Domenico Ghirlandaio in Florence

Frescoes and paintings by Domenico Ghirlandaio can be seen all over Florence, sometimes assisted by his brother Davide and. later, his son Ridolfo and there are paintings by Ridolfo in the Accademie. Where does one hand stop and another take over? I don't know, but all the great masters had studios and assistants and apprentices to fill in the backgrounds and suchlike. The real joy of Ghirlandaio's works is his skill with faces and his compositions of scenes and settings for his paintings. He's not necessarily a big 'name' but he ought to be - Michelangelo was a pupil for a while and he was a contemporary of Botticelli and Verrocchio (Leonardo's master).

My first stop on my recent visit to Florence was San Marco to visit the wonder that is Fra Angelico. Although the museum and convent is mainly dedicated to the works of Fra Angelico there are other painters represented in the building, including a marvellous 'Last Supper' in the former refectory of the convent which is now the gift shop (and one of the best gift shops in Florence). It's a delicate and finely detailed fresco and similar in design to the fresco in Ognissanti mentioned below.

After visiting San Marco I headed over to see Santa Maria Novella with its crucifix by Giotto, the trinity crucifixion fresco by Masaccio and a lovely little nativity scene by Botticelli above the large, main door (one of my favourite nativity scenes). It also has one of the most complete and beautiful fresco cycles by Ghirlandaio in the chapel behind the high altar.

On the left (as you look at the altar) are scenes from the life of the Virgin and on the right are scenes from the life of St John the Baptist. There are four levels of story-telling on each side so there's a lot to see and interpret. These are very popular with tour groups so make sure you've got time to wait for them to vanish before another appears so you can look at the frescoes in peace.

There are more frecoes and a gorgeous altarpiece painting in the church of Santa Trinita. This is a lovely small church and here you need to feed the light machine some coins to see the frescoes properly. I never mind doing this since it gives the church a small income from tourists and art-lovers and the church is, after all, looking after these wonderful works of art.

The altarpiece is a lovely nativity scene showing the 'Adoration of the Shepherds'. I'd love to get closer to this painting to see the detail but the altar is roped off. You can see one of the shepherds pointing downwards towards the Christ child but he's actually pointing towards the garland on the manger - Ghirlandaio's family name is 'garland-maker' after his dad's job - effectively saying, 'I made this painting'. Is that really what he looked like?

There are, of course, lots of other great paintings by masters in all the churches I'm mentioning but this is about Ghirlandaio rather than the art to be found in the churches.  

A few minutes walk further along the Arno is the church of Ognissanti where there are other frescoes by Ghirlandaio. One of my favourites was a small fresco in the nave of the church, quite high up on the right wall that shows the Madonna of Mercy protecting the Vespucci family who are sheltering beneath her cloak. It's a bit damaged but it's quite a gentle painting, with the family clustered around the Virgin praying to her. I like the two little angels holding her cloak open.

The grandest painting at Ognissanti is a large 'Last Supper' by Ghirlandaio which is in the former rectory in the quiet cloister beside the church. It's a most impressive sight. Sadly, something about the lighting has turned my photos yellowish which you don't see when you actually view the fresco. 

The fresco is painted on the end wall to look like it's an extension of the room with the table set on a small stage to raise it up. It's full of colour and vibrant detail and is similar in construction to the San Marco 'Last Supper' (above).

As ever, look at the detail in the fresco, the fruit trees in the background, the birds flying in the sky, the peacock that's come inside and sits in the side window. It's full of symbolism, of course, with hints at the garden of Eden being on the other side of the wall with the apostles being so close to heaven in the shape of the Christ who sits in the middle. The garden isn't just on the other side of the wall for the apostles but also for the monks who commissioned the painting since they were eating in this same room as well.

Further along the table we see two apostles having a chat but look at the detail on the tablecloth, at the fringes, look at what's on the table, the half empty glass bottle and the random grapes and fruit. The skill needed to accurately portray glass in fresco is really quite astonishing but, look closely, and it works. The yellowing in the photo doesn't show you what it's actually like, the colours and sharp details bringing the whole scene to life.

The room is set up with a few rows of chairs in front of the fresco for visitors to sit and contemplate the beauty and meaning of the painting. It's also roped off so you can't get too close. That's a good thing.

