Metropolitan Museum of Art – Greek and Roman Art (New York City, New York, U.S.A.)

Posted on 25 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — 3 Comments ↓

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of Greek and Roman art, comprising more than 30,000 works, ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine‘s conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312, naturally concentrates on items from the historical regions of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.

Marble Statue of the Three Graces (Roman Imperial Period)

In 2007, the Greek and Roman galleries were expanded to approximately 6,000 m²(60,000 sq. ft.), allowing the majority of the collection to be on permanent display.

Marble Statue of Aphrodite Anadyomene

It represents a wide range of cultures and artistic styles, from classic Greek black-figure and red-figure vases to carved Roman tunic pins. Dating back to the founding of the museum, the museum collection’s first accessioned object was, in fact, a Roman sarcophagus that is still currently on display.

Marble Statue of Athena Parthenos

The collection, among the most comprehensive in North America, includes the monumental Amathus sarcophagus; the “Monteleone chariot” (a magnificently detailed Etruscan chariot); several large classical wall paintings and reliefs from different periods (including an entire reconstructed bedroom from a noble villa in Boscoreale, excavated after its entombment by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79); as well as many pieces from far earlier than the Greek or Roman empires(among the most remarkable are an abstract; seemingly almost modern collection of early Cycladic sculptures from the mid-third millennium BC).

Terracotta pointed neck amphora with stand (470 BC)

The collection of Greek and Roman art, representing the geographic regions of Greece (though not as delimited by modern political frontiers) and Italy (its geographical limits coinciding with the expansion of the Roman Empire), includes the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) ) as well as art from the Greek colonies (established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea) and the increasingly Hellenized Cyprus; and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples (notably the Etruscans).

Marble Head of a Young Woman From a Funerary Statue

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s extensive collection of ancient Greek art, preeminent in the Western Hemisphere and among the finest in the world, feature masterpieces from the Archaic and Classical periods (sixth through fourth centuries B.C.). They are presented in seven large galleries, named after distinguished American collectors and philanthropists such as Mary and Michael Jaharis, Judy and Michael Steinhardt, Joyce and Dietrich von Bothmer and Malcolm Wiener, all refurbished to their original Neo-Classical grandeur.

Marble Statue o a Wounded Amazon (Roman, 1st – 2nd century AD)

All are arranged in a contextual display that combines works of many media. Objects in the New Greek Galleries embrace such themes as religion, funerary customs, civic life, and athletics.

Greek Art of the Sixth through Fourth Centuries B.C.

The grand, barrel-vaulted Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery (Greek Art of the Sixth through Fourth Centuries B.C.), formerly used for the display of Cypriot and Roman art, is a soaring, 140-ft.-long space flanked, on each side, by three galleries that present a chronological progression of works in all media of large-scale sculpture and other monumental works of the sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries B.C..

It extends south from The Robert and Renée Belfer Court for Early Greek Art all the way to the Sardis column.

The Museum’s distinguished collection of works of the sixth century, presented more or less chronologically and in close relationship to the art shown in the adjacent galleries, include large-scale sculpture, Panathenaic amphorae, large vases of conventional shape and decoration (once filled with olive oil and presented as prizes to victors in contests held during the Panathenaic festival, which honored Athena, patron goddess of Athens).

Marble Sphinx on a Cavetto Capital

The large-scale marble copies, at the central section of the gallery, are among the finest sculptures that dominate this space. Made during the Roman period, these over-life-sized bronze statues, created in Greece during the fifth and fourth centuries (but lost or melted down over time), include a wounded Amazon and a statue of the Greek hero Protesilaus (the first Greek to set foot on the shore of Troy during the Trojan War).

Towering above two original, fourth century B.C. marble statues of draped women as well as an over-life-sized head of a youthful goddess, in an area devoted to the works of the fourth century B.C., are large marble foliate sculptures that once crowned tall Athenian grave monuments.

The Judy and Michael H. Steinhardt Gallery (Greek Art of the Sixth Century B.C.), three galleries on the east side of the Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery, is unique in the Western Hemisphere in its display of the three major types of Greek freestanding marble sculpture of the sixth century B.C. – the kouros and kore, which served as funerary monuments or dedications, and the pillar-like grave stele.

6th Century Greek Art

The gallery is devoted primarily to original marble sculpture of the Archaic and Classical periods when Athens supplanted Corinth as the center of pottery production. It is exemplified by several works attributed to the Amasis Painter, one of the most skillful and innovative of the black-figure artists. The gallery opens this sequence with the museum’s outstanding collection of Athenian funerary monuments of the sixth century B.C.

The New York Kouros, a marble statue of a nude youth (kouros) standing in the center of the room, once marked the grave of a young member of a wealthy landowning family and is one of the earliest monumental kouroi to have survived complete.

Other grave markers, displayed nearby, include rectangular shafts decorated with finely carved and painted reliefs of the deceased. One of the best preserved archaic Attic Greek stelai in existence, standing over 13 ft. high, bears traces of most of its original painted decoration.

Free-standing and relief sculptures, monuments demonstrating the rapid development in naturalistic representation, includes one in particularly good state of preservation, complete with the crowning member in the form of a sphinx.

Also displayed throughout the room are vases, small bronzes and other objects of this period, are all grouped in a way that elucidates important customs and beliefs concerning death, warfare and drinking parties (known as symposia) which were current in Athens throughout the Archaic period.

The Bothmer Gallery I (Greek Art of the Sixth Century B.C.), through the museum’s exceptional collection of painted terracotta vases, provides an insight into the lives of Athenians of this time. The pieces in this gallery are arranged in a roughly chronological order – from ca. 600 B.C. to 525 B.C., covering the mature Archaic style in Athens and ending with a major historical development – the initial westward push of the Persian Empire (which ultimately was defeated by the Greeks in the Persian Wars).

Some vase painters were known from their signatures (such as Nearchos, Lydos, Exekias, among others) while others remain anonymous and are given modern names of convenience (such as the Affecter or Amasis Painter) which may stem from the name of a collaborator that is known (such as a potter); a significant location; a particular collector in modern times; or a feature of the artist’s style.

Whether their ancient names are known or not, the potters and painters revealed distinctive artistic personalities and a singular capacity to depict a story. Decoration included all manner of scenes from daily life as well as from the colorful and complex world of mythology.
In the black-figure technique, practiced from about 600 to 530 B.C., glazed portions of a work were black and the remaining surface was the deep orange color of the clay. Exekias, among the known leading artistic personalities represented in this gallery, was the consummate master of this technique. During the time of the initial westward push of the Persian Empire, the red-figure technique in vase painting was invented and, gradually, began to replace the earlier black-figure technique.

Prehistoric and Early Greek Art

The Robert and Renée Belfer Court (Prehistoric and Early Greek Art), next to the Great Hall on the first floor, provides the introduction to all the galleries of ancient Greek and Roman art and includes a map of the ancient world.

Prehistoric and Early Greek Art

It displays prehistoric and early Greek art as well as, from time to time, rotating major artworks on loan of varying periods.

Prehistoric and Early Greek Art

The Bothmer Gallery II (Greek Art of the Fifth Century B.C.), providing examples of Athenian vase painting between about 530 and 400 B.C. (when the flexibility of the newly developed red-figure technique permitted artists to draw freely over the convex and concave surfaces of vases), displays vases (a high proportion were made for containing, pouring, and drinking wine), bronzes, terracottas, and gems of this period. Original works of art from a time when the great creations of bronze and marble sculpture are, in large part, lost or preserved only in later copies of the Roman period, these are particularly important.

Greek Art of the Fifth Century B.C.

Coinage on display here, significant not only for its historical and commercial aspects but also for its iconographical and aesthetic qualities, represents specific cities (the head of Athena for Athens or Pegasus, the flying horse, for Corinth, etc.) and is also recurrent motifs in other media. In this gallery, the museum’s collections of coins were supplemented by a loan, from the American Numismatic Society, of approximately 75 significant coins.

Figuring prominently in this gallery are an extraordinary group of Greek potters and vase painters active in Athens who mastered, during the first half of the fifth century, the organic representation of the human body.

They include Euphronios and Euthymides (innovators who exploited the expressive possibilities of the red-figure technique at the end of the sixth and the beginning of the fifth century B.C.) as well as their successors (who often specialized in specific vessel shapes) Brygos Painter, Douris and Makron, who devoted themselves to the embellishment of drinking cups, and Kleophrades Painter, the Berlin Painter, Myson, and others who devoted themselves to larger pots. For the first time in many years, the current reinstallation makes it possible to see the major works of the foremost painters grouped together.

During this time, white-ground vases found particular favor. The most popular vases in the collection are superlative examples by the Achilles Painter as well as a toilet box (pyxis), decorated with the Judgment of Paris, and a bobbin (yo yo), that was made as a dedication, both attributed to the Penthesilea Painter.

The Carolyn, Kate, Elizabeth, Thomas, and Jonathan Wiener Gallery (Greek Art of the Fifth Century B.C.) presents a collection of some of the museum’s finest marble grave markers from Athens dating from the mid-fifth century B.C. through the early fourth century B.C.

5th Century BC Greek Art

There are also cases with clay and bronze vases, small bronze statuettes, glass vessels, gold jewelry, and terracotta figurines, all arranged to provide an overview of Athenian society.

Beautifully carved funerary reliefs include the well-known relief of a girl with doves (conveying some of the ideal beauty and sweetness of expression that is found in figures on the great architectural frieze that embellished the upper walls of the Parthenon in Athens); that of a young woman and her servant, and another of an entire family group, all giving a sense of the unprecedented flowering of art and culture that took place during the fifth century in Athens.

Greek Art of the 5th and Early 4th Century

The Stavros and Danaë Costopoulos Gallery (Greek Art of the Fifth and Early Fourth Centuries B.C.), presenting the art of Athens during the second half of the fifth century B.C. (the time in which the Parthenon was being erected between 447 and 432 B.C. on the Athenian Acropolis and when vase painting attained its most serene and classical expression), prominent displays funerary vases covered with a white slip (known as white ground) and decorated in a range of colors not previously used in Greek ceramics.

The Museum’s collections represent the major artists and, most importantly, convey the innovations that they brought to traditional subjects such as warfare, the life of women, and mythology.

The Achilles Painter, the great master and innovator trained in the red-figure technique by the Berlin Painter whose greatest innovations can be seen in the funerary lekythoi (oil flasks) that were covered with a white slip (permitting the use of polychromy), is represented by an important krater as well as by a variety of smaller vases.

The Spyros and Eurydice Costopoulos Gallery (Greek Art of the Fourth Century B.C.) includes Athenian funerary monuments (including large-scale marble vases that were used as grave markers) of this period (when Athens was still a center of artistic excellence) that became more and more elaborate over the years.

4th Century BC Greek Art

The graceful charm of the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles (famous throughout antiquity for having carved the first nude statue of Aphrodite) can be seen in one pair of fully three-dimensional figures of young girls that stood over a tomb. Four colossal, three-dimensional stone funerary monuments, in the form of marble vessels decorated with low reliefs and commonly used to hold oil or water during funerary rites, stand at the center of the gallery.

