Week 3 Florence Dreaming and a Linocut

That week certainly flew by like lightening. I had a friend, Margo Bimler come and stay for a week or so at the little apartment I have rented, and as she had never been to Florence we also visited some of the bigger museums like the Uffizi ( my goodness what treasure , too much to take in really) and the Bargello Museum. One of the exhibits I had earmarked as must see for me ,the Museum of Santa Maria de Fiore is shut for restoration so alas I could not see the ecclesiastical embroideries I had so hoped to see- designed by Antonio Pollaiolo and dating from the early renaissance. I did write to the Museum but it is shut until the end of October and they are taking the opportunity to restore the embroideries at the same time.

Colombina is coming along- I have nearly finished all the stitching just as I am about to leave and she did hang out with some  iconic Florentine paintings and sculptures.

The beautiful portrait by Bronzino of Eleanora de Toledo and her infant son- there was a heater shelf just underneath the painting and no one paid Colombina any regard. The image below was of a statue at the Bargello Musuem,  I have no idea who the sculptor was as I did not record the information as it was too high up to see, but she did have a tambourine, and Colombina being of a theatrical bent  decided to make her acquaintance.







We also visited the charming city of Siena ( my middle daughter is named after this lovely city) and we spent a good while at the Pinocoteca which has an incredible number of  Madonnas form the Siena school  dating from the late 14 th century onwards. Some of these are gorgeous, but the gold leaf is so intense and reflective it was hard to get good photos especially with the glaring lighting reflecting on the gold leaf. The Duomo is spectacular with  white green and pink marble on the outside and banded white and black marble inside. The floor  which is inlaid marble is simply stunning, it was also packed with visitors whilst the Pinocoteca had but few visitors, making the visit most enjoyable.

The detail  on the Incoronazione della Madonna by Bartolo di Fredi (1353-1410) is just gorgeous and a lot of the detail work on the gold leaf was created with a punch of sorts. You can see tha punches used better on the following image which is a detail of a painting by Niccolo di Segna (1331-1345) entitled I Santi Benedetto e Michele Arcangelo

ThisMadonna by Matteo di Giovanni (1433-1495) had a sweet face and the baby was sort of passable as a baby- but I particularly liked the angels- they were quite beautiful.

The Santa Maria chapel dome and details of the marble floor ( the taking of Jerusalem) and Siena sky-line.

And I am trying to produce a little work, though after walking around all day and Florence certainly is a walking city, sometimes the energy is a bit lacking! We did revisit the Palazzo Davanzati because I love the frescoes in this museum and I loved the trees in the frescoes- it has inspired me to make a design for a linocut. course the linocut is much more graphic than the fresco, but I liked the shape of the tree.

Also it is possible to order  my Musing in Textile: France book directly from me, Just email me and I shall send you details of  cost and postage. In Australia they will be posted by my daughter and in Europe ( for the US/Europe) they will be posted  from Europe where the postage is much cheaper than Australia.I have had such lovely responses from people regarding the book and also the instructional dvd. I can also be paid via Paypal and again email me for details.