My mum is a born super sleuth and shopper, one of her many fortes is finding very cool shops wherever she is around the world. Cutting edge or artisanal, she’ll suss it out! Every time…. continue ›
Posts Tagged: Art
The Epiphany – Florence’s Kings
Adoration of the Magi, Filippino Lippi, 1496, oil on panel, Uffizi gallery, Florence. The Epiphany is celebrated on the 6th of January in the Christian calendar, the day dedicated to the adoration of the…. continue ›
Climbing the scaffolding in Santa Croce & looking an angel in the eye
Detail of one of the Agnolo Gaddi frescoes recently restored above the high altar of Santa Croce. Previous filling of the cracks has been removed and will not be replaced as it damages the fresco…. continue ›
Timeless wisdom & a warning to all politicians from the medieval Sienese
Security, holding a proclamation and overseeing the countryside on the outskirts of Siena, with peasants working the fields and noblemen riding ( c.1337) detail from Good Government fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti Siena is, historically, the closest great…. continue ›
The casino of San Marco
This is the ceiling of the BNL bank in via Cavour 59, once part of the casino of Don Carlo de Medici. The ceiling decoration is from one of the two rooms dedicated to…. continue ›
The Brancacci chapel
The Brancacci chapel represents a turning point in art history, and thus is reflective of a change in society. It was studied and admired by all the great artists who lived in or passed through…. continue ›
Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I… Giddy-up!
Giambologna, Equestrian monument of Cosimo I de’ Medici, 1587-94, bronze, piazza della Signoria Florence. There is only one bronze equestrian sculpture that has survived for us in the present day from antiquity. It is in the…. continue ›
Renaissance bronzes – How are they cast?
Mercury, Benvenuto Cellini, bronze 1550s, Bargello Museum, Florence During the renaissance, bronze sculptures cost a lot of money and few patrons could afford such expenditure in commissioning substantial bronze works for their private collections. Bronze…. continue ›
Chapel of the cardinal of Lusitania
Tucked off to one side in the San Miniato al monte church of the Benedictine monastery which overlooks Florence, there is an exquisite renaissance funerary chapel which was added into the fabric of the Romanesque…. continue ›
Hidden Chapel of the Painters
Artists in the renaissance didn’t have their own guild as what they did wasn’t a profession; it was considered a menial trade and was not an organised body in society. However, it was necessary that…. continue ›
