Art and Science in Florence

Home page

• Gallery of Accademy• Galileo’s compass• The revolving bridge (Leonardo da Vinci)• Birth of Venus (Botticelli)• Bargello• David (Donatello)• Palazzo Castellani• Istitute and museum of the history

of the scienze• Basilica di S. Croce.

INVENTOR AND MAKER: Galileo Galilei

DATE: C. 1606

MATERIALS: Brass

DIMENSIONS: length 256mm, widt(open) 360mm

One of the many compasses built by Galileo starting in 1597. Possibly the model presented by Galileo to Cosimo II together with a copy of Le operazioni del compasso geometrico et militare [Operations of the geometric and military compass] (Padua, 1606). The Galilean compass—not to be confused with drawing compasses—is a sophisticated and versatile calculating instrument for performing a wide variety of geometrical and arithmetical operations, making use of the proportionality between the corresponding sides of two similar triangles. It comprises three parts:

- the two legs, held together by a round disk (pivot), whose faces (front and back) are engraved with numerous scales;

- the quadrant, graduated with various scales, which is fixed by means of wing nuts to the holes in the compass legs;

- the clamp, a cursor inserted into one of the compass legs; keeps the instrument vertical and can serve as an extension for the leg holding it.

The priority for the instrument's invention was claimed by the Milanese Baldassarre Capra in a work published in Padua in 1607. Galileo replied effectively to Capra's claims with a peremptory Difesa [Defense].

The compass, initially kept in the Uffizi Gallery, was transferred in the mid-nineteenth century to the Tribuna di Galileo.

GALILEO’S COMPASS

Although the origins of the first Franciscan oratory are still lost in the mists of time, the construction of the new Basilica of Santa Croce is well documented and was officially started on May 3rd 1294, when the architect, Arnolfo di Cambio, laid the first stone of what was to become a masterpiece of Gothic art. His design was based on spatial grandiosity, with the structural elements carried out with rational clarity and sobriety.

Inside the Basilica        

It is built on the plan of an Egyptian cross (in the shape of a T), with the interior divided into three naves (114,45 metres), a chancel and a transept full of chapels whose patronage was reserved for the most illustrious families in this quarter of the city: the Bardi and Peruzzi families were the foremost, but there were also the Tosinghi, Pulci, Rinuccini and Alberti families...The walls of these chapels and the entire church were immediately covered in frescoes by Giotto and his school, who turned the basilica into a museum of Florentine Trecento painting. The same artists also designed the wonderful luminous stained glass windows. When at last the church was finished in 1442, it was consacrated by Pope Eugene IV. The facade was left undecorated, in fact it was not completed until 1857-63, more or less at the same time as the Belltower was rebuilt to replace the original one which had been struck by lightning. New architectural additions were introduced thanks to the patronage of Cosimo “the Elder” de' Medici and Andrea de' Pazzi. The former had the Chapel of the Novitiate built next to the Sacristy in 1434-45 by Michelozzo and decorated by Andrea della Robbia and Mino da Fiesole; the latter sponsored the Pazzi Chapel, in the first cloister or Cloister of the Dead, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and started in around 1430.

Basilica di S.Croce

      Brunelleschi, the Large Cloister

Brunelleschi also designed the second Cloister of the Convent, or Greater Cloister, continued after his death by Bernardo Rossellino (1453 circa) with a fine entrance door (1450 circa) by Benedetto da Maiano. Rather out of place in this substantially Gothic ambience, the Niccolini Chapel (situated in the left transept) dates from a later period and was carried out in around 1570 by the architect Giovanni Antonio Dosio. Giorgio Vasari was "remodernizing" the basilica for the Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici more or less in the same period (1566-1584). This was when the huge altars we can see on the walls in the side naves were built, all of them enriched with religious paintings carried out by the finest Florentine painters of the period.

