Lives of the Artists {Florence, part two}

Our second trip to Florence was a whirlwind. Our art history professor had so many places he wanted to take us, but only the morning and afternoon to do so. In some ways I wish I had more time to soak up the beauty of the city, but we got to see a lot of the art works that we've been talking about in class, so it was a good experience. I still managed to get some snapshots of the city along the way!

Galleria degli Uffizi

The Uffizi Art Gallery was our first stop of the day. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums in the Western world, full of Renaissance art works by Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Titian. Unfortunately, the museum was really hot and stuffy, but it was still cool to be in the presence of such famous and influential works. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but I found images of some of the biggest artworks we saw.

A sweet couple taking photos outside the museum on their wedding day.

Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli
I wrote part of my term paper on this work, so it has some personal significance to me. In reality, the art work needs
to be cleaned, so the colors are really muted. But it was cool to see details in person that you miss when you look
at it on a computer screen.

Primavera, Sandro Botticelli
Both works by Botticelli are in the same room and are both are very large. They both depict the figure of Venus, the
Roman goddess of love, beauty and sexuality. It is interesting that in this painting, Venus (the figure in the middle)
almost looks like the Virgin Mary in her pose and conservative clothing. However, in the Birth of Venus, she
is naked.

Annunciation, Leonardo Da Vinci

Venus of Urbino, Titian
Here, is highly sexualized in ways that Botticelli does not depict her

Doni Tondo, Michaelangelo

Sacrifice of Isaac, Caravaggio

After the Uffizi, we walked around Florence, had a quick lunch, and walked to the Galleria dell'Accademia.

Galleria dell'Accademia

This is were Michelangelo's infamous David is held. Once again, no photos were allowed, which was a bummer. But what I can tell you is that he is twice as big as you expect him to be. He stands 14 feet tall, but 17 feet tall including the base. The biblical character of David is a symbol of Florence itself. They believed themselves to be the boy who was about to overcome the giant, Goliath, otherwise known as the competing city of Rome. Where he originally stood, the collassal statue was glaring towards the direction of Rome. Becca did her term paper on the David, so it was cool for her to see it in person.

Isn't it great!? Oh wait. Just kidding. I was looking for pictures online, and this made me laugh.
The title was: If David Lived Today. Hahaha! :)

This was the actual one. It was pretty outstanding.

After the Galleria dell'Accademia, we walked through the streets of Florence and killed a few hours before our train to Venice. We ate ridiculously expensive but delicious gelato and processed all the things we had seen that day.

Last view of Florence's duomo. Still breathtaking.