#bargello museums

[thatshowthingstarted]

Secret room, Medici Chapels, Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence

In 1530, Michelangelo went into hiding after receiving a death sentence from Pope Clement VII. The iconic Renaissance artist had been caught in the political strife of his patrons, the Medici family, who had just returned to Florence after being overthrown by a populist revolt in 1527.

During their exile, Michelangelo worked with the short-lived republican government to help secure the city’s defense walls and so became an enemy of his powerful supporters.

It is believed he spent two months stowed away in a tiny vault stretching just 32 feet long and 6.5 feet wide, with 8-foot ceilings at their highest points and a single window to the street, before the pope rescinded the sentence.

The claustrophobic room also became a canvas for the artist, who’s thought to have sketched dozens of drawings on the walls. Using carbonized wood and red chalk, the artist rendered several figurative works, including the head of the ancient Laocoön sculpture and iterations of his own masterpieces, including his Leda and the Swan painting and iterations of his David statue.

The drawings were hidden until 1975 when the then-director of the Medici Chapels, Paolo Dal Poggetto, was trying to find a new space for the museum exit. A trapdoor under a cabinet led to the room, which was filthy from housing slack coal for two decades. When the walls were finally stripped of two layers of plaster, the museum discovered the artworks.

All images courtesy of the Bargello Museums, Florence

[tragediambulante]

Bacchus, Jacopo Sansovino (Jacopo Tatti), 1515

[hornyforpoetry]

...How am I supposed to manage my infallible beliefs? / While I'm sockin' it to ya / Performing in Spanish on Italian TV...

...Sometime in the future / Whilst wonderin' if your mother still ever thinks of me / Hallelujah...

...Blank canvasses / Lent against gallery walls / Flowing towards sculptures of anything goes / On the marble stairs...

Sculptures from Bargello Museum // Florence, Italy ”Sculptures Of Anything Goes” - Arctic Monkeys

[tarantula-hawk-wasp]

cannot stop thinking about the shape of this lion statue i saw in Florence, Italy. absolutely rotund

[wandering-jana]

Dating to the mid 13th century, the Bargello housed the podesta, the highest magistrate of the Florence city council. In 1574, the Medici got rid of that position and put the police chief here. The building was used as a prison. The interior yard was even used to execute people until 1786, although the police didn't move out until 1859. Now it's a fantastic museum.

Explore Florence:

[claudiaciardiautrice]

The fossil shell – reworking of the detail of a mother-of-pearl vase at the Bargello Museum (German art 16th-17th century, inventory no. 1321).

[bishopsbox]

source: bishopsbox

Andrea della Robbia (1435- c.1525), Bust of a child (c. 1475), glazed terracotta. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

Andrea della Robbia (1435-c. 1525), Busto de niño (c. 1475), terracota esmaltada. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florencia.

[thoughtportal]

Learn about the four masterpieces from the Bargello National Museum in Florence hosted by the DIA.

[michelangelob]

Bargello: acquistati due rari tappeti mamelucchi egiziani cinquecenteschi

Il Museo Nazionale del Bargello ha aggiunto alle sue preziose collezioni due preziosi tappeti egiziani, detti mamelucchi, risalenti alla prima metà del Cinquecento, comprati dallo Stato nel 2022 per arricchire la collezione museale. Vengono chiamati mamelucchi i tappeti realizzati in Egitto che furono tessuti nell’ultimo periodo del Sultanato omonimo che regnò su Egitto, Siria e Palestina dal…

[tuulikki]

This is delightful. I love all the examples!

My favourites:

Long gown with Ayrshire work (detail), maker unknown, 1820 – 30, Scotland. Museum no. CIRC.410-1924. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Chinese silk embroidered panel (detail), maker unknown, 18th century, China. Museum no. T.171-1948. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Handkerchief with cutwork (detail), maker unknown, 1600, Italy. Museum no. 288-1906. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

[creart23-blog]

Bacchus Roman sculpt. 2nd century AD, marble - Galleria Borghese - Rome, Italy.

Dionysus, after a Hellenistic model, 2nd century AD, marble, ex-coll. Cardinal Richelieu, Louvre, Paris, France

Bacchus with Pan, 1496/97 Michelangelo, 1475/1564, Museo del Bargello, Florence, Italy.

