Elsien's Traveblogue

11.30 am Just come back from the Uffizi where I spent most of my time looking at the Caravaggio paintings. They are all together in a room on the first floor where there is nothing much else as there are building works going on around. I was blown away by the extreme violence and realistic terror in the paintings of 'The Sacrifice of Isaac', 'Medusa', but especially Judith hacking off the head of Holofernes. The head of the Medusa, although an extraordinary work of art, painted on a shield and looking straight at you, is also full of that same terror, someone in fear of her life, in the throes of death. I really can see the point that in Caravaggio's case his violence, violent lifestyle are definitely something to do with his art or even that it helps to explain his violent art if you know something about his violent life. Freud would have had a field day with this man. The only other painting in the room is his 'Bacchus' – a poor guy who just looks incredibly depressed, surrounded by beautiful fruit and glistening red wine in a carafe and in a glass, but he just looks totally miserable.
Guido Reni also did a 'David and Goliath' – I haven't seen the original Caravaggio, but I have seen reproductions: this painting is just as violent. Guido Reni's, on the other hand, is almost laid back; his David is a bored dandy and Goliath has the look of Marvin the depressed android in Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. You can almost hear him say something like "Ah well, it had to happen one day, didn't it?"
5.30pm Absolutely blown away by the Masaccio frescoes in Santa Maria del Carmine. The colours are just wonderful and the people and their emotions so contemporary. There was a group of people who could just have walked out of one of my training courses at the European Commission -mind you, I think they were done by Filippino Lippi who also did some of the ones I was impressed with in Santa Maria Novella. The Adam and Eve are definitely Masaccio though and they are incredibly moving. I have seen Eve's face in modern photographs, refugees from war-torn countries, realising they have lost everything – in Eve's expression is also the realisation that she brought this on herself – astonishing. I was the only one with one other to stay for the film, which explained the connection with the church and the Carmelite order – I had forgotten they were a pre-Christian order, established – so myth has it, on Mount Carmel after the prophet Elijah and left the Holy Land during the time of the Crusades, settled in Pisa and Florence around 1200. St Peter was their Saint of choice as he was the first and so were they.
Walked round to see the Palazzo Pitti – a monster of a building, not sure if I want to pay 10 € to go and see the inside. Went back to this side of the Arno, crossing the Ponte Vecchio, now in full swing and crowded with tourists – they seem to be on full strength around 3pm.