What’s Up at the Uffizi : Surrounded by wondrous art at Florence’s famous gallery, one might forget to consider rising above it all

A hurly-burly of cars and motor scooters zoomed along the narrow cobblestone streets and so did I, hurrying to meet an old friend at the Uffizi Gallery.

There never seems to be enough time to explore Florence. Here, where the spirit of the Medicis soars over dome and bell tower, over Ghiberti’s Gate of Paradise and Michelangelo’s magnificent marbles, over Giottos and Donatellos and Botticellis, there is so much to see and experience that it’s easy to work oneself into a frenzy.

La citta dei fiori (City of Flowers) is so rich in the spirit of the Renaissance that the question of digesting it all, I was about to learn, is a matter of time, a matter of slowing down. Even, in some cases, of leaning back.

The Galleria degli Uffizi was built by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 to house the administrative and political offices (uffizi) of the Medici, the powerful and wealthy Florentine family that rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. The gallery is the home of the most important art collection in Italy and one of the most stunning in the world. It is hard not to run wild here, there is so much to see. Where should a person go first? To Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus,” to Filippo Lippi’s “Madonna and Child with Angels,” to Da Vinci’s “Annunciation?” What about Michelangelo’s “Holy Family,” or that Raphael over there, or that Titian, or . . . ?

That was my state of mind when I met Hannes Keller in front of the gallery. We paid our entry fees and climbed the wide Vasari Staircase to the third floor, where 45 rooms of art are arranged along three corridors. Built in the shape of a big “U,” the two long prongs are the East and West corridors, connected by a short (South) corridor that looks over the Arno River. From the West Corridor there is an entrance to the long Corridoio Vasariano (Vasari Corridor) that traverses the top of the Ponte Vecchio bridge to the Pitti Palace on the other side of the river.

*

The Uffizi is one of the most heavily visited museums in the world, and the lines to get in are legendary. Hannes and I were there late on a summer afternoon, so even though it was busy, we didn’t get lost in a big crowd. The Uffizi stands next to another huge tourist attraction, the Palazzo Vecchio, whose tower dominates the skyline at the opening of the Uffizi’s “U.” Inside the gallery, I swivel-necked my way along the East Corridor, noting the marble sculptures of emperors; the paintings of kings, queens and cardinals; the tapestries from Flanders and Medici workshops. But my mind was set on the gallery rooms with all those famous paintings.

I thought Hannes was right beside me in this rush, but when I turned around I saw him sitting down on a bench. What was he doing? I went back to find out. Pointing to the ceiling, he said with a great laugh, “How about that?” Looking up, I saw a vivid painting of a satyr-like creature taking aim with bow and arrow straight at the bared derriere of a white-bearded man.

This intentionally raunchy stuff stopped me in my tracks. I sat next to Hannes on the bench and leaned back to look. The archer had foliated legs and hooves for feet. His target, draped over a simple decorative frame as if it were a solid table, wore a gay, pointed cap that looked like a houseplant.

Surrounding the two characters in this fresco (frescos are paintings where watercolors are applied directly to wet plaster) were elaborate ornamental borders, some of them drapery, some of them pillars containing knobby faces with feathers for ears. There were perching birds, and a kneeling woman who balanced herself on one foot on top of a painted column. Urns evolved out of clocks, and fruit trees sprouted from flowering trees.

Hannes had stumbled onto one of the marvels of the Uffizi Gallery--the story of the Renaissance as told in “grotesques.” I had been to the Uffizi before, but had never noticed these ceilings--maybe because they are 20 feet high, but more likely because I’d never slowed down to notice. The paintings are easy to see, if one only looks up.

Hannes and I went from bench to bench, leaning back, even lying down, to examine these frescoes. We spent almost an hour doing this, while everyone else in the gallery milled about in normal, upright fashion, oblivious to our fascination.

*

Divided by thick wood ceiling beams, each section of the East Corridor is devoted to one particular aspect of the Renaissance. In the “Scultura” (Sculpture) section, names like Della Robia, Donatello and Michelangelo are painted on the ceiling next to whimsical chisel-bearing figures; Filippo Lippi, Uccello, Verrochio and Fra Angelico are represented in the “Pintura” (Painting) theme. There is “Architettura,” “Poesia” (Poetry), “Musica,” “Filosofia” and “Matematica” to consider.

The ceilings were painted in 1580 by Florentine painter Alessandro Allori and his students. Allori, an imitator of Michelangelo (and whose famous “Pearl Fishers” hangs in the nearby Palazzo Vecchio), took his cue for the ceiling paintings from the “grotesque” style that was sweeping Europe at the time. This art form had just been rediscovered in the remains of an ancient grotto underneath the Golden House of Nero in Rome. It was a fanciful, decorative type of painting that had been used in the Roman Empire, and Nero (AD 37-68) was a big fan of it.

