No Pictures: Santa Maria Novella (Friday 17 Feb. 2012)

Santa Maria Novella

Jackie needed to go to Santa Maria Novella church to do some sketches. I knew that The Holy Trinity by Masaccio was in the church (due to my art history class, and the recent reminder in my History of Christianity class). It is a gorgeous piece that has so many triangles in it, it is not funny. I wanted to take a picture in front of it in some crazy touristy pose.

The Holy Trinity by Masaccio
Pic from Wikipedia

That idea was thwarted, though, when we read the sign as we entered. NO PICTURES! I was crushed! And that ruined Jackie's idea to take a picture of the interior of the church to sketch instead of sitting in the (always) cold church for a few hours. So she took pictures of the outside and will just sketch that.

My outside pictures!

Also unexpected was the small fee to get into the church. That was where we lost Gloria. She went off to the shops by the Duomo while Jackie and I coughed up 3.50 euro each.

So nice of them to put it in English for us...

Totally worth it. Oh my gosh, completely unexpected! The Holy Trinity was right across the door you entered on the side of the building. Tall! It reached almost all the way to the top of the building and settled on the floor. It was painted (frescoed?) on the wall. We did not stop there first, though. Instead we circled around counterclockwise to the other paintings and statues that lined the walls.

The chapels that branch off the head of the church were all ornate and beautiful. Frescos galore--some of them faded from centuries under the sun. Every inch of the walls in these chapels were covered in stories of the bible and of saints. The very-side chapels we had to walk up stairs to get to. So fancy!

The floors were surprisingly simple, as I have found with many Florentine churches. Just black and white marble with no fancy pattern. It was nice against the busy walls and ceilings. I recall pictures of the Sistine chapel, though, where the ground is as gaudy as the ceiling. If/when I see that, I am sure I will have an eye overload!

I do not know how long we were in there, but I would not put it passed over a half an hour. Between Jackie actually reading the plaques that described what the paintings were and my fun facts I remembered from my art history course, it was good fun walking around. There were at least half a dozen versions of the Immaculate Conception, sometimes side-by-side and done centuries apart.

Overall, my only regret was the inability to take pictures of my own. I think I will go back, though!