Ink & Watercolor

Dropping off some eye candy to let you readers know I'm still alive. It's like when kidnappers send hostage letters to remind everyone that the captives are still there. Except this isn't written in cut-out magazine letters. Oh, well.

Ink & watercolor: Santa Croce, Firenze

I kissed David goodbye...

So, it may have been a month since I've posted on here, but like I said in my previous post: I am not dead! Though I'm back in the States and fully immersed in my studies, I assure you devoted blog-ees that I will still update my blog with my (past) Italian adventures.

One memory I've been meaning to share is pretty phenomenal. Even if you're not an art aficionado, just the mere mention of Michaelangelo usually rings some bells. And no, not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

During my first week a Firenze, my art restoration teacher (he-who-must-not-be-named-lest-he-get-in-trouble-for-this-post) let us in on a special surprise--we were getting an inside tour of the Medici Chapels. Now, I was a completely ignorant, poor soul; I had no idea why the Medici Chapels were so spectacular. But when we had to arrive before the Chapels' official opening time and have the Museum Director clandestinely let us in whilst de-activating every alarm known to man, I realized this was no small thing...

The official entrance of Le Cappelle Medici

We then entered the Prince's chapel, an enormous octagonal room filled with marble, gold, and as with all Renaissance art, frescoes.

La capella dei principi: the Princes' Chapels completed in 1642. Marble walls supporting a fresco (of course).

I could've stayed in this room forever to take illegal photos. But my teacher urged us to continue because he had much more in store for us...

So, after much cajoling, he led us into La Sacrestia Nuova, a room containing the tombs of some of the Medici Dukes. The two most famous tombs belong to Lorenzo and Giulano, Dukes to their own respective dominions.

Tomb of Lorenzo Duke of Urbino (Il Pensieroso) accompanied by Dawn. Executed by Michaelangelo 1520-1534.

Tomb of Giuliano, Duke of Nemours accompanied by Night (left) and Day (right). Michaelangelo used a special type of marble to chisel Night; note how luminescent she is and the difference in color.

Then, if getting illegal photos of those wasn't cool enough, my teacher hurried us to this tiny, tiny room to the right of tombs. We knew something was strange when we realized that the door to this room was barricaded and the Director punched more numbers in to de-activate an alarm. It honestly looked like a closet. But then, LO--There was a trap-door in the floor!

...And it led to...

...A secret room!

This room was discovered in the early '60's by a small group of renegade art restorers. It's a tiny room (it barely fit all of us) and was originally closed down only a few years after its discovery. Since Michaelangelo and the Lorenzo family were not on good terms (who was with Michaelangelo's temper??), he had this secret room built and often retreated to draw and sketch, fresco style.

In this tiny room, he would lay down wet plaster and have his assistant hold up a candle as he drew on the wet plaster with charcoal. Note the burn marks on the wall...

As the plaster dried, the charcoal was absorbed, thereby departing permanence to a very insubstantial medium (similar to the fresco painting technique).

Thus, it lasted decades of flooding and weather changes. But what's really cool is that this is where he began drafting the Medici tombs sculptures.

Do those legs look familiar? Scroll up to the tomb sculptures and compare!

This was all happening before he left Florence for Rome when the Pope became his patron. Eventually, of course, he went on to paint the famous Sistine Chapel (1521-1524). But it was here in this dark, small room that he first drafted David. Yes, the David, the massive marble symbol of Florentine freedom! It was here that he imagined David's fierce, stoic warrior pose upon slaying Goliath; it was also here that he imagined David's dichotomous nature, as both warrior and gentle creature: for the first time, David's face was portrayed with a solemn, contemplative look.

...With those lips, I couldn't resist!

I'm a sucker for thinkers.

It is also hotly debated that he first drafted the Sistine Chapel paintings here...you can be the judge:

v. Sistine Chapel

All in all, it was an incredible experience. To uncover Michaelangelo's thought-process and painstaking labor of love was undeniably inspirational. Comparing the initial drafts with the final product was breath-taking; it reminds me, even now as I write this, that given the dedication, energy, and perseverance even the smallest of charcoal smudges can become something colossal, monumental, and unforgettable.

Ciao ciao for now!