Chapter 10 Florence·Renaissance·AD 1504

The entire trip to Europe came from a childhood dream: in this life, I must find a chance to visit Florence once. Florence was the sacred place in my heart when I was a child: the capital of flowers, a city of romance and chaos, a place of gangsters and geniuses.When I was in elementary school, I read a cartoon "Angel of the Corolla". In the story, Florence is surrounded by flowers, knights with swords, love elopes and romantic painters.The girl is unintentionally involved in a conspiracy, looking for legendary treasures and magical powers, and discovering the secrets of famous paintings. The prince of Naples seeks to restore the country, the handsome illegitimate son of the Pope seeks hegemony, and Da Vinci's miraculous military invention changes the world.Conspiracy and magic gather here, geniuses and demons have both good and evil faces, brilliant art and vitality.All this left an indelible impression on my childhood heart.The Renaissance, oh yes, the great Renaissance.

After growing up, I learned about the Renaissance in history, and began to understand the real innovation of Renaissance art. The Renaissance is far from the romance imagined, but the turmoil and passion are the reality of history.Renaissance art is as vigorous as the Cambrian biological explosion, from the long cold winter to the world of spring with singing and dancing and the ocean of summer with storms. The prosperity of the Renaissance is not a peaceful prosperity, chaos is its best adjective.Stendhal gave the most vivid description of the state of Italy at that time in the preface of "History of Italian Painting": small tyrants in power, independent, changing rulers every day, ambitious for their own interests, and enjoying themselves happily.Undoubtedly, this was not a good civilized order, but Stendhal said that only in such a place could the great Renaissance giants be born.Chaos and splendor, ambition and vigor, mean the same characteristics: passionate vitality, exuberant talent, and innovative spirit.

Florence, a unique city in the world. Florence, 1504. In the early morning, there is a slight dew on the Plaza de Signoria.The morning light outlines the silhouette of the building, and the sky is blue and clear, cloudless.The Church of Our Lady of the Flowers is brightly colored, the newly installed bronze doors are shining, and the figures in the reliefs are illuminated by the sun.The stone pavement shimmers, and the revived city's business travelers gather and be active.Many people gathered in the Lord's Square, and the carriages rattled the stone slabs.This is a jubilant year for the Republic.The town hall, Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace), has just been refurbished, its doors are freshly opened, and a huge new white sculpture stands at the door.

The hall of the Palazzo Vecchio needed two majestic murals, and the city government hired two of the most prestigious painters at the time to paint one wall each.The scale of the frescoes is huge, and the theme is the glory of Florence - the battle of the Republic.It was an exciting historical confrontation, with mayors, priests and artists coming and going in the square, eagerly awaiting it. These two painters, one is Da Vinci and the other is Michelangelo. In 1504, not long after Da Vinci returned to Florence from Milan, he became famous. Da Vinci was born in a small village called Vinci outside Florence, and Da Vinci means "from Vinci".Da Vinci studied painting with his teacher Verocchio in Florence in his early years, and the two masters and apprentices were employed by the son of the Medici in Florence, Lorenzo the Luxurious.Da Vinci started from grinding paint, transitioned to painting flowers and plants, painted secondary characters, and painted main characters.He showed his talent very early on. When he helped Verrocchio paint an oil painting, he painted St. John as an assistant with superb skills. Painting again, concentrate on sculpture.Verrocchio's sculptures remain in Florence to this day.

In 1482, due to some unknown reasons, Leonardo da Vinci chose to leave Florence and go to Milan.He wrote a self-recommendation letter to the Grand Duke of Milan, listing nine and a half of his outstanding talents in architecture, military affairs, machinery, and strategic offensive and defensive, and half of his talents in sculpture and painting. From 1482 to 1499, Leonardo da Vinci spent an important time in Milan. He became the architect of the city's defense and military advisor to the Duke of Milan.He designed a series of wonderful mechanical devices, although many could not be put into practice, but his imagination and advanced knowledge of mechanical technology were amazing.He observed nature and left a series of natural notes; he studied human anatomy and light perspective, forming his own mature painting style; he painted the extremely beautiful "Our Lady of the Rocks" and "The Last Supper". In 1500, when Da Vinci returned to Florence, he was recognized as a well-known artist and had a high status in the art world. He had made remarkable achievements, had a haughty temperament, and liked the elegance and neatness of painting, but disliked the hard work and roughness of sculpture.At the same time that he took over the frescoes of the Palazzo Vecchio, he also began to paint the future masterpiece "Mona Lisa".

