So where did I meet David??? As I said earlier, he's standing inside Galleria dell'Accademia and I woke up early morning and went to meet him the first thing in the morning at the earliest time slot of 8:15AM. The entrance leads directly to Hall of Colossus. On the left is a door which leads to Hall of Prisoners at the end of which is David. After meeting David, and as crowd started to pour in, I moved to see the other displays in the Museum and went back to Hall of Colossus.
Bang at the centre of Hall of Colossus is the plaster model for the Rape of Sabine Women sculpture by Giambologna. All sculptors first made life sized plaster sculptures before touching the stone. The original sculpture of Rape of Sabine Women is in Loggia dei Lanzi and I was so enthralled to see the original after seeing this plaster model.
Apart from this sculpture, this particular hall is majorly filled with paintings done on wood with gold filament detailing as well. Most of these paintings are from Firenze itself and dated from 15th and early 16th C CE and artists incl Pietro Perugino, Franceso Botticini, Biagio d'Antonio, Allesandro Botticelli etc.
This particular painting is by Pietro Perugino in 1503-07 CE. The original location of this frieze was in the Annuziata Church. Filippino Lippi began the painting in 1503 and after completing only the top portion he died and the painting was majorly completed by Pietro.
Back again in the Hall of Prisoners are 6 more sculptures of Michelangelo. These are all trial & incomplete sculptures. The one that totally caught my attention was the trial of Pieta (the complete original is now in St.Peter's Basilica in Vatican)!!!
On the right and left on David are several more paintings and the left wing leads to Gipsoteca Bartolini Hall. This was filled with plaster sculptures. But unlike the Sabine Women plaster, these were 19th C replicas of masterpieces made by Lorenzo Bartolini, a professor in the Academy. See these sculptures of seated women? I managed to see their originals in Pisa in the Campasanto and that enthralled me, so much more than anything!!!
The other hall in ground floor is called the Florentine Art Hall and the entire 1st floor is dedicated to Florentine art since early 13th C to late 15th C complete with a video explaining how painting is done on wood and gold filaments are added on them. The evolution of the style and mannerism is so evident with the paintings showing the traditional style moving over to allergorical representations!!!
One things that totally mesmerized me in the first floor was fabric display (being a textile designer, that's only obvious!!). This depicts the Coronation of Virgin between Angels and Saints. It also depicts scenes from the lives of Virgin Mary, Prophet Abraham and David. This was made in 1336 by Jacopo Cambi and originally decorated Santa Maria Novella. Its is a hand embroidery with thread, gold and silver filaments. Apart from flat thread work, it also includes couching, wading, multiple direction thread work with same color giving a very subdued design in the background, bead work (spherical and tubular), 3 D effect with multiple layer of embroidery appliqued upon each other and so many more techniques.... If you know embroidery, try to wrap your mind around this fact - all this was made 700 years ago!!!!!!
To Get There, Tickets, Timings:
Refer to my earlier post