My Italy sketchbook...the last day of Florence

On our last day in Florence we had no scheduled tours or museums, so we took a relaxing stroll and headed towards the Medici Chapels which are at the back of the Church of St. Lorenzo. In fact, the chapel is so un-assuming, and there was no line anywhere nearby, that we actually first waited in line at the front of the church. When we were about to purchase the tickets to go in, I said "I want to see this" - pointing to the image of Michelangelo's Tomb of Lorenzo. The guide said "You want the entrance at the back of the church".So we headed towards the back, and as you can see there was only a very short line. The construction set-up also hid the entrance a bit. I don't know if it's always this quiet - but let me tell you - if it is, you should definitely add it to your must-see list. Once inside, again no pictures were allowed, I was totally unprepared for how gorgeous the inside of the Chapel of the Princess was (I was too busy thinking about Michelangelo's sculptures!) The chapel is stunning - a wide variety of dark marbles, with amazing in-lays and artwork, incredible sculptures, gorgeous paintings on the ceilings. Even the fact that it had a scaffolding set up for restoration work couldn't take away from it's breath-taking beauty. Pictures do not do it justice.Then we ventured further into the New Sacristy to spend time looking at the tomb of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino and the Duke of Nemours. I spent several minutes sketching the figure of Dusk. It was a surreal moment to be in the presence of the amazing sculptures. (all the more surreal when a cell phone rang. The colliding of two worlds... Michelangelo's 1500's sculptures and our 2000+ technology. I couldn't imagine what he would think of our world today!)

I chose to draw "Dusk" because I had always thought, in pictures, that the figure looked like a male model with two breasts just "stuck" on as an afterthought (ok - add some boobs - now it's a woman) But in actuality, seeing her in person, she was much more feminine. Tranquil, lovely. I was so thrilled I had a chance to draw for a while. I would have stayed and drew all the sculptures if I had the time!
After that wonderful experience we ate a delicious lunch at a cafe right outside the door of the Chapel. It was one of the best lunches I had! A vegetable quiche that was to die for (I keep looking for a similar recipe to no avail!)

On our way back to our hotel, we walked past the Church of Santa Maria Novella and decided to take a short detour to check out the inside.

The side door.

A door in the courtyard. Again, no photographs from the inside, but it was a lovely church and very ornate. I was also taken by surprise to see this painting, Massacio's Trinity, hanging in the church. I recognized it from many Art History classes.

What was also interesting was the information regarding the facade of the Church and a couple features I had previously ignored...two different Sundials.

Before we knew it, the sun was setting and our time in Florence was coming to an end.

David near the Arno river as we watched the sun set.

We had one last delicious meal at a lovely restaurant (don't you love these turquoise doors?) then went back to the hotel - the next day - we head to Rome!