Terracotta statuettes in several cases, known today as “Tanagra figurines” (since great numbers were found during the late 19th century at the site of the ancient city of Tanagra in Boeotia, north of Attica), were first made in Athens (during the second half of the fourth century B.C.) and represent fashionable women or girls. These terracottas are still prized today for their naturalness, vitality and charm.

Also on display in this gallery are large bronze vases decorated with reliefs; elaborate bronze mirrors; silver and glass vessels; and gold jewelry of a type found in the rich Macedonian tombs. An exceptional pair of earrings, a superb set of jewelry found in Macedonia, has tiny figures of Zeus in the form of an eagle abducting the young Trojan prince, Ganymede, and carrying him through the air to Mount Olympus (home of the gods).

Leon Levy and Shelby White Court for Hellenistic and Roman Art

The spectacular Leon Levy and Shelby White Court for Hellenistic and Roman art, created by the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White between 1912 and 1926, has an atrium which evokes the ambulatory garden of a large private Roman villa, with a glass roof allowing the objects below to be viewed in natural daylight.

The Met’s representative collection of Roman portrait busts, depicting emperors, other members of the imperial family, and private individuals, is displayed, in chronological order, along the perimeter of the court while on display at the center of the court are nearly 20 Roman sculptures created between the first century B.C. and the third century A.D. Some of the Roman art on display include:

The Old Market Woman (Roman, Julio-Claudian, A.D. 14-68)
The life-size bronze Portrait Statue of an Aristocratic Boy (Roman, Augustan, 27 B.C.-A.D. 14)
Two larger-than-life-size statues of Hercules facing one another from either side of the court (both Roman, Flavian, A.D. 69-98) -both works were part of the Giustiniani Collection in Rome, first published in 1631
A marble portrait head of the Emperor Augustus (Roman, Julio-Claudian, ca. A.D. 14-37)
A fine marble bust of Caligula (Roman, Julio-Claudian, A.D. 37-41)
A marble portrait of Antoninus Pius (Roman, Antonine, A.D. 138-161)
The Marble Garland Sarcophagus (Roman, Severan, ca. A.D. 200-225) – found at Tarsus (southern Turkey) in 1863, it entered the Metropolitan in 1870 as the first object offered to and accepted by the museum.
The marble statue of Hope Dionysos (Roman, Augustan or Julio-Claudian, 27 B.C.-A.D. 68) – named after the prominent collector Thomas Hope (who acquired it in 1796, it is an adaptation of a Greek statue of the fourth century B.C.
A decorative support for a basin (Roman, Mid-Imperial, second century A.D.) – formed part of the collection of William Waldorf Astor (later Baron Astor of Hever) who assembled his collection of antiquities between 1890 and 1905.
Architectural fragments from the Emperor Domitian‘s palace on the Palatine in Rome (Roman, ca. A.D. 90-92)
The Badminton Sarcophagus (Roman, Late Imperial, A.D. 260-70) – carved in high relief from a single block of marble, it came from the collection of the dukes of Beaufort and was formerly displayed in their country seat, Badminton Hall in Gloucestershire, England.

Adjoining the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court are galleries designated for the presentation of South Italian art (fourth-first century B.C.); Hellenistic art and architecture, the Hellenistic treasury, and Hellenistic art and the Hellenistic tradition (third-first century B.C.); and the art of Augustan Rome (first century A.D.), Roman imperial art (second century A.D.), and the art of the later Roman empire (third century A.D.).

Highlights of these galleries are two actual rooms from Roman villas – with their stunning wall paintings – that were buried nearly two thousand years ago by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

South Italian Art Fourth–First Century BC (Gallery 161)

South Italian Art (Fourth-First century B.C.) – One of the principal features of culture in South Italy, known since antiquity as “Magna Graecia” (“Greater Greece”), is its interest in Greek drama, often reflected in works of art. On display here are a number of kraters (bowls for mixing wine and water):

A red-figure calyx-krater (ca. 400-390 B.C., Greek, South Italian, Apulian, Late Classical) – vase painting attributed to the Tarporley Painter.
A terracotta column-krater (ca. 360-350 B.C., Greek, South Italian, Apulian, Late Classical). – at the entrance to the gallery.

Leon Levy and Shelby White Gallery for Helenistic Art and Architecture

Prominently displayed within the Leon Levy and Shelby White Gallery for Hellenistic Art and Architecture is the newly conserved, nearly 12 ft. high, fluted marble Sardis Column (Greek, Hellenistic, ca. 300 B.C.) – part of the shaft of a column, from the Temple of Artemis (one of the largest temples ever built in antiquity) at Sardis, that once stood some 58 feet high (from its scale-patterned base to its finely crafted Ionic capital) in its original setting.

It was excavated at Sardis (the ancient capital of Lydia, in western Turkey) early in the 20th century.

Marble column (Temple of Artemis, Sardis)

Also on display is a noble, radiant and monumental marble Head of a Ptolemaic Queen (Greek, Ptolemaic, ca. 270-250 B.C.). Highly idealized in a pure Greek style and retaining its original polish, it ranks with the finest Ptolemaic royal portraits.

The Hellenistic Treasury is an intimate showplace for outstanding examples of luxury goods, primarily made of precious metals, gemstones or glass as well as coins (important loans from the American Numismatic Society) and refined small-scale objects having a private or religious use. Among those on display here are a pair of spectacular gold serpentine armbands (Greek, Hellenistic, ca. 200 B.C.) and a small bronze statue of a veiled and masked dancer (Greek, third-second century B.C.).

John Georgias Family Gallery for Hellenistic Art and Hellenistic Tradition

The John Georgas Family Gallery for Hellenistic Art and the Hellenistic Tradition (Third – First Century B.C.) displays a collection of bronze sculptures including a statue of Eros sleeping (Greek or Roman, Hellenistic or Augustan, third century B.C.-early first century A.D.), one of the few bronze statues that have survived from antiquity.

Wall painting (P. Fannius Synistor Villa, Boscoreale)

At its reception hall are several fresco panels, the largest of which is a grouping of three frescoes, from Boscoreale (located near Pompeii, it was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79), the sumptuous villa of the wealthy Roman patron P. Fannius Synistor (Roman, Late Republican, ca. 50-40 B.C.), with figures that are generally agreed to be copies of a cycle of royal paintings created for one of the Macedonian courts of the Hellenistic period. They probably celebrate a dynastic marriage.

Wall painting (P. Fannius Synistor Villa, Boscoreale)

The Black Room (Gallery 165, Roman, Augustan, last decade of first century B.C.), a reconstruction of a room from the imperial villa (partially excavated between 1903 and 1905 after its accidental discovery during work on a railway) of Agrippa Postumus at Boscotrecase, incorporates surviving panels from the original walls. The wall panels, set against a flat, monochrome surface, features Egyptianizing motifs and medallions with portraits of members of the imperial family.

The Black Room Late First Century BC (Gallery 167)

The Sylvia Josephs Berger and Joyce Berger Cowin Gallery for the Art of Augustan Rome (First Century A.D.) contains many exquisite examples of Roman imperial art.

Art of Augustan Rome Late First Century B.C.–First Century AD

They include:

A sardonyx cameo (Roman, Claudian, A.D. 41-54) – a masterpiece in miniature carving, it was part of the celebrated 17th-century collection of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel.
A beautiful cast glass bowl (Roman, Augustan, late first century B.C.)
A glass jug (Roman, Julio-Claudian, first half of first century A.D.) – signed by Ennion (from the eastern Mediterranean coastal city of Sidon in modern Lebanon), the most famous and gifted of the known makers of Roman mold-blown glass.

Art of Imperial Rome Second Century A.D.

Roman Imperial Art (Second Century A.D.) focuses on the arts of Rome during the peaceful and prosperous second century A.D. It includes a recently acquired marble cinerary urn or container for the ashes of a cremated body (Roman, Julio-Claudian, first half of the first century A.D.), a singular example of Roman funerary art.

The John A. and Carole O. Moran Gallery for the Art of the Later Roman Empire (Third Century A.D.) prominently displays a collection of Roman sarcophagi figures including:

A fine strigillated sarcophagus (a type that was very popular in Rome and Italy), although the marble from which it was made comes from northwest Asia Minor (Turkey).
The bronze statue of Trebonianus Gallus (Roman, Late Imperial, A.D. 251-53)
The monumental marble head of Constantine the Great (Roman, Late Imperial, ca. A.D. 325-70).

Also on display are gold, silver, and bronze coins that were minted primarily to supply money for state expenditure and to facilitate the collection of taxes. Additional galleries and a study collection are located on the mezzanine level.

The dramatic Leon Levy and Shelby White Gallery for Etruscan Art (Ninth-Second Century B.C.), located at the Mezzanine Level, overlooking the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court to the north and Central Park to the south, is devoted to the art of the Etruscans, from their earliest creations to the time of Roman rule.

Its centerpiece is the newly restored, world-famous Etruscan chariot (second quarter of the sixth century B.C.), one of the great works in the museum’s collection and one of very few complete chariots to survive from antiquity. Made with bronze mounted on a wooden substructure, it is inlaid with precious elephant and hippopotamus ivory and richly decorated with scenes from the life of the Greek hero Achilles. It was probably used solely for ceremonial purposes before being buried in a tomb.

Displayed nearby is a rich array of smaller bronze and terracotta objects found in the same tomb as well as the Bolsena tomb-group, which includes works that were part of the burial of a woman.

Also on view are the following:

A small, charming Etruscan vase (which may originally have contained ink) in the shape of a cockerel (ca. 630-620 B.C.), inscribed with the 26 letters of the Etruscan alphabet.
A small bronze statuette of a young, elaborately dressed Etruscan woman (Archaic, late sixth century B.C.), most likely used as a religious offering in a sanctuary.
The so-called “Morgan amber” (Etruscan, Late Archaic, ca. 500 B.C.) – the most complex and most important carved amber surviving from ancient Italy, it shows a couple reclining on a couch. It came to the museum with the bequest of the collection of J. Pierpont Morgan.
A set of jewelry found in a tomb (late archaic Etruscan, early fifth century B.C.) – the richest and most impressive set of Etruscan jewelry ever found, it comprises a splendid gold and glass pendant necklace, a pair of gold and rock-crystal disk earrings, a gold fibula decorated with a sphinx, a pair of plain gold fibulae, a gold dress pin, and five finger ring. Two of the rings have engraved scarabs. One is decorated with embossed satyr heads while the other two have decorated gold bezels.
A group of Etruscan and Italic armor
Elaborately carved cinerary urns
14 beautifully engraved Etruscan mirrors.

Leon Levy And Shelby White Gallery For The Greek And Roman Study Collection (Prehistoric Greek-Late Roman), located at the Mezzanine Level, features a large display of study material, comprising more than 3,400 works in all media and covering the entire cultural and chronological span of the department’s collection, from the art of prehistoric Greece through late Roman art. Among its noteworthy works are:

A collection of prehistoric Greek vases – given to the Metropolitan Museum in 1927 by the Greek government
A Roman transport amphora – given by the noted underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau.
Several hundred examples of Roman glass in fantastic shapes and colors, ranging from clear colorless to darkest blue, and from greenish yellow to deep amber.

In lieu of traditional labels inside the display cases, an interactive system, developed specifically for the Metropolitan, allows the information to be kept up-to-date with the latest scholarship on each object. Six wall-mounted computer touch screens, located throughout the study collection, allow visitors to access information about each object on view.

