Florence -2 "private" museums

March 24,2014

We visited 2 museums named after the donors:

At the end of the19th century,  Florentine antiques and art flooded the market.  The supply was fed in part, beginning around 1875, because the municipal authorities began to tear down the old city.  Stefano Bardini was a prominent antique dealer who benefited from this process.  He became expert in restoration techniques and taught at the Academia.  He left a palazzo with a lot of stuff -- mostly architectural elements, embedded in the walls, but also carpets, weapons, etc.  --  to the the city.

Henry Horne (below) was a leading figure in the arts and crafts movement in England.  He, too, acquired many objects from the homes that were being torn down.  And he, too, left a palazzo filled with stuff to the City.  But he also restored the palazzo so as to approximate its original appearance.  And, to his everlasting credit, he played a large role in stopping the destruction of Florence.  Horne organized a petition, signed by 200 prominent Americans and Brits, and worked to persuade the locals that it was in their best interest to preserve as much as possible.  He also wrote a massive biography of Bottecelli and designed fonts based on Renaissance printing and decorated letters.

And worked at perfecting his book plate monogram.  This is one example:

If your time in Florence is short, these are a skip.

    Later today, we also visited the Duomo Museum.  Every Italian Museum has parts closed for some kind of work, but the Duomo is almost all closed.  Nevertheless the two showpieces -- Michelangelo's Pieta and Ghiberti's doors -- are on display.  We also spent some time admiring the ceiling at the Bapistry.

    Filling in on the past few days:

  They're big on fashion here.   Lots of weird stuff.  But this is the only item made of gilded snake we've seen so far.

Much more appealing -- indeed often beautiful --were the historic scientific instruments assembled in the Galileo Museum.   The museum includes not only the instruments of Galileo but also some of his fingers in what  are to all appearances reliquaries.  There were useful videos throughout the museum explaining how some of the items worked.  But I think we will have to resort to youtube to understand a lot of it.  

Santa Croce is by far the best we've done since the last post.   A Brunelleschi design.  In Leslie's opinion, the space is not as impressive as San Lorenzo.  However, this is where the illustrious Italians are buried or have tombs.  This is Michelangelo's tomb there.  Nearby are Dante and Galileo, not to mention Brunelleschi himself.  One is reminded of the upside of staggering income inequality.

Also at San Croce are frescoes of Giotto and this high-relief Annunciation of Donatello ('net):

and a statue of liberty  said to have perhaps been the model for our Statue of Liberty ('net):







We are not including facades of the churches.  They are 19th century.  The facade of Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) was designed to complement the Campanile and the rest of the churches apparently followed the style.  The Biblical narratives and Church histories dominate the exteriors of the Gothic cathedrals of France and Spain.   Here they seem more decorative.  We will have to study them further -- when it gets warmer.

We finally found toilet paper that is not scented.  Why scented toilet paper?

We have finally turned right out out front door to look for dinner. As a result the quality of our evening meals has improved tremendously:

I Ghibellini (tagliatelle, arista - rosemary pork roast, pine nut ice cream, vin santo with almond biscotti).

                  (gnudi - cheese and spinach ravioli filling without pasta, lasagne)

          

                  (ribollita, potato tortelli in meat sauce)

Context:  Ukraine troops evacuate Crimea; Malaysian plane still missing; DJ 16277.