Published Notes of Monestary Architecture (by Sarah)

Sant ANTIMO and San GALGANO (#31)

See my recently published notes comparing the Romanesque Architecture of Sant Antimo with the Gothic Architecture of San Galgano.

 
 

The Duccio Exhibit (by Sarah)

SIENA (#38)

Today, we went to the current big show in Siena – Duccio’s works. We met my dad’s past professor, Professor Cornice, at the exhibit. He offered to take us along with a specific group of his friends. We stood in line for a while and went through security and we were finally ready to start learning.

Of course, as we followed Professor Cornice through the exhibit, he explained everything in Italian. Alex and I followed along for a bit and then we had no idea what was going on. We were left to read the text on the walls (that was in both English and Italian) while the group was lead by Cornice. It really was not that bad reading the English, Alex and I talked about everything we saw and discussed a little about the paintings and put together what we both knew. I’m sure it wasn’t nearly as intellectual as Cornice’s explanation, but it was a start.

Crucifixion from the Maesta' di Duccio

My dad was listening very closely and picked up most of the main points. We were able to go home, eat lunch, and then come back to the exhibit, and use our same tickets to get in. This time, we had my dad explain everything to us, and got a lot out of it.

During this time period, artists were mostly painting religious scenes. We saw how the crucifixion scene really developed over time. (I wrote about these earlier paintings in my stories on the Crucifix museum in Pisa and also the church of Santa Maria dei Servi). Duccio was one of the many artists who painted the feelings, for example the hopelessness and sadness of the people watching him be crucified. We also saw many paintings of the saints.

San Francesco was one of the popular figures. The story behind him was that he was very rich, and decided to give away all of his belongings to the less fortunate. He wanted to have his own religious group separate from the church. He went to the pope and asked if he could have his own group, but each time, the pope turned him down. Then, one night, the pope had a dream about San Francesco. The church was crumbling, and San Francesco was beneath it, holding it up.  The next day, when San Francesco came to ask if he could have his own followers, the pope said yes. Now, for an explanation of the actual painting. The way that San Francesco was painted was of him in sort of rags, symbolizing him having nothing. It was actually painted very elegantly, which is ironic because elegance and wealth was everything that San Francesco was against. So, the catch was that through time, San Francesco became part of the church. He was incorporated by artists as “just another saint”.

The Servi (by Sarah)

SIENA (#24)

Today, we went on our first historical adventure! We started with a church called Santa Maria dei Servi. It is one of the older churches in Siena, dating to around 1261. The church was close to Porta Roma, which is like halfway across town, but it still only took us 20 minutes or so to get there walking from our house. The church was empty: no one else was there most likely because most tourists were drawn to the more popular attractions such as the Duomo, the Piazza del Campo or the Duccio exhibition which we'll visit and write about later.

At Servi we had a little lesson taught by my dad. He explained about how Servi was designed from the Roman’s idea about a church, but it was sort of flipped around so that the door was at a different wall and the altar was at a different place. In the Servi, there were 3 naves, and the cross part is called the transept.

But the highlight of the church was a painting of Mary and baby Jesus by Coppo di Marcovaldo. There had obviously been thousands of the same painting done, but this painting was different in one very big way. It was the first painting to be signed by the artist. I was able to apply this to what I had learned in school about the Renaissance. Secularism, individualism, and humanism were the three main aspects that characterized the Renaissance. In my eyes, this particular painting related directly to individualism; or the celebration of the individual. Coppo signed his work, and therefore wanted to be recognized as an individual. He started a whole trend, and he was looked upon as people nowadays look at rock stars.

Now, back to history, Coppo di Marcovaldo was a Florentine. Florence and Siena have always been rivals. There was a very bloody battle called Monteperti between the rival cities where Coppo was on the battlefield. The Sienese recognized him immediately because of his fame and captured him. His term of release was to paint his famous painting of Mary and Jesus. This was the painting at Servi that we saw.

Really interesting stuff.

Road Trip to Lucca and Pisa (by Sarah)

LUCCA (#32)

This weekend, we went my dad’s friend Marco Gherardi’s house in Lucca (not to be confused with Lupa – a contrada (area) in Siena). His family was very welcoming and hospitable, and I really enjoyed our visit. Read more, per favore!

Marco and Jane

Sophie and Mickey

To begin with, they had the cutest little beagle that was so friendly so of course we got all nostalgic about Annie and how much we miss her. We met Marco’s wife, Jane, and their kids, Sophie (9) and Mickey (3). They all speak English and Italian, except for Mickey, who is in the process of learning both.

Sophie is extremely smart and really impressed me. I was supposed to sleep in her room, which had a huge poster of Orlando Bloom as Legolas from Lord of the Rings. We had a long discussion about Lord of the Rings and books and what school is like for her. The one thing I will never forget about her was when she was talking about her school friends at the dinner table. She told us about how her ex best friend used to cut up dead birds and try to tie up her dog to a post and throw stuff at it! It was just so unexpected and surprising. I was caught completely off my guard and thought it was the funniest thing ever. Every time I think about how she said it I laugh.

When we were in Lucca, we had a day trip on Sunday to Pisa. We saw the Duomo there, and of course the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We couldn’t get as close to the altar as we wanted to because of a special mass going on. We took a few pictures and talked about the cathedral and walked around.