In 1504, not long after Michelangelo returned to Florence from Rome, he first appeared. Michelangelo also began to study art at the court of Florence when he was young, and he also showed his extraordinary talent since he was a child.At the age of 15, he was valued by the luxurious Lorenzo and entered the Medici mansion to study sculpture.In the process of learning, he carved a little angel in the Roman style, buried it in the soil, and made it look like an old antique. Finally, he dug it up and sold it to the antique collectors at that time, which passed the expert appraisal. In 1492, Lorenzo, Michelangelo's discoverer and patron, died, and political struggles began. Michelangelo lost his support and fled to Rome.In Rome, Michelangelo completed the first miracle of genius, "Pieta", and left it in St. Peter's Basilica.After that, Michelangelo accepted the commission of the Pope to design the Pope's tomb.This mission was not completed, and Michelangelo owed commission fees and had to flee Rome, which paved the way for him to be forced to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel five years later. In 1501, he returned to Florence and accepted a challenging task that no one dared to accept at the time: to complete a sculpture with a single piece of 5-meter-high marble.This task is too grand, the marble has been sitting for many years, no one has taken it. The 49-year-old Da Vinci was noncommittal about this task, and the 26-year-old Michelangelo was young and energetic, took the initiative, and completed the task with the most daring passion and desperate hard work.During the sculpture process, Michelangelo completely believed in himself. When the client gave pointers to the sculpture, he pretended to agree to modify it, climbed up the ladder, and sprinkled a handful of powder so that the people below could not see clearly. The result was not made. Any modification just climbed down. In 1503, the sculpture "David" was completed, with a perfect body, angry eyes, classical and powerful style, a behemoth like a god, standing proudly at the gate of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Da Vinci and Michelangelo didn't have many intersections in their lives. When Da Vinci was young, Michelangelo was not yet born.By the time Michelangelo entered the Medici family, Leonardo had gone to Milan. In 1504, the duo accepted the commission to paint the frescoes.This is the only time in their lives that two people face each other. Leonardo da Vinci chose to paint the Battle of Anghiri. Judging from his drafts handed down to later generations, he focused on the dynamics of the battle.The ferocious and roaring faces, the horses charging forward, the knives touching each other, the people who fell off the horses.Such dynamism has never been seen in pre-Renaissance paintings. It is a brand-new attempt and has a great influence on later generations, especially Romanticism in the 19th century.Michelangelo chose to paint the Battle of Cascina.He did not directly depict the battlefield, but depicted soldiers taking a bath on the bank. Soldiers who had taken off their military uniforms huddled together, naked, holding each other, with two hands stretching from the water to the sky, as if struggling by the river of fate. , fighting desperately, the picture is horrifying and full of tension.

In 1504 a younger painter came to Florence.His name is Raphael. Among the sporadic intersections of masters, there is one name that stands out.The only name that can connect Da Vinci and Michelangelo should be this name-Medici.Florence is a city of legends, and the Medici family is a legendary family. Florence has a unique republican history.The so-called republic is very similar to the city-states of ancient Greece and Rome. A city is a country, and the residents of the city govern themselves. Cities were a novelty in the late Middle Ages.After the Roman Empire, Europe was divided into several small countries, each small country was divided into several territories, and each territory was divided into many manors.A medieval manor is a small world, a small castle surrounded by fortifications, surrounded by large villages and fields.Residents in the village belong to the manor lord, grow food, vegetables and fruits for the lord, raise livestock, and accept the protection and arbitration of the lord.There is very little communication between the manor and the manor, and the flow of people is negligible.World trade is underdeveloped, and there is no common currency.Although there were many farmers working for landlords in ancient China, there were still many families who farmed and weaved their own land and traded in the market. Villagers in the Middle Ages in Europe usually belonged to a certain lord.