An additional gallery, also on the mezzanine level, is devoted to the display of special exhibitions.

Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1000 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028, USA. Tel: (212) 535-7710 and (212) 570-3951. Fax: (212) 472-2764. E-mail: communications@metmuseum.org. Website: www.metmuseum.org. Open 10 AM – 9 PM. Admission: US$25/adult, children below 12 years old is free.

Museum of Modern Art (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on 23 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Museum of Modern Art

The first place we visited, upon arrival in New York City, was the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan. One of the largest and most influential museums of modern art in the world. MoMA’s admission cost of US$25 makes it one of the most expensive museums in the city.

The crowd that day inside the museum

However, it has free entry on Fridays, sponsored by clothing company Uniqlo, after 4PM and this we availed of. As such, the museum was more crowded (including the inevitable Oriental selfie snappers) than I would have liked and it was hard to move around but who can complain?

Photography (minus the camera flash) was allowed here, though my pictures didn’t capture the impact of the in-real-life viewing. There are 5 floors of artwork to admire and the huge galleries, whose overall chronological flow presents a perspective of stylistic progression and place in time, were well laid out. I allow a minimum of two hours to explore the museum.

The author besides Joan Miro’s The Hunter – Catalan Landscape (1923-24, Oil on Canvas)

MoMA has been important in developing and collecting Modernist art and its collection offers an overview of modern and contemporary art, including works of sculpture, architecture and design, drawing, painting, photography, prints, illustrated books and artist’s books, film and electronic media.

A private non-profit organization, MoMA is the seventh-largest U.S. museum by budget (its annual revenue is about US$145 million, none of which is profit).

Andre Derain (Bathers, 1907, Oil on Canvas)

Vasily Kandinsky (Picture with an Archer, 1909, Oil on Canvas)

Rene Magritte (The Lovers, 1928, Oil on Canvas)

MOMA is considered, by many, to have the best collection of modern Western masterpieces in the world. Its holdings include more than 150,000 individual pieces in addition to approximately 22,000 films and 4 million film stills (access to the collection ended in 2002 and the collection is mothballed in a vault in Hamlin, Pennsylvania).

Claude Monet (Agapanthus, Oil on Canvas, 1914-26)

Andrea Bowers (A Menace to Liberty, 2012)

All the classics were here and it was moving, inspiring, immersive and absorbing but also a bit overwhelming. The nicely curated collection at the fifth floor houses such important and familiar works as the following:

Francis Bacon, Painting (1946)
Umberto Boccioni, The City Rises
Paul Cézanne, The Bather
Marc Chagall, I and the Village
Giorgio de Chirico, The Song of Love
Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory
Max Ernst, Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale
Paul Gauguin, Te aa no areois (The Seed of the Areoi)
Albert Gleizes, Portrait of Igor Stravinsky, 1914
Jasper Johns, Flag
Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait With Cropped Hair
Roy Lichtenstein, Drowning Girl
René Magritte, The Empire of Lights
Henri Matisse, The Dance
Jean Metzinger, Landscape, 1912–14
Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie-Woogie
Barnett Newman, Broken Obelisk
Barnett Newman, Vir Heroicus Sublimis(Man, Heroic and Sublime)
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
Jackson Pollock, One: Number 31, 1950
Henri Rousseau, The Dream, 1910
Henri Rousseau, The Sleeping Gypsy
Andrew Wyeth, Christina’s World

Claude Monet (The Japanese Footbridge)

Jackson Pollock (One Number 31, 1950)

It also holds works by a wide range of influential European and American artists including Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp, Walker Evans, Helen Frankenthaler, Alberto Giacometti, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, Edward Hopper, Paul Klee, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Dorothea Lange, Fernand Léger, Roy Lichtenstein, Morris Louis, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Kenneth Noland, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Auguste Rodin, Mark Rothko, David Smith, Frank Stella, and hundreds of others.

Fernand Leger (The Mirror, 1925, Oil on Canvas)

Fernand Leger (Woman with a Book, 1923, Oil on Canvas) (1)

Many of the paintings have an audio option which is great for some background information.

Vincent Van Gogh (The Starry Night, 1889, Oil on Canvas)

Seeing the original painting of Vincent van Gogh’s famous The Starry Night was certainly a moving experience that I shall not soon forget. I could actually see the layers and layers of paint, the small brush strokes and all of the colors of paint that are far more vivid on canvas.

Claude Monet (Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond)

Claude Monet’s Water Lilies triptych, breathtaking to see in person, was also a big highlight worth seeing. The Picasso’s were also stunning, It was also great to see the full set of Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Cans.

Any Warhol (Campbell’s soup cans, 1962)

An acquired taste is required for the temporary exhibits at the 3rd and the 4th floors which were very contemporary and not to my liking. The perplexing abstract pieces, using garage components such as snow shovels and car tires hammered (which begs the question “what was that supposed to be?”), didn’t excited me but they were still worth seeing how imaginative (and indulgent) modern artists have become.

Check out “Unfinished Conversations: New Work From the Collection,” “Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends” and “Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction”

Shirana Shahbazi (Composition 40 2011)

Certain pieces here challenged my preconceived ideas, making me scratch your head and ask the question “Is that’s art?” upon seeing 7 boards of wood painted white being called art.

Frank Lloyd Wright at 150

However, being an architect, the very informative Frank Lloyd-Wright exhibit, with its original drawings (painstakingly rendered the old fashion way), blueprints, sketches and models for many of his projects (both completed and proposed); was very interesting.

Check out “Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive”

Frank Lloyd Wright

Articles about the the myth of the great American architect provide interesting insights into his thinking and inspirations, portraying how advanced his ideas were in many ways.

Henri Matisse – Music (Sketch, 1907, Oil and Charcoal on Canvas)

Henri Matisse (Periwinkles-Morrocan Garden, Oil, Pencil and Charcoal on Canvas, 1912)

Henri Matisse (Still Life with Aubergines, Oil on Canvas, 1911)

Henri Matisse (The Rose Marble Table, Oil on Canvas, 1917)

MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design, was founded in 1932, is the first museum department in the world dedicated to the intersection of architecture and design. Philip Johnson, the department’s first director, served as curator between 1932–34 and 1946–54.

Henri Matisse (La Serpentine, Bronze, 1909)

Henri Matisse (Dance-1, 1909, Oil on Canvas)

Henri Matisse (The Morrocans, Oil on Canvas, 1915-16)

The collection consists of 28,000 works including architectural models, drawings and photographs and one of its highlights is the Mies van der Rohe Archive. It also includes works of legendary architects and designers Frank Lloyd Wright, Paul László, the Eameses, Isamu Noguchi, and George Nelson.

Pablo Picasso (Les Demoiselle d’Avignon, Oil on Canvas, 1907)

Pablo Picasso (Woman with Pears, 1909, Oil on Canvas)

Pablo Picasso (The Studio, Oil on Canvas, 1927-28)

The Design Collection contains many industrial and manufactured pieces, ranging from a self-aligning ball bearing to an entire Bell 47D1 helicopter.

Bell 47D1 helicopter

In 2012, the department acquired a selection of 14 video games, the basis of an intended collection of 40 which is to range from Pac-Man (1980) to Minecraft (2011). The world-renowned Art Photography Collection, founded by Beaumont Newhall in 1940, includes photos by Todd Webb.

Pablo Picasso (Nude with Joined Hands, Oil on Canvas, 1906)

Pablo Picasso (Two Nudes, 1906, Oil on Canvas)

Pablo Picasso (Ma Jolie, 1911)

Pablo Picasso (Bather, Oil on Canvas, 1908-09)

The building also features an entrance for school groups, a 125-seat auditorium, an orientation center, workshop space for teacher training programs, study centers, and a large lobby with double-height views into the beautiful outdoor Sculpture Garden, at the mile of the museum, which features Aristide Maillol’s The River, a great statue of a woman diva laying on her back above the water.

Aristide Maillol (The River)

Alexander Calder (Sandy’s Butterfly, 1964)

From about 1.5 million a year, MoMA has seen its average number of visitors rise to 2.5 million after its new granite and glass renovation. In 2009, the museum reported 119,000 members and 2.8 million visitors over the previous fiscal year.

Paul Cezanne (Still Life with Apples, 1895-98, Oil on Canvas)

Paul Cezanne (L’Estaque, 1879-83, Oil on Canvas)

Paul Cezanne – Château Noir 1904-06, Oil on canvas, 73.6 x 93.2 cm.)

During its 2010 fiscal year, it attracted its highest-ever number of visitors of 3.09 million. However, in 2011, attendance dropped 11% to 2.8 million.

Paul Cezanne (The Bather, 1885, Oil on Canvas)

Paul Cezanne (Pines and Rocks – Fountainbleau)

Since its founding in 1929, the museum was open every day until 1975, when it closed one day a week (originally Wednesdays) to reduce operating expenses. In 2012, it again opened every day, including Tuesday, the one day it has traditionally been closed.

Henry Rosseau (The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897, Oil on Canvas)

Henri Rosseau (The Dream, 1910, Oil on Canvas)

The museum’s awesome gift shop had a lovely selection of gifts such as magnets, prints and more unique items like socks and scarves with art on them as well that summed up all of the amazing art throughout the museum.

Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (Painting No. 4, 1962)

Mademoiselle Pogany (Constantin Brancusi)

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA): 11 West 53rd St. (between Fifth and Sixth Ave.) , New York City, NY 10019, USA. Open 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM (8 PM on Fridays). Admission: US$25/adult, children below 12 years old is free.

How to Get There:

Bus: Any line to 53rd Street

Metro: Any line to Fifth Avenue or 53rd Street

Gallerie dell’Accademia (Venice, Italy)

Posted on 31 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

Gallerie dell’Accademia

The Gallerie dell’Accademia (Accademia Gallery of Venice), on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro, is a museum gallery of pre-19th-century art in Venice, northern Italy.

The author in front of the museum

Housed in the Palladian complex of the Scuola della Carità (the oldest of the six Scuole Grandi (though the building dates back to 1343, the scuola was formed in 1260), it was originally the gallery of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia (founded on September 24, 1750, it was one of the first institutions to study art restoration starting in 1777 with Pietro Edwards, and formalized by 1819 as a course), the art academy of Venice (from which it became independent in 1879) which remained in the same building until 2004, when the art school moved to the Ospedale degli Incurabili.

Church of Santa Maria della Carita

The museum courtyard

The Ponte dell’Accademia (Academy Bridge, where the museum is literally in front of) and the Accademia boat landing station (where our vaporetto water bus docked) are named after it. Like other state museums in Italy, it falls under the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, the Italian ministry of culture and heritage.

Jandy (foreground) in one of the galleries

The absolutely stunning Gallerie dell’Accademia, the picture gallery of the art academy and one of the great museums of the world, owns the most important collection worldwide of more than 800 Venetian paintings, from the Gothic until the Rococo.

Genres covered include Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. Over time, the collection has increased, thanks to private donations and acquisitions.

Ornate ceiling in Room 1

The museum contains masterpieces of Venetian painting from the 12th through 18th centuries, more or less generally arranged chronologically (since art in the academy has long been taught in chronological order) in 24 rooms, though some thematic displays are evident.

