Bargello Ground Floor

At the Bargello, we began by viewing the Courtyard, Michelangelo's Bacchus, Giambologna's Flying Mercury, and Donatello's Marble David.

Bargello is a very stout fortress building which was the Town Hall of Florence before Palazzo Vecchio. Later it was a police station, and later still a prison.

Bacchus was the God of Wine, liked to party and get sloppy, and was Michelangelo’s first major commission.

Michelangelo would go on to become the greatest sculptor and artist of the Renaissance, if not of all time.

Giambologna was a sculptor of the Late Renaissance in Florence. He actually produced four different version of Mercury, the God of Commerce.

Giambologna was never allowed to leave Florence. Presumably his most famous sculpture is Rape of the Sabine Women in the Loggia in Florence. According to mythology, the first inhabitants of Rome acquired wives for themselves by conquest and force.

Donatello hails from the very early Renaissance, and was only 22 when he created David, who stands astride two eras: the sway and expressionless face are Gothic, but the contrapposto stance is Renaissance.