It was not until the 13th and 14th centuries that this situation gradually disappeared.Large-scale trade began to flourish again. Free travelers and businessmen left the manor and gathered in new places. Bazaars and shops gradually condensed into a new world. "The air of the city is free!" people say.The citizens belonged neither to the noble lords nor to the peasants.They are eager to try because they have got rid of the constraints of status, and they are ambitious because they have tasted the taste of wealth.The power of money is revived.Money was very developed in ancient Greece and Rome. Some people took gold coins with Caesar’s head on them to ask Jesus for advice. However, in the small world of manors in the Middle Ages, the monetary economy fell asleep like other literature and art, and fell asleep for 600 years.It is the city that revives the money.Buying and selling needs exchange, currency needs to be exchanged, long-distance trade needs to be guaranteed, and business needs to be borrowed, so banks appear and new rich people appear.The turbulence and change of the pattern ensued.

Florence is the center of the vortex. Florence is a trade center, located in central Italy, close to major transport ports, not only convenient to communicate with the east by sea, but also convenient to communicate with Britain, France and the Netherlands by land in the north.Pilgrims from all over the world also pass through Florence.Gradually, the florin - a coin issued in Florence - became the common currency, recognized in any country as trade carried it around the world.Florentine bankers began to gain status. They issued currency, enjoyed the benefits of trade, and used loans to obtain huge wealth. In their accounts, huge amounts of funds lent to the King of England and the King of France were impressively listed.They overtook the nobles and fought against the nobles by acquiring land with money.They formed their own alliance, vying for power over the city.

Dante was born in an environment of struggle. In the 13th century, he was born in a declining aristocratic and wealthy merchant family in Florence. When he grew up, he was involved in struggles and became the main force of the "White Party" representing wealthy citizens.In the struggle, he was hit by his opponent and exiled by the city. In the exile, he wrote the eternal poem "Divine Comedy" because of his sorrow. "Divine Comedy" is dedicated to his childhood sweetheart, Billiates, who died young, and the love of his life.In the poem, he walked through hell, purgatory and heaven with his spiritual teacher Virgil, juxtaposed his era with the ancient past, let the opponents who exiled him take their places one by one in hell, and let his revered saint shine in the crystal sky glow. His poems became eternal in exile.Dante died in a different place and was buried in a different place. Florence did not restore his status until after his death, and set up a tomb for him for people to pay tribute to.Dante's former residence is in an inconspicuous alley in Florence, without any eye-catching signs, but 700 years have passed, and it is still full of tourists until today. After Dante died, the struggle continued.The newly rich in Florence eventually formed their own government, the Urban Republic.Families with property formed the government and shared power according to their contributions.Although only 3% of the population was able to participate in the rule at that time, compared with the old nobles, it was also a kind of openness.Selutat brought humanism into government, emphasizing individuality, human knowledge, and responsibilities in the secular world.This has formed a kind of openness and activity that has lasted for more than a hundred years. Although political power struggles among families, overthrows and conspiracies are still staged, and exile and return are still frequent, there are more and more young people who are educated, fond of philosophy, and eager to try. .Philosophers began to enter the rich man's mansion to talk, sculptors and architects built status palaces for the rich, and painters presented paintings with the faces of these families. By the 15th century, wealthy Florentine families had built up a lively atmosphere of fresh thought and creativity.They are extremely rich on the one hand, and love new things and enjoy life on the other, so a strong ethos of investing in art is formed.Like the wind blowing through the bonfire, the banquet is lit and the banquet kicks off. The Medici family is the most important family that rose in this process. From 1434 to 1737, the Medici family stood firm in