, mentioned, or have seen before: Unfinished bust by Michelangelo, 3-4 other Raphael portraits, a Rubens (I don't remember the title now), and in passing maybe another 700 paintings on the walls there. It would literally take me years to get through the Pitti (and the Uffizi, let's be honest) giving each painting/work the study it deserves. 

After lunch with the girls, I grabbed my bag and headed to the train station. Made it back home after speaking briefly with a Canadian family (cue anthem) and began writing this blog. Made some dinner, talked to the parentals, and now I'm calling it a night. Viva Firenze.
       

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