Gallerie dell' Academia

Today we started off early -- knowing there would be lines.  We reached the location about ten minutes after opened, and the line was half way down the block.  It moved, slowly and we got in just before 9:30.  We had a delightful couple from San Diego in line with us, so the time passed with trading stories about Venice (they were headed there by train this afternoon).

Upon entry, most of the crowd heads straight to the main gallery to see the star attraction, Michelangelo's David.

We took time to check out some of his unfinished works that line the entry hall.

In the book, The Agony and the Ecstasy, it said that Michelangelo would look at a chunk of stone
and visualize the figure within.

While a work of historical fiction, as you look at these figures emerging from the stone, you can imagine it to be true.

There were a couple of his completed works, as well, including this Pieta.

Since the area in front of the statue was crowded, we went behind, and got an interesting perspective.

This room was created specifically to display the statue with an awe-inspiring effect.  The translucent dome is augmented by spotlights, which in this shot give the statue almost a halo.



























One last look at the David:

With the tourists' focus on the David, most of the rest of the collection is ignored.  In one wing they have re-created the 19th century workshop of Lorenzo Bartolini. 

The plaster casts that fill the room were part of his work creating funerary monuments and other decorative statuary.  He was both a sculptor and a teacher.  What was interesting was that many of the pieces had the marks he used to ensure balance -- he would use calipers to measure facial elements on one side of the face and then make the other side match it, in proportion.  This was a teaching tool for developing upcoming artists.

As you leave the museum, they route you through the bookstore.  Just outside, in a small patio was a modern piece labeled Hero for Florence. 


Homage to David