Donatello, Annunciation        

The basilica also contains numerous examples of typically Renaissance sculpture. The most famous of these is the Crucifix by Donatello (1425, Bardi Chapel in the left transept) and his aristocratic Annunciation in grey stone with gilded highlights (1430-35), recently restored by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure . Nor should we forget the Pulpit by Benedetto da Maiano (1472-80) or the Madonna of Milk by Antonio Rossellino (1478), placed above the tomb of Francesco Nori, prior of the Repubblic and who died saving Lorenzo the magnificent’s life at the time of the "Pazzi Conspiracy". Lastly, the two funeral monuments by Bernardo Rossellino (1444-1451) and Desiderio da Settignano (1455-64). The former, dedicated to Leonardo Bruni (1369-1444),

humanist and Chancellor of the Republic, is considered a prototype among Renaissance tomb monuments. The presence of a great many funeral monuments and tombstones (276 can still be seen on the floor alone) has led to the Basilca being thought of as the city Pantheon, the burial place of Florence's most illustrious citizens. Somewhere here lie the tombs of Taddeo Gaddi and Count Ugolino della Gherardesca. Other famous inmates include Michelangelo (tomb by Vasari, 1570), Galileo Galilei (tomb by Foggini, 1737), Vittorio Alfieri (tomb by Canova, 1810). Unfortunately the monument to Dante, whose remains repose at Ravenna, is only a cenotaph (S. Ricci, 1829). The poet Ugo Foscolo described the church and its Tombs of the famous in his "Sepolcri". Other tombs can be found in the first cloister, beneath the loggia attached to the church (the oldest), and in an undergound corridor. The latter form a complete range of Neoclassical and Romantic sculpture. The Cloister, which also contains the entrance to the Museum, can be reached directly from the square.

        Vasari, tomb of Michelangelo

David 

Donatello seems to participate fully in the more advanced figurative culture of the moment with this statue, following tradition in the formal way of exhibiting a rhythmic, Gothic style of a classical repertoire fused with those opposing elements into a naturalistic image. But all the cultured formal imposition of the work, from the classic citation of the hero’s head to the elaborate Gothic rhythm of the drapes, the virtuosity of the mimetic rendering of flesh and material and the flat immediacy of an illuminist model, appear fused and separated by the vital truth of the “gesture” captured live. Classicism and Gothicism remain dominant whilst the realistic impulse that determined the installation is maintained as a poetic nucleus in the statue.    

   

The Palazzo Castellani is situated in the hearth of Florence, on the Arno near the Galleria degli Uffizzi; the palazzo is a medieval buildingwith a facade of bare stone. It rises fro six floors and is distinguished by rounded windows and rusticated stone arches. The Palazzo Castellani is the property of Italian State, but now it is the site of the Institute and Museum of the History of Science since 1930; it is a building of a very ancient origin, dating from the late 11th century. Known at the time of Dante as Castello d’Altafronte, from the name of hte family who owned it until 1180, when it became the property of Uberti to the Castellani family in the 14th centur, it was the site, from 1574 to 1841, of the Giudici de Ruota; even today the coats-of-arms of two of the magistrates remain on the walls of hte entryway and remind us of this function. No documentation exists on the functions of the building in the 17th and 18th centuries. During the first half of the 19th century, the Palazzo underwent large-scale restoration. After the Unification of Italy, the collections of manuscripts owned by the National Library were transferred to the Palazzo, where they remained until the 1920s.The Palazzohas also housed the Accademia della Crusca and the Deputacione di Storia Patria per la Toscana.. Today the IMMS occupies the whole building. The spaces have been restored and adapted to the new uses. The work of restoring the basament level, carried out over the two-year period 2002-2003, has brought to light the four massive stone foundation arches of the ancient Castello d’Altafronte.