Neither  Ognissanti or Santa Trinita  have a shop as such but they do have some postcards which are left near the objects they show with either donation boxes or little baskets for money. That's very trusting and I approve. The cards are good quality too, so, if you go, please pay generously.

So there you have it, some of the paintings by Domenico Ghirlandaio I saw in Florence. There are others, of course, including a grand Virgin and Child in the Uffizi and other frescos in the churches I mention but haven't included here. I'll also mention Ghirlandaio's proper name of Domenico Bigordi but he'll always be known as Ghirlandaio, the garland-makers' son. 

Fra Angelico 12/12

This year I've been posting a photo of a painting by Fra Angelico that I've actually seen on the 18th of the month to celebrate his feast day of 18 February. This month, in the run up to Christmas, it's right to post a nativity scene from San Marco in Florence.

In this scene we see Mary and Joseph praying to their son while St Peter Martyr and St Catherine also pray to their lord. I like the angels on the roof (they get everywhere) and the donkey and the ox in the stable. Despite all the characters in the painting it's actually quite sparse, with a bare ground for the babe to lie on and bare walls to the stable. There's also no real reason for the saints to be there.

I've enjoyed sharing my year of Fra Angelico paintings and I'm looking forward to seeing more 'new' paintings by the good brother next year at the exhibition in Boston. 

Fra Angelico 7/12

I'm posting a photo of a painting I've seen by Fra Angelico each month on the 18th of the month to celebrate his feast day as a Beato. This month I've chosen a small painting from San Marco in Florence in, I think, the refectory. We see a Dominican monk (Saint Peter Martyr, one of the first Dominican saints) with his finger to his lips and a bible in his other hand. You can almost hear the sound of him saying 'ssshhhhh' as he encourages the friars to be quiet and study their bibles.

It's a lovely little painting, high up on the wall and in plain sight to everyone. Get any group of people together and the noise level rises and Dominican friars were no different. It's quite a fun way for Fra Angelico to get his message across.

Fra Angelico 2/12

On the 18th of each month in 2017 I will post a photo of a painting by Fra Angelico to celebrate his Feast Day on 18 February. Today is his Feast Day so I'm posting possibly his most famous painting, the fresco of the Annunciation at the convent of San Marco in Florence.

This is a photo that I took myself on my last visit to San Marco a couple of years ago, standing in front of the fresco so the view isn't quite right. It's a fresco which means it is painted directly onto the wall and the paint dries into the plaster to become part of the wall. When you go upstairs to visit the monks' private areas, the dormitory and the library, this is the first thing you see at the top of the stairs through the open doors, a large painting of the Mother of God and the angel Gabriel.

It's protected by a big sheet of perspex to make sure tourists can't touch it but it is still a glory to see, the first of many glories in the dormitory. Fra Angelico painted a scene from the New Testament of the Bible in each of the monks' small cells and it is a privilege to be able to wander round and look at each of them.

From the square in front of San Marco you can get a bus up into the hills around Florence and, just before you reach the small town of Fiesole, you pass the church and monastery of San Domenico in which Fra Angelio joined the Dominican Brotherhood and where he lived as a young man. It still has one of his altarpieces and, on the wall beside it, is a small plaque announcing that Pope John Paul II beatified Brother Giovanni in 1982.

As a Blessed, he has a Feast Day and Il Beato Angelico's Feast Day is today, 18 February.

Fra Angelico at San Marco and San Domenico, Florence

I first went to the former monastery of San Marco in Florence ten years ago and I still remember it well, that first baptism in Fra Angelico, Il Beato, first known as Giovanni of Fiesole. The monastery is now a museum and gallery celebrating the works of Fra Angelico next to the church of San Marco, just ten minutes walk from the Medici Palace and slightly further away, Il Duomo in the heart of the city. It's an inconspicuous place that looks, from the outside, like many other churches in Florence, no fuss or fanfare, no big signs or anything to suggest the wonders that are inside. But this is Fra Angelico central, for the sheer number of paintings all in one place. The sun shines on San Marco and the sky is blue.

