Febbraio 2024

asari writes in 1550 about Leonardo: «And among these models and drawings there was one, with which several times ingenious citizens who then governed Fiorenza, showed wanting to raise the temple of San Giovanni di Fiorenza, and submit the stairs there without rearing it; And with so strong reasons it persuaded him, who seemed possible, although each, then that he had started, knew for himself the impossibility of a cotant company “. In reality, Leonardo’s project already had precedents: a few years earlier, in 1455, the Bolognese engineer and architect Aristotile Fioravanti (c. 1415-1486) with rollers, beams and Martinetti, had successfully moved a tower in Bologna . The latter had among other things worked for Leonardo’s friends or clients, such as the Bentivoglio, King Mattia Corvino of Hungary and Cosimo de ’Medici (between 1458 and 1467 in Florence). Leonardo’s project provided to raise the baptistery on four steps, as can be seen in a design attributed to Francesco Granacci (which is preserved in the cabinet drawings and prints of the Uffizi)

The massive structure, constructed in 1895 as part of an architect Vincenzo Micheli project, is referred to as the picturesque fifth of the square; its history dates back to 1883, when the Jewish ghetto and ancient market were demolished. The architecture of the palace goes beyond its function as a civilian residential building in the bourgeois sense. It becomes a monumental urban sign that imposes itself for the large arcone that he enters through Strozzi. The facades of the side buildings are developed to understand the two orders that each develop for six additional axes, the last of which are in the argument. Following that, each of these lateral bodies grows thoroughly in its own isolation, on two internal brief that go to the route Brunelleschi, and on one of an elongated shape towards via Pellicceria.

September 1683, many meaning nothing …. but in that month or between 11 and 12 September a battle took place to say the least epic between the Polish-Austro-German army commanded by the Polish King Giovanni III Sobieski against the ‘Army of the Ottoman Empire commanded by the Grand Visir Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha. It may seem what nothing of nothing, but in reality thanks to this battle the inexorable push of the Ottoman expansion in Europe stops. But what does all this have to do with the city of Florence?

Reunited at Palazzo Pitti, the mythical figure who was Bartolo’s arm for much of his life, is the picture of the dwarf Morgante, the most well-known of the five buffoons who resided at the court of Cosimo I de ‘Medici. “Thereupon, he depicted Bronzino to the Duke Cosimo, Morgante Nano, Ignudo, and the entire scene in two different ways, i.e., the front and the back of the painting, with that extravagant display of hideous appendages that has that dwarf: what painting in that genre is lovely and amazing” (Vasari, Bronzino’s life). Given that he was not permitted to hunt for larger game, the painting, which is painted on both sides, shows the dwarf as a “bird,” or bird hunter. In the two moments of action that follow, the character is seen from the front and the rear, respectively. Before going hunting, the character is shown holding an owl that is being used as bait to draw an acorn that is flying through the air. The genitalia are coated in two podaliric butterflies that were just found during the repair. proudly reveals the prey while turning to face the observer from behind. Painting a piece from several views on Bronzino, at the time of the litigation about the “comparison” (i.e., the argument over which art form is superior, painting vs. sculpture), provided the facts in response to those who argued that statuary was superior since it provided a greater variety of viewpoints. The picture is now on display at the Palatina Gallery’s Apollo room.