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Last Sunday on yet another escape from my work here in northern Italy I finally got to visit Venice and the Isle of Murano and on a 10 hour long walking tour of almost all of the city and the nearby island famous for its glass works I covered far more of the place than most one day tourists would and was still left with plenty to see.
I have a ruck of photos to sort through and to be honest they are not the best I've taken. The day was incredibly sunny with no clouds and the high contrasts caused by a perfectly clear wintry sky gave me some headaches when trying to capture shots of the dark narrow nooks and corners of the city which interested me the most. Whilst I sort these photos out the following shots taken of some restored religious craftwork will hopefully give a taste of the magnificent things I saw during the day.
These panels of Christ and the four apostles were on display at the famous Accademia gallery to show how restoration of original artworks is carried out and the results obtained. The display room included the original ceiling from which the panels were removed for restoration. Each panel of the apostles is about 30 " diam. The Jesus panel is about 33" height. In order to display the panels well the small darkish room was lit with diffuse spotlights on each of the pieces so all I needed to do was point and shoot to get these shots and just give them a slight colour saturation tweak afterwards.
The first two shots show the sumptuous gilded relief work of the ceiling and the wooden boarded backing which supported the panels.
What impressed me most about these pieces, particularly the apostles, was the really deep relief work in the carvings and of course the superb attention to detail and the fantastic colours.
This display was on show right at the end of the gallery tour and after spending an hour roaming through rooms full of paintings by most of the great Italian Renaissance masters and feeling a little numb at seeing so many magnificent pieces of art, some of awe inspiring size, these panels struck me as being so fresh and different, more akin to the type of carving and scrolling masterpieces we see on this forum, that they really were the highlight of my Accademia tour.
Whether you are turned on by religious art or not there can be no doubt that these works are craftsmanship at its very best.
Enjoy!
I have a ruck of photos to sort through and to be honest they are not the best I've taken. The day was incredibly sunny with no clouds and the high contrasts caused by a perfectly clear wintry sky gave me some headaches when trying to capture shots of the dark narrow nooks and corners of the city which interested me the most. Whilst I sort these photos out the following shots taken of some restored religious craftwork will hopefully give a taste of the magnificent things I saw during the day.
These panels of Christ and the four apostles were on display at the famous Accademia gallery to show how restoration of original artworks is carried out and the results obtained. The display room included the original ceiling from which the panels were removed for restoration. Each panel of the apostles is about 30 " diam. The Jesus panel is about 33" height. In order to display the panels well the small darkish room was lit with diffuse spotlights on each of the pieces so all I needed to do was point and shoot to get these shots and just give them a slight colour saturation tweak afterwards.
The first two shots show the sumptuous gilded relief work of the ceiling and the wooden boarded backing which supported the panels.
What impressed me most about these pieces, particularly the apostles, was the really deep relief work in the carvings and of course the superb attention to detail and the fantastic colours.
This display was on show right at the end of the gallery tour and after spending an hour roaming through rooms full of paintings by most of the great Italian Renaissance masters and feeling a little numb at seeing so many magnificent pieces of art, some of awe inspiring size, these panels struck me as being so fresh and different, more akin to the type of carving and scrolling masterpieces we see on this forum, that they really were the highlight of my Accademia tour.
Whether you are turned on by religious art or not there can be no doubt that these works are craftsmanship at its very best.
Enjoy!
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