PALAZZO CASTELLANI

 The Institute and Museum of the History of Science was founded in 1927 at the initiative of the university of Florence under the name of Istituto di Storia delle Scienze. According to its Statue, its function was that of cvollecting, cataloguing and restoring ancient instruments and devices of historical and scientific interest.The University of Florence loaned the new institution its own collectionof Medici-Lorraine scientific instruments, as well as precious library sources. The IMMS was founded within a particular historical and cultural context in wich, starting from the 1920s, several initiatives were launched in Florence for the purpose of conversing and capitalizing on Italy’s historical/scientific heritage. In 1923 the Gruppo per la Tutela del Patrimonio Scientifico was estabilished in Florence and, subsequent to the foundation of the IMMS, the First National Exposition of the Hisotry of Science was organized in 1929.The first exhibition halls of the IMMS, limited to a few rooms on the first floor of Palazzo Castellani, at the time shared with other institutions,were solemnly inaugurated in 1930. The first President of the Institute and Museum was senatore Piero Ginori Conti. The original arrangement of the Museum planned by Andrea Corsini who was its director until his death. Maria Luisa Righini Bonelli, his successor, imparted a further impetus to the process which, over the course of two decades, was to transform the IMMS into a modern museum and a reserach center frequented by Italian and foreign scholars.After the disastrous flood of 1966, the exibition area was extended to the second floor of the palace, where the instruments wich had been salvaged and restored, thanks to the collaboration of Italian and foreign specialists, were displayed. Starting in the 1980s the IMMS undertook a program of development and trasformation wich has produced not only an entirely new concept of museum dispaly based on the most recent studies, but also a significant increment in its library and a growing investment in the application of the new information and communicationtechnologies to the culturalheritage. Mojor effort has beeen deidcated to profitably utilizing and divulging the sources for studies on the history of science, escpecially as concerns the figure of Galielo Galilei and the Galilean school. In the last twenty years IMMS has also published a biannual review on the History of Science as well as numerous specialized pubblications, has organized a great number of seminars and conferences, promoted innovative research, held specialized courses for young researchers and set up an outstanding series of exibitions and many of wich have been highly succescful internationally as itinerant shows.

INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE

BargelloBargello in FlorenceAgostino of Duccio Madonna of CarmineAfter the rhythmic, picturesque and illusionist interpretation of this detailed work by Donatello of the Madona di

Casa Pazzi by painters and sculptors throughout the century, only the young Michelangelo was able to understand its true significance. The relief by Agostino di Duccio, the pathetic and energetic plasterwork by Donatello and the delicate and nervously sensitive works by Desiderio were transformed into a weave of counterpoint with layers cut by the light and full of abundant, abstract lines. A culture of an intellectual type that re-used the aristocratic, cosmopolitan and noble Gothic tradition of humanistic taste, adapting the neo-Attic and Byzantine styles to crystallize the vital, free-flowing of Renaissance relief.

 Alari Bonacolsi Pier Jacopo ErosThis exquisite work, an example of a courtly “treasure room” sculpture, a polished bronze created for the Gonzaga

family with its vitality and Renaissance realism changed into a welcomed exhibition of iconographic culture of a classical type, using a technique of virtuosity. However, in this cold but precious “object” the figure still conserves a simple naturalistic “antiquity”.

  In Bargello there are also sculpture without a name, like this The triumph of Agilulfo In this 7th century work, the barbaric taste is none other than the result of the corruption and vulgarisation of the

illustrious Roman language. It is evident and almost touching in its rudimentary naivety, an imitation of a celebrative classical relief.

Description: Gold and embossed, copper, belonging to the so-called Elmo of Agilulfo, a copy of a famous classical relief.

