Description
The Bargello National Museum is Florence's sculpture museum, in a medieval palace that was also a prison: its Renaissance statues, with Donatello, Michelangelo, Cellini and Giambologna, are among the most remarkable in the world.
Besides sculpture, there are ivories, majolica, small bronzes, weapons and a fine collection of applied arts. The route runs from the courtyard to Donatello's great hall and the rooms on the upper floor.
The arcaded courtyard, with octagonal pillars and a well in the middle, is already an open-air museum: sculptures from Palazzo Vecchio and from Boboli, with the coats of arms of the podestà on the walls. A Gothic staircase leads to the loggia on the first floor.
In Michelangelo's room is the Bacchus, his first full-round sculpture, carved at the age of 22: a drunkard swaying, almost balanced on one foot. A little further on are the Pitti Tondo and the bust of Brutus, the only bust of Michelangelo's that has come down to us.
The Hall of Donatello is the heart of the museum: the Saint George from Orsanmichele, the Marzocco, the marble David and the famous bronze David, the first nude in Western art since Roman times. Nearby are the two panels of the Sacrifice of Isaac by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, from 1401.
On the first floor, in Verrocchio's room, is the bronze David from around 1470, of a realism almost opposite to Donatello's classicism. In Andrea della Robbia's room are glazed terracottas in elegant blue and white: busts of children and Madonnas.
The verone, the loggia on the first floor, holds the bronze animals by Giambologna and Ammannati, which came from the grotto of the Medici villa at Castello. The Lapwing and the Turkey, then still an exotic animal, are striking in their realism.
The Magdalene Chapel, where the condemned waited before the gallows, has frescoes from 1340 attributed to Giotto's workshop: on the walls are Hell and Paradise, and among the elect is Dante with the Commedia in his hand.
The palace was born in the mid-1200s for the captain of the people, when Florence was a free commune. Later it housed the podestà and the judges. From 1574 it was the headquarters of the bargello, the chief of the guards, and became a prison: arrests, interrogations, executions.
To make more cells, the courtyard's arches were walled up, rooms were divided, frescoes were covered. Until in 1840, in the chapel, a restorer brought to light a portrait of Dante, which according to Vasari had been painted by Giotto.
The uproar was enormous. The prison was moved, the palace restored, and in 1865 the National Museum opened.
Don't miss
• Donatello's bronze David.
• Michelangelo's Bacchus.
• The panels of the Sacrifice of Isaac by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi.
• Giambologna's Mercury.
• Verrocchio's David.
Did you know?
• The Marzocco, the lion that is the symbol of Florence in Piazza della Signoria, is a copy: Donatello's original is here.
• Michelangelo's bust of Brutus, according to Vasari, is said to portray Lorenzaccio, who had killed his cousin Duke Alessandro.
Besides sculpture, there are ivories, majolica, small bronzes, weapons and a fine collection of applied arts. The route runs from the courtyard to Donatello's great hall and the rooms on the upper floor.
The arcaded courtyard, with octagonal pillars and a well in the middle, is already an open-air museum: sculptures from Palazzo Vecchio and from Boboli, with the coats of arms of the podestà on the walls. A Gothic staircase leads to the loggia on the first floor.
In Michelangelo's room is the Bacchus, his first full-round sculpture, carved at the age of 22: a drunkard swaying, almost balanced on one foot. A little further on are the Pitti Tondo and the bust of Brutus, the only bust of Michelangelo's that has come down to us.
The Hall of Donatello is the heart of the museum: the Saint George from Orsanmichele, the Marzocco, the marble David and the famous bronze David, the first nude in Western art since Roman times. Nearby are the two panels of the Sacrifice of Isaac by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, from 1401.
On the first floor, in Verrocchio's room, is the bronze David from around 1470, of a realism almost opposite to Donatello's classicism. In Andrea della Robbia's room are glazed terracottas in elegant blue and white: busts of children and Madonnas.
The verone, the loggia on the first floor, holds the bronze animals by Giambologna and Ammannati, which came from the grotto of the Medici villa at Castello. The Lapwing and the Turkey, then still an exotic animal, are striking in their realism.
The Magdalene Chapel, where the condemned waited before the gallows, has frescoes from 1340 attributed to Giotto's workshop: on the walls are Hell and Paradise, and among the elect is Dante with the Commedia in his hand.
The palace was born in the mid-1200s for the captain of the people, when Florence was a free commune. Later it housed the podestà and the judges. From 1574 it was the headquarters of the bargello, the chief of the guards, and became a prison: arrests, interrogations, executions.
To make more cells, the courtyard's arches were walled up, rooms were divided, frescoes were covered. Until in 1840, in the chapel, a restorer brought to light a portrait of Dante, which according to Vasari had been painted by Giotto.
The uproar was enormous. The prison was moved, the palace restored, and in 1865 the National Museum opened.
Don't miss
• Donatello's bronze David.
• Michelangelo's Bacchus.
• The panels of the Sacrifice of Isaac by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi.
• Giambologna's Mercury.
• Verrocchio's David.
Did you know?
• The Marzocco, the lion that is the symbol of Florence in Piazza della Signoria, is a copy: Donatello's original is here.
• Michelangelo's bust of Brutus, according to Vasari, is said to portray Lorenzaccio, who had killed his cousin Duke Alessandro.