Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Sunday, December 18. 2011

Fra Angelico (1395-1455)

Dominican Brother "Angelico" spent more of his career in the Dominican Friary of San Marco in Fiesole (just outside Florence).


That old friary is now a convent. You can visit the chapel just by hopping off the Firenze to Fiesole bus at the tobacco shop on the corner, which is what we did. We were the only people there. In fact, we had to bang on the door to get somebody to come and unlock the chapel for us. We like staying in the Fiesole hills and busing down to town, just like Lorenzo di Medici used to do on his Vespa.


It's better to look at art in situ than in museums. Fra Angelico's Nativity, in that chapel:


Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 05:59 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

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I know this is a beautiful work of art. I appreciate it until my eye rests on the infant Jesus and then all I can think is "Put some clothes on that Baby!"

I hope to travel to Italy someday to see and experience all the art, history and beauty. In the meantime, Mr. B.D., thank you for sharing your experiences.
#1 amanda on 2011-12-18 12:44 (Reply)
It's a pleasure to do it for people who appreciate it.
#1.1 Bird Dog on 2011-12-18 23:04 (Reply)
This painting seems an interesting bridge between the much more stylized human figures of, say the early 1300s and before and the much more life-like figures that would follow at the end of the 15th Century. The halos in particular seem to be "old school" but the faces are much more modern.
The baby is probably chilly, even if this is set in the more-probable Spring rather than in December.
#2 Geoff Brown on 2011-12-19 16:49 (Reply)

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