countless wars, coups and political disputes in Italy, experienced many revolutions from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, and can be said to have experienced the most important changes in human history. Era, this is equivalent to a certain family in China who has remained strong from the Qing Empire to the Republic of China, from the War of Resistance to the New China. We understand how amazing this is.Similar to many families in Florence in the early days, the Medici started from mining and speculation, operated the banking industry, and accumulated wealth rapidly.Since then, they have sent out many leaders in the political and religious fields. During the 300 years, the family has produced many republic leaders, three popes, and two French queens, with influence all over Europe. The rise of the Medici began with one man: Cosimo de' Medici.Cosimo's father, Giovanni, was a successful banker and the first person to establish the family fortune.Cosimo had been exiled and returned in 1434, a year thus marking the rise of the family.Shrewd, capable, well-friended and popular, Cosimo returned as first citizen of Florence and opposed his family's civil war, but failed because of too few supporters.Cosimo established his family's prominence during his lifetime.He sponsored artists, funded charities, built churches, public facilities, and made Florence what it is today.After Cosimo's death, his grandson, the luxurious Lorenzo Medici, inherited the ruling position of Florence. He also gave generously, sponsored a large number of artistic creations, and gathered painters and poets from all over the court. The Medici family funded and sheltered countless outstanding artists.In addition to the familiar Da Vinci and Michelangelo, the most important early Renaissance pioneers: Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Ghiberti and Botticelli, also all He is a genius from the Medici family.Machiavelli worked for the Medici. 100 years later, when Galileo was persecuted, the Medici family provided asylum, allowing Galileo to avoid the persecution of the Holy See. In 1709, Christopher, the organist of the Medici family orchestra, invented the world's first piano in the Medici family, thus ushering in a new era of music. The history of the Medici shines in the light of these geniuses.The Medici family left various traces in Florence, all over the place.The Medici mansion can already be visited today. The square courtyard is classical and bookish, and the Medici study is in the mansion, which can also be visited.The San Lorenzo Church next door to the mansion is a family church. It has a rough exterior and a beautiful interior. Its chapel houses Michelangelo's masterpiece in his later years: the Medici Family Mausoleum.The sculptures "Day", "Morning" and "Twilight" on the mausoleum are the exploration of Michelangelo's style in his later years. They are no longer carefully crafted, but their shapes and postures contain the tension of grief, which is moving.The Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore was funded by Cosimo Medici. It is a symbol of Florence and a symbol of the Renaissance.Its colors are as brilliant as flowers, the interior is simple and bright, and the graphics on the ground show the Renaissance's love for geometry.Its dome ushered in a new era of Renaissance architecture.The Uffizi Gallery was also created by Cosimo. The world's most famous art gallery was originally the place where the Medici family worked and handled government affairs. It opened to the public as an art gallery in 1765.It houses more than 100,000 art treasures, including various masterpieces of the Renaissance that were once created in the Medici Palace.In the Medici Music Museum, you can see the precious musical instruments collected by the family and the birth of the world's first piano. All these traces of the Medici family, like their history, have become legendary. I would like to use all the words related to splendor to describe the Renaissance.This is the history of powerful individuals. The collective and social significance of the Renaissance was endowed by later generations, but at that time, those powerful geniuses focused on the individual, the secret of the universe and its own meaning.They are passionate, proud, talented, constantly exploring, do things without rules, full of personality, and rebellious towards people and things.They create every day, keep creating, and don't pay attention to other things except creating.They expand their vitality to the maximum, and their wild minds are as high as the sky and the earth. Dante was the