Long day today!  We first went to Michelangelo’s House that he gave to his nephew Leonardo.  There were a few of his works there that were very nice.  They had a mixed media sculpture of his that I honestly found more impressive than his David.  It was made from Clay, Sand, it had wire armatures in it, it was a beautiful sculpture on par with any contemporary work I have seen.  We then went to the church Santa de ‘Lorenzo, it was the Medici’s church they sponsored.  In the library they had and exhibit of ancient books, I loved looking at the old illuminated manuscripts.  In the gift shop they had a children’s book “Dante’s Journey An Infernal Adventure”, I had to buy it, how could I pass up a children’s book based on Dante’s Inferno?

After a quick lunch some of the other students gave their reports on works we were going to be seeing, then we went over to the Uffizi Gallery.  The work in the gallery ranged from many different era’s; from the 11th Century to the 18th Century.  I was able to see Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and The Spring.  Both works were quite a bit larger than I expected, the details on them were surprising too.  I did not expect Botticelli to use gold as a highlight / accent on the leaves and hair in The Birth of Venus.

In another room we were able to see some of Leonardo Da Vinci’s paintings.  These are lesser known works than what we see in the history books.  I loved his rendering of the human figure as you all know he was way ahead of his time in his figurative representation, doing things no one else was really doing.

On the way out we went through an exhibit of work done by Artists who followed in the Baroque Style of Caravaggio.  I think the highlight of this show was the paintings of Artemisia Gentileschi.  Her ability to capture the emotion and drama that Caravaggio painted with, and her ability to render the female figure with emotion and create a tie to the viewer is unparalleled.  She was an amazing woman.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures in most of the places we visited today, so the picture load is rather small.