Dionysus, Roman, Hadrianic period, 117-138 AD, after a type attributed to Praxiteles, c. 350 BC, marble - Galleria Borghese - Rome, Italy

Dionysus. Bronze. 117—138 CE. Roman National Museum, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme.Rome.

Note the thyrsus held in the hand. Main attribute of Dionysus, then Bacchus, it is a symbol of prosperity, fertility and hedonism. This scepter, decorated with ivy, vine, sometimes tied with a tænia (ribbon) and topped with a pine cone, an artichoke or a pomegranate.

Which one do you think is the most desirable ? For me it is this bronze, of which the anonymous author was able to give a haughty appearance...

[tragediambulante]

Bacchus, Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1497

[hornyforpoetry]

... Sing on! sing on! and Bacchus will be here Astride upon his gorgeous Indian throne, And over whimpering tigers shake the spear ...

... With yellow ivy crowned and gummy cone, While at his side the wanton Bassarid Will throw the lion by the mane and catch the mountain kid! ...

”Bacchus” // Michelangelo // Bargello Museum // Florence, Italy ”The Burden of Itys” // Oscar Wilde

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Alpheus and Arethusa Ornamental relief for a fountain The Bargello museum in Florence, Italy

[therepublicofletters]

Hi! I’m going to Florence this September, do you have any suggestions for places to check out? Bonus points if they’re historic or educational :)

Absolutely! There's so much to do in Florence that even having spent months upon months there I haven't seen it all.

For museums: the Uffizi is of course splendid (though a hassle to visit); the Accademia is good, but be sure to look at the paintings instead of just the David. If you're interested in sculpture, the Bargello is a must; for painting, the Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti. In addition, there are plenty of smaller museums: Palazzo Medici-Riccardi for the Benozzo Gozzoli frescoes, Palazzo Davanzati for a 14th-century palace, San Marco for Fra Angelico. Then there are all the churches... Santa Trinita is one of my favourites for the Ghirlandaio frescoes. I can go on and on!

For food: my favourite restaurants are Osteria Belguardo and Industria (excellent pizza). For a sandwich, avoid All'antico vinaio and go to I due fratelli. The best gelato is Gelateria dei Neri.

I could continue but I hope that's enough to get you started!

[blueiskewl]

‘Secret Room’ Decorated by Michelangelo to Open to the Public in Italy

He’s known for his colossal works, such as the statue of David, the floor-to-ceiling frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, and the dome of St. Peter’s which dominates the Rome skyline.

But it’s Michelangelo Buonarroti’s less bombastic work that’s on display to the public for the first time in the artist’s “secret room” in Florence.

The tiny space sits beneath the Medici Chapels in Florence, where Michelangelo sculpted intricate tombs for members of the Medici family behind the church of San Lorenzo in the Sagrestia Nuova, or New Sacristry.

In 1975, during works to create a new exit for the venue, a restorer carrying out cleaning experiments uncovered multiple drawings of human figures under two layers of plaster in a corridor underneath the sacristy which had been used to store coal.

The narrow space is 33 feet long, 10 wide and eight feet high.

The figures – sketched in charcoal and sanguine (rust-colored chalk or crayon), often one on top of the other, and of different sizes – were attributed to Michelangelo by Paolo Dal Poggetto, the former director of the Medici Chapels.

It is believed that the artist hid in the claustrophobic space for several weeks in 1530 when pope Clement VII – a member of the Medici family, who had recently returned to power in Florence, having been kicked out by a republican government for whom Michelangelo had worked – ordered his death. The death sentence was rescinded after two months, and Michelangelo returned to work in Florence, before moving to Rome four years later.

It’s believed the drawings are sketches for future works, including the legs of one of the statues in the New Sacristy.

“This place grants today’s visitors the unique experience of being able to come into direct contact not only with the creative process of the maestro, but also with the perception of the formation of his myth as a divine artist,” said Francesca de Luca, curator of the Museum of the Medici Chapels, in a statement. Paola D’Agostino, director of the Bargello Museums, which the chapels are part of, said the restoration has been “time-consuming, constant and painstaking work.”

The space has never been open regularly to the public before, but will open for visits on November 15 to highly limited numbers in order to preserve the drawings. A maximum of 100 people will be able to visit per week, in groups of four, and 15-minute visits will take place every day except Tuesdays and Sundays.

By Julia Buckley.