Uffizi

What I experienced at the Uffizi was the progression of realism, perspective, use of color, and the context of the artwork through the paintings that were chosen for us to look at. I also noticed the progression of symmetry into balance. Duccio’s work showed little depth with only a foreground and head stacking shown in the angels. The head stacking shows depth, however, does not show perspective due to the heads being the same size. Giotto uses one point perspective and creates space through the architecture. His paintings begin to show some realism through the drapery folds over the figures. In Martini’s Annunciation, I began to see the progression of realism in the lily, vase, and marble. Pietro Della Francesca’s painting showed more realism within the hair, jewelry, and fabric. Unlike the other paintings, the portraits are not shown in an idealized way. Perspective was also more developed in this painting because the clarity in the background diminishes clarity. In the artwork previously stated, the context seemed to be more focused on biblical stories and symbolism. In the Caravaggio exhibit, the paintings seemed to focus more on a short narrative, mood, and expression. The artwork is very realistic through facial expressions, lighting, perspective, detail, and color.

Ashley's Journaling/ favorites from Uffizzi

The post I decided to choose is actually quite a few in my joural. Artemisia Bentileschi, Giuditta is one of my most favorites! Just the facial expressions alone get me to stand there and stare and wonder. Then adding in the blood on top of that, Evil! As if this woman literally had to do this and capture the moment in her head and document where the blood splattered. Just brillant or you could even say very creapy to remember each and every detail. Also, I really enjoy looking at Triano Vecellio's Venus of Urbino. It is another one of those paintings you have to wonder about. Is this really about a seductive bride or just some random hooker? I also notice I really seem to spot out Simone Martini. I dont know if its the gestures of the people or the fluidness of his peices but I also choose his Annuciation to share with you. Gorgeous detailing in the Gold framing. The expression on Mary's face is unhappy, when you would expect her to be happy like in many other versions of this story. I LOVE the Uffizzi. The more I go back the more I take in.

Uffizi in Florence

June 1, 2010 our class went back to the Uffizi. I actually enjoyed the museum and the pieces in the museum the second time through. It really helped me to have a purpose for being there and an assignment to accomplish. The museum has so much and it has been so long since I've taken art history that i remember a few of the pieces but no one painting stands out in my mind. Today i focused mostly on the three Madonna's. It is just a popular painting and it had been done so many ways. It also helped that they were the first three pieces I looked at so i was awake and fresh early in the day. The first Madonna i looked at was Cimabue's. His paint choice was tempra on a panel. It took him from 1280 to 1290 to complete the painting and it is currently in the museum in a 19th century frame. Cimabue uses a lot of archs in his design and more red tones than the other pieces in the room. He makes the folds in the cloth stand out by shading them with gold. Cimabue choose to include 7 angels and four prophets in his painting. The angles are three on one side of Madonna and the child and four on the other side. The four prophets are painted across the bottom of the panel. The second artist I choose to exam was Giotto De Bondone. His Madonna is also a tempra painting done between 1306 and 1310. To me he uses a lot more angular shapes. Madonnas chair is square at the bottom as in Cimabue the chair had arches and made windows at the bottom of the panel. The angels and saints are stacked upon each other adding depth to the painting. They are also on the left and the right side of the madonna and child. The third Madonna was done by Duccio in 1285. He also used tempra on a panel. His was the most detailed to me because of the frame he choose to use. The frame was thick enough that he had room to also paint on it. Along the frame are heads of angels- i can only assume they are angels. It also struck me that he used two different points of perspective on the details of the chair. On the left side of the painting the chair is actually going back in space. Duccio's Madonna is larger than the other two paintings and the child has clothes on. There are 6 angels within the painting and they are full bodied angels with very detailed wings. Three angles on either side of Madonna. Duccio also uses more of the arch shape like Cimabue.

Another sketch i wanted to share was of Simone Martini's enunciation. I choose to focus on the details of the frame rather than just the painting. The painting was wonderful and the look on Mary's face has never been painted in a way that she looks angry. The frame is just as wonderful and detailed. I talked to Chris at the museum and she said normally a lot of the painting do not have their original frames. I do not know if the frame was original but it divided the painting into these three different section. The middle section where the angel is talking to mary. Then a section on each side. The frame had these tall staff like columns that made it feel like mary and the angel were in a great room at a giant Palace.

Sketchbook Page....

Much more amazing in person, the "Testadi Medusa" by Caravaggio was much more intimidating than i would have imagined. The painting was done on a shield, perhaps used in battle, that would have potentially worked as a deterring mechanism of one's enemies. Created in 1597, was followed by many other paintings of somber atmosphere. This sheild was presented as the first introductory piece to the Caravaggio exhibit, within the Galleria Palatina. This could potentially be seen as a warning of the work exhibited, that would follow, providing to caution to its viewers, & preparing them for following pieces of dramatic influence, such as Caravaggio's "Artemisia Gentileschi" of 1620.

Slightly dark image, but this was my sketch of Madonna with the Long Neck. I had remembered seeing this piece in the books during Art History, but with the actual size of the painting everything seemed that much more elongated. And what's more, is that when choosing to draw this painting I really took notice as to how long I was making the curve of her neck, and it really threw me off when drawing both the Madonna and Christ. The length of Christ's body and her neck were so much more pronounced when drawing them first hand, and I thought it made for a really momentous experience. For a moment, I felt as though I knew the deliberateness of Parmagianino when he was painting.

The distance that is created between Madonna and Christ makes for such a different experience than all the other images of the same thing. The flow through the picture from the top of Madonna's head to her arm where Christ's head, and then along his body to me creates a much more spiritual experience and was so neat to see first hand.

While going to the Uffizi and looking at artists like Giotto, da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo, we were able to see a Caravaggio exhibit showing about three of his original works and dozens of others that embodied style over the next two centuries after his death. In that I found that between the two locations they were showing these works in the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace they presented two different ways of viewings these paintings. The Uffizi used more of a linear path were the Pitti Palace allowed the viewers to explore all the works in more of a less directed manner allowing you to choose different paths. Between the two I found a heavy presence of death and how the different artists were interpreting this idea. I found the skull to be a reoccurring object used in some of the paintings that mimicked Caravaggio's style.

Uffizi

Today experiencing the Uffizi was much more smooth of a process than the first time. I was able to navigate myself through it much easier and hit the things I was really looking to spend time at. Unfortunately the setting itself is definately not my preference for drawing at all, the crowds and groups of people streaming through make it quite difficult to get any sort of actual sketch from the works, however i did find a little nook where i was able to get a few decent minutes in with Leonardo's Annunciation. Not to sound like a snob, but I was fairly unimpressed by the Caravaggeschi Exibit at the Uffizi, though that certainly has much to do with the fact that nothing will compare to the complete exibit I was lucky enough to stumble upon in Rome. Though this is true, I was pretty impressed by a couple of the artists in the exibit at the Pitti, including Bartolomeo Manfredi and Jusefe De Ribera.