These three museums have some fabulous sculpture, particularly those by Michelangelo and Donatello.
Principally to see Michelangelo's David, of course. But I'm also a big fan of the set of sculptures called Slaves or Prisoners.
The David was completed by Michelangelo (1475-1564) in 1504, having been commissioned by the Opera del Duomo in 1501 for the cathedral.
The block of Carrara marble designated for the statue was abandoned by other sculptors because of its many flaws before Michelangelo was tasked with creating the David.
He chose to portray David before his battle with Goliath, a graceful figure over 5m high.
When it was completed Michelangelo showed it to the Vestry board and gonfaloniere of the Republic who decided it was too beautiful for the cathedral. A committee was formed which included well-known artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli and Filippino Lippi, to decide where it should stand. Eventually it was decided that it should be placed in Piazza della Signoria at the entrance to Palazzo Vecchio as a symbol of the strength and freedom of the Florentine people.1 In 1873 it was moved to Accademia for its protection.
The four Slaves had been intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II. For many reasons they remained unfinished at Michelangelo's death in 1564.
The Slaves appear to strain to emerge from the blocks of Carrara marble.
There are a couple of other Michelangelo sculptures here, both unfinished. A St Matthew was commissioned in 1503 and was destined for the upper gallery of the cathedral along with eleven other statues, but the project was never carried out and the sculpture was abandoned.
A Pieta is only attributed to Michelangelo and could have been by Bernini or either of their workshops. Bernini was a huge admirer of Michelangelo.
There is more to see at Accademia: works of art, more sculpture and a crowded plaster cast gallery.
Carabè gelato is just south of Accademia on Via Ricasoli. Cioccolato and Limone for me, Cioccolato and Spirito Siciliano for Andre which wasn't as intense lemon as expected. They were fine but, for us, not the best.
The Palazzo del Bargello was built in 1255. Originally the seat of the chief magistrate and main law court it became the Bargello when the Medici abolished the post of chief magistrate and installed the chief of police - the Bargello.
The stand-out attraction here is Donatello's David on the first floor. Exquisitely beautiful, this David stands, in an appearance of somber reflection, over the severed head of Goliath. This was a revolutionary work of art, being the first free-standing, life-size nude bronze figure since classical antiquity.
Cosimo de' Medici il Vecchio commissioned the David which once stood in the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici.
There are more works by Donatello in this room including a curious bronze statue entitled Amore-Attis, a kind of mixture of Eros and Attis, a beautiful Phrygian (from an area of western Turkey) youth who lived in the woods and was worshipped alongside the goddess Cybele. Originally, when the Uffizi acquired the statue, it was thought to be from the classical era, but soon recognised as being a work by Donatello.
A marble St George by Donatello was created over twenty years before the David. It marks the first time that the artistic principles of the Renaissance, governed by geometry, symmetry, perspective and realism, were applied to sculpture. It was originally destined for one of the external niches on Orsanmichele.
The two competition panels to decide who would create two sets of doors for the Baptistry are here. The entrants, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi, were tasked with the creation of a panel depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac. The judges could not decide between the two and asked that they share the creation of the doors. When Brunelleschi refused to work on the doors unless he worked alone, the judges gave the commission outright to Ghiberti.
A David by Verrocchio, commissioned by Piero de' Medici, son of Cosimo il Vecchio, is a quite different interpretation to Donatello's. The somberness of Donatello's youth is replaced by an almost cocky, triumphalist demeanour in Verrocchio's.
There is much more on the first floor including an Islamic Gallery.
Elephant chess piece.
A chapel on the first floor has the last frescoes designed and painted by Giotto and his workshop. Though Giotto worked in the Gothic period of art in the early 14th century, he brought a natural humanism to art and skillfully created a sense of perspective and depth in the Renaissance manner.
On the ground floor the main hall has works by Michelangelo and from the 16th century.
The David-Apollo statue by Michelangelo can be interpreted either as Apollo in the act of taking an arrow from the quiver on his back (Vasari), or as David with Goliath's head at his feet.
Many buildings have stood on the site of Orsanmichele on Via dei Calzaiuoli since the 19th century, including a church called San Michele in Orte from which came Orsanmichele. This was replaced by a grain market in the 13th century and subsequently a loggia serving as a trade hall for the Great Guilds which governed Florence. Towards the end of the 14th century the ground floor was walled in and the building returned mostly to a religious space with the upper two storeys serving as emergency grain stores.
The guilds paid for the statues which filled the exterior niches, including the St George by Donatello, paid for by the Guild of Armourers and Swordmakers, now in the Bargello.2
Inside on the ground floor there is a marble tabernacle by Orcagna decorated with lapis lazuli, stained glass and gold.
There are numerous reminders on the ground floor that there was once a grain store above including shoots for the grain inside pillars, rings and a large hole in the ceiling.
Upstairs the first floor, a former granary, has many originals of the statues in the exterior niches.
The second floor is a huge space, again a former granary, with some small sculptures and a fine view of the Duomo over the rooftops.
Gelateria Perche No! is just across from Orsanmichele on Via dei Calzaiuoli. We both had chocolate ice creams there - good, but again, for us, not the best.