last poet of the Middle Ages and the first poet of the Renaissance. After him, Petrarch pioneered humanism. He praised the individual and told his own journey and personality.His autobiography is the first autobiography in more than a thousand years since Augustine.Boccaccio was a good friend of Petrarch. He taught humanism to the Florentine family. This idea spread rapidly among the emerging ruling families, gained great resonance, and became a model for the education of the next generation of young people. The early Renaissance masters were all talented and individual.They don't mind competition and are not stingy about showing themselves.They often burst out with surprising words, and they do things completely according to their hearts.They drank to their heart's content in the court, not caring about the eyes of others, and the final works often showed the joy of feasting. During the construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Flowers, the Republic once held a carving competition, with the theme of the story of Isaac’s sacrifice, and offered a reward to the winner to determine the entrustment of the new bronze door carving of the church.The two important competitors are Ghiberti and Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi's sculpture is natural, but not compact enough. However, Ghiberti wins in composition - he does not show Abraham killing Isaac as usual. Submissive, but carved Isaac as a boy with his head held high, who seemed to take the initiative to meet the fate of God, with strong drama and vivid and graceful characters.Ghiberti won in one fell swoop and got the entrustment right to engrave the bronze door. Ghiberti lived up to the expectations and completed a masterpiece of great beauty. After the first two bronze doors were carved, two more golden bronze doors were carved.These two golden gates are indelible classics in the history of sculpture, and were later called "the gates of heaven" by Michelangelo.It created a model of Renaissance sculpture. The figures are delicate and elegant, with gentle postures, as if they are about to fly away, full of dexterity and dynamics, no longer like the static and single figures in medieval reliefs.The two doors are divided into ten small paintings, representing ten stories in the Old Testament. Its original work has been collected, and the copy is still the most striking scenery of the Baptistery of the cathedral. The stubborn and proud Brunelleschi lost to the young Ghiberti, and he gave up sculpture in a fit of anger and concentrated on architecture. This was a willful decision, but for the talented Renaissance genius, it created a new one. situation.When the main building of Santa Maria del Fiore began, Brunelleschi undertook the construction of the large dome.No one knew how to build the dome at the time, the technology of ancient Rome has long been lost, and although the dome of the Pantheon still stands, no one knows how it was built.Brunelleschi groped for the result with his own genius, and the cathedral dome he designed and built became the greatest miracle in the world.This feat is still inspiring, and it pays homage to antiquity with creation.This is the essence of the Renaissance.After it, the Dome of St. Peter's in Rome became possible. Ghiberti had a brilliant student named Donatello, the founder of Renaissance sculpture.While Ghiberti's work focused on relief sculpture, Donatello's bronze David was the first full-length life-size sculpture.This "David" is collected in the Bargello Art Museum. It is light and well-proportioned, with elegant posture. This is the first nude sculpture after 10 centuries. It can be said that it is the first work that revives the ancient Greek tradition. start.His large-scale sculpture "Gatamerada on Horseback" is also different from the medieval tradition and is very imposing. There are many famous builders of the Church of Our Lady of Hundred Flowers.The little tower was built by Giotto, a genius of the thirteenth century, two centuries before the geniuses of the Renaissance of the fifteenth century, and a well-deserved forerunner of them.Giotto's frescoes are the ancestors of Renaissance frescoes. Medieval paintings only have lines and the same big eyes. Giotto gave everyone flesh and blood and shadows. In addition to building the Great Dome, Bruleneschi also invented scientific perspective.This is a feat far inferior to the former.With perspective, the world in the painting has depth and thickness.Masaccio's fresco "Trinity" was the first work completed using scientific perspective. Since then, the painting has become a complete