“Birth of venus” 

TITLE: “Birth of Venus”.AUTHOR: Sandro Filipepi called Botticelli.PERIOD: Florence 1445-1510HISTORICAL CONTEXT: In 1469 Lorenzo il Magnifico ascended the government of Florence.In 1475 Botticelli painted the banner of Giuliano De Medici that 3 years after should remain victim of the conspiracy carried out by Pope Sisto IV and Pazzi’s family.Lorenzo il Magnifico reigned in Florence until his death in 1492 and he became the patron and protector of the town so, he assured Botticelli many public jobs.In these epoch were used, in fact, frescos and pictures for the decoration of churches, house were committioned but not for collections yet.When Sisto IV and Florence recovered the peace on December 3 1480, Botticelli and nother two teachers were called in Rome for decorating the walls of Sistina Chapel.TECNIQUE: Tempera on canvas 172.5 x 278.5This secular work was painted onto canvas, which was less expensive painting surface than the wooden panels used in church and court pictures. A wooden surface would certainly de impratical for a work on such a scale.Canvans is known to have been the preferred material for the painting of non-religiuos and pagan subject that were sometimes commissioned to decorate country villas in 15 th-century Italy.COMPOSITION (compositive elements): The scene represents Venus, born from the sea, moved by Zephir towards the shore, where an Hour is ready to cover her with a beautiful cloack.This mythological subject was very important in Renaissance literature and philosopy, so the scene can hint defferent allegorical meaning.The canvas, dating around 1485, certainly reflects the presence of Botticelli among the Florentine humanistic circle and his study on classical sculpture.The action of the picture is quickly understood.Venus has emerged from the sea on a shell which is driven to the shore by flying wind-gods amidst a shower of roses.

As she is about to step on to the land, one of the Hours or Nymphs receive her with a purple cloak. The picture form, a perfectly harmonious pattern.Botticelli’s figures look less solid then Pollaiuolo’s figures.UPPER-LEFT: The west wind.Zephir and Chloris fly with limbs entwined as a two fold entity: the ruddy Zephir (his name is Greek for “the west wind”) is puffing vigorously; while the fair Chloris gently sighs the warm breath that wafts Venus ashore.All around them fall roses each with a golden heart which, according to legend, came into being at Venus’ birth.UPPER-RIGHT: The wooded shore.The trees form part of a flowering orange grove corresponding to the sacred garden of the Hesperides in Greek myth and each small white blossom is tipped with gold.Gold is used throughout the painting, accentuating its role as a precious object and echoing the divine status of Venus.Each dark green leaft has a gold spine and outline, and the tree trunks are highlighted with short diagonal lines of gold.RIGHT: Nymph.The Nymph may well be one of the three Horae, or “the Hour”, Greek goddesses of the season, who were attendants to Venus.Both her lavishly decorated dress and the gorgeous robe she holds out to Venus are embroidered with red and white daisies, yellow primroses, and blue corn flowers appropriate to the theme of birth. She wears a garland of myrtle the tree of Venus and a sash of pink roses. CENTER: The shell.Botticelli partrays Venus in the very first suggestion of action, with a complex and deautiful series of twists and turns, as she is about to step off her giant gilded scallop shell onto the shore.Venus was conceived when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, the god Uranus the severed genitals falling into the sea and fertilizing it. Here what we see is actually not venus’ birth out of the waves, but the moment when, having been conveyed by the shell, she lands at Paphos in Cyprus.  

ORIGINAL AND DEFINITIVE PLACING: From the Medici villa at castello; painted around 1485 for Giovanni and Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’Medici.

At the Uffizi since 1815.

This picture was restored in 1987.

CONCEPTION OF THE SPACE: Botticelli’s Venus is so beautiful that we don’t notice the the unnatural length of her neck, the steep fall of her shoulders and the queer way her left arms hinged to the body.

The style of botticelli appears above all in the preference for smooth lines, the light movement, the graceful stroke.

He loved to represent the nature, he interpreted his works like a big scenery rich of colour, without shadows and drama.

Botticelli used the disposition of the figures on unique front plane and the continuos again.

Venus is the center of composition and towards her ached lines of winds and Hour converge.

The naked body of the goddess, classically <<circomspect>>, is encircled by the continuos line, thin but evident, that it is not ever plug of cut.

A thin chiaroscuro hints at the disposition of volumes.

