The reason I stopped in Florence was to go to the exhibition on Artemisia Gentileschi at the Museo degli Innocenti.

It was not raining when I started out. The Museo is almost a kilometre from the hotel where I was staying but it was easy to get there. First head to the Duomo.

Then turn left.

The exhibition started out with setting the context of Artemisia’s life by explaining that the star painter of the time and friend of Artemisia’s father was Caravaggio. This first painting shown was an early Caravaggio which is in a private collection.

A note explained that there is controversy whether this was done by Caravaggio or not. His earliest known paintings were painted while employed by the Cavaliere d’Arpino and produced in multiples for sale to the public, not on commission. There are at least three other Boy Peeling Fruit paintings.

So I may have seen a Caravaggio I had not seen before or maybe just a copy of a Caravaggio.

The Artemisia part of the exhibition has some elements that some people don’t like such as music, videos with loud audio and “immersive” experiences, but it included a lot of paintings in private collections that I had not seen as well as paintings I knew of but had not seen in person.

Susanna and the Elders is considered her earliest known work.

I had not seen it in person before but it is in every book about Artemisia.

Interpretation of her work is strongly tied to her biography, particularly that she was raped by a painter, Agostino Tassi, who was supposed to be teaching her. She has a number of paintings of women committing violence against men. The story of Judith decapitating Holofernes was one of her most frequent subjects. The most famous is in the Uffizi and not at the exhibition, but a number of her other ones were included.

The below was one of the earliest, which I had not seen before.

This one is frequently reproduced but was a first viewing for me.

This is from late in her career, which I saw in Naples years ago.

She did a number of portraits, which I have not included in this post but the below is thought to be a self-portrait. (The lights reflecting off the glass is really bad.)

I saw her Allegory of Inclination last year but it is on the ceiling of the Casa Buonarotti museum so it was good to see it at eye level.

I tried a quick sketch.

The exhibition has a number of her works showing strong women.

It also has quite a few paintings by contemporary painters many of whom I had never heard of and seemed to be a bit of padding. The exhibition ends with her last known work, which happens to be the same subject as her first.

On the same piazza is the church of Santissima Annunziata which has some remarkable Renaissance frescoes in its portico.

The two above have notes that these are copies because the originals are at the Pontormo exhibition in Rome.

From the Piazza, another view of the Duomo.

I walked to Mercato Sant’Ambrogio where I liked to shop for fresh produce last year.

Since I was in the neighbourhood, I had gelato from Il Procopio. It was among the top on my list of gelaterie that I visited.

Walked past Santa Croce where they looked like they were setting up a market.

Went to Piazza della Signoria.

They were handing out tickets for entry to the Loggia di Lanzi. This was new. The tickets were free but they have roped off areas so I could not go to the bench where I sat to sketch the Giambologna Rape of the Sabine Women last year.

The view from outside the Loggia.

Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa was also roped off but at least that did not affect the view.

Since it was still early afternoon, I went to the Palazzo Strozzi where there was an exhibition entitled Broken, about fragments of art work. Some were works deliberately broken, some were works where only fragments exist and some were works deliberately left unfinished.

The exhibited pieces covered a broad range of time and place. Below an ancient Egyptian fragment believed to have been of Akenaten, whose reign was attempted to be erased in reaction to his unpopular imposition of the worship of a single god.

An ancient Roman fragment which is recognizable as a Mercury putting on a sandal even though most of the statue is missing.

Below, a Michelangelo terra cotta work which was deliberately made to look broken.

A contemporary work playing with parts of Michelangelo’s David.

After I went into the nearby Giusti theatre, bookstore, cafe for a chance to sit a while. The times I went in before, they were playing Disney cartoons. This time it was The Devil Wears Prada.

Sat in the upper balcony area and tried a quick sketch.

That effort filled my sketchbook. I went looking for a new sketchbook but could not find what I wanted in either of the two art supply stores I went to.

Another Duomo view.

Before it got dark, I went to the rooftop of the hotel. It was not open for bar service but you could look.

Cannot quite see all of Santa Maria Novella.

Good view towards San Lorenzo’s dome on the left, the Duomo and the Campanello (bell tower).

After gelato for lunch, I was ready for dinner. Last year I discovered a regional specialty often called tortellini mugellani. It is a filled pasta (like ravioli) from the town of Mugello. It’s filled with potato and is served with a multitude of different sauces ranging from butter and sage to meaty ragù. I had it with cinghale (wild boar) and sautéed spinach.

Then it was back to the hotel to pack up while watching Bake Off Italia.