Uffizi Gallery

The Uffizi Gallery was amazing.

Before I bury the lead, the Uffizi houses the original Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. Never thought I'd get to see that in person.

The gallery was laid out as a journey through the Renaissance. One of the first exhibits showed the same 3 basic altar pieces of madonna and child (see the image with 3 frames). All 3 painted within a few decades around 1300.

The leftmost was painted in the Medieval style. Pay attention to the angels, they have no depth and are stacked on top of each other. Even Mary is a bit flat.

The middle is an improvement in Byzantine style. Depth has been added, but the stacked nature of the angels still shows a rigidity in staying with expected art practices of the time.

The last and rightmost one is a Renaissance painting by Giotto. It shows a cluster of angles in different poses. The freedom to add depth as freeform images and exploration of human figures is what made the Renaissance what it is.

The Uffizi Gallery showed paintings by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raffaele, and of course, Botticelli.Read more