world, and people can walk in it.In Angelico's mural "Conception Announcement", the courtyard has a strong sense of depth.His student Lippi added vivid personality to the picture. Medieval religious paintings only had simple shapes of saints, but in Lippi's "Three Kings Come to Worship", not only the faces of the three doctors are more vivid, but also rich rural wild landscapes and secular people.Lippi's student was the famous Botticelli, who was the greatest painter of the early Renaissance. For the first time, he elevated painting to the level of daily life, which was not only true, but also pure and beautiful.Botticelli was a guest at the Medici's mansion. He drank and sang lightly every day in the Medici's mansion. The girl he painted was charming and tender, and the veil seemed nothing.Ghirlandaio, Michelangelo's teacher, pays attention to details, his style is simple, and the details in "Portrait of Grandparents and Grandchildren" are lifelike. All these masters started the century of painting.This is a veritable breakthrough, because although the architecture and sculpture of ancient Greece and Rome are astonishing, there are not many paintings left, and there is no three-dimensional painting pioneered by perspective.Renaissance painters created their own world, and within a century, they brought everything into the canvas, with both narrative and flesh and blood, giving the limited canvas an infinite space for imagination.More than half of the works of these masters are preserved in the Uffizi Gallery, where you can clearly see the leap of painting art in chronological order, from the stereotyped medieval church paintings to the highly individual Renaissance oil paintings, just like wearing Cross the valley and reach the dense forest full of flowers and plants.The most famous collections are Botticelli's and "The Birth of Venus". For the first time after the Middle Ages, ancient Greek pagan legends were incorporated into paintings. Not only are the themes full of exotic styles, but the spring of the picture itself is also a reflection of the times.In Botticelli's "Conception Announcement", the streamer of the archangel is as transparent, using the eternity of paint to paint the light moment.In addition to the Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia Gallery, which houses the original "David", and the Bargello Gallery, which focuses on sculpture, are also worth visiting. All this, all these beautiful paintings, sculptures and buildings, are concentrated in the small city center of Florence, so small that you can walk it in a day without a car, and so big that you can stay for a while. The month may not be able to finish. Florence, the republic of the Renaissance.It is as proud of its republic as Cicero was of that of ancient Rome. Throughout the history of the Renaissance, politics and art are closely related and inseparable.Throughout the 13th century to the 16th century, there were many small countries on the Apennine Peninsula. The republics similar to Florence included Siena and Venice, and the different countries were Naples and Milan ruled by the monarch, and the Papal State ruled by the church.Looking at the painting content and painting style of each region, we can see the political characteristics there.Rome and southern Italy are religious areas, and most of the art is sponsored by the church. The themes are mostly saints and the Bible, and most of them are murals decorated inside the church.Central Italy is a republic city-state. The art is supported by the city government and wealthy families. The themes include the history of the city, family portraits and glory. Although it is a single piece of work, it is usually solemn and magnificent.Monarchy painting concentrated on the portraits and court decorations of the sovereign.When we leave Italy and go to the Netherlands in northern Europe, we will see many delicate and moving small paintings, because the Netherlands is a commercial area, and most of the paintings are hanging decorations in the homes of ordinary merchants, so they are light and portable, and the themes of the paintings are full of The vivid details of city life: food, flowers, animals, people in taverns. It is not without reason that the Renaissance was born in Italy.Italy's trade was the first to develop. There were many city-states, and small kingdoms fought against each other. Its politics was more unstable, with more changes and turmoil. It was not a peaceful world, but it gave a chance to a strong heart.The struggles of Italy are full of petty tyrants, yet they are strong in character and love art. This is an