David, DaVinci, Music & More

For over 500 years people have been admiring Michelangelo’s magnificent David, one of art-history’s greatest masterpieces. The sheer size of it (5 meters plus or over 16 feet tall) overwhelms as well as its beauty. It is hard to believe that he did this at just 25 years old and out of one piece of marble. It takes your breath away and is humbling.

There are actually many versions of David in Florence, since it is the symbol for the city, but none so thrilling as THE David. I was so happy that Mozart got to see it in person as there is nothing quite like that experience. We were really pleased that there were not many people there when we visited, which gave us
the time and space to really take it in. I hear that the lines can stretch around the block in summer, so we bought tickets ahead of time, but did not really need to, as there were no lines and few people in late October.

It was our main reason for going to Florence’s Galleria d’Accademia, as it is for most people, but we did also do a perusal of the other artistic delights. Michelangelo had many unfinished pieces and the hall leading to David is lined with these which are very interesting in their own right, particularly the “Slaves”. It gives one more insight into how Michelangelo worked.

We also really enjoyed the musical exhibition, formerly belonging to the Medici family, with beautiful instruments used liked a Stradivari viola and violin. They have computers available so that one can actually hear the instruments and music that was played during that time and provides more history in an interesting way. Since we have a little musician, that was fun for us.

We then had great fun at the Leonardo DaVinci Museum which we had just stumbled upon while walking to see David. This was a hands on kind of place with many of his inventions and Mozart loved playing with them. It was enjoyable for all of us and the inventions are really mind boggling when you think of the time period. What a great day with two archetypical Renaissance men and their abundant creativity!

Here is a fun scramble puzzle of David for the kids reading the blog:

http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/michelangelo-scr.htm

Here are free e-books if you would like to know more about Michelangelo & DaVinci:

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11242

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7785

This is a great site if you would like to learn more about Leonardo Da Vinci:
http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/