Jandy and Kyle in front of the painting Fisherman Presenting a Ring to the Doge Granedigo (Paris Bordone, 1534, oil on canvas)

The museum, bringing together, under one roof, all the works of art that were scattered throughout Venice, is housed in three buildings – the Scuola della Carità, the Convento dei Canonici Lateranensi (started in 1561 by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, it was never fully completed) and the now deconsecrated Church of Santa Maria della Carità (its facade was completed in 1441 by Bartolomeo Bon).

Angel of the Annunciation and Virgin Annunciate (Giovanni Bellini)

Washing of the Feet (Giovanni Agostino da Lodi, 1500, oil on board)

The former Santa Maria della Carità convent complex maintained its serene composure for centuries until 1807 when Napoleon installed his haul of Venetian art trophies here. The interior of the building is as beautiful as the art it houses.

Archangel Gabriel (Giambattista Cima da Conegliano)

Supper in Emmaus (Marco Marziale, 1506)

The giants of Venetian painting, from the 13th to the 18th centuries, whose wonderful collection of art are represented here include the 1600’s Canaletto Vedutisti, Francesco Guardi, Bernardo Bellotto and Pietro Longhi, down to Renaissance artists such as Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, Carpaccio, Giorgione, Titian (or Tiziano), Veronese (Paolo Caliari), Tintoretto and and the Baroque master of the swirling-heavenly-clouds ceiling fresco Gianbattista Tiepolo (who became the second director, after Rococo painter Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, of the academy after his return from Würzburg).

Chess Players (Pittore Caravaggesco)

Holy Family with St. Catherine and John the Baptist (Palma il Vecchio)

Other artists include Antonello da Messina, Lazzaro Bastiani, Pacino di Bonaguida, Giulio Carpioni, Rosalba Carriera, Cima da Conegliano, Fetti, Pietro Gaspari, Michele Giambono, Luca Giordano, Johann Liss, Charles Le Brun, Lorenzo Lotto, Mantegna, Rocco Marconi, Michele Marieschi, Piazzetta, Giambattista Pittoni, Preti, Vasari, Leonardo da Vinci (Drawing of Vitruvian Man), Alvise Vivarini and Giuseppe Zais. All these artists influenced the history of European painting.

Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto (Paolo Veronese, ca. 1573, oil on canvas)

Crucifixion (Pittore Veneziano-Padovano, ca. 1460)

An essential visit for painting enthusiasts, it is the most important museum that one can visit during a stay in Venice. The route around the galleries does not really flow in one direction. In many cases, we had to go down long corridors to view work, only to return along the same corridors, allowing us to revisit work as we walked about.

Mary with the Child of artist Francesco Morone (Francesco Morone)

Madonna of the Small Trees (Giovanni Bellini, 1487)

Our visit to the galleries started off in the 14th century (Paolo Veneziano’s Coronation of the Virgin altarpiece, etc.), continues through Giorgione’s weirdly lit The Tempest and Giovanni Bellini’s many Madonna and Childs, and ends with Carpaccio’s intricate Cycle of St. Ursula and Titian’s late Pietà.

Madonna and Child with St. Simeon and St. Jerome (Giovanni Agostino da Lodi)

Funeral of St Jerome (Lazzaro Bastiani)

The rooms we explored all showed Venice’s precocious flair for color and drama. The massive Tintoretto paintings, from the Scuola Grande di San Marco, can’t be seen from a reasonable viewing distance as they are hung along the sides of corridors which are only about 12 ft. wide.

Triptych of the Martyrdom of St. Liberata (Hiermonymus Bosch, 1500, oil on panel)

Ceres Renders Homage to Venice (Paolo Veronese, 1575)

Room 1 is where you can find Jacobello Alberegno’s Apocalypse which shows the whore of Babylon, with babbling rivers of blood from her mouth, riding a hydra, and Paolo Veneziano’s Coronation of Mary, at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, where Jesus bestows the crown on his mother with a gentle pat on the head to the tune of an angelic orchestra).

Crucifixion (Andrea Previtali)

The Miracle of St. Mark Freeing the Slave (Jacopo Tintoretto, 15,48, oil on canvas)

Room 2 is where the eerie, glowing skies of Vittore Carpaccio’s lively Crucifixion and Glorification of the Ten Thousand Martyrs of Mount Ararat seem to make UFO arrivals imminent.

The Crucifixion and the Glorification the Ten Thousand Martyrs on Mt. Ararat (Vittore Carpaccio, 1515, oil on canvas)

Room 4 is where you can find Giovanni Bellini’s quietly elegant Madonna and Child between St Catherine and Mary Magdalene).

Virgin and Child between St. Catherine and Mary Magdalene (Giovanni Bellini, ca. 1500)

Room 10 features paintings by Tintoretto, Titian and Paolo Veronese. The latter’s monumental Feast in the House of Levi (1573), originally called The Lord’s Last Supper, is shocking, not only for its size (at 42 ft. long, it is one of the largest canvases of the 16th century), but also for its rather racy depiction of the Lord’s holiest of moments. Here, the artist portrayed the Savior and his Apostles cavorting with drunkards, dwarves, Muslims and Reformation-minded Germans in a rousing, drunken banquet that resembled paintings of Roman orgies.

Feast in the House of Levi (Paolo Veronese, 1573, oil on canvas)

The Inquisition leaders, with their rising Puritanism, promptly condemned Veronese, charging the painter with irreverence and threatened to indict him on the very serious charge of heresy. Veronese quickly re-titled the work, still with Jesus in it but now surrounded by secular guests who were free to engage in acts of gluttony. The mollified censors let it pass.

Stealing of the Body of St. Mark (Jacopo Tintoretto)

Jacopo Tintoretto’s The Stealing of the Body of St. Mark commemorates the Venetian merchants who, in 828, spirited the body of the famed saint and Evangelist away from Alexandria. During that era, Italy’s hyper-competitive maritime capitals competed to see who could steal the best saint and then build a cathedral around his bones. Acquiring bona fide saints was, thus, de rigueur for relic hunters. The painting is, obviously, a bit fanciful as it depicts the now long-dead saint, borne in the arms of the Venetian thieves, as a fresh, rather muscular corpse.

Procession in St. Mark’s Square (Gentile Bellini, 1496, tempera on canvas)

Room 12 is where you’ll find Giambattista Piazzetta’s saucy, fate-tempting socialite in Fortune Teller. In Room 20, you’ll find works by Carpaccio and Gentile Bellini’s Procession in St Mark’s Square, which offers an intriguing view of Venice’s iconic piazza before its 16th-century makeover.

Departure of the English Ambassadors (Vittore Carpaccio, 1497-98)

The Ambassadors Return to the English Court (Vittore Carpaccio, 1495, oil on canvas)

Room 21 is home to Vittore Carpaccio’s St. Ursula Cycle, a series of 9 paintings documenting the saint’s ill-fated life. In Room 17, you’ll find works of Canaletto, Guardi and Pietro Longhi. Everything is clearly marked and explained. Rooms 12 to 19 are occasionally used for temporary exhibitions.

The Concert (Pietro Longhi, 1741, oil on canvas)

Pieta (Girolamo Romani)

Room 23, a serene showstopper fronted by a Bellini altarpiece, is the original convent chapel where tou can find Giorgione’s highly charged La Tempesta (The Storm) featuring a mysterious nursing mother and a passing soldier with a bolt of summer lightning, its meaning still debated by art historians – is this an expulsion from Eden, an allegory for alchemy, or a reference to Venice conquering Padua in the War of Cambria?

Ornate ceiling of Sala dell’Albergo

Ornamental splendor is found at the newly restored Sala dell’Albergo, Scuola della Carità’s boardroom (Room 24), which has a lavishly carved ceiling. It faces Antonio Vivarini’s wrap-around masterpiece The Virgin Enthroned with Saints Jerome, Gregory, Ambrose and Augustine (1446 (oil on canvas), filled with fluffy-bearded saints. closes with The touching 1534–39 Presentation of the Virgin, of Titian, features a young, tiny Madonna trudging up an intimidating staircase. A distinctly Venetian crowd of onlookers points to her example yet few of the velvet and pearl-clad merchants offer alms to the destitute mother or even feed the begging dog.

Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple (Titian, 1534)

Gallerie dell’Accademia: Campo della Carita, Dorsoduro 1050, 30123 Venice, Italy. Tel: +39 041 522 2247. Admission: €15 (entry to the museum is free on the first Sunday of every month). Open Mondays, 8:15 AM to 2 PM, Tuesdays to Sundays, 8:15 AM to 7:15 PM (last entrance at 6:15 PM). When you buy your ticket you will be asked to place backpacks and additional bags bigger than 20 x 30 x 15 cms. inside lockers (€1), but you will get you money back when you retrieve your belongings. There is an audio guide (for an extra €6). Photography is allowed as long as you do not use your flash. During the busy season, queues can be long after 10 AM. Admissions are restricted to 400 people at the same time.

How to Get There: the museum is about a 15-20 min walk from St Marks and is easy to find as it is well signposted in the Dorsoduro district.

Church of St. Peter Martyr (Venice, Italy)

Posted on 30 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The Church of St. Peter Martyr (Italian: Chiesa di San Pietro Martire), currently one of the two main Roman catholic parish churches (the other is the Basilica of St. Donato) and one of three remaining (before Napoleon there were 18, the third is the Church of St. Mary of the Angels ) in the island of Murano, near Venice, was edificated in 1348 along with a Dominican convent and was originally dedicated to St. John the Baptist. In 1474, a fire razed it to the ground and, in 1511, it was rebuilt and enlarged to the current appearance and rededicated to St. Peter Martyr.

Church of St. Peter Martyr

In 1806, a few years after the fall of the Republic of Venice, it was closed but was reopened in 1813 as a parish church due to an initiative by Fr. Stefano Tosi, with art from other suppressed churches and monasteries on Murano and other islands. At its reopening the church was renamed St. Peter and Paul (S. Pietro e Paolo) but, in 1840, it reverted to its present name.

During the restoration of 1922-28, the original ceiling and the frescos of the saints above the pillars were revealed. The colonnade from the demolished convent of Santa Chiara was also reassembled and attached to the west flank of the church in 1924. From 1981 to 1983, the church underwent a restoration campaign financed by the Italian Ministry of Culture. The roof was repaired and the rotten brickwork was replaced. Save Venice provided emergency funding to repair stone parts of the two-light “bifora” window above the side entrance door.

The church’s Renaissance façade, of naked brickwork, is divided in three sections. Its 16th-century portal is surmounted by a large rose window. On the left façade is a portico with Renaissance arcades and columns (perhaps what remains of the original cloister) and a bell tower, dating to 1498-1502 (its original bells came from England but have been recast many times since, most recently in 1942 after war damage). The church is 55 m. (180 ft.) long, 25 m. (82 ft.) wide and 13 m. (43 ft.) wide at the nave.

The impressively spacious and tall interior, with a basilica plan, has a nave and two aisles (divided from each other by rows of four arches supported by large columns), a wooden ceiling, tie beams across the arches and the nave, a trussed roof, a wide and deep half-domed chancel, a high altar and three minor altars for each nave. The spandrels between the arches are nicely decorated with saints. The quite large presbytery has barrel vaults and two small, wide and deep apsidal chapels.