era far away from us, whether it is the material environment or the state of mind.The little tyrants of this era are inseparable from good and evil, shrewd and adventurous, unwilling to be suppressed, and willing to be a gambler of fate.Life in this era is turbulent and enjoyable, and people indulge in the feast of abundance, treating life as a feast.They pursue political enlightenment, but also use intrigue.People in this era are never satisfied with repeating, let alone following others, changing all the time, and giving their souls in the struggle.Stendhal once commented: "Based on our cold experience today, it is useless to ask for an image that shocks the hearts of Italians like a storm. A roaring lion leaps from the forest, and the bad state of domestication It is absolutely unacceptable." Perhaps only in this way can there be a Renaissance. Each of the proud geniuses of the Renaissance pioneered some kind of artistic precedent.The styles and skills created in the short 100 years of the 15th century surpassed the accumulation of thousands of years before and after.It was a time when everyone was full of vitality and creativity, the devotion of the luxurious, the freedom of the talented, high spirits, and artistic experiments.Those geniuses created for their own aspirations, unlike the fame and fame in many later eras. "Their nobility is only due to their own creations, and they are different from many nobles." The 19th century painter Delacroix commented, "They love art and devote their lives to art; Pursue your own status, and don't chase vain fame." Da Vinci left a lot of notes, in which he studied wind and cloud, light and shadow, plants, and the structure of the human body.He said that painting is a mirror and a great science.He said that a painter who is not versatile is not desirable.He is like a wanderer out of the world, only wandering in his own dream world.He is proud and never does anything he doesn't bother to do.He left countless unfinished plans, many unfinished paintings.He never cared about other people's words and let his heart drive him. Michelangelo left many cold and great poems.His poems are dedicated to lovers, to God, and even more to a fate full of pain.During his long life he thought of death several times, and endured pain, shame and confusion of soul in his work.He painted the soul into murals and carved it into sculptures.As he got older, the human bodies he sculpted became tougher, bigger and more painful.From the bonded slaves he sculpted, we can see the soul-stirring struggle of the spirit trying to surpass the body. In 1504, the two men met.They were not friends and never had friendship.However, from the drafts they left behind, we can see a similar struggle of the soul. In 1504, Raphael saw all this in his eyes. At the age of 21, he just graduated from Perugino's school, finished painting his first mature work, and came to Florence to study secretly.He stared at the draft of Leonardo da Vinci's "Madonna and Child" hanging in front of the church in Florence for a long time. He was smart and studious, copied it quietly, and stood on the shoulders of giants from the very beginning.Raphael is a genius who died young. He is handsome, gentle and elegant, and is welcomed by everyone.His paintings are the pinnacle of harmony and classicism. The Madonna in his works is a symbol of softness and elegance. It has become the only classic of the academic school in the next 300 years, just like his character, and the mysterious dissociation of Da Vinci and Michelangelo. The stone-like stubbornness is in stark contrast, forming the three vertices of the triangle.Raphael stayed in Florence for a few years, then went to Rome, where he achieved his glory, and died there young. It is a pity that the two paintings were not completed in the end, leaving only drafts for future generations to imagine.Today's Palazzo Vecchio is decorated by posterity, and the spacious and grand hall lingers with the echo of footsteps, just like the echo of lingering times. The most convenient should be the train, which leads in all directions and is cheap.In Florence, buses and trams are available, and the best way is to walk, because the city is small and full of attractions. 1.Church of Our Lady of the Flowers: A colorful church rarely seen in Europe, the dome designed by Brunelleschi, which later became the prototype of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.Small octagonal baptistery: Ghiberti won the bronze door design competition here in 1401. Later, Ghiberti spent 21 years carving the second golden gate, which was called "The Gate of Paradise" by Michelangelo. 