Art and The Leaning Tower of Pisa

This week in my art history class we took a visit to the Bargello Museum. There, we focused a great deal of our time on the two panhels of "The Sacrafice of Isaac" (The Old Testament story where Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Isaac) by Brunelleschi and Ghiberti. These two panhels were a competition for the east doors of the Florentine Bapistery. Both Brunelleschi and Ghiberti were the finalists. However, Ghiberti ended up winning because he only used one piece of gold (gilded bronze 1'9" X 1'5.5") making the panhel lighter and cheaper. But don't feel too bad for Brunelleschi, as he made the dome of the Duomo.


Below you can see the two, very different, depictions of this story. Brunelleschi follows the theme of Italian Gothic Sculpture, showing a very vigorous and strong interpreation of an angel stopping Abraham from killing his son. Ghiberti portrays elegance and kindness as the sculpture of Isaac is gracefully posed. 


Brunelleschi (Top) Ghiberti (Bottom) 

 




Friday continues to be artsy as Kelsey, Devin, Michelle and I went to Pisa, Italia today. The leaning tower was very cool to see and the white marble was very beautiful! 

    

 


The Cathedral complex at Pisa expresses Romanesque architecture. The construction of the Pisa cathedral began in 1063 (The same year work began on St. Marks in Venice). The Pisa project was funded from the victory over the Muslims off Palermo in Sicily in 1062. Interestingly, the tilted axis of the bell tower resulted from settling foundation. Apparently the tower began to lean during construction and inclines about 15 feet at the top.