In the right nave are artworks including a Baptism of Christ (attributed to Tintoretto, it came from above the high altar of the demolished San Giovanni dei Battuti on Murano) plus two works by Giovanni Bellini – Assumption with Saints (1510–1513) and the Barbarigo Altarpiece (or The Madonna with Doge Agostino Barbarigo, 1488), taken from the nearby church of Santa Maria degli Angeli and brought here in 1815.

The row of arches supported by large columns

Other paintings include a St. Jerome in the Desert by Paolo Veronese (also from Santa Maria degli Angeli), St Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter and an Angel (also by Veronese), the Barcaioli Altarpiece (or Virgin and Child with Saints) by Giovanni Agostino da Lodi (ca. 1500, it was previously thought to be by Basaiti and came from the demolished San Cristoforo delle Pace), a Deposition from the Cross by Giuseppe Porta, Saints Nicholas, Charles Borromeo and Lucy by Palma il Giovane (which came from the demolished church of Santi Biagio e Cataldo on Giudecca) and a 1495 Ecce Homo (perhaps from the destroyed church of Santo Stefano in Murano). In the left-hand apsidal chapel is a hard-to-see painting by Domenico Tintoretto while a pair of huge paintings by Bartolomeo Latteri (including an impressively architectural Nozze di Cana) covering both side walls of the deep chancel.

The Ballarin Chapel, at the church’s right wing, was built in 1506 after the death of Giuliano Ballarin, the eponymous glassmaker from Murano.

Chiesa di San Pietro Martire: Fondamenta dei Vetrai, Campiello Marco Michieli 3, 30141 Murano, Venice VE, Italy. Tel: +39 041 739704. Open Mondays to Saturdays, 9 AM – 12 noon and 3 – 6 PM, and Sundays, 3- 6 PM.

Palazzo Pitti – Porcelain Museum (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 29 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Porcelain Museum

First opened in October 1973, the Porcelain Museum (Museo delle Porcellane), a section of the Silver Museum, is an internationally acclaimed institution in the field of ceramics and among the hundred most visited art museums in the world.

The Knight’s Building (right) beside the Giardino del Cavaliere

It is housed in the Knight’s Building (Palazzina del Cavaliere) situated on the eponymous rampart (Bastione del Cavaliere) overlooking the Boboli Gardens. Originally constructed between 1527 and 1530, the current Neo-Classical building was built at the end of the 17th century by Grand Duke Cosimo III de’ Medici for his second-born son Giangastone.

Check out “Palazzo Pitti – Boboli Gardens“

If you love porcelain, then you will be impressed by its extensive collection of mainly continental porcelain, encompassing almost every famous maker. The labels were predominantly in Italian. As it is located on one of the highest points of the Boboli Gardens, you have a gorgeous panoramic view of the city of Florence from the terrace.

The over 2,000-piece, homogeneous collection comprises mainly porcelain tableware, from many of the most notable European porcelain factories, belonging to the royal families that ruled Tuscany and have followed one another at Pitti Palace, starting from the period of the Medici family, to the Lorraines (including the Parma-Bourbon dynasty), to the Savoys up to the unification of Italy. One of the most important historical collections of its kind in Europe, the oldest pieces are those that once belonged to Gian Gaston de Medici (the last Medici Grand Duke, 1671-1737) produced in the Manufactory of Meissen.

Among the well represented manufacturers of origin on display are the Royal Factory of Naples (Capodimonte); the Tuscan Carlo Ginori from Sesto Fiorentino; French manufacturers Vincennes (founded in 1740 and transferred to Sèvres in 1756 under the direct ownership of King Louis XV) in Paris; Viennese porcelain, largely collected by Ferdinand III of Tuscany; the German porcelain factory of Meissen, near Dresden.

Many items in the collection, divided into three sections by periods, nations (Austria, Germany and France) and manufacturers, were specially commissioned by the Grand Ducal court, clearly reflecting their tastes, with several outstanding examples of Italian porcelain objects produced in Doccia (near Florence, founded by the Ginori family in 1737) and at the Royal Manufactory of Naples. These were especially used by the Grand ducal family for large services of daily use. All are very detailed, elegant and fine works of arts.

Meissen (1800-1850)

Others were gifts to the Florentine rulers from other European sovereigns. They include fine table sets from Vienna and from the German Manufactory of Meisse. There were also French several large porcelain dinner services from the Vincennes (later renamed Sèvres) factory, brought to the Pitti Palace by the Savoy House from the Royal Palace of Parma.

1750 Porcelain (Sevres)

Table services, for daily use, constantly supplied to the Grand Dukes of Lorraine, from Doccia Manifacture, include a flowered porcelain with bouquet or tulip motifs, taken from the so-called “famille rose” Chinese porcelain; and lovely coffee cups with view of Florentine piazzas, from the 1800’s, made using lithographs by the Frenchman Philippe Benoist as models.

Naples Royal Factory (1785)

Some typical examples of French porcelain, characterized by various pastel-colored shades, includes some flower vases with scenes taken from Francois Boucher as well as 4 oysters stands from Parma, singular and unique of their kind, made up of 18 shell-shaped bowls and belonging to Louise Elisabeth de Bourbon, the Grand Duchess of Parma, who was, in fact, the daughter of Louis XV, king of France. Sèvres table services for the light first course and dessert, in two central display cases, were gifts to Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi (Grand Duchess of Tuscany, 1809-1814) from her august brother Emperor Napoleon I.

In the first room is a collection from the Real Fabbrica of Naples. They include, of particular note, a series of small biscuit figurines depicting personages from Classical antiquity; reproductions from the excavations in Herculaneum; 18 figurines reproducing ‘garments’ from the Kingdom of Naples, two dejeuner services (one decorated with Egyptian motifs and the other with Etruscan motifs).

Biscuit figurines

A rich assembly of Viennese porcelains, in the second room, were brought to Pitti Palace by two Lorraine grand dukes – Peter Leopold (who maintained a constant rapport with the Vienna) and Ferdinand III of Lorraine (an impassioned collector of porcelains and, particularly, of ‘solitaire’ services). Cups and trays, decorated with views of Vienna, and a coffee service, with a trompe l’oeil feigned wood decoration, stand out.

A series of small porcelain statues taken from the Commedia dell’Arte

Porcelains from Meissen and from other German manufacturers are in the third room. In the display case, towards the window, are 2 turtle-shaped butter dishes, a teapot in the shape of a rooster and a broth cup with scene inspired by a play by Molière, probably belonging to the collection of Gian Gastone de Medici.

Sèvres porcelain of Elisa Baciocchi (1809–1810)

Early pieces, from the Meissen factory, such as a splendid vase, are decorated with Chinese motifs such as gilded grape leaves and vines in relief. The Harlequin, a series of small porcelain statues taken from the Commedia dell’Arte, representing people in costume (ladies, musicians, putti, gardeners, etc.), was a source of inspiration for the Capodimonte porcelain manufacture in Naples.

Turtle-shaped butter dishes

Porcelain Museum: Palazzo Pitti, Piazza de’ Pitti, Florence, Italy. Tel: +39 055 238 8709

Palazzo Pitti – Boboli Gardens (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 29 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug

Boboli Gardens

From the Pitti Palace (the main seat of the Medici grand dukes), we crossed the Cortile dell’Ammannati (the palace courtyard) and proceeded to the historical Boboli Gardens (Giardini di Boboli) via a staircase that lead to the Artichoke Fountain whose large octagonal basin, decorated with numerous statues of Tritons and Nereids, is crowned by a bronze lily. Begun in 1639 and installed between 1641 and 1642, the fountain is the work of Florentine sculptor Giovan Francesco Susini and his collaborators.

Looking out into the garden from the Artichoke Fountain

From here, the sight opened up on to the large “amphitheater” of the Boboli Gardens, a park and real outdoor museum behind the palace and the “green lung” of Florence. Opened to the public in 1766, it is home to some of the first and most familiar formal 16th-century Italian gardens, hosting centuries-old oak trees plus a collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries (with some Roman antiquities).

Jandy, Grace, Cheska and Kyle making their way to the garden

Representing one of the first and most important examples of the Italian garden, it later served as a prototype and inspiration for many European royal gardens (in particular, Versailles). Just a year before our visit, in 2015, the garden underwent restoration work.

Check out “Versailles Palace”

Cheska, Kyle and Grace with Palazzo Pitti in the background

Developed in the mid-16th-century garden style, it incorporated longer axial developments, wide gravel avenues and a considerable “built” element of stone. Lavishly employing statuary and fountains, its proliferation of detail was coordinated in semi-private and public spaces that were informed by Classical accents such as grottos, nympheums, garden temples and the like. Unconventional for its time, the garden, with it expansive view of the city, was very lavish, considering that no access was allowed (outside of the immediate Medici family) and no entertainment or parties ever took place in the gardens.

The name of the gardens is a corruption of “Borgoli,” the name of the family who laid out the original fields and gardens behind Santa Felicita in the Oltrarno. In 1418, Luca Pitti bought the land from them and, in 1549, the property was purchased by Eleonora di Toledo (the wife of Cosimo I de’ Medici). The land was greatly enlarged to become the Medici family‘s new city residence.

The first stage was scarcely begun by Medici court artist Niccolò Tribolo who drew the original plan before he died the next year in 1550. Under the reign of Francesco I, who succeeded his father Cosimo I, it was continued by Bartolomeo Ammanati, Giorgio Vasari (who contributed in the planning and the laying out of the grottos from 1598 to 1561) and, in the sculpture, by the artist, architect and sculptor Bernardo Buontalenti who was also responsible for the elaborate architecture of the splendid Buontalenti grotto, built between 1536 and 1608, in the courtyard that separates the palace from its garden.

The Kaffeehaus. One of the most interesting buildings inside the Boboli Gardens, it is also one of the works carried out at the wishes of Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Lorraine, between 1774 and 1785. An airy pavilion, it is circular in shape and has an onion-shaped dome on the top. Designed by Zanobi Del Rosso, its interiors were done by Giuseppe del Moro, Giuliano Traballesi and Pasquale Micheli.

Lacking a natural water source to water the plants in the garden, a conduit was built from the nearby Arno River to feed water into an elaborate irrigation system. Passing through several stages of enlargement and restructuring work, the gardens were enlarged in the 17th century to their present extent of 45,000 sq. m. (111 acres).

The Amphitheater

In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the Medici and the Lorraine families continued to enrich and enlarge the garden, generating an outdoor museum and a scenic setting to exhibit both Roman and 16^th and 17^th century Renaissance statues. In the 18th century, the Lorraine family made further additions including the green Kaffeehaus (a multiple-tiered garden coffeehouse constructed from 1774 to 1785), with its glazed dome, and the “Lemon House,” both designed by Zanobi del Rosso.

Jandy, Grace, Cheska and Kyle at the Amphitheater

Centered on the rear façade of the Pitti Palace, the primary axis rises on Boboli Hill from a deep amphitheater, behind the corps de logis of the palazzo, that is reminiscent, in its shape, of one half of a classical hippodrome or racecourse. In the first phase of building, the amphitheater was excavated in the hillside behind the palace, initially formed with clipped edges and greens and, later, formalized by rebuilding in stone decorated with statues based on Roman myths.

