Florence

Florence is the Renaissance theme park of a city that is the heart and soul of Tuscany. The birthplace of many revolutionary artworks and ideas that are the foundation on which much of my world is built. Still tied very much to its past glory through museums and architecture, this once walled medieval city is a paradise for art lovers and a major tourist destination. This means throngs of tourists fill the streets, museums and markets. Fortunately it is also a small place so you can walk everywhere and discover pockets of calm away from the maddening crowds.
In the Renaissance this was a small and wealthy city state, and home to the Medici family riches. As such, it lived under the threat of attack from its larger neighbours and identified itself with the David from the Goliath story. Currently it is home to both Donatello's David (currently laying on his bronze back while under restoration in the Bargello ), and Michelangelo's David (seen here from the outside of the Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno "Academy of the Art of Design"). You are no longer allowed to take photographs on the inside, which I actually prefer because it allows for a more mellow atmosphere, and as you can see from the crowd here it is a very busy place.



It wasn't always so busy, as you can see in this image from 1972. It was taken by my friend Felix Russo, who is the founder and editor of PhotoEd magazine. This picture is in the PhotoEd GUIDE to Photography, in a section that discusses "scale". I contributed to the GUIDE (sometimes with the assistance of former students) and we use it at my school as a textbook; as do many other schools and colleges throughout Canada. It is a good intro guide because it covers both traditional photography and newer digital forms of image making. Felix was was also my photography teacher at the Etobicoke School of the Arts, and the person who organised and lead our school group trip to Italy in 1986. So, he played a big role in developing my interest in two of my great loves: photography and Italy. I will never, ever forget seeing David for the first time with my 17 year old eyes. It is still very special seeing the real thing now, but it is a different experience seeing it as a "grown up".




Brunelleschi's massive Duomo dominates the clay coloured skyline of Florence. I am showing this view because it was shot from where the marble statue of Brunelleschi sits looking up at his masterpiece.


You can buy a ticket and climb the hundreds of stairs that take you to the top of the dome. This is the view looking down from the bottom edge of the dome. The people on the floor look like ants. Do ants have souls?



Looking across the dome you will see this image of a demon, designed to put the fear of God into you. Repent, repent all you sinners, or you are going to Hell and will be eaten by demons...head first! It is hard to know if this image produced any converts or confessions, but one thing is for sure: it was imagery like this that inspired future artists who would find work creating album covers for heavy metal bands. Below you can see how this image fits into the overall program. It is within the light yellow parts on the upper levels where you find the saviour. After all, Roman Catholicism has a fierce hierarchical order, which is completely against the teachings of JC, which makes it such a great religion. Great because it is chock full of this type of conflict. Think of all the great art in the world that has conflict as its starting point: Shakespeare's Tragedies, Coppola's Godfather, Picasso's Guernica. Do you think it is a coincidence that the first examples that came to my head were all created by artists who grew up as catholics. I think not. Sure, the Catholic church's hands are covered in blood and their ears are full of the crying souls of tortured young altar boys. History and present day lawsuits reveal these truths all too clearly. But under their vengeful, totalitarian leadership a lot of great art was produced, and I for one would argue that the dominance of western culture on our planet grows out of the strong visual language created by Christian iconophiles. Are storyboards for films not just a variation on the series of images that tell the story of the Passion. The New testament, B2: The Sequel, may not be as vengeful as this first book, but man, do they ever up the ante of the dramatic narrative with the introduction of the Jesus and Judas characters! The greatest story ever told? Maybe, maybe not. But for me, the images that came from this book are some of the greatest in the world. Not for their religious content, but for their humanity. This little rant doen't really relate to these images, which are just okay. It is just hard to write about Italy and art and architecture in any meaningful way without mentioning christianity the catholic church. And a wee blog reminder here: if you click on the pictures, you should be able to view a larger image.




Walking further up the dome you will eventually find yourself between the inner and outer domes. It was Brunelleschi's genius two dome concept that made it possible for such a massive dome to be constructed.


Graffiti is ever present in Italy, even on the walls of their sacred buildings. Mostly names and dates, sometimes political, and sometimes celebratory, like this one below.



Dante is one of the city's favourite son's. Here is a statue of him outside Santa Croce, and below, later in the evening when the sky began to paint his Inferno.




Dodging a bullet: an aside.
Some of you may remember back when I was going to spend my entire year off in Florence studying at 19th century academy style drawing school. Well, not far from Santa Croce is one of the schools I was thinking about attending. I visited it, and while the art being copied was technically strong, the students there were awfully young and their space to work in was less than inspiring. I don't think it would have been as fulfilling an experience as I am having now. Anyway, my allegiance has now shifted to Rome.