DA VINČI / DA VINCI
JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES by Artemisia Gentilleschi (Uffizi Galleries)
While you’re still at the Uffizi, find this female version of the iconic story of Ju- dith decapitating Holofernes. At a time when female painters were a rarity, Ar- temsia transcended her “proper place” to become the first woman to be ac- cepted into Florence’s Accademia di Ar- ti del Designo. The painting is dark and violent, perhaps harking back to the painter’s history as a rape survivor. She was a rare woman who filed a law suit against her attacker, although she was the one chased out of town in scandal. Artemisa had the final word though: her art lives on through the ages. JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES by Donatello (Palazzo Vecchio) When you leave the Uffizi, seek out this alternate version of the same Judith and Holofernes story, this time by Donatello, showing Ju- dith — a symbol of liberty and free- dom — beheading the enemy gener- al Holofernes to save her people. It was originally commissioned in the 1450s by Cosimo de’Medici, but the local citizens re-appropriated Ju- dith for their own purposes after the Medici family was expelled from Florence in the 1490s. This statue stood for over a decade in the Piaz- za Vecchio as a symbol of the city’s liberation from Medici rule. And there it might have remained if not for the creation of another sculp- ture that would eventually replace it: A little marble statue by the name of David….
VEROKIO / VERROCCHIO
PERSEUS By Cellini (Loggia dei Lanzi)
drea del Vercocchio, in the 1470s, when Leonardo was still working at his mas- ter’s studio. Rumour even has it that the face of this handsome young Da- vid is the face of Leonardo himself — at the age of around 20. DAVID by Michelangelo (Accademia Gallery) Michelangelo carved this free-stand- ing, colossal nude statue out of a sin- gle block of marble in less than three years. Over five metres in height, it de- picts David glaring at his enemy Goli- ath just before battle. Once guarding the city hall (and now protected from the elements inside the Accademia), the statue has stood as a symbol of the power and faith of Florentines for over 500 years.
When this statue was erected in the Pi- azza Vecchio, Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes and Michelangelo’s David already adorned the same square. Cel- lini had a lot to live up to — and he didn’t disappoint. The most famous goldsmith and sculptor of his day, Cel- lini struggled to cast this bronze, but it was immediately hailed a masterpiece. The statue depicts the mythological he- ro of Perseus holding up the severed head of Medusa.
DAVID by Verrocchio (Bargello Museum)
This bronze masterpiece (David, mo- ments after slaying Goliath) was sculpt- ed by Leonardo da Vinci’s teacher, An-
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