In 1476, the play Andria by Terence was performed there for the amusement of the cultivated Medici court. Later, it followed by many classically inspired plays, featuring elaborate sets designed by the court architect Baldassarre Lanci, of Florentine playwrights such as Giovan Battista Cini. .

The author and Jandy with the Egyptian obelisk in the background. This obelisk is suspected to have been first erected in the city of Heliopolis during the reign of Ramesses II. In the first century AD, it was moved to Rome by Domitian and placed in the Temple of Isis in the Campus Martius, along with three other obelisks still in Rome. In the sixteenth century, Cardinal Ferdinand I de’ Medici bought the 6 m. high obelisk in Rome and placed it in the gardens of the Villa Medici.

The ancient Egyptian Boboli obelisk, brought here in 1789 from the Villa Medici (in turn, brought there from Luxor) at Rome, is at the center of the amphitheater and is rather dwarfed by its position.

Neptune Fountain

This primary axis terminates in the Neptune Fountain known, to the irreverent Florentines, as the “Fountain of the Fork” for Neptune’s large trident. As we climbed further up the slope, at the very top of the hill, we found the large statue of Abundance, by Giambologna (which featured the likeness of Giovanna of Austria, Francesco I’s wife) visible against the skyline.

Abundance by Giambologna

The steep, sloping Cyprus Road (or Viottolone, “large avenue”), the long secondary axis a right angle to the primary axis, was laid out by Giulio Parigi. This road, which led up through a series of terraces, tunnels and water features (the main one being the Isolotto complex, with the bosquets on either side), is flanked by cypresses and statuettes and heads back down the hill toward at Porta Romana (Roman Gate), one of the main gates of the walled city. The Grotto of Vulcan (Grotticina di Vulcano), also along this axis, was constructed in 1617 by Parigi.

Check out “Porta Romana“

The oval shaped isolotto, an island in a large, tree-enclosed pond nearly at the end of the alternative Viottolone axis, was laid out around 1618 by Giulio and Alfonso Parigi. It has another fountain of Neptune (here as god of the oceans), known as the Fountain of the Ocean in the center, a replica of the original sculpted by Giambologna which is now in the Bargello Museum. It is surrounded by three sculptures representing the great rivers of the Nile, Ganges and Euphrates.

Strolling along one of the alleys of the gardens

All around are other statues based on Classic and popular subjects, belonging to the 17th and 18th centuries, like those that shows groups of children playing traditional games. Emerging from the moat surrounding the island are the marble groups, by Giambologna and his pupil, of Perseus on horseback and of Andromeda, whose ankles are chained to the rock.

Check out “Bargello Museum”

The double staircase

Then, we climbed a double staircase, designed in 1793, by Giuseppe del Rosso. It curves around a cylindrical structure topped with a circular terrace, at either side of which stood two statues of the Muses.

Cheska and Kyle at the terrace of the double staircase

Upon reaching the top, we visited the beautiful Knight’s Garden (Giardino del Cavaliere) which stands on an eponymous rampart (Bastione del Cavaliere) built by Michelangelo in 1529.

Giardino del Cavaliere with the Neo-Classical-style Knight’s Building (now housing the Porcelain Museum) on the left

Beside this garden is the Neo-Classical-style Knight’s Building (Palazzina del Cavaliere) housing the Porcelain Museum of the Pitti Palace. Underneath the building is the Trout Reservoir (Conserva delle Trote), a large water storage area, built in 1614, from which the pipes that supply water to the entire garden lead off.

View from the Giardino del Cavaliere. On the top of the hill is the Torre al Gallo

From this colorful garden rich with blossoming roses, we enjoyed a wonderful view of the Torre al Gallo as well as elegant private Florentine manors nearly hidden inside the lavish vegetation of the hills.

Check out “Palazzo Pitti – Porcelain Museum”

View from Giardino del Cavaliere

The Large Grotto, decorated internally and externally with stalactites and originally equipped with waterworks and luxuriant vegetation, is divided into three main sections decorated with remarkable examples of Mannerist sculptures. The first one, frescoed to create the illusion of a natural grotto, is a natural refuge for shepherds to protect themselves from wild animals.

It originally housed The Prisoners of Michelangelo, statues that were first intended for the tomb of the Pope Julius II and are now in the Gallerie dell’ Accademia. They are now replaced by copies. The third and furthest hall in the grotto contains the famous Bathing Venus of Giambologna and the second section contains Paris Abducts Helen, an 18th-century group by Vincenzo de’ Rossi. These last two chambers were created as the perfect setting for the secretive, amorous meetings of the Duke Francesco I de’ Medici.

Check out “Gallerie dell’ Accademia”

Boboli Gardens: Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, 50125 Florence, Italy. Open from 8:15 AM to 6:30 PM (May, September and October) and 8:15 AM to 7:30 PM (July and August). It is closed the first and last Monday of the month. Admission: €10.

Palazzo Pitti – Palatine Chapel (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 29 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Palatine Chapel

The Palatine Chapel, completed in 1575, was originally a large environment forming part of the suites used as dining rooms that Bartolomeo Ammannati created on the ground floor of the Pitti Palace. Later, it was used firstly as a reception room and enhanced by precious vestments. In 1658, it was used as a lounge for the foreign princes and, in 1661, when Cosimo III married Marguerite Louise d’Orléans, the suite was renovated and used as a residence for the “Wedded Royals.”

For this occasion, Jacopo Chiavistelli decorated the rooms with frescoes featuring subjects and architectures we can only imagine today. According to the descriptions of the time, they portrayed Cosimo’s challenge and Apollo’s cart, among allegories of Day and Night on the vault, the months of the year and the Zodiac signs, alternating with backgrounds of architecture on the main walls and, on the smaller walls, the weapons of the Medici and the Orleans family.

In 1765, following the arrival of Grand Duke Leopold II of Lorraine in Florence, the area was radically transformed. Deciding to convert the hall into a new palace chapel, Leopold II assigned the renovation project to architects Ruggeri and Paoletti. They created stages for the court and musicians, opened up the great arched window that replaced the original ones and added choirs to the opposite side.

To the right of the altar, a small choir for the rulers was built while, on the wall behind the altar, a space for hosting ladies was carved out. Finally, the iconographic content of Chiavistelli’s frescoes was changed, with a few retouches, by painter Vincenzo Meucci who transformed it from the profane to sacred.

Ceiling fresco

Initially, in 1766, work commenced on three wooden altars designed for the Chapel. In 1785, the three wooden altars were replaced by a new large single altar designed by painter Santi Pacini and made using parts of the altar, commissioned by Ferdinando I de’ Medici in the 16th century and destined for the Cappella dei Principi in San Lorenzo, which was never finished (the altar, over time, became a true mine of precious material to use for new works). They included two very interesting panels in bas-relief, attributed to Ludovico Cigoli, which were created using the semi-precious stone mosaic technique that dates to the early 17th century.

The first one, constituting the door of the ciborium above, represents “The Adoration of the Magi.” The second one, depicting “The Last Supper,” is positioned in the center of the frontal with allegories of Faith and Charity at the sides. It is flanked by full-relief figures, in niches, of the saints Athanasius and Giovanni Grisostomo. Both panels, set in splendid frames of white marble and golden bronze, feature jaspers, pearls, chalcedonies, quartz, amethysts and lapis lazuli. The precious ivory Crucifix with the figure of Magdalene at the feet of Christ, a masterpiece of Baroque eburnean sculpture, was left at the top of the new altar. Today, Lorenz Rues is credited with carving it and Antonio Raggi with creating the figure of Magdalene.

The altar of the chapel

The altar, one of the most precious treasures contained in the Pitti Palace, was definitely created under the direction of Cosimo Siriès (then Superintendent of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure), who was also an artist. He further decorated the altar with holy ornaments in silver (a so-called “residence” with a cross, statues of saints and candlesticks). Unfortunately, all traces of the holy silver elements were lost during the French dominion. However, to this day, the silver and gold wooden ‘baldachin,’ added in 1793, still stands in the same spot.

The choirs were enhanced by adding two columns of alabaster from Montalcino. The two central doors of the main walls were closed to make space for the new fresco decorations created by Luigi Ademollo. Ademollo also painted the frescoes on the vault and the decorations on the choirs and small choirs, portraying “various events in the life of Jesus Christ’s” with strikingly scenographic characteristics (the “Crucifixion” on the wall to the right of the altar and “Palm Sunday” on the wall to the left). When Ferdinand III returned to Florence, Ademollo completed the decoration of the Chapel by decorating the left-hand choir in the chapel, built in 1823.

Palm Sunday (Luigi Ademollo)

Between 1791 and 1792, Ferdinand III (who succeeded Leopold II) completely changed the decorative layout of the chapel in an operation that endowed the chapel with its current shapes, based on the design by Bernardo Fallani.

Although dating back to the mid 19th century, the ensemble picks up on the designs and motifs in use in the previous century, establishing a seamless dialog with the articulate decorations in white stucco and gold (carried out between 1685 and 1687 from designs by Giovan Battista Foggini), with scrolls and mottoes referring to Ferdinando and his wife, Violante di Baviera.

The Crucifixion (Luigi Ademollo)

Palatine Chapel: Ground Floor, Pitti Palace, Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, Florence, Italy. Tel:+39 055 294883. Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:15 AM – 6:50 PM. Admission: Palatine Gallery (€8.50), Silver Museum (€6.00), Gallery of Modern Art (€8.50), Costume Gallery/Porcelain Museum/Boboli Gardens/Bardini Garden (€6.00).

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

Palazzo Pitti – Gallery of Modern Art (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 29 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Gallery of Modern Art

The Gallery of Modern Art, housing one of the most important and complete collections of early and late 19th century and early 20^th century Italian paintings, occupies an impressive 30 rooms on the second floor (opened to public viewing since 1924) of the Palazzo Pitti once inhabited by the Habsburg-Lorraine family from which there is a magnificent view over Florence and the Boboli Gardens. It extends as far as the rooms and the facade used by the for the palace library and the side wings used for children and retainers.

Founded in 1914, it initially comprised the Grand Ducal paintings of modern art, complemented by further modern works of art in the ownership of both the state and the municipality of Florence, brought in from the Academy of Fine Arts. The sumptuous rooms, furnished in the first half of the 19th century with frescoes, stuccoes, and period furnishings, constitute a perfect setting for the works.

Recently, these rooms have been reorganized, according to chronological criteria that trace a wide chronological arc. Though the rooms on the second floor have been restored, the decoration, upholstering and furniture of the Lorraine period have been maintained. Great informative materials are available in each room.

To some, the title “Gallery of Modern Art” may sound incorrect, as the art in the gallery covers the period of time going from Neo-Classicism (the age of Peter Leopold) up to the First World War to the 1920’s and no examples of later art are included in the collection. In Italy, “modern art” refers to the period before World War II. What follows is generally known as “contemporary art” (arte contemporanea) which, in Tuscany, can be found at the Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci at Prato, a city about 15 kms. (9 mi.) from Florence.

The tour of its current large collection, still being added to through donations and purchases, is arranged in multiple, overlapping rows and organized in chronological order and by historical-topical category. It attempts to furnish visitors with a clear view of the history of the various core collections, enabling a correct reading of the diverse atmospheres, marked as they are by the personal tastes of the royal families alternating in their reigns. Today, due to a convention signed by the Italian State and the Municipal Administration of Florence, it has a very special juridical nature.

