Firenze Loggia della Signoria

1
Firenze
Loggia della Signoria
2
The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia
della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the
Piazza della Signoria, adjoining the Uffizi
Gallery
3
(No Transcript)
4
It consists of wide arches open to the street,
three bays wide and one bay deep. The arches rest
on clustered pilasters with Corinthian capitals.
The wide arches appealed so much to the
Florentines, that Michelangelo even proposed that
they should be continued all around the Piazza
della Signoria
5
It was built between 1376 and 1382 in order to
have an open, but covered, space for public
ceremonies. It is a robust construction, at the
same time sober and harmoniously designed
6
It is known as the Loggia of the Lanzi, named
after the German guards, the famous
Lanzichenecchi, who were stationed here by the
Grand Duke Cosimo I
7
After the construction of the Uffizi, which was
built onto the rear of the Loggia, Bernardo
Buontalenti transformed the terrace into a sort
of hanging garden (1583) from which the princes
could watch ceremonies or performances in the
square.
8
The medallions on the facade of the Loggia
contain the allegorical figures of the Virtues by
Agnolo Gaddi (1383-86).
9
On the steps of the Loggia are the Medici lions
two Marzoccos, marble statues of lions, heraldic
symbols of Florence that on the right is from
Roman times and the one on the left was sculpted
by Flaminio Vacca in 1598. It was originally
placed in the Villa Medici in Rome, but found its
final place in the Loggia in 1789.
10
(No Transcript)
11
Today we can admire a series of classical and
Mannerist sculptures, as well as a 19th century
Rape of Polyxena (Pio Fedi, 1866), beneath the
elegant and early Renaissance style arches of the
Loggia.
12
(No Transcript)
13
The classical sculptures include a group of six
female figures, considerably touched up, and the
Menelaus holding up the body of Patroclus
(restored by Stefano Ricci).
The Mannerist groups of sculpture are
particularly important these include the
extremely beautiful Rape of the Sabines (1583,
the cast is in the Academy Gallery) and Hercules
fighting the centaur Nessus (1599), both of them
by Giambologna.
14
(No Transcript)
15
However, the Perseus with the head of the Medusa
is the finest work there, Benvenuto Cellini's
extraordinary masterpiece in bronze(1545-54),
recently restored.
16
The artist was given the commission to carry out
the Perseus, in 1545, immediately after his
return from Paris, by Cosimo I. Three years
later, however, after having seen a life side
model of the sculpture, the Duke tried to put
Cellini off completing it because he was
convinced that it would be impossible to cast it
with the head of the Medusa hanging from the
hands of Perseus.
17
Cellini was in fact careful to keep this fairly
close to the body and, after several attempts,
which can be read about in his memoires, he
managed to complete the epic cast by throwing all
his pots and pans into the furnace and feeding
the flames with his household furniture.
18
He carried out the four statuettes in the niches
of the pedestal (Jove, Mercury, Minerva and
Danae) and the bas-relief with Perseus freeing
Andromeda later, in 1552.
19
Nine years after being commissioned, in 1554, the
Perseus was exhibited under the Loggia and was
immediately acclaimed by the whole city.
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
(No Transcript)
24
(No Transcript)
25
(No Transcript)
26
(No Transcript)
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
(No Transcript)
33
(No Transcript)
34
(No Transcript)
35
(No Transcript)
36
(No Transcript)
37
(No Transcript)
38
(No Transcript)
39
Text Internet Pictures Daniela Iacob
Internet All copyrights belong to
their respective owners Presentation Sanda
Foisoreanu
2011
Sound Il silenzio - Nini Rosso
Pieta, Signore - A.Stradella - Olga Pyatigorskaya