tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post3744962421708898961..comments2024-02-11T03:50:53.613-05:00Comments on Counterlight's Peculiars: Florence: Building the CathedralUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-9384864758630338342011-03-27T07:13:52.320-04:002011-03-27T07:13:52.320-04:00Paul, you lucky dog.
Have a good trip!Paul, you lucky dog.<br /><br />Have a good trip!Counterlighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14345956180434795401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-26053931148381063142011-03-27T07:12:52.245-04:002011-03-27T07:12:52.245-04:00Roger, all of the panels of Ghiberti's doors w...Roger, all of the panels of Ghiberti's doors were recovered after the 1966 flood, though with some damage. Yes I will be discussing them eventually.<br /><br />John, I stand by my statement aware of the Woolworth Building. It too is basically a New York tenement (multiple floors of rented space) underneath the splendid Gothic revival decor. I agree with you about the "packing crates" put up over the last 60 years.<br /><br />JCF, as far as I know, that 16th century drawing that I have reproduced here is the only image of the pre de Fabris facade. If there are any photographs out there (and there may be some), they haven't been published yet to my knowledge.<br />The rest of the exterior stonework is 14th to 16th century.Counterlighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14345956180434795401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-11714052897959664192011-03-27T04:00:08.480-04:002011-03-27T04:00:08.480-04:00Way to make us JEALOUS, Paul!
{eye-daggers}
I ki...Way to make us JEALOUS, Paul!<br /><br />{eye-daggers}<br /><br />I kid, I kid! <i>Buono Viaggio!</i><br /><br />***<br /><br /><i>Facade of Florence Cathedral designed by Emilio de Fabris, begun in 1876 and finished in 1887</i><br /><br />OK, this sincerely surprised me. You've got a classic building, hundreds of years old, and suddenly somebody says "Let's put a new exterior on it!" O_o [Are there any photographs of the pre-1876 exterior?]JCFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-9730898863202486982011-03-27T01:10:34.479-04:002011-03-27T01:10:34.479-04:00Thank you so much for this, Doug. Bill and I will...Thank you so much for this, Doug. Bill and I will be in Florence at Easter. You have helped prepare me for my first visit to this city, so rich in art and art history.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06090720645937634051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-48079214990158566752011-03-27T00:45:59.921-04:002011-03-27T00:45:59.921-04:00"(New York’s corporate towers are giant versi..."(New York’s corporate towers are giant versions of the tenements that have always made up the bulk of the city’s buildings since the 18th century)"<br /><br />- I loved this comment on most recent New York architecture - including the WTC, both the old and the new. <br /><br />But what about the Woolworth Buidling, say? the "cathedral of commerce" as it was (not coincidentally) called when first erected? (c.1910?) It's a building you couldn't mistake for a packing crate or a tenement, and like many of the great classic skyscrapers had the classical column for its model. So I would not agree with you about ALL New York skyscrapers - just all the ones they've put up in the last sixty years. <br /><br />Loved your tribute to the medieval city and its buildings, among the glories of their nation, their city, their society, their religion and the human race.John Yohalemnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-72260088239813831912011-03-27T00:42:24.518-04:002011-03-27T00:42:24.518-04:00Another Doug Florence post: happy-happy, joy-joy! ...Another Doug Florence post: happy-happy, joy-joy! :-D<br /><br />{JCF bundles off to read}JCFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-76108173097139956652011-03-26T21:42:55.803-04:002011-03-26T21:42:55.803-04:00Another excellent post. The west end is a 19th c ...Another excellent post. The west end is a 19th c creation. Assuming that the revetments elsewhere on the exterior are medieval. Am I right?<br /><br />Will you be getting to the Ghiberti doors in a later post? Some panels were swept away in the Flood, but Googling seems to indicate that these were "restored" and so presumably recovered. Do you know if this is the case? I thought they were lost.<br /><br />Excuse unusual persona. I've been working on the blog I have under this name.Roger Mortimerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05851667502861778031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-39007542069614240422011-03-26T17:15:37.406-04:002011-03-26T17:15:37.406-04:00What a pleasure to be informed of the artistry tha...What a pleasure to be informed of the artistry that resulted in the magnificent and breathtaking south doors of the Baptistery.June Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01723016934182800437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-50407738851246494502011-03-26T17:11:09.810-04:002011-03-26T17:11:09.810-04:00Maybe that's why cathedrals are so fascinating...Maybe that's why cathedrals are so fascinating in a way that something like the WTC never will be. They are genuine confessions of faith in stone, and are very vain-glorious trophies of power and civic pride. Either way, they engage our imaginations and make us long for that very imaginative connection to the world which so much of modernity denies.Counterlighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14345956180434795401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-49913671004341069502011-03-26T17:07:36.369-04:002011-03-26T17:07:36.369-04:00Both the cathedral and the WTC are hubristic, and ...Both the cathedral and the WTC are hubristic, and both are sincere in the beliefs they express. If anything, the motivations behind Florence's cathedral (and all cathedrals) are much more mixed than those behind the WTC. Cathedrals, like all monuments, are ultimately for us and for our posterity. I doubt God cares much about them one way or another.Counterlighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14345956180434795401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2343439372519556254.post-57180428128583157022011-03-26T14:36:41.301-04:002011-03-26T14:36:41.301-04:00Oh my! Another wonderful tour de force, which ind...Oh my! Another wonderful tour de force, which induced a major attack of nostalgia for the city of Florence. Is it an accident that Florence is my middle name? Indeed, I wish I had been called by my middle name.<br /><br />As I read about the construction on the site of the World Trade Center, I said over and over, "Oh God!" - a kind of prayer of horror and outrage.<br /><br />But was any less hubris involved in the construction of the cathedral in Florence? Is it enough that the builders at least paid lip service to the transcendent? <br /><br />I can't say, but results of the two major construction projects will very likely arouse quite different responses from me. If I live to see the completion of the construction at the WTC, I doubt that I will be struck with a wave of nostalgia each time I see a photo.<br /><br />Thanks, Doug, for the lovely pictures from a city that means so much to me.June Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01723016934182800437noreply@blogger.com