vinceconaway | Vince and museums: Uffizi edition

I have a standard procedure with museums, especially very large ones. I generally scan a room, examining in greater closeness anything that grabs my attention. Then I go back and read the plaques, so that I don't accidentally overlook something by Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci. And I pay particular attention to any painting that has a panel of plexiglass over it, since that treatment tends to be reserved for the most "important" pieces of art.

All of the Renaissance sculpture has been moved to the Bargello, one of my favorite museums ever, but I had no idea how much classical sculpture would be at the Uffizi. Incredible, and intense. An entire room devoted to Caravaggio, another to Rafael, and several works each by Michelangelo and da Vinci. Plus, among the "foreign painters" rooms, works by Goya, El Greco, and Rembrandt.

I impressed myself a few times. "That looks like Laocoon, but it's in another museum" (it was a 17th century copy). "That looks like a Bernini" (it wasn't, but the plaque also noted that influence on the sculptor). "Such chubby people, I wonder if it's Rubens" (it was).

To sum up, I'm still a huge fan of Raphael, I need to look up more works by Vasari, and I've gained a new appreciation for El Greco's use of color based on a single work. And in this museum representing such widespread genius was a painting that touched me more than the rest without being a Name, or protected by plexiglass. And that was Bellini's Lamentation Over the Body of Christ.