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Today I devoted entirely to the Pitti Palace.
Good idea.
The Pitti Palace is, if anything, even more exhausting than the Uffizi. It was the base for the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, then Napoleon after he conquered Italy, then yet more Grand Dukes, then briefly the King and Queen of the united Italy. It is crammed to the gills with ornamentation, art ranging from the superb to the mediocre, and several 'state rooms' that are furnished in the very worst of Victorian tastelessness.
However, they do have something that wasn't exhausting or overblown: the costume collection. This includes much beautiful 18th and 19th century costume, and the crown jewels: the funerary garments of Cosimo I, his wife Eleanora of Toledo, and their son Garzia.
Garzia's doublet, trunk hose, flat cap, codpiece, and cloak were in excellent condition. He didn't get to wear them all that long (the cloak arrived just before he died of malaria, poor thing), but he wore them hard; there's a noticeable patch on the left elbow of his doublet from him being a typical 15 year old.
Cosimo's doublet was in good shape, but about all that was left of his codpiece was the internal support structure, which looked *very* weird. There was also a tie of some sort that *seemed* to be intended to go between his legs and tie to his doublet in back. I'm probably wrong, because it looked very uncomfortable. :) They also had the shredded remains of the mantle he wore as Grand Master of the Order of St. Stephen, including a long red cord with elaborate tassels and an appliqued red Maltese cross on white silk.
Eleanora's dress was all but gone. From what I could tell it was *not* the famous black, white, and gold dress she wore in the Bronzino portrait; there's braid on the bodice that simply isn't in the portrait, and there was no sign of cut velvet. The shreds had been carefully attached to plain muslin and laid flat, and I have to say that the most intact part of the garment was the stiff silver braid at the hem and on the bodice. The bodice laced at the back sides, not in back, with a flat braid of some sort.
Her bodies, or corset, was in decent shape, OTOH. It was of red velvet and hooked in the front. She was in such poor health at her death that it didn't fit when she was buried in it, so the morticians simply overlapped the fronts.
The stockings...![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
xrian, I did my best. But I swear I could not see *any* sign of a turned heel. The stockings were knitted in long rows with no apparent reductions until just at the foot, when suddenly they sort of did this branching thing into three areas. There were no seams under the sole of the foot, and the display said that the stockings were finished up the back.
I was not allowed to take pictures, nor would any have come out anyway since the room is kept very, very dim for conservation reasons.....
I also took some pictures yesterday and today, so here they are:
Santa Maria Novella.
David giving Hercules a dirty look outside the Palazzo Vecchio.
The site of Savonarola's execution.
The ugliest sculpture group in town.
Street crime!
Feminism, Florentine style.
The future of transportation.
Kitty!
Another kitty!
The Guilding Spirit of the Pitti Palace.
Good idea.
The Pitti Palace is, if anything, even more exhausting than the Uffizi. It was the base for the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, then Napoleon after he conquered Italy, then yet more Grand Dukes, then briefly the King and Queen of the united Italy. It is crammed to the gills with ornamentation, art ranging from the superb to the mediocre, and several 'state rooms' that are furnished in the very worst of Victorian tastelessness.
However, they do have something that wasn't exhausting or overblown: the costume collection. This includes much beautiful 18th and 19th century costume, and the crown jewels: the funerary garments of Cosimo I, his wife Eleanora of Toledo, and their son Garzia.
Garzia's doublet, trunk hose, flat cap, codpiece, and cloak were in excellent condition. He didn't get to wear them all that long (the cloak arrived just before he died of malaria, poor thing), but he wore them hard; there's a noticeable patch on the left elbow of his doublet from him being a typical 15 year old.
Cosimo's doublet was in good shape, but about all that was left of his codpiece was the internal support structure, which looked *very* weird. There was also a tie of some sort that *seemed* to be intended to go between his legs and tie to his doublet in back. I'm probably wrong, because it looked very uncomfortable. :) They also had the shredded remains of the mantle he wore as Grand Master of the Order of St. Stephen, including a long red cord with elaborate tassels and an appliqued red Maltese cross on white silk.
