Piazza di Porta San Giovanni

It is early morning of the week when the first scooters begin their carefully choreographed carbon dioxide dance through the streets of Florence and when the sun hasn't yet decided which shade of yellow to wrap the city in, that I enjoy the Piazza di Porta San Giovanni the most. As the veins of the city slowly fill and flow with travellers of all kinds, birds and jackhammers confuse each other with sound. What amazes me about the Piazza, is its ability to contain life, to merge all pathways into one, collecting stories that seem to float effortlessly along the cobbled stones that have been polished by centuries of scuffing feet. It is here that the massive Duomo confidently dominates the city with elephantine grandeur. Like a sleeping lion this giant of green and white stone seems to guard all the secrets that carry the weight of too much history.

Here the threads that string masses of people through the narrow streets of the city get confused and tangled into a web of culture and sound. When human voices converge something magical happens to the space they inhabit. If one listens carefully then, above the polluted rumbles of modernity above the mosaic of language, one can hear the gentle whispers of a city that has gathered and preserved all the stories remembered over centuries.

Taking a conscious walk around Piazza San Giovanni. I noticed many elements I never realized before; geometric harmony, color aesthitics within the precious stones carrara, verdi antico, and jasper, and the musical rhythym that runs throughout the marbles' rectangular arrangement within the exterior design. Having re-read beginning chapters of Ross King's novel (much needed for me since it is loaded with so much great detail) I saw the importance of having 8 sub-architects supervising each side of the octagonal dome. In the photo included I attempted to imagine what a responsibility it was as a sub-architect to manage the work of labourers and keep eye on operations for one side of the dome. The work was definitely cut out for architects supervising the labourers working on their side of the dome.

Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

Just within the ‘heart’ of Florence, overlooking the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, sits the Opera del Duomo. In the 13th century, those who administered it were responsible for helping to fund, build, and supervise the construction of it. Today, it conserves all the works that were created for the Cathedral, Campanile, and the Baptistery… from sculptures, paintings, manuscripts, building equipment, drawings, and my favorite… the models.

The construction of the Cathedral and its many parts began with the very important task of building models. These models served as visuals in many ways: to compete in the structures commissions, to view the dimensions and design of the structures, and to first confront any of the problems that may arise when building the actual structure, such as the concerns on how to build the massive dome. These models were built from different materials such as wood or stone, and were constructed large enough so that one could view the interior, even walk inside them!

I find that the enormity of the Cathedral can sometimes be overwhelming, whereas the models give me a different feeling… maybe tranquility. The models are refined, delicate, and crafted... idealistic and abstracted. The hard work, handcraft, and artistry that went into them truly make them beautiful works of art that sometimes I feel the models sitting in the museum can be just as precious and treasures as the one standing just outside. Here is a picture of the entrance to the Opera del Duomo and a part of the Cathedral that I took this morning, and a picture of a few of the actual wooden models for the Duomo borrowed from this site.

Traditional portraiture takes new lengths

I was watching a cbc broadcast today and stumbled upon DNA 11, a Canadian-based business, recently established that has began an innovative approach to creating portraiture. On the link attached you can check out what the business is about and what creative works develop from a simple scientific process through collecting fingerprints, cheek cells by cotton swabs and lipstick samples. Kind of Andy Warhol, but see for yourself how art and science have linked bridges into abstracting the idea of identity and portraiture.

Enjoy,

Venessa :)

Views of Piazza di Porta San Giovanni on Sunday

I have invited all of you to walk in the footsteps of Filippo Brunelleschi around Piazza di Porta San Giovanni, and to observe carefully the square and its important buildings, and their relationships to each other. I have posted a number of views that we found were interesting on our walk this Sunday.





Entering the square from the south, our first view is of the side of Santa Maria del Fiore and the magnificent proportions of Brunelleschi's dome.












We then were immediately captured by the sheer proportion and elegance of Giotto's campanile.









Looking immediately west we saw the profile of the front of Santa Maria del Fiore and the beauty of the marble work on the facade.




















Following our eyes to the Baptistry, we are captured by Lorenzo Ghiberti's doors on the east side,facing the Duomo ~ the "Doors of Heaven" so called by Michelangelo.




















And then finally we are drawn towards the facade of Santa Maria del Fiore and the main doors. Try to stand in this main door and look out over the square, taking in the perspective and relationship of the buildings to each other, to the piazza and the surroundings.
















In Brunelleschi's time, this view of the Baptistry and the square was not so different, although he would have seen the edge of the old sheep market in the back streets, and of course, a very different range of activities going on in the square.

Post your views of the Piazza di Porta San Giovanni, or the view from the door of the Duomo, or anything in particular that is of special interest to you in this very beautiful and historic "heart" of Firenze.

Photos by Alexandra Ladly Hoffnung. Click on the photos to see a higher resolution image, well worth it, especially for the photo of the Ghiberti doors!

Fall Show - part 4

Here are some photos form the Opening of the December Show

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SFall Show - part 3

Show - Part 2