Today we went to the Uffizi, probably considered the best art museum in Florence. It’s certainly one of the most, if not the most, famous. As such, it’s very popular.

It covers a large time span, from the classical period through the Renaissance. Doorways, statues, paintings, you name it; the Uffizi has it, in abundance.

The ceilings are, as always, part of the show. But in the Uffizi, there’s so much stuff to display that even the areas high up on the walls right below the ceiling get pressed into service.

The first statue you encounter showcases a rather intense fight between Hercules and a centaur named Nessus.

The only Nessus I was familiar with before I saw this statue was a recurring character in a number of Larry Niven science fiction stories. That Nessus was a member of a powerful but cowardly alien species that tended to hire humans to do anything risky.

Given where we were, there were also quite a few busts of Roman emperors and nobles.

There were plenty of other mythical figures portrayed, like Mars and Venus here. I didn’t realize they got along.

Or my personal favorite, Zeus — as a goose¹ — and Leda.

Zeus really had a thing for mortal women. Why he thought he needed to disguise himself as a goose to woo Leda baffles me. He was, after all, pretty much a real Master of the Universe. You’d think he’d be able to make his pitch in his natural form. Maybe he was a little bit like the Native American Coyote, inherently a trickster.

There were lots of paintings, too. Interestingly, the Medieval ones (the oldest in the collection) looked quite a bit like 20th century abstract art. Which goes to show everything old is new again, eventually.

Another thing I noticed is that it was apparently against the law to smile, or otherwise express happiness or joy. That carried through all the centuries of art on display.

At one point Barbara told me how exciting it was to finally see some of the famous art she had studied in an art history class in college. Never having studied art history myself, I could only imagine how she felt.

Up until I ran across this painting, which even I recognized. It was spectacularly beautiful.

Nor was it the only Botticelli on display.

It took a while to get these pictures because of all the people admiring them. I finally had to learn how to use the tiltable display on my Canon R7 to shoot from above my head, so as to minimize or eliminate the crowds.

There were plenty of other artists on display, too, sometimes using unusual and beautiful media.

One of the last rooms we entered, after having a tasty lunch in the museum’s cafe, was devoted to Niobe.

I wasn’t familiar with the story of Niobe. In a nutshell, she earned the enmity of some of the gods because she had a large number of healthy children.