Tracing the Renaissance

Today was the day for two of Italy's most famous museums: The Accademia Gallery and the Uffizi Gallery. We used Rick Steves audio tour to walk the streets of Florence and two museums to give us a "best of" tour without having to spend hours and hours at each location. Rick's audio tour was great in explaining the birth of the renaissance and took us through many historical art sites that defined the birth of Renaissance.


The City of Florence...I can so get lost here.

Bonte Vecchio is THE bridge to cross

The Accademia Gallery holds the magnificent David sculpture by Michelangelo. Photography was forbidden, but I used my iPhone to secretly take a snapshot...but I was caught and yelled at by one of the museum staff.


Not bad from an old iPhone

I can kind of call myself an artist, but I have never studied art history. I was very enlightened by Rick's explanation of artists in medieval times trying to paint realistic figures with 3D effect on a 2D surface. I have never understood why some old paintings had the figures' head tilt....it was because they were trying to make it look 3D. How interesting!! Eventually, the age of Renaissance sees some of the most realistic paintings ever.

Too bad these museums don't allow photography. Furthermore, they don't sell CD-Roms with jpeg files of the paintings/sculptures. I guess when I return to US, I should hunt down some good hardcover books featuring artworks from these museums.


Sunset by Bonte Vecchio