[MR] History Blog: Florence Sculptures Were Painted

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Today's History Blog reports on the recent discovery that marble statues on
 the Duomo (Cathedral) of Florence's facade were originally painted.

The sculptures date to 1359-1360 and depict the Madonna and Child with some
adoring angels. They were long thought to be of white marble. Recent
restoration work revealed that the figures were at one time brilliantly
colored. The Duomo has long been admired for its white, green and pink
exterior, but those are the stone's natural colors.

Besides the text, the History Blog offers a brief video with close views of
the stones, restoration work, and tons of bird . . . uh . . . guano. Once
you view the video, use the right and left arrows to jump to other video
clips on the restoration work.

The story is at http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/65774 .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
(Medieval Cathedral Geek Extraordinaire)