Revisiting: Siena
I have a few days off now, and although I’ll be taking lots of new pictures in the days to come there’s others I’ve been going through from the past week. Of the many highlights Siena is certainly among them. It had been years since I’d seen Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s frescoes of Good and Bad Government in the Palazzo Pubblico. Here’s a detail of ‘Good Government’, with ‘Pax’ (Peace) in her white robe relaxing with her olive branch, and beside her to the right ‘Fortitude’, with her armor and soldiers below.
Venice, the Downside
Most visitors to Venice throughout the centuries have been captivated, but not usually in the way one poor fellow was when he visited in the early 14th century. His name was, if I’m reading the inscription correctly, Cesar(e) C(G)orcella, and he was put in prison long enough to carve this profile portrait of a bearded gentleman he labeled ‘Francesco Sforsa’ (who could not have been Francesco Sforza I of Milan if the date is correct). Cesare seems to have been a very good artist, if the relief he carved is any indication, with its elegant, curving vine. Who knows what fate Cesar met after he crossed the Bridge of Sighs and found himself in this medieval Venetian dungeon? He likely died there, yet millions of tourists a year see and appreciate his little carving, seven hundred years after he passed his time in his cell with a little piece of metal he was able to sharpen. And through photography and the internet, tens of millions more can see what is likely the only work he did that survives: his most modest and his last.
Last Shot, Venice
This was my last picture of the day, the final day of a wonderful Smithsonian Journeys tour of the ‘Highlights of Italy’. The end of the light was also the best of the light, and after a full day of sightseeing here in Venice it was good to go down to the Bacino waterfront and get a look over the water as the sun began to set. Tomorrow morning it’s off to Padua for ten days, but I’ll be making day trips back here to Venice and also to Ravenna, Verona, and Mantua. Keep posted!
Campanile Reliefs
Of the many newly-cleaned and wonderfully presented works of art in the new Museo Opera del Duomo in Florence are the hexagonal reliefs for the cathedral campanile (bell tower) done by the sculptor Andrea Pisano in the 1330s. This one depicts the profession of the pharmacist or apothecary. The apothecary sits on his high chair, while his assistant helps customers. There are three women lined up, from youngest on the right, to middle-aged in the middle, and very old on the left, as if they represent three ages of life. All, apparently, are in need of the cures of the apothecary, who reaches for one of his jars filled with herbs, oils, unguents, or other concoctions. Ironically, it is the eldest woman whose facial features have survived the seven centuries best, while the poor apothecary’s face has eroded away through time, ever lost to our view.
A View from the Top
The towers of San Gimignano are spectacular, and one of the tallest ones is open to the public for climbing. The ticket isn’t cheap, but the panoramas are million-dollar. This is a view down into the central square of the town, but the tower offers views for twenty miles in all directions. San Gimignano was once an important stop on the pilgrimage route to Rome and there are myriad glories from its medieval past, making it a popular tourist destination today. Thankfully, now in the off-season, it was a pretty peaceful day.
A View from the Villa Lecchi
Here is a view from the hilltop where the Villa Lecchi is situated (see previous post). In both directions, east and west, the ridge offers quintessentially Tuscan vistas. Now, the fall colours are out in the trees and grapevines. Far below is the town of Poggibonsi, and to the east the valley of Chianti. On clear days you can see the towers of San Gimignano, the ‘Mediaeval Manhattan’ with its stone towers.
Lecchi
The hilltop village of Lecchi (pronounced Leh-key), is between Siena and San Gimignano. I was staying at the wonderful hotel, the Villa Lecchi, which gives guests the most authentic Tuscan experience possible. The views from the villa are breathtaking and nearby are olive groves. I took this picture along one of the paths leading to the groves. The colours were beautiful, but somehow the picture wanted to be black and white. Or I was feeling nostalgic. The morning sun was shining, the birds singing; it was a very peaceful walk.
Penitent Magdalene
One of the great sculptures of the early Renaissance is Donatello’s Penitent Magdalene, a wooded sculpture that shows Mary Magdalene late in her life, wearing only her own long hair about her body; toothless, disheveled, wrinkled, emaciated, she still praises god and casts her sunken eyes to heaven to pray for forgiveness. To see this in its new setting is a powerful experience.
The Last Pieta
Another highlight of Florence was the newly reopened Museo Opera del Duomo, the museum of the cathedral of Florence. It is in a word stupendous. In a city of great museums this one now challenges the great Uffizi. It’s one of the best museums in the world now. There are stunning works of art, including Donatello’s powerful wooden sculpture of the penitent Mary Magdalene and Michelangelo’s unfinished final Pieta, pictured above in a detail, with Christ’s body cruelly twisted and in pitiful torsion. If you go to Florence, you must see it.
Michelangelo’s David
It had been quite some time since I’d spent an appreciable amount of time in Florence, so even one day was fantastic, though there was so much more that I wanted to see. Michelangelo’s David never fails to elicit awe. It’s often crowded in the Accademia, where the world’s most famous statue resides, but somehow it doesn’t matter. I had my telephoto lens with me and took a great series of details. This winter when I’m teaching my Italian Renaissance survey class at UCSC, my students will get the best pictures possible.
Roman Holiday
I spent two days in Rome; it was a bit of a whirlwind but still fantastic. Today I got to see the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s. It had been a while, so I was happy. Here’s a picture in St Peter’s, with Bernini’s towering bronze baldacchino over the altar with the dome above. Tomorrow off to Orvieto.
Pompeii’s Treasures
I spent the morning at Pompeii today, exploring the ruins with MANY other tourists. I thought this was the ‘shoulder season’. I guess with a site like Pompeii there’s always lots of visitors. It’s still marvelous. I was able to see some new things this time, such as a villa that was just opened up in Regio I (one of Pompeii’s nine sectors or ‘Regii’), as well as the Forum Baths. Everyone loves the more famous mosaics and frescoes of Pompeii, but another pictorial and decorative art form was stucco relief sculpture, which decorated many of the baths and villas. Here’s an elegant figure in one the apodyterium (changing room) of one of the bath complexes. She lifts a knee to support a cornucopia, a symbol of fertility and plentitude. Perhaps she is Persephone. As in many of Pompeii’s decorations, there is an eroticism to the image, the figure is partially nude and seems to toss off her diaphanous dress.
Majolica Tiles of Santa Chiara
The cloister of the nuns of Santa Chiara in Naples is best known for hundreds of panels of majolica tiles as well as 64 tiled pillars. It’s quite a sight. They have scenes you wouldn’t expect in a nunnery: triumphs of the Greco-Roman gods and goddesses, scenes of peasant dancing and games, hunting scenes, and so on–all of them decidedly unchristian and secular. But the colour and vibrancy is impressive. It was my last day here in Naples after a wonderful two-week stay. Still, with all that time there were still things to see. Maybe I’ll get to them next time.
