It's hard to move on

It was a dense experience which I am still processing.

It was curious to hear that over the course of building the Duomo and Santa Maria Novella they changed their minds. The churches were frescoed with paintings like the one in Assisi of similar date, and the Florentines decided for some mysterious reason that this was "northern" or gothic. Anyone who has visited Notre Dame or the Ulmer Munster knows that only Italian churches are so dense with paintings that they create the impression every square inch must be covered.

So they white washed over the frescoes and installed some curious little bays such as one saw in the Pantheon all around the sides.



Masaccio's (1401-1428) Trinity painting was moved to the back end of Santa Maria Novella and then back to the side when it was discovered part of the fresco had been left behind. This is considered the first renaissance painting with full perspective. He was big.