After visiting the Santa Maria del Carmine, we crossed the Ponte Vecchio and saw the many gold shops along the way. We stopped for lunch in the Piazza di San Lorenzo and nearly everyone enjoyed a Pizza and Gelato.
We had a short sketchbook session drawing anything we could see from the square and then crossed the road to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi. This international gothic palace in the heart of Florence was designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo for Cosimo de' Medici, the head of the Medici banking family and took 40 years to build between 1444 and 1484.
We walked around the palace and courtyards focusing on the Medici Chapel, painted with the 3 biblical kings from the nativity and featuring both the Medicis and the artist, Benozzo Gozzoli. We also went into the Galleria painted by Giordano. This has many Greek gods and mythological characters painted on the ceiling. We all sat down to sketch different elements of the ceiling and then headed back to the hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment