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| Painted volteggio in the loggia delle biciclette |
Wandering through the Santa Croce District I happened upon this beautiful and curious sight, a painted loggia aging quite gracefully. Far from abandoned, this is now serving as the entrance to several residential buildings.
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| Loggia with bicycles |
From the courtyard communicating between buildings you can see the loggia where the neighbors are storing their bicycles.
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| A charming entrance under the loggia |
The loggia also shelters the urbane entrances to several apartments.
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| detail of the ceiling ornament, with music. |
The ceiling is painted with mix of neoclassical and grottesca ornament from the early 1800's, using a secco-fresco technique and a healthy serving of that delicious
French Ultramarine Blue, whose invention made decorating with blue not only possible, but fashionable as well.
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| detail of ceiling ornament: sphinxes, with hats |
The ornament features allegorical figures representing the arts (music, architecture, painting, sculpture, etc) alternating with grottesca, classical motifs, vignettes of charming European towns, and scenes with animals domestic or exotic. Looks like they threw the whole book at this ceiling.
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| A giraffe and a monkey. And why not? |
Much of the surface is peeling and there may have been one attempt to
touch it up in the past, but I actually like the way it looks in this context. To me, the artful decay adds dignity to this setting.
all photos in this post by Lynne Rutter; Florence, Italy, April 2014
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