Monthly Archives: February, 2018
6—The Journey continues, but
not in this format. Please forgive me. I had forgotten how awkward this site is. So I will continue my daily yoga of a Florentine museum a day, but will only share it with you in an eventual book. Which, in its bulk, will be tedious for you to read. Sorry.
5—Museo Bardini
Perfect place for a quickie before (Saturday) brunch—at my (real) neighborhood trattoria, Bella, which was the site of Nancy “Boulevard” Oakes’s first place, Avenue. Rozanne and I discovered her while she was cooking in the bar next door in 1987. Anyway, Stefano Bardini (1836-1922) “trained as a painter, became famous as a restorer, and put [...]
4—Baptistery of San Giovanni
You can’t very well avoid the Baptistery, but really we’ve got the doors in San Francisco, gracing French Gothic Revival Grace Cathedral.“In World War II, they were under the supervision of Bruno Bearzi, master founder and superintendent of the city’s art works. At first, the doors were sandbagged, then taken down and hidden in a [...]
Day 3-Badia Fiorentina
Before I visit the Badia, I want to reflect a bit on “Water Dress,” the photograph I saw yesterday. It turns out that “water dress” is a fashion meme; everyone’s designed one. But it reminds me of Ingres: And Man Ray: And Fortuny: And I wonder how many times the model had [...]
Day 2-Museo Nazionale di Fotografia F.lli Alinari
It’s like freezing today, well, 47 degrees, same as in Florence, where I’m visiting the Museo Nazionale di Fotografia F.lli Alinari, listed as the Alinari Museum. I had never heard of it when I was in Florence in 1962 and 1982, which is understandable since it opened in 2006. What I like immediately is its [...]
72 Museums of Florence: 1-Galleria dell’Accademia
I am going to visit the 72 museums of Florence online. I hope to do one a day, starting with the Accademia, which stars the David. The biggest surprise, for me, was the rooms of chalk models—I knew sculptors used clay and even wax, but I didn’t know they used chalk. But the painting that [...]