Entry of Charles VIII into Florence (Giuseppe Bezzuoli)

Our chronological journey began with the movements of the early 1800s, with artworks from the Neo-Classical (like the Oath of the Saxons to Napoleon by Pietro Benvenuti), to Purism and the Romantic (like the grandiose Entry of Charles VIII into Florence by Giuseppe Bezzuoli or The Two Foscari by Francesco Hayez).

The Expulsion from Florence of the Duke of Athens (Stefano Ussi, 1861)

Also included is a vast assortment of paintings of modern Italian schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, based on historical subjects that document one of most significant aspects of the first half of the 19th century culture. These comprise works by Luigi Sabatelli, Enrico Pollastrini or by Stefano Ussi with his famous The Expulsion from Florence of the Duke of Athens.

The 19th-century itinerary concludes with works of Symbolist and Divionist movements. Among the various works on display include many paintings of views and interior scenes by the delicate Silvestro Lega and the vigorous landscape painter Telemaco Signorini, a series of his rapid and elegant portraits by Giovanni Boldini, plus other works by Giorgio Morandi, Francesco Hayez, Camille Pissarro, Filippo de Pisis, Carlo Carra, Giorgio de Chirico, M. Rosso and Plinio Nomellini and futurist avant-garde works.

In addition to the above-mentioned collections, the Gallery also displays a lavish collection of 19th century works arranged in the so-called Mezzanine of the Eyes (Mezzanino degli Occhi, the “eyes” being windows in the shape of a circle).

However, the paintings that most characterize the Gallery are those of the Macchiaioli movement (starting at Room 17), a school of famous Tuscan artists of the mid-19th century, led by Giovanni Fattori, who are early pioneers and the founders of the Impressionist movement that set out the premise for a wide-scale innovation at a national level. Many of the works of these artists displayed in the Gallery belong to the collection of Diego Martelli, a critic, gallery owner (who went back and forth between Florence and Impressionist Paris) and friend of the Macchiaioli who left their paintings to the museum at the end of the last century.

Italian Camp at the Battle of Magenta (Giovanni Fattori)

This section comprises important works by Giovanni Fattori such as the small and beautiful panel Rotonda at Palmieri, the Italian Camp at the Battle of Magenta, and the Lo Staffato plus a rich series of landscapes and scenes of life in the Maremma such as the Market San Godenzo in Maremma (1887), the Ox Cart in the Tuscan Maremma, and the Sheep’s Jump (Il Salto delle Pecore, 1887).

The Sheep’s Jump (Giovanni Fattori, 1887)

Within the same period are many fine sculptures such as the Calliope of Antonio Canova, Psyché by Pietro Tenerani and the famous Abel Defeated by Giovanni Dupré.

Abel Defeated (Giovanni Dupre)

The sculptures of Adriano Cecioni, lucidly translated and experimented with the tonal ideas prevalent to whom the touch was so important. You can also visit the apartments of the Duchess of Aosta, with the original furnishings that belonged to the Savoia family.

Apartment of the Duchess of Aosta

Gallery of Modern Art: Second Floor, Palazzo Pitti, Piazza de’ Pitti 1, 50125 Florence, Italy. Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 8.15 AM to 6.50 PM. Closed: Mondays, New Year’s Day, May 1 and Christmas Day. Admission: € 8.50 (full price), € 4.25 (reduced). Free admission: children under 6 years old, disabled people and their helpers, authorized tour guides and leaders, teachers accompanying school groups. The ticket is also valid for the entrance to the Palatine Gallery. The ticket office closes at 6.05 PM and closing operations begin 6.30 PM.

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

Palazzo Pitti – Imperial and Royal Apartments (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 29 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

An array of Medici portraits at the Blue Room (Salotto Celeste)

From the Palatine Gallery, our visit continued to the monumental Imperial and Royal Apartments. Taking up 14 magnificent ceremonial rooms (now differentiated from the Palatine Gallery) at the right wing of the main floor of the Palazzo Pitti, it opened out along the south side of the Palazzo Pitti façade. Over three subsequent historical periods, they have been an important record of the history of the palace. The three different styles, corresponding to three different historical periods, are harmoniously balanced in that gives us an idea of its appearance before its transfer to the State in 1914.

Though their decoration has been changed to Empire style by the House of Savoy, there are still some rooms that maintain decorations and furniture from the age of the Medici. In 1911, restoration and general reorganization of the inventory of the paintings and furniture of the Pitti Palace was performed. After the recent refurbishing of the Apartments, started in 1987, these precious rooms were reopened to the public in 1993.

Parrot Room (Sala dei Pappagalli)

In contrast to the great salons of the Palatine Gallery, some of these rooms, while still grand and gilded, are much smaller, more intimate and are more suited to day-to-day living requirements with period furnishings including four-poster beds and other necessary furnishings not found elsewhere in the palazzo. From the 17th century onwards, these majestic rooms were the residence of the Grand Ducal Medici family (until their extinction in 1734), then of the Lorraine (Lorenese) family and, finally, of the Savoys (when, from 1866-1870, Florence became the second capital of unified Italy and Vittoria Emanuele II chose to make the Pitti the royal residence).

Bearing traces of the changing dynasties, these rooms were sumptuously furnished with pieces from the collections of the Medici, Habsburg-Lorraine and House of Savoy such as tables with semi-precious stone inlays, consoles and mirrors, furnishings and silk tapestries on the walls. These striking mixture of styles reflect the daily life and taste of the different periods and inhabitants.

Chapel

The apartments still retain the layout given by the Grand Prince Ferdinando dei Medici, the son of Cosimo III. The few treasures from the Medici period that remain include the precious 17th century ebony and semi-precious stone cabinet that belonged to the Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere (the wife of Ferdinando II) and the chapel. The prevailing appearance of the Royal Apartments, as seen today, is that given them, in the fourth and fifth decades of the 19th century, by the Neo-Classical taste of the Lorraine-Hapsburgs. These rooms were given its final character by the Savoys who left a strongly eclectic and distinctive stamp of their taste on the general appearance of the Royal and Imperial Apartments, which is still visible today.

The Grand Dukes of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine altered, restored and re-furnished the apartments, between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, according to the changing taste of the period, decorating the ceilings with stucco and Neo-Classical subjects and the Oval Room (known as the Queen’s Dressing Room) with light hand-embroidered silk panels to the designs of Ignacio Pellegrini, and the ceiling with colored Rococo stucco.

Green Room

From 1865, during the time of the sovereigns of the House of Savoy, some rooms (notably the chapel) were also entirely refurnished and carpeted, between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, according to the Empire style of the period.

The Green Room (Salone Verde), frescoed by Giuseppe Castagnoli in early 19th century, exhibits an Intarsia Cabinet from the 17th century and a collection of gilded bronzes. The name of the room comes from the green color of the wall coverings, curtains and the upholstery on some of the furniture (which are all in silk – textured or plain) fitted, between 1854 and 1855, by Florentine manufacturers.

Green Room (Sala Verde)

In that period, the room was completely redecorated, like the Blue Room and the Throne Room that follow it, earning the name of Fabric District (Quartiere delle Stoffe). Since the last Grand Duke, Leopold II of Lorraine had chosen the new Palazzina della Meridiana as his home, it was used first as a reception room.

Also from the same period are the carpet (made by the prestigious Royal Works of Tournai, in northern France, and decorated with late imperial motifs), a pair of lamps, the brackets for the candle holders, the fire guard and the fireplace mirror (carved in imitation of the two placed above the slightly older consoles). Coming from different periods are the rest of the furnishings and paintings (starting with the canvas on the ceiling, the Allegory of Peace between Florence and Siena, painted by Luca Giordano in 1682 for Cosimo III.

Stipo Cabinet

The Stipo cabinet, belonging to Vittoria della Rovere, is definitely the most important piece of furniture. This monumental work of art, from the ducal workshops of the 17th century, emulated, on a small scale, the Historicist style of the side table from the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (delivered to the Pitti Palace in 1852 and subsequently placed in the room), with the Savoy period typical nonchalant style and tone.

The Throne Room (Sala del Trono), decorated for King Vittoria Emanuele II of Savoy, was used for official audiences as well as to hang some of the paintings from his famous collection. The throne is under a canopy. The royal setting is emphasized by the large mirrors on the walls (to multiply the images of the king) as well as by the sumptuous mid 19th century Baroque red damask silk lampas ensemble on the walls.

Throne Room

The throne area was set out later, for the arrival of the Savoy monarch, and then, after 1871, changed again when the balustrade and audience chair were added with the emblem of the Savoys. On the ceiling arch are the triumphant decorations by Giuseppe Castagnoli (1754-1832) while the image of Jupiter enthroned is framed with monochrome decorations.

A clock flanked by Oriental vases and candelabras

The room has been further enhanced by a richly inlaid, gilded lamp while inlaid and gilded console tables are decorated with candelabras and imposing 17th-18th century Oriental Japanese and Chinese porcelain vases.

Like the Green Room and the Throne Room, the Blue Room (Salotto Celeste) was also renewed between 1854 and 1855 when this suite was known as the new Fabric District (Quartiere delle Stoffe). The room stands out for the Neo-Baroque decorative style, updated to the fashions of Paris and London in the mid-19th century. After the addition of new wallpaper (in this case, a shade of blue), the room was also given a carpet made by French weavers in Tournai. Furnishings include a small round table, with a pietre dure top on a base in porphyry, and the four candle holders.

Blue Room (Salotto Celeste)

The Blue Room pays homage to some members of the Medici family or those who were joined to it by marriage (except Cardinal Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili) who, during the course of their lives, had spent time in these spaces. Hung on the walls are 10 of a series of 12 portraits painted between 1621 and 1645 by court painter Giusto Sustermans (1597–1681), all identical in size and given new frames in the 1720s on the wishes of Grand Duke Cosimo III. They include a full-length portrait of Christina of Lorraine, her daughter Claudia and husband Leopold of Austria, Cosimo II’s children, Francesco and Mattias, painted a few years later, Grand Duke Ferdinand II and Cardinal Carlo de’ Medici.

One of the Medici portraits

The large chandelier, the oldest (dating back to the 17th century) still in the palace, was carved by Vittorio Crosten. The white stucco and gold ceiling dates back to the period of Peter Leopold of Lorraine. The “eagle” fireplace was done by Francis Harwood, an Englishman (who moved to Florence, where he ended his days in 1783) who worked as a portrait painter and copyist of Roman antiquities for travelers on the Grand Tour. He was employed by the Grand Duke to restore the sculptures in the palace and the Boboli Gardens.

Parrot Room

The Parrot Room (Sala dei Pappagalli), named for the bird (actually imperial eagles) motif in the beautiful silk lampas wall coverings (which have a green background and were made in the manufactory of Lyon in France and brought by Grand Duke Ferdinando III from Vienna in 1814), divides the King’s Apartment (extending along the internal courtyard) from the Queen’s Apartment, which follows the southern axis. The Lorraine family installed the large stove. The carpet and crystal chandelier both date from the 19^th century.

Portrait of Giulia Varano, Duchess of Urbino (Titian)

In these public and private rooms, the Savoyard Period’s (1860-1919) eclectic taste (as described in the 1911 inventory) is particularly evident. The clock, with its chased and gilded bronze shelf and black marble base, was made in 1812 by Pierre Philippe Thomire, a famous Parisian bronze maker.