2.Uffizi Gallery: Paradise of Renaissance Art.It collects masterpieces of early Renaissance masters Giotto, Botticelli and Verrocchio, especially Botticelli's many famous paintings.Some important works by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael are also on display.The museum has a collection of about 100,000 works. 3.Accademia Art Gallery: Collection of Michelangelo's original sculpture "David", as well as very precious Baroque paintings. 4.Palazzo Vecchio: City Hall of the Florentine Republic, where Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci competed.The hall is now home to war frescoes by Vasari and sculptures by Michelangelo.Every room is decorated. 5.San Lorenzo Church: The church, mansion and mausoleum of the Medici family. The mausoleum has sculpture groups "Day", "Morning" and "Twilight" designed by Michelangelo in his later years. 6.Bargello Gallery: Collection of Renaissance sculpture, including Donatello's David and other masterpieces. "Divine Comedy" [Italian] Dante (1265～1321) translated by Zhu Weiji As a child of Florence, Dante's Psalms were the heralds of the city's magical imagination.He travels in heaven and earth, and at the same time travels in the hearts of people.The strange sights in purgatory and the pure beauty of the crystal sky he described can arouse people's piety more than any missionary classics. "The Divine Comedy" and the creation of the novel "Don Quixote" are both stories about a lonely idealist looking for a spiritual paradise. "Carlyle Lectures on the History of Literature" once commented: ""Don Quixote" and Dante's "Divine Comedy" "Although they are completely different, they have something in common in one aspect. Like "Divine Comedy", "Don Quixote" is also a free talk of human and natural hearts." Because of its loneliness, it arouses the most resonance. "If the people below pay attention The foundation laid by nature, obeying nature, Then nature will be satisfied with man. But you take a man born to wear a sword Forcing him to escape into the empty door, put a should The preacher made him wear a crown; Your footprints are getting more and more out of the right way. " Introduction to "History of Italian Painting" [France] Stendhal (1783～1842) translated by Wang Daogan Stendhal is only famous for his works. "History of Italian Painting" seems to have not been published in China, and he can only read the introduction of this book in another collection of his literary criticism "Racine and Shakespeare".Nevertheless, this short introduction still gives us the best description of that era. It was an age of petty tyrants who appeared and died one after another, an age of "extraordinary wit, masquerade, murder" and "frenzied passion", an age of genius.Stendhal admits that those geniuses are both good and evil, but he still loves that kind of heart with an unrivaled passion. "This spectacle was magnified in Italy. Whoever has the courage to study the quest for liberty of the republics in this land at the dawn of civilization must praise the extraordinary genius of these characters, though they did Wrong, but still the noblest pursuit of the human spirit, there is no doubt about it. "Despite the love of art in this century, it does not require the artist to follow certain surest methods to please the people. Legends are attractive to young people. But it is important to have a taste of appreciation. It can make up for everything and is irreplaceable. Yes, I mean, the ability to feel the intense pleasure of painting." "Finch on Painting" [Italian] Da Vinci (1452～1519) Translated by Dai Mian Rather than saying that Leonardo da Vinci is an outstanding and remarkable person, it is better to say that he is a mysterious and interesting person.见到过达·芬奇的机械手稿、人体解剖素描和科学笔记的人，无不惊叹于一个人身上竟然能集合如此多了不起的才能。他似乎始终在寻找，很多惊人的计划开了头又扔在一边，很快有了新的兴趣，没时间耽搁，活了67岁仍不足以完成自己想要尝试的众多计划。 看达·芬奇的笔记是一件奇妙而受启发的事，他的论述总是简短明确，如格言警句，充满富有见地的发现，但不解释。达·芬奇的文笔不亚于他的画笔，看他笔下的战争和暴风雨场面，就像见到了那幅他许愿并构思却终究没有完成的大画，引人联想。 乌菲兹美术馆里有达·芬奇的一幅草稿和后人补足的完稿，完稿审慎清晰，但却简单，而草稿的粗糙和神秘若隐若现，让人以为是达·芬奇故意留下余音。 “超乎一切之上的，是他必须使他的精神像明镜一样光洁清静，能像它那样反映摄入其内的物体的五光十色。 “不多才多艺的画家不值一赞……不以同等的爱去爱绘画中之一切的人，就不能多才多艺。 “别为自己找借口，安慰自己，说你能在下一件创作中挽回面子，因为绘画和音乐不一样，不是方生即死的，它将经年累月地证明你的无知。” 《米开朗琪罗诗全集》 ［意］米开朗琪罗（1475～1564） 杨德友译 除了伟大的诗人但丁和《神曲》，佛罗伦萨还孕育了另一位诗人——米开朗琪罗。米开朗琪罗写过很多诗作，不能算伟大的诗人，却也别有一番韵味。他的诗和他的雕塑有相似的地方，澎湃的情感像是不能容纳，从有限的材质——文字或石头——中喷薄而出。 米开朗琪罗的大部分抒情诗是献给一位美丽的女士维多利亚·科隆娜的，还有一部分是晚年写给衰老、死亡与上帝。他曾说过：“在我的痛苦中，我感到庆幸的是，已经没有人能从我的脸上看出一点我的悲哀或我的愿望了。我不怕妒忌心，也不接受外行人空洞的吹捧。我一个人独自走着没有经历过的道路。” “既然到处是危害、耻辱和悲哀， 就不如隐身大理石块中沉睡！ " “我多么渴望黑夜。啊，死亡的护卫， 消解灵魂和情感的痛苦疲惫 在舒适中终于制止人的忧虑， 你治愈肌肤，恢复疲弱的呼吸， 拭去泪水，驱散腰酸背痛劳累， 艰苦奋斗的绝望也悄然消匿。 "