A Few Things I Learned In One Day in Florence

 The famous cathedral was a work in progress for hundreds of years, having first been built in a gothic style in the 12th century. Three hundred years later (aboutish) it was torn down and rebuilt in a more modern renaissance style. Pieces of the original cathedral were found and saved by local preservationists. The craftmanship of the little preserved chunks is astounding.

The rebuild is no slouch, either. The technical aspects of a building this large and complex is mind bending even today. Then you have the artistry of all the famous renaissance masters of the day, putting the icing on the cake. Biggie up these images up and see what I mean about the details. It is beyond imagination.

I particularly like this little cherub doing a big job.

Leonardo da Vinci, who was active as a painter, engineer, scientist, sculptor, artist and architect was highly regarded at the time even though he had quite a few big failures. He tried to reroute the Arno River before Caterpillar was a company. He failed, causing widespread flooding and quite a few deaths. He really really wanted to fly, so he devised a bird outfit and threw himself off a cliff. Someone with a good sense of humor thought it would be funny to carve an image of him for the cathedral as part of a panel of 12 desirable personality traits under the virtue “Temperance”.

Leo's big idea: let's divert this river with hand shovels and rocks and make Pisa thirsty!

Temperance: moderation in thought, action and feeling.Not.

While others were imagining and creating huge structures and fantastic representational art, Galileo had his heart set on defining light, seeing the teensiest of things, predicting the weather, determining where he was in space, understanding the physics of motion and standardizing how to conduct experiments. In short, he was understood as a heretic and spent the last of his life under house arrest. Poor guy.

The instruments he designed and used were remarkable but I was struck by their beauty. The etching and fine machining on each little tool was a sight to behold. Everything was behind glass so you will just have to imagine it. Each tool had it's own cherry or rosewood dovetailed box made especially to house it. Made my palms sweaty.

Journal Envy

Look at this inlaid and keyed lens cover for a newtonian telescope. What Pop would have given to have a keyed lens cap!

More time is needed in this busy little city.