Bargello-Tapestry

Yesterday for art history we met at the Bargello (just up the street for me). It is a state museum so pictures weren't allowed anywhere but the courtyard. I actually learned why: it goes back to Mussolini and this odd belief that taking photographs of state-owned artwork is a form of stealing from the state. No one seems to have bothered to change this rule.
The Bargello is the old Palace of the Podesta: a sort of mayor-for-the-year. These people were brought in from outside of Florence with the hopes that they would be impartial judges as they would have no prior prejudices. They were only allowed a term of one year because it was thought that after that time they would surely begin to take sides. Anyway, anything they decided to do had to be approved by a committee of citizens so I'm not sure that they ended up doing anything at all.
In the museum is a very early Michelangelo, the Bacchus, done when he was only about 21-22! They also had a couple of his pieces I'd never even heard of (an unfinished Brutus and unfinished Apollo) as well as the Pitti Tondo, a Madonna and Child relief sculpture that is relatively famous. We also got to see the two most famous submissions for the bronze Baptistery door competition: those of Ghiberti (who won and subsequently spent something like 20 years creating the Gates of Paradise I saw last week in the Opera del Duomo)and Brunelleschi (the man who eventually built the seemingly impossible dome atop the Duomo). There were also famous works by Donatello (his St. George and his David, which is undergoing restoration but they have set up the procedure in the gallery space so people can still see the statue) and Verrocchio (his David, which I did not get to see because someone decided not to show up for their job that day and a section of the museum was closed). This is another museum I will have to return to as I didn't get nearly enough time to look around!
In the afternoon I had my (6-hour) weaving class. We have been working on tapestries and I, thankfully, finished mine at the very close of class. It is so small and yet I probably have 7-8 hours of working time put into it. I still need to weave some extra fabric to become the hem and then "block it" which is just a form of finishing. I took some pictures of the work in progress. You'll notice that it is woven upside-down so that the actual piece is the reverse of what my design is. Speaking of, the examples we kept looking at and talking about in class reminded me so much of Grant Wood that I decided to do something that looked like Iowa (as opposed to Italy, which I have been using for everything in Litho). I used a technique called "excentric wefting" to do the entire thing. Let's just say that it was labor-intensive. The worst part? I don't even think it's all that interesting to look at!
And here's the best news: I'm leaving by train for my 3-day trip to Venice tomorrow! I've been spending my whole morning doing laundry, charging batteries, polishing shoes, etc to prepare. I won't have time tonight because I am probably attending a "toga party." I'm not exactly sure how that is going to go but decided I may as well give it a try.
Here are the Bargello courtyard photos with some shots of the tapestry:

http://s211.photobucket.com/albums/bb82/katemcwhorter/Bargello/