You go in through a door to the side of the grand entrance to the church, buy a ticket and walk into the cloister with faded frescoes on the walls. First stop is the gallery of paintings  largely by Fra Angelico, some grand altarpieces with vibrant compositions and colours. You can now take photos without flash so people cluster to take their snaps. The first surprise was that the first altarpiece wasn't there, instead it was replaced with a sign that said it was being restored following weather damage in 2014. A couple of other works by the Fra were out on loan to exhibitions but the amazing Madonna and Child altarpiece and the Deposition altarpiece were still on show along with many others.

In another room further around the cloister is a huge fresco of the Crucifixion with an extended cast by the Fra. It's in the Chapter Room and it takes up the whole of the wall facing the door and is a big wow experience. To the left side of the painting we see the people we're told were at the Crucifixion while on the right are latter day and contemporary saints and monks mourning their Lord as if to say we were there too, if only in spirit. It's quite affecting to see this huge painting that you can't escape, the poignancy of Christ in the middle of the two thieves all suffering the same fate.

In contrast, on the right wall of the Chapter Room, is a small fresco of a saint holding his finger before his lips for silence and I couldn't help but smile at this sign. Even back then people had to be reminded to be respectfully quiet and the Fra found a lovely way of putting out that message.

There are other rooms around the cloister with other, later paintings but they're not by the Fra so are of lesser interest to me.

Another door off the cloister leads into a corridor and you turn right and start up a wide staircase, heading away from the 'public' areas of the monastery and up to the more private area for the monks. Up that first flight of stairs, turn right again and up another set of stairs and there, right in front of you on the landing is the Annunciation, probably the Fra's most famous fresco. It really is quite astonishing to be faced with this painting as you ascend the stairs, out of nowhere there's the glory of the Angel and the Virgin foretelling the birth of the Christ. It's much larger than you might think and is both a surprise and a welcome. I can only wonder how it was received by visitors 500 years ago who had probably never seen anything like it in its humanity and vibrant colours.

On closer inspection you can that the Angel's wings glitter and sparkle - was this a trick of the paint or is it the base rock of the wall shining through the paint? I've no idea but the wings sparkle and attract attention. Along the bottom of the painting, on the marble of the loggia the Virgin sits in, is writing in medieval Latin - is this the Fra's writing or was it added later?

Moving further into the upstairs area is the most private part of the monastery, the monks' cells. All are small and unfurnished but all include a small devotional painting by Fra Angelico on the wall beside the small window. There are various scenes from the Bible and the life of Christ, with many crucifixion scenes and scenes of him rising from the tomb. Most of the crucifixion scenes include one or more saints from monastic orders, the predecessors of the monks sleeping in these cells. All of the scenes are dominated by Fra Angelico's personal interpretation and vision of what is happening before him, created by his brushes and paints.  What must it have been like to wake up in the morning and the first thing you see is one of these paintings? Right there in front of you every morning and every moment you're in that room is a scene of your Lord. Can you image being assigned one of these small cells at random and waking up after your first night in the monastery to see a depiction of your risen Lord in all his glory shining from the wall in front of you? What does that do to the soul?

The scenes cover the whole life of Christ and there's even one of him leading the souls of the dead into Heaven. Here's a selection of some of what you can see, all painted in the same space in the cells on the wall beside the small window:

At the end of the corridor is the cell that houses some of the furniture used by Savonarola, a rebel friar of visions who established a republic in Florence for a short time. He was later hanged and then burned in Piazza Signoria with two other friars. This is a suite by comparison with the other cells, with three interlinked rooms. At the end of the corridor the other way is a cell for the Medicis' that includes an altar room up a few steps from the floor. There's also a large light and airy library for the monks which was also the workshop where they - including Fra Angelico - produced their illuminated manuscripts.

San Marco is a marvellous place and has a quiet, peaceful feeling to it - or at least it has each time I've visited. I can't imagine the mad scramble of tour groups in these spaces but it probably happens. It's not in the heart of Florence and there's nothing major to visit beyond San Marco so you need to want to visit to be in that part of the city. 

In the square in front of San Marco are the bus stops of some of the main bus routes north of Florence and it's the terminus for the Number 7 bus. That bus route goes up into the hills outside Florence to Fiesole, Fra Angelico's home town. The route also drives right past the church and monastery of San Domenico in which Giovanni first became a monk. The church is still open and holds regular services and it is still a Dominican monastery for the monks in their white robes. These days they use mobile phones as I know since there was a group of them coming from a coach they'd been on to attend the beatification of one of their former monks at a church in Florence.