The grotteschi, as they came to be known (because they were found in a grotto), featured fantastic animals and men with harpy’s or lion’s feet entwined with vines and draped over or perched on piers, pilasters, ledges and cornices. Urns, amphorae and painted lamps hung inside and outside ornamental frames. The word grotteschi, which is the origin of our word “grotesque,” I now realize, does not imply an ugly aberration but something utterly fantastic--like the Italian Renaissance.

The grotesque East Corridor scenes depict an enormous range of endeavors, including political philosophy, financial success and Renaissance doctors dissecting cadavers to study anatomy. They show men debating, artists with easels and musicians playing instruments. Hannes and I examined figures representing “Politica” (Politics), “Legge” (Law), “Teologica” (Theology), “Medicina,” “Agricultura” and “Militaria.” Also “Ospitalita” (Hospitality), “Amore delle Letteratura” (Love of Literature) and “Amore di Patria” (Love of Country). There was even “Fortuna” (Fortune) to consider.

Hannes and I had gone to Florence to organize an orchestra/piano event in the United States. Hannes, besides being a talented pianist, is an art collector, computer genius, designer of all sorts of things, such as deep-sea diving systems, and even a ski suit for the Swiss Olympic ski team.

Hannes is a master of many arts and trades and, though the word is overused, I think of him as a Renaissance man. Therefore, the whole business of innovative thinking was very much on my mind while we lay on our backs studying the ceiling of the Uffizi’s East Corridor. You can’t help but be stunned by the intellectual innovations that took place during the Renaissance. It was a time when thousands of Hannes Kellers seemed to be running around all at once.

*

In the Middle Ages one’s personal life on Earth meant less than the afterlife. The focus was on God and what happened after death. However, in 1300, when the poet Dante was 35 and the painter/sculptor/architect Giotto was 33, the emphasis started to shift from theological oppression to the wonders of man’s inventions and intellect. By the time the first Medici, Cosimo the Elder (1389-1464), began to patronize artists, the stage was set for a major rebirth of the human spirit.

This rebirth (the meaning of “renaissance”) was a gigantic flowering of arts, literature and intellect, and it was also the beginnings of modern science. It began in the 15th century and lasted into the 17th. Man became regarded not only as a creation of God, but also as a creator too--and the idea developed that God may have created the world for man to enjoy and improve.

In the arts, the results were obvious: departing from religious themes, painters such as Botticelli celebrated the beauty of the human form and the rites of spring. Architecture received a big boost too. When the second Cosimo de’ Medici (1519-1574) commissioned Vasari to design the building that would house his administrative offices, the venerated architect-artist-critic came up with an innovation: iron reinforcements inside the Uffizi facades to stabilize the enormous structure, a feat that would not be repeated until the first American skyscrapers.

These reinforcements also made possible an almost continuous wall of glass on the upper floor, which allows a wonderful amount of light inside the building--perfect for showing off art.

By the time the Uffizi was completed in 1580 (after Vasari’s death, it was finished by Alfonso Parigi the Elder and Bernardo Buontalenti using Vasari’s designs), the fabulous art collection of the Medici family was already being stored within its walls.

When the entire art collection was bequeathed to the people of Florence by the last remaining Medici, Anna Maria Ludovica, who died in 1743, the Galleria degli Uffizi was officially launched.

On the day Hannes and I were in the Uffizi Gallery, we eventually reached the Botticellis and Raphaels of my dreams. But now when I think of the Uffizi, and of Florence, I think as much of the grotesque paintings and the revolution in art and thought they represent. To appreciate this wonder, all you have to do is get to the East Corridor, lean back and look up. There, on the ceiling, is the story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

GUIDEBOOK

Florentine Flourishes

Getting there: Alitalia and Air France offer connecting service involving a change of planes to Florence. Alitalia has the lowest advance-purchase, restricted fare at $1,066 plus tax.

The gallery: Galleria degli Uffizi, Piazzale degli Uffizi, 6, Florence; telephone 011-39-55-218-341. Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Closed Monday. Admission: approximately $8. The 45 rooms of art are on the third floor, accessible by both stairs and elevator. The Uffizi attracts 1.5 million visitors a year; long lines are inevitable, so it’s best to visit early or late in the day. Recently the Uffizi began accepting a limited number of reservations in order to reduce the hours-long waits to get inside; tel. 011-39-55-471-960 (telephone hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Florence time, which is nine hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, but the line is often busy), or fax 011-39-55-247-8232.

For more information: Florence Tourist Office, 16 Via Manzoni, Florence, Italy 50121; ; tel. 011-39-55-23320, fax 23-46286. Italian Government Travel Offices 12400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Los Angeles, CA 90025; tel. (310) 820-0098.