Crushed

Pam and I came home in a driving rain tonight.  We were gone from our room from 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. and had a wonderful day.  It was my intention to catch up on our activities from yesterday and then add a bit about our day today.  It is now 11:30 p.m. and for whatever reason, I just lost the entire blog I was working on.  It is too late to do more or start over completely, so I'm going to do a quick run down on our activities and call it a night.

Tuesday

Visited with David at the Accademia.  Then off to the Convent of San Marco to see murals painted by one of the monks, Fra Angelico.  The murals were his gift to God and truly to fellow inhabitants of the convent and posterity.  Here too we learned something about Girolamo Savonarola, the fundamentalist monk who engineered the Bonfire of the Vanities.  During a time when the Medicis were driven from Florence, Savonarola preached hellfire, damnation, and the sins of accruing money, artwork, books, and "things."  The bonfire in the plaza in front of San Marco was fueled as residents threw many books, pieces of art, possessions and accrued wealth into the flames.  Many artists were swept up in Sanonarola's rhetoric, including Sandro Botticelli who threw some of his own artwork onto the conflagration.

Two of Fra Angelico's murals and Savonarola's desk  

Bargello Sculpture Museum

Some of the most talented sculpters and representative works are shown here.  One can only stand in awe and wonder.  

   Donatelo's John the Baptist and his bronze David

A very different hero than Michelangelo's David

A linden wood crucifix carved by Michelangelo when he was thought to be about 15 years old.

A visit to Palazzo Strozzi--where we were lucky enough to see a special show called, Divine Beauty from Van Gogh to Chagall and Fontana.  The exhibition explores the relationship between art and religion from the mid 19th to 20th centuries.

 Edvard Munch...Madonna

The angel who came to tell Mary she was with child

   A model in clay for a sculpture of Christ walking on water.

It's time for bed now, and I must go before I lose this thing again.  I'll catch up on today's activities (which started with a climb of 463 stairs to the top of Brunelleschi's dome...amazing) when we are at our new digs tomorrow.  Ciao.  BB n P