It's a quiet little church with a lovely altarpiece by Fra Angelico in a small chapel not far from the door. It's just one of many paintings not signposted or singled out in any way other than having a switch on the wall to switch on the lights for three minutes so you can see the painting.  

The predella to this altarpiece is now in the National Gallery in London and I've seen it often, made of five small and very intricate paintings with Christ as king of heaven in the centre, surrounded by his biblical ancestors and prophets as well as saints of the Christian era.

On the wall to the left of the altarpiece is a plaque that commemorates the beatification of Fra Angelico in 1982 by Pope John Paul II.

Fra Angelico was born near Fiesole in 1395 and died in Rome in 1455. He was buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. That his works are still vibrant and still treasured says a lot about him and his vision. His epitaph is reported to read:

********************

When singing my praises, don't liken my talents to those of Apelles.

Say, rather, that, in the name of Christ, I gave all I had to the poor.

The deeds that count on Earth are not the ones that count in Heaven.

I, Giovanni, am the flower of Tuscany.

********************

Birthday Prosecco in Firenze

Four years ago we decided to head for Florence for my birthday treat and we chose the Hotel degli Orafi beside the green Arno and the Ponte Vecchio as the place to rest our weary heads after days full of exploring and art. On checking in we found out we'd been upgraded to a suite in one of the towers (like many hotels, it is a converted palace) but I didn't know why - I assumed it was simply that it wasn't terribly busy at that point in the down season.

The next morning was my birthday so we headed down to the breakfast room to fill up against the rigours of the day and what a wonderful breakfast room it was - it wins hands down for its painted ceiling and chandeliers, views over the Arno to the Ponte Vecchio (about 20 yards away) and the amazing array of foodstuffs waiting to be sampled.  Then out into the chilly Firenze morning, with strangely empty streets but with the ice cream shops still open (what a sensible city). Fifteen minutes later and we were outside San Marco, the motherlode for Fra Angelico works since he painted each of the monks cells with different frescoes to help their meditations and help them focus on their god and heaven.

Then it was time for lunch and a sit down and we wandered down a side street beside the Medici Palace to a lovely little restaurant that was full of workers having their (long) lunches with lovely food and bottles of Moretti beer. I was honoured to join them and scoff some lovely food with a couple of glasses of Moretti.

After a long lunch it was time to slowly meander back to the hotel via il Duomo (obv) and exploring more side streets to see what was there. Ten minutes after we got back to the suite there was a knock on the door and a waiter was waiting with a heavy silver-plated tray with a bottle of prosecco, lemon cake and a small bowl of salted peanuts. Eh? Sorry, I haven't ordered anything I say, but in he walks and puts the tray on the kitchen table before bowing and leaving.  I look at the shiny offerings on the silver tray, with delicate flute glasses and thinking that 'cake looks nice', when I notice a little envelope with my name written on the front. I open it and there was a little card that said 'happy birthday and we hope you enjoy your stay'.

I've stayed in loads of hotels around the world on my birthday but never have I had this kind of service or attention to detail. That explains the room upgrade and now the gift of prosecco and cake. What a lovely touch and such great attention to detail. That's what you want from a hotel and here is a hotel that proves that it really does happen. I hope I wasn't too gushing in my thanks at reception when we left to go to dinner that evening.

This does, of course, mean that I have a preferred hotel for my next trips to Florence. It's such a lovely and convenient hotel that it would be a favourite anyway. A mere 20 yards to the Ponte Vecchio one way and 20 yards to the Ufizzi gallery the other way, 15 minutes walk to San Marco and 20 minutes to Santa Croce and the glory of Giotto - what more could you want? And on the banks of the green Arno too.

My mother visited Florence in about 1950. I have one photo of her there, smiling and proud beside the statue of the wild boar fountain outside the covered market.  Dip your fingers in the water of the small fountain and you will return to Florence. I sought out that fountain on my first trip to Florence. His snout has gone all shiny with people rubbing it for luck. My mother didn't return but I did. And I will again and I fully intend staying in the Hotel degli Orafi.