Blackwarren Travelogue Part Four
Welcome back to Blackwarren Editor Renard’s European travelogue! Today, Ren visits Florence, the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance.
Day 6
There really is no other city quite like Florence. The Signoria, the governing body of Florence's republic, chose well when they picked David as the symbol of their city. With great empires hungrily grasping at the spoils of the Americas or fighting across Europe over ancient grudges, a mere city-state commanded the respect of so many giants of the age.
Tan is over the moon to return here. He studied in Florence when he was in college, and gushed as he showed us his favorite haunts. In his defense, for a second home, you could do a lot worse than Florence. The city, under the guiding hand of the Medici family and its formidable bank, jump-started the cultural and artistic revolution that overtook Italy during the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries, and to this day Florence is awash in gorgeous works of art, all adorned with gold, vivid paints, and marble.
Frankly, it's almost infuriating. How can one city boast so many titans of the arts? The great medieval poets Dante Alighieri and Boccaccio both called the city home, though Florence did banish Dante over political squabbles. Every great artist of the Renaissance made their mark here, such as Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo— and even some who weren't named after Mutant Turtles, such as Botticelli.
This city of wonders still shined even under a dark and overcast day. We toured the interior of the Santa Croce, a jaw-droppingly gorgeous basilica that had the unfortunate luck to be literally a stone's throw away from Il Duomo, literally one of the most spectacular churches in the world. We also toured the Medici palazzo and their chapel, where the fabulous marble tombs of every great Florentine were cast in more beautiful art.
Frankly, my words can hardly do Florence justice. This magnificent testament to human achievement must be seen to be believed, and the impact this otherwise insignificant city, languishing in the Tuscan countryside, has had on world history is hard to overstate. Its golden age may not have been long, but it was most certainly glorious.
Day 7
Guess what? I'm not done gushing about Florence. Today, the sun finally returned to us, and oh, what a magnificent sight it was. The Santa Croce and Il Duomo's stunning marble facades shimmered in golden Tuscan sunlight, but we barely had time for them as today, we toured the Uffizi Gallery.
Despite not having the same clout or sheer size as the British Museum or the Louvre, the Uffizi Gallery is truly one of the great museums of the world, and with none of the lingering guilt of colonialism. The Uffizi Gallery's collection comes mainly from the Medici's private collection, which were mostly commissioned or bought through legitimate channels, or from local Italian artists and ancient Roman relics.
In these halls you'll find Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, two of the most famous Renaissance paintings in history. You'll also find countless priceless Roman relics, and rooms dedicated to any Italian painter you'd care to mention— including one I'd like to spotlight. While the likes of Botticelli, Michelangelo, or Leonardo Da Vinci were indeed remarkable geniuses, they don't need my help getting their spot in the sun. So, I'll end today's update with a look at a lesser known artist with a story worth telling: Artemisia Gentileschi, who also had her own room in the Gallery.
Artemisia does not belong to the Renaissance, but its more yassified sequel, the Baroque period. A noticeably rare woman painter, she was the daughter of a prominent painter of the age who trained her, already a lot of progressive points for 17th century Italy, and produced her first professional work at age 15. However, her story is marred by tragedy when, still very young, she was sexually assaulted by one of her father's apprentices. This apprentice, a coward on top of other qualities found in human scum, then fled every attempt made by Artemisia and her father to make him face justice. From here, Artemisia poured her frustration and rage at her violation into her work, creating stunning paintings, usually centered around heroic female subjects, such as the biblical story of Judith slaying Holofernes.
She turned one of the most horrifying injustices she suffered into a locus for her work, and while she never did see this apprentice face justice, Artemisia is rightfully remembered as a master of her craft, while he wallows as a nasty footnote in her story.
We’re not done yet! Come back next week for more of Ren’s travels through Europe!