Day 11, 12, 13, 14- Catching up!

Ah Firenze!

Back in Florence, and the crowds have already begun to build! I've been here for four days now, but the internet at the house is very limited, so I haven't been posting of late. Time to catch up a bit tonight, since my hosts Lynne and Erling are out seeing some music. 

View from the breakfast table. Upstairs you see even more of the roof line.

It has been interesting to see how once it gets warm (and it is getting warmer- 70's at mid day) the hordes of tourists arrive from all over. Spring break teens are the most obvious- not only Americans, but loads of Italian kids in packs, coolly touring by day, boisterously wandering by night. The streets around here are almost as loud as Campo de' Fiori was in Rome. Fortunately, we're a little higher up here, but I'm still using my earplugs. 

This is a shot of Lynne waving from the window of the dining room, taken from the top of the Duomo. That's how close it is. 

Staying with Lynne and Erling has been great. The house is absolutely jaw dropping and very central- right between the Duomo and Santa Croce with a view of the Duomo and Campanile that is literally unreal looking. It looks surreally large as I look at it right now out the window of the room they are using as an office.

Inside the Duomo things are not so rosy! Especially if you've been naughty!

Been doing my usual series of photographs this time around, but a little less manic than the first time, since i hit a lot of the big places last time and don't feel quite as compelled to get every bit of info. I did get a double dose of the Palazzo Vecchio yesterday and the day before, including a pretty exhaustive shoot going room by room taking lots of closeups, which are the most challenging to shoot and are the most rewarding for us painters to look at, especially as they are rarely included in what little printed matter there is on the subject of grottesca and ornamental painting. 

Inspecting the secret passageway that runs through the attic of the Room of the 500, designed by Giorgio Vasari., part of the hidden tour at teh Palazzo Vecchio

Chronologically, here in Florence I've seen the Duomo (up close and personal from the climb to the cupola, which goes via a catwalk that rings the inside of the dome,) the Bargello Museum, which not only has excellent sculptures, it also includes some really good examples of Majolica ceramics with very nice grottesca decorations, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, the Palazzo Vecchio (twice- once on the hidden tour of some of the lesser known nooks and crannies, and again to take more photos and climb to the top of the tower, where there is also a tapestry restoration lab), an excellent show of Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino at the Palazzo Strozzi, Santa Felicita to see a bit more Pontormo, and finally today revisited the Brancacci Chapel. Plus loads more bits of sgraffito on the exteriors of buildings around town. 

This guard at the Brancacci Chapel would wake up every few minutes to tell the crowd to be quiet. Disturbing her sleep no doubt.

Had a great visit with Alison Grace Woolley, a Canadian painter who has lived here for quite a while and does beautiful grottesca work. She's working on a harpsichord box for a French maker, and it should be exquisite. Also met up with a French painter who lives in Pordenone (near Trieste) and just wanted to talk shop with Lynne and me. Had a nice lunch with him near Santo Spirito and afterwards drooled on handmade shoes at a shop next door to the restaurant. When I get to be a big art star I'm going to order a pair of these dreamy looking brogans- they start at $2,000 and up! But they look so great, and I'm sure they fit like a glove. Or a shoe. 

want

Lynne's foot got sore, so Erling and I wandered around and stumbled into an interesting little exhibition about a Catholic priest nick-named "Don Cuba", who jumped on a motorcycle with a buddy and rode it all the way to Mt Kilimanjaro, where he gave a mass. They had the bike, and a little suitcase altar that he brought, and a ton of great photos and info in both Italian and English. 

Don Cuba's moto- made it most of the way down Africa overland with his buddy Steve.

Marianne is actually coming back here after going home for a week, and will be here for about 5 days. We fly for almost free (thanks to her aunt, who used to work for United airlines) but it still seems totally nuts to me. But she wanted to do it, so she'll be here tomorrow night. I'll wrap this up now so I can post it and hopefully put a couple of photos with it. ciao for now!