They must go beyond food, because food is eaten and gone. Thank you K for telling me I need to take photos of my food. Usually it’s in the oven and J comes home from work and Z needs to go out.
That must be the reason everyone needs to take a photo of it before it is dug into by family and friends and the platter looks like a pack of wolves got into it.
Mind you, that is what the cooks enjoy. A wholehearted feast.
I found a book the other day called The Art of the Renaissance by Peter and Linda Murray, Thames and Hudson, pub.
In it were pages I assigned myself to write nearly 20 years ago, on Annunciations. I’d written about Botticelli, Veneziano, Donatello, Ghiberti, Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Lippi, del Sarto, Ghirlandiao and others.
I can tell you now that I was always inspired by the first European work I ever saw, Michelangelo’s Pieta at the World’s Fair in 1964. I saw it later outside the Sistine Chapel while it was under construction (yes, I have never seen the Chapel).
This is the greatest work of art I will always remember in my heart and soul. Next, though, is Donatello’s Annunciation, which I visit every time I am in Florence. This is where I do my penance.
It is in Santa Croce, where many great people are buried and remembered. It also held Cimabue’s cross that was caught in the 1966 flood and now is at the Uffizi. Try to get online for tix so you don’t have to stand in line there. Also, never try to drive a car there unless you are completely nuts.
The Fra Filippo Lippi Annunciation is also worth seeing at San Marco but there are many more so let’s get back on topic.
It is limestone and terra cotta with gilding, commissioned by the Cavalcanti family. Mary is recoiling gently in fear but instantly turns toward the angel with one hand on her heart and another near her stomach indicating acceptance of God’s will.
It is a porta clausa, closed doors indicating Ezekiel’s version his prophecy of her virginity. There is no hardware on the closed doors. This is a raised or relief portrait and it is perfectly executed. I wrote of its similarities to Piero della Francesco’s porta clausa in Arezzo.
Her feet are moving away from the angel, yet her hand is on her heart and the other over her womb and she is looking as if she trusts the angel and is accepting her fate.
I go to Sta. Croce every time I am in Florence, and revel in Donatello’s wooden Jesus on the crucifix as well. Those who know, know that there are other rooms to ponder, right off the main altar. If you’re lucky, the leather shop will be open.
Please donate for your visit and be quiet always, especially during Mass. Careful while you see the memorials, or at least the Fifth Level of Hell awaits.
Thank you for reading. Art IS for the masses, all of us not born to privilege and I am you but I paid to go to college. One of my favorite works, a self-portrait of Artemesia Gentileschi, was on exhibit at the Queen’s Gallery in London several years ago and I joined a cadre of women admiring it and Ms. G’s flamboyance and grit that let her do so during the Renaissance. History and art. Language, writing, reading, ‘rithmatic and you’ll get the hang of it, kids! Parents? Get a museum membership and take your kids.
Cheers, Dee
Cooking with Dee 