“Il Giudizio Universale” (The Last Judgment)
By Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari, 1568-79
Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Saint Mary of the Flower)
Piazza del Duomo
Florence, April 2014
“Poets and art historians have been disparaging Vasari and Zuccari's handiwork ever since the last lick of paint dried back in 1579. The frescoes have been described as amateurish hackwork and a distraction from Brunelleschi's magnificent dome, the architectural wonder that they adorn. The 16th-century poet and playwright Antonfrancesco Grazzini satirised the frescoes in a humorous ditty. More recently, the eminent postwar Italian art historian Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti suggested obliterating them with a coat of white paint.” (Last judgement on Vasari fresco: it's not all it's cracked up to be, The Independent)
I think persons who could not replicate this should no pass judgment. I couldn't even stand to be up that high for any reason, much less paint a ceiling!
ReplyDeleteI remember standing there wondering what the dome would be like without it. Zoomed in, it's fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI hope they leave it alone...
ReplyDeleteBut the square buildings behind is disturbing !
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