Saturday, February 20, 2010

Accademia, David


We gave our time to two major galleries in Florence, the Accademia and the Uffizi.

The Accademia di Belli Arti (Academy of Fine Arts) is a teaching institution, its exterior full of Florentine understated refinement.

Inside is perhaps the most extraordinary of sculptures, Michelangelo's David. Elsewhere in the blog we have photos of the copy of David in the Piazza della Signoria, we were astounded how much more beautiful the original was (no photos allowed). Furthermore, it is placed wonderfully. You enter a gallery, with unfinished figures, more than life size, intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II. These give a powerful impression of the business of carving marble, with the figures emerging - there is one photo here. A sense of the muscularity of the work and the product, both. Then at the end, David himself. The frontal view is so well known as to be tedious, and often exploited. Walking around the figure, seeing it from different angles, shows its majestic qualities.


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