Duomo to Piazza della Signoria - Florence and Tuscany - page 53

from Florentine churches by Tuscan masters Duccio di Buoninsegna, Cimabue and Gi-
otto. They show the transition from Gothic to nascent Renaissance style.
Sienese Art
Room 3 moves into 14th-century Siena with Simone Martini's shimmering Annunciation
(1333), painted with Lippo Memmi and setting the Madonna in a sea of gold. Note also
Pietro Lorenzetti's Madonna with Child and Saints (1340).
International Gothic
In Room 4 savour the realism and extraordinary gold-leaf work of the San Remigio Pietà
(1360-65) by Giotto pupil Giottino (aka Giotto di Stefano). The knockout piece in
Rooms 5 and 6 - actually one large room - is Gentile da Fabriano's Adoration of the
Magi (1423), originally commissioned for the church of Santa Trìnita.
Renaissance Pioneers
Perspective was a hallmark of the early-15th- century Florentine school (Room 7) that pi-
oneered the Renaissance. One panel from Paolo Uccello's striking Battle of San Romano
(1436-40), which celebrates Florence's victory over Siena, shows the artist's efforts to
create perspective with amusing effect as he directs the lances, horses and soldiers to a
central disappearing point.
Duke & Duchess of Urbino
Revel in the realism of Piero della Francesca's 1465 warts-and-all portraits of the Duke
and Duchess of Urbino (Room 8). The crooked-nosed duke lost his right eye in a jousting
accident, hence the focus on his left side only, while the duchess is deathly stone-white to
convey the fact that the portrait was painted posthumously.
Botticelli
The spectacular Sala del Botticelli, numbered 10 to 14 but really one large hall, is al-
ways packed. Of the 15 works by the Renaissance master known for his ethereal figures,
Birth of Venus (c 1484), Primavera (Spring; c 1478) and deeply spiritual Cestello Annun-
ciation (1489-90) stand out. Spot Botticelli's self-portrait (extreme right) in Adoration of
the Magi (1475).