A Week in Florence -- David, Rare Musical Instruments, and Leonardo

Michaelangelo's statue of David is one of the most recognized works of Renaissance art. It's housed in the Galleria dell'Accademia, and a visit there usually entails waiting in a very long queue for up to several hours or buying an advance ticket by reservation. Because our visit to Florence was in January, and several days were cold with drizzling rain, I never once had to wait in a queue or pay for a reservation. Quite a nice perk! Plus, the art works can be viewed without the crowds all around you.
Walking to the Accademia I came across this beautiful glazed terra-cotta lunette above the doorway to what now is the office of the Dante Alighieri Society. It dates from the 16th century when the building originally belonged to the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. It later became a parish church, and now houses offices. This sort of small artwork detail is everywhere in Florence. Just beautiful!

A recent addition to the Gallery is their collection of rare musical instruments donated by Alessandro Kraus, a Florentine collector of musical instruments from all over the world. Upon his death in 1931, he had some 1000 items in his collection. His granddaughter donated the items -- instruments, books, and recordings -- to the museum in 2001. The instruments are extremely valuable, including ones made by Stradivarius, Niccolo Amati, and Bartolomeo Cristofori. Scholars can get access to the collection for research purposes.

If you've ever wondered what a hardy-gurdy looks like, here are a couple examples.

The galleries at the Accademia are fewer and much smaller in scale than at the Uffizi. I didn't take many pictures of the paintings, but focused on Michaelangelo's masterpiece, David. He created this 17-foot tall work from marble between 1501 and 1504. David is depicted with his sling over his shoulder, looking apprehensive before facing Goliath. I was able to spend some time just observing it from all angles, since the gallery wasn't crowded.

I didn't realize that Michaelangelo wasn't the only artist to work on this sculpture. Almost 100 years earlier, plans were made for 12 statues of Old Testament heroes to adorn the buttresses of the Duomo cathedral. In 1410, Donatello made the first of them in terra cotta, a statue of Joshua. In 1464,  Agostino was commissioned to begin work on the David statue using a large block of marble quarried from the northern Tuscan town of Carrara. He only got the legs, feet and torso roughed out in two years. When he stopped work on it in 1466, Rossellino was commissioned to continue; however, shortly thereafter, his commission was terminated. The marble piece was left in the cathedral workshop yard for 26 years, subjected to the elements' wear and tear. In 1501, the cathedral overseers feeling keenly the need to not waste this costly piece of marble,  began searching for an artist to complete the work. The piece had been lying down, and they ordered it erected upright. Leonardo da Vinci was amongst those consulted about the project, but 26-year-old Michaelangelo convinced the overseers to hire him for the job. He worked on it for two years, at which time it was determined to be too large and too costly to hoist to the roof of the cathedral. After nine possible locations were considered,  the six-ton statue was moved, over 4 days, the half mile to the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio. It remained there in the open until 1873 when it was moved to its present location and is viewed by thousands of visitors each year.

In 1991, a clearly deranged man attacked the foot of the statue with a hammer and did minimal damage. 

Copies of this original work are everywhere it seems in many sizes and forms -- including an apron displaying the lower torso, genitalia, and legs for purchase in souvenir shops. Queen Victoria donated a plaster cast replica of the statue to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Apparently, when she first encountered the statue at the museum she was so shocked by the nudity that an appropriately sized ceramic fig leaf was commissioned to cover the offending parts of David's anatomy. Thereafter, on royal visits, this was hung on the statue using two strategically placed hooks. The original leaf has been lost, but a replica made in 1857 is still in the museum's collection. 

Fig Leaf for David, plaster cast, D. Brucciani & Co., about 1857, England. Museum no. REPRO.1857A-161. Photograph by George Eksts. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Another smaller museum I visited was the Leonardo da Vinci Museum. What's unique about this place is the number of hands-on model reproductions of Leonard's inventions, created according to his drawings. The first was called a mowing machine, which was intended for use in warfare to literally mow down whatever was in its way.

This is a self-turning spit for roasting meat. The heat rises which makes the fan rotate, which in turn makes the gears turn and eventually the spit.

This is his military tank.

And finally, a device making it easier to lift a column. Obviously, these models are not created the actual size.

In contrast to the military machinery above, I wish you peace, pace, salam, and shalom.