Source: The Washington Post
A tourist in Florentine museums is like a skipping stone above unfathomable depths. Here a Botticelli. There a Donatello. A single room at the Uffizi that would reward a lifetime of study gets five hurried minutes before lunch.
I have no intention of performing art criticism without a license (a capital offense here in Italy). But a few things stand out even to the amateur eye.
The medieval rooms display art for the sake of God. The artists reveal all the glories that two dimensions have to offer. But they are often anonymous. And their subjects — even Jesus on the cross — usually have the kind of flat, calm faces associated with Byzantine art. In a universe structured and ordered by the divine, piety is expressed by serenity.
Categories: Europe, Italy, The Muslim Times