Eleanora's dress was all but gone. From what I could tell it was *not* the famous black, white, and gold dress she wore in the Bronzino portrait; there's braid on the bodice that simply isn't in the portrait, and there was no sign of cut velvet. The shreds had been carefully attached to plain muslin and laid flat, and I have to say that the most intact part of the garment was the stiff silver braid at the hem and on the bodice. The bodice laced at the back sides, not in back, with a flat braid of some sort.
Her bodies, or corset, was in decent shape, OTOH. It was of red velvet and hooked in the front. She was in such poor health at her death that it didn't fit when she was buried in it, so the morticians simply overlapped the fronts.
The stockings...
xrian, I did my best. But I swear I could not see *any* sign of a turned heel. The stockings were knitted in long rows with no apparent reductions until just at the foot, when suddenly they sort of did this branching thing into three areas. There were no seams under the sole of the foot, and the display said that the stockings were finished up the back.I was not allowed to take pictures, nor would any have come out anyway since the room is kept very, very dim for conservation reasons.....
I also took some pictures yesterday and today, so here they are:
Santa Maria Novella.David giving Hercules a dirty look outside the Palazzo Vecchio.The site of Savonarola's execution.The ugliest sculpture group in town.Street crime!Feminism, Florentine style.The future of transportation.Kitty!Another kitty!The Guilding Spirit of the Pitti Palace.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 06:04 pm (UTC)From:Because that strikes me as highly unlikely. And some of the pictures do show a heel, but it's mostly gone, alas.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 07:04 pm (UTC)From:Like I said, I wasn't allowed to take pictures....:(
no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 01:36 am (UTC)From:I have a feeling that the friend who keeps saying she'll get me a copy of the photo she took was probably taking her photos clandestinely :)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 08:39 am (UTC)From:The heel flap sounds as reasonable as any other, because I swear I didn't see any visible seams....
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 06:14 pm (UTC)From:Il gatto di Palazzo Pitti
Date: 2008-01-17 07:08 pm (UTC)From:He was very friendly, very plushy, and tried to crawl into my bag. I assume he lives in the Boboli Gardens and is fed by either tourists or the palazzo staff; he was completely tame, on the plump side, and clearly had a place to sleep and lots of attention. He was also very, very much at home.
Adorable creature, and I wish I'd brought a kitty treat or some catnip for him....
Re: Il gatto di Palazzo Pitti
Date: 2008-01-17 08:00 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 11:55 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 08:36 am (UTC)From:BTW - those little Smart cars? Are *everywhere*. Ditto small hybrids, subcompacts, the occasional electric (which are smaller than the Smarts, and I wish I'd had video when a tall man tried to fold himself into one), motorscooters, and bicycles. I think I've seen *three* SUVS or vans that were not delivery vans this week. Part of it is that Florence is a very walkable city, part that they have extensive bus service, and partly it's that the streets are simply too narrow for large American-style cars. My Civic is on the large size. They also have a lot of Zip car spaces.
This is why the air is breathable (I haven't had any sinus attacks this week). They're also decent about recycling, from what I here, although supposedly the place where they're most serious is up in Milan and the industrial areas.
As for the garbage 'strike'in Naples: it's not really a strike. They've run out of room in the landfills and are trying to force recycling on the citizens. Being Neapolitans, they've responded by flipping the bird to the civic authorities. Florentines are much more civilized from what I've seen, even if Il Gatto di Palazzo Pitti did attempt to become my fourth cat by crawling into my bag....
no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 06:07 pm (UTC)From:As for the Neapolitans, I think it's actually too bad that Milan is helping out temporarily (did I get the right city?) by taking some of the trash. They need to face the hard facts of being responsible for their own trash. But of course, the mafia is also involved, so who knows what they will do?
Glad Florence is so clean! I think they're very interested in having their treasures last as long as possible, not get eaten away by the air as was happening to the Parthenon in Greece.
Have a safe trip home!
no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 02:49 am (UTC)From:I remember those teeny cars! I described them as "a car so small, it fits into its own glove compartment."
no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 08:36 am (UTC)From:And then there are the Vespas....
no subject
Date: 2008-01-19 02:45 am (UTC)From: