25. Art Quiz!

After visiting about 100 museums and churches throughout this trip, I've begun to notice some similarities between pieces of art and who is depicted in them. So I made up a little quiz! The answers will be in tomorrow's post.

1. What does a dove represent in early renaissance paintings?  

2. What Saint can always be found with a lion lurking somewhere in the background? Why?

3. What animal is commonly found in paintings of The Last Supper?

4. What Saint always has blood on his head?

5. What does Moses commonly have coming out of his head? Why?

6. Who always wears fur?

7. What saint always has at least 3 arrows sticking out of his body?

8. What renaissance artist was a convicted murderer?

9. What does Judith always have with her?

10. Who was the king of paint selfies?

 We hit some big churches and museums today too. Starting with Saint Marco's monastery. There we saw frescos painted by Fra Angelico. There were no pictures allowed and none of it was in English. So I can't really say what I learned, but I'll describe one of my favorite pieces. It might have been called Giudizio Universale. In my professional opinion it was describing the horrors of hell. This includes being boiled alive, eaten by crocodiles, eating each other, and sitting around a table full of food, with your hands tied to the chair just out of reach. 

Then we went to the Duomo. This cathedral is known for its dome, the first Renaissance dome ever built. The rest of the building was actually constructed before the dome itself. A gap was left in the ceiling for the dome to be built in. The gap was built to fit a dome larger than it was possible to build with the technology of the time, until Filippo Brunelleschi rose up to the challenge. It also has a very lively outside with green pink and white marble covering every part of it.

Have you ever seen an unfinished basilica? I hadn't until today. The Church of San Lorenzo has an unfinished exterior. Michelangelo spent four years drawing up plans for the facade, but sadly they were never used due to lack of funding. The inside is still pretty! It is the resting place of many people in the Medici family.

We waited until later in the afternoon to visit the Accademia, which currently houses Michelangelo's "David." Of course there was a no picture rule. I immediately broke it. 

Rick Steves has audio tours for various places around Europe and this is one of them! I learned that David was originally made to sit atop the Duomo where people would be looking up at it. This is why, from this angle, his head looks larger than it should be. From straight on David looks pretty confident in himself with his big hands and head. Moving around to the right, the viewer can see his furrowed brow that shows some doubt. For this reason, a lot of scholars believe that this statue shows David before slaying Goliath.

In the hallway leading up to David was Michelangelo's Prisoners. These are unfinished statues. It was interesting to see the process to get from a block of stone to a statue like David. Michelangelo was unique in that he didn't use markers while carving. He just let it happen. The rest of the museum didn't really have a lasting impression on me.