siena post5

The uffitzi gallery in florence was to me a art history lesson at its grandest level, a meuseum which hosted hundreds of renessaunce works from painters and sculpters alike. Its layout was uner freindly with each room dedicated to only a couple of artists. although i feel the layout was done in a very old fashion way. that of trying to get as much into a space as possible without making the viewer feel as they are doing so. something that i feel in very in common with italy and our trip thus far in gereral. which brings me to wonder why our exhibition back in eugene is all about clean lines, minimalsit work. here and everything we have experienced here seems to be crammed together unorganized and basically the way that italians seem to go about their daily lives. or for that matter the ones living in siena.


the birth of venus.

The Birth of Venus
Sandro Botticelli


Botticellis painting the birth of venus is oil on canvas aproxx 8' by10' and hangs half way through the uffitzi, its a formitable work of art due to its size and graduer. a famous painting indeed it was being swarmed by tourists just wanting to be close to it. thus i couldnt stand back and take the peice in more than i could by enlarging it on a large computer screen that way i didnt have peoples heads to peer over. yet besides the problems of overcrowed meusems it was a joy to be in its presence. going back to my origonial theme about the majority of work i have viewed on this trip i wonder again about the works the artist would have produced if it were up to him at the time of his life?

the painting itself is somewhat easy to desypher, a naked venus is covering her privates with long red hair. to her right a motherly figure is casting a drape over her to cover her as a new born would be covered in present day. she stands on a large clam shell. to her left a man is a winged man carrying a woman lightly shalled. the painting is classic with no signs of brush strokes, a formal composition of characters and since it was a comissioned painting litle is know about his interpretation.