Lynn Schirmer

I’m staying in a very special part of Florence. If I walk half a block to the east I run into Santa Croce church which houses Michelangelo’s tomb. If I walk half a block west I run into Casa Buonarroti which apparently never housed Michelangelo, but his relations’ descendants and now is home to a museum in his and his family’s honor.

I visited Casa Buonarroti the other day and had the pleasure of seeing another example of Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting, one of the few females who managed a career in the 17th century. The Casa was decorated by a number of artists and holds the family’s collection including a number of early works by Michelangelo. One is this sculpture of a torso. Most of the museums here do not allow photography, and since I have not done much drawing at all on my trip, I took a few moments to sketch.

Next I headed down the block for Santa Croce.

I love this forlorn figure, she holds a paintbrush in her other hand. The church allowed photography, just no use of a flash. So thanks to anti-shake I got some shots even in the low light. Santa Croce was covered with scaffolding too, including behind its main altarpiece, but many other alterpieces and artifacts were in view. Santa’s Croce’s Museo dell’Opera is housed in the refrectory and it contains a number of important works.

I went into a cafe to rest after Santa Croce and got out my sketchbook again.

I figured I might as well continue with my Michelangelo theme and headed for the Academia to see his David. As promised:

The small gallery was packed with student and tourist groups. I sat behind the massive sculpture and scribbled as fast I could between mobs. David does work best when viewed form below and I believe to the left.