The “recycling” of works of art, typical of the Restoration (c. 1815), includes the original bust of Napoleon being replaced with the bust of Ferdinando III and the imperial eagle with the allegorical figure of Tuscany. The table cover, of silk and gilded silver, is in Louis XV style. Impruneta Fair, by Filippo Napoletano, is a depiction of the famous fair held near Florence every October 18th.

Chapel

The Chapel, intended by Grand Prince Ferdinando de’Medici (who lived there until his death in 1713) to be an alcove, or rather, an official bedroom (the real bedroom for sleeping was two doors further on) designed to receive a small group of people, shows the most obvious traces of the Medici story in the palace.

However, the echoes of the Medici style were cushioned during the Savoy rule when, with the aim of providing a seamless sequence of representation rooms, the furnishings were updated, including the table, mirror, vases and clock, and the accents that were probably considered too severe.

In the bed compartment, there is still a door that leads, by way of a spiral staircase, into a small library, closed by panels and cornices in different types of wood, decorated with plant motifs by French inlayer Riccardo Lebrun.

Mainly Late Baroque in style, the area is enhanced by a crimson silk damask ensemble which, although dating back to the mid 19th century, picks up on the designs and motifs in use in the previous century, establishing a seamless dialog with its, late 17th century character still evident in the articulate white stucco and gold decoration and in the gilded inlaid work by Giovan Battista Foggini (1652-1725), carried out between 1685 and 1687, with scrolls and mottoes referring to Ferdinando and his wife, Violante of Baviera. With the arrival of the Grand Dukes of Lorraine, the alcove was converted to a chapel.

Today, this area contains a mix of holy paintings and other highly crafted pieces. The Virgin and Child, painted in 1675 by Carlo Dolci (1616-1686) for Vittoria della Rovere (widow of Ferdinando II de’ Medici), has a sumptuous and precious pietre dure frame, probably created from designs by Foggini on the occasion of the wedding of Prince Gian Gastone in 1697.

Other holy paintings shown here include two round works from the school of Sandro Botticelli and a 17th-century copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin on the Rocks (noted, above all, for its Baroque frame).

Royal Apartments: First Floor, South Wing, Pitti Palace, Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, Florence, Italy. Tel:+39 055 294883. Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:15 AM – 6:50 PM. Admission: Palatine Gallery (€8.50), Silver Museum (€6.00), Gallery of Modern Art (€8.50), Costume Gallery/Porcelain Museum/Boboli Gardens/Bardini Garden (€6.00).

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

Palazzo Pitti – Hall of Venus (Florence, Italy)

Posted on 29 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Hall of Venus (Sala di Venere)

The Hall of Venus (Sala di Venere) starts the series of elegant rooms in the winter apartment on the first floor of Palazzo Pitti. This famous great hall, in Medici times, was the general antechamber where, before being received by the Grand Duke, the common public waited to be admitted.

On his return to Florence in 1641, Pietro da Cortona, commissioned by Ferdinando II de’ Medici (who wanted to show that he has aligned himself with the new Baroque decorative style), decorated the hall with frescoes and stuccoes from 1641 to 1642, the first of the series of so-called Planetary Rooms to which he put his hand (for this reason, it is entirely autographed).

Ceiling fresco (Pietro de Cortona)

The iconographic Medici residence celebration programme, aimed at exalting the figure of the prince and the process of preparing him to govern well, featured a decorative theme proposed by Francesco Rondinelli (the grand duke’s librarian).

Two lunettes and a tondi

It involved the constant presence of all three key players in the rooms – the prince, Hercules (a symbol of the virtues of the prince and protector of the Medici family) and the gods of Olympus (Venus, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn representing the Ptolemaic planets) to which the room is dedicated.The lively fresco in the ceiling vault depicts, in the center, Minerva tearing the young adolescent prince from the arms of Venus (a symbol of pleasure) and then handing him over to Hercules (a symbol of virtue), his new tutor.

A lunette

Stories from antiquity, linked by the theme of the virtuous behavior of illustrious men in front of beautiful women, are frescoed at the eight lunettes, all bearing explanatory inscriptions in Latin. Behind the lunette with the Story of Antiochus and Stratonice is a small window inserted between the stuccoes so that the Grand Duke can spy on and listen to what happened or was said in the room below.

Tondi

Standing out, from the very rich white stucco ovals (tondi), are portraits of the most illustrious of the most important members of the grand duchy, as well as the two popes of the House of Medici (Leo X and Clement VII). Their personal emblems are found at the segments of the pendentives.

Tondi

With respect to the Renaissance construction, the change of spatial organization is felt less. Although softened by the presence of the gilt stucco telamons and the white stucco medallions, the pattern of the lunettes, of the rib vaults and pendentives follow a pattern that still reflects the order of the Renaissance interior.

Venere Italica (Antonio Canova, 1810)

Standing at the center of the room, placed well after the room had taken its name, is the famous statue of the Venere Italica (Italic Venus, 1804-1811) by Antonio Canova, a compensation to Florence for the transfer of the Medici Venus (a work that was later returned) to the Louvre by Napoleon.

La Bella (Titian, 1536)

On display are four masterpieces by Titian. Concerto (ca. 1506-1507) is an early work. The Portrait of Julius II is a copy of the original by Raphael (now at the National Gallery in London ) but different in the results, especially linked to the masterful use of the typical color of Titian. La Bella (a painting for the Duke of Urbino, 1536 ) and the Portrait of Pietro Aretino (1545) fully manifests the chromatic richness and stylistic complexity of the works of the master’s maturity, for example with the contrast between the reds of the beard and the blue of the robe that exhales the figure and a disturbing nuance to the character, shot shyly in profile.

Vocation of Peter and Andrew (Il Cigoli, 1607)

The Return of the Peasants from the Fields (ca. 1627) and Ulysses on the Island of the Phaeacians (ca. 1635), two grandiose and solemn landscapes, are a reference to Pieter Paul Rubens (the ideal teacher of Pietro da Cortona and the Flemish equivalent of Titian).

Marina del Faro with Vessels and Galleys (Salvator Rosa, ca. 1641)

Finally, Marina del Faro with Vessels and Galleys (ca. 1641) and Marina del Porto at Sunset (ca. 1641), two large marinas painted by the famous Neapolitan landscape painter Salvator Rosa, are noteworthy.

Other works in the Hall of Venus include:

Portrait of Antonio Martelli (Caravaggio, 1608–1609)
Portrait of Giacinto Calducci (follower of Justus Suttermans)
Male Portrait (16th century Emilian school)
Santa Martina Refuses to WorshipIidols (Pietro da Cortona)
Portrait of Hunters of the Medici Court (Justus Suttermans, ca. 1637)
Sacred Conversation with Constantine, Saint Helena and Saint John (Bonifacio Veronese, ca. 1510)
Triumph of David (Matteo Rosselli, ca. 1620)
Roger at the Court of Alcina Rutilio Manetti, 1624)
Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (Francesco Bassano, ca. 1590)
Apollo and Marsyas (attributed to Giovanni Bilivert)
Apollo and Marsyas (Guercino, ca. 1618)
Portrait of Baccio Valori (Sebastiano del Piombo, ca. 1531)
Venus, Cupid and Vulcan (Tintoretto, ca. 1550-1555)
Portrait of Pietro Francavilla (17th century Flemish school, ca. 1610)
Allegory of Lies (Salvator Rosa, ca. 1649)
Male Portrait (Bartolomeo Passerotti, ca. 1570)
Portrait of an Artist (Justus Suttermans)
Portrait of Vittoria della Rovere as Saint Ursula (attributed to Justus Suttermans, ca. 1637)
Portrait of a Child (Justus Suttermans, ca. 1631)
Portrait of Alessandro Farnese Justus Suttermans, 1639-1640)
Ecce Homo (attributed to Titian)
San Giuseppe (Guercino, ca. 1660)
Adoration of the Child (workshop of Titian)
Vocation of Peter and Andrew (Il Cigoli, 1607)
Sant’Isidoro Agricola (Giovanni Bilivert, ca. 1612-1615)
Saint Joseph (Guido Reni, ca. 1639-1640)
Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena (Sienese school of the seventeenth century from Francesco Vanni)
Narcissus at the Source (Francesco Curradi, ca. 1622)
Death of Saint Mary Magdalene (Rutilio Manetti, ca. 1618-1620)
Table (Florentine manufacture of the century XVIII, 1785-1791)
Table (Florentine manufacture of the century XVIII, ca. 1789)
Table (Florentine manufacture of the century XVIII, 1785-1791)

Return of the Peasants from the Fields (Pieter Paul Rubens, ca. 1627)

Hall of Venus: First Floor, Palatine Gallery, Pitti Palace, Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, Florence, Italy. Tel:+39 055 294883. Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:15 AM – 6:50 PM. Admission: Palatine Gallery (€8.50), Silver Museum (€6.00), Gallery of Modern Art (€8.50), Costume Gallery/Porcelain Museum/Boboli Gardens/Bardini Garden (€6.00).

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

This travel blog, a diary of the author’s local and international travels, aims to provide the reader with news and information on people, places and events that would interest the avid traveler and tourist. But, it also aims to be much more, providing insights on the wonders of this beautiful country, as well as the world, beyond the strict confines of the city. Have a BLAST seeing old churches, exotic temples, educational museums as well as palm-fringed islands; white sand beaches; thundering waterfalls; placid lakes; fiery sunsets; turquoise seas; cathedral-like caves; swirling rivers; majestic mountains; stupendous, amphitheater-like rice terraces; awesome volcanoes and the like. Get to know the movers and shakers in the tourism industry; find out where to titillate the palate; rejuvenate your body; feed your adrenalin, unwind and relax; satisfy your craving for history and culture; and find out what's being celebrated and where.

BENJAMIN “BENJIE” LAYUG, an architect by profession (he finished his B. S. Architecture degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1982), is also a copy editor for two publishing houses; travel writer; blogger; architectural historian; author; concert. movie and musical reviewer (for www.pep.ph); and a motivational speaker.

As a free-lance travel writer, he has, in the past, contributed articles to Travel Update, Philippine Daily Inquirer, COLORS, TODAY, 7107 Islands Magazine, Business Day and Bluprint. He currently writes for Artplus Magazine and the Business Mirror.

He is also the author of the following travel books:

A Philippine Odyssey (New Day Publishers, 2005)
Pathfinder’s Travel Guide: Boracay (Great Books Trading, 2006)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Churches (New Day Publishers, 2007)
A Tourist to Notable Philippine Historical Landmarks, Monuments and Shrines (New Day Publishers, 2010)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Museums (New Day Publishers, 2012)

Some of his books now appear in the local library shelves of the National Library of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas, U.P. Diliman, Centro Escolar University, San Sebastian College, Miriam College, Silliman University, to name a few, as well as internationally at the National Library of Australia and the University of California Berkeley Library.

Now a senior citizen, he is probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, active travel blogger in the country today. He also has a lifestyle blog called F.Y.I.:Firing Your Imagination (www.firingyourimagination.blogspot.com). Benjie has traveled to two-thirds (53) of the country’s 81 provinces and over 20 countries in 4 continents.