It is an idealization of the Platonic beauty.

“ Birth of Venus”

REVOLVING BRIDGE 

This is a model of one of the many "very light yet rugged" bridges described by Leonardo in his letter to Ludovico il Moro. These bridges were designed for construction with material that was readily available and easy to transport. The bridge with a parabolic profile has only one span and is secured to the two banks by means of a large vertical pin. It is moved by means of ropes and hoists, aided by wheels and metal rollers in performing its sliding motion. Moreover, the bridge is equipped with a counterweight tank for balancing and manoeuvring purposes, while suspended in the air before being laid down on the opposite bank.

In the drawing, dateable to Leonardo's early days in Milan, reference is made to those "ponti leggerissimi e forti atti a portare facilissimamente, e con quelli seguire e alcune volte fuggire li nemici, e altri securi e inoffensibili da foco di battaglie, facili e comodi da levare e ponere" (very light yet rugged bridges suitable for being moved, and for pursuing and sometimes escaping from the enemy, and others still, which are safe and cannot be burnt by the fire of battles and are easily removed and laid down).

The room of the "Colosso", whose name is derived from the plaster copy of the Dioscuri of Monte Cavallo in Rome which was located here during the last Century, hosts the paintings of Florentine artists of the first part of the 16th Century. Among these paintings you can find Fra' Bartolomeo, Andrea del Sarto and Perugino.On the sides of the David's apse, there are paintings by Florentine artists of the first and second part of the 16th Century. They document the pictorial period during the years of Michelangelo's activity at the beginning, and then also during the period of the Counter-Reformation.

Also of interest, in the "Salone delle Toscane", the collection of the original plaster models of Lorenzo Bartolini and Luigi Pampaloni, two Tuscan sculptors of the 19th Century. Together with these plasterdels, there are also paintings of the 19th Century made by the students of the Academy of Fine Arts.

The Gallery of the Academy was founded by the will of the Grand-Duke Leopoldo di Lorena, who declared its constitution in 1784. The Gallery was designed to host a collection of ancient and modern paintings and sculptures, in order to facilitate the knowledge and study of the young students of the Academy of Fine Arts.Its seat was obtained partly from the ancient building which once belonged to the San Matteo hospital, then, also adjoining part of the ex-convent San Niccolò in Cafaggio The consistency of the collections has changed greatly during 1800 and 1900, both due to the increasing number of works coming from the suppressed convents and from loans or returns to other Galleries in Florence, and especially to the Uffizi.

Gallery of AcademyHistory

In 1873 the David by Michelangelo was moved to the Gallery of Academy from its original position in piazza Signoria. It was then moved to the bottom of a monumental apse which was built by architect De Fabris expressly for the David.Later, at the beginning of the 20th Century, other important works by Michelangelo were located close to it, including "San Matteo", the four "Prigioni", and the "Pietà di Palestrina".

• Today the Gallery hosts very important painting collections, in addition to the well-known works by Michelangelo. On the ground floor, in the three Byzantine rooms, there are assorted works of the second half of the 3rd and 4th Century. There are many paintings by Florentine artists which show the arrival of new trends and style connected to Giotto contemporary and later shops ("botteghe").

• Following an ideal chronological itinerary, which is totally different from the one typically followed by the visitor, we move to the first floor, where we can find a unique set of paintings with golden backgrounds, which date at the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th Century. These works show perfectly the style and manners of the late Gothic period. In these rooms there is a rare icon collection, which was gathered by the Grand-Dukes of Lorena. The collection is heterogeneous in its origins, authorship and quality. It shows that it is the result of an "amateur" curiosity and the track of a very particular interest in the landscape of the European collecting.

• In the three Florentine rooms you can find a series of paintings of the 15th Century which document, in a short but articulated way, the pictorial production of the main shops ("botteghe") which were active in Florence during the time of Masaccio, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli.

http://www.cavazza.it/arte/edmnv/botticelli/image1.jpg