Visiting the Uffizi Galleries and the Bargello Museum in Florence (Italy) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Uffizi Galleries and the Bargello Museum in Florence (Italy) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The next day, we were the first people in line at the Uffizi Galleries.  The Uffizi were definitely going to figure into all of my Plan As until I visited them.

The Museum contains a microcosm of Renaissance paintings, but the room that struck me the most was the one with the monumental paintings of the Madonna and Child by Cimabue, Duccio, and Giotto.

These mothers holding their sons were massive, upright, and powerful.  They derived their strength from motherhood and taking care of their children.

Later in life, I would see Egyptian sculptures and realized that the mother goddess tradition never really died out in the Mediterranean.  I wanted to be like those Madonnas someday.  I liked children, despite working in a consulting firm.

Those Madonnas were my favorite paintings in the Uffizi.

I love painting, but I preferred sculpture, so we ran off to see the Bargello Museum.  Plan A actually worked that day, so we entered the museum without a hitch.

Michelangelo’s paunch-bellied Bacchus (the Roman version of the Greek Dionysius) looked like a sophisticated John Belushi from the Animal House movie as he spilled wine for the generations.

I remembered sitting in the art history library at the University of Chicago with photographic plates memorizing artists, dates, and unique aspects of various works for exams.  I knew I was planning future vacation itineraries at the time.

Memorizing art works that way is hard, but I recognize even minor works now thanks to all the hard work that I put into studying those black-and-white plates.

I asked Laurent to take my photograph next to Donatello’s frail-looking David, who made the exploit of vanquishing Goliath seem even more amazing.   Verocchio’s sweet David looked like he was wearing a dress and a fashionable one at that decorated with flowers.

The Bargello Museum used to be a prison, and the frescoes around the top of the rooms showed various forms of torture.  I do not think the Renaissance Florentines believed in reform, parole, or release.

By Ruth Paget - author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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