Florence Santa Maria Novella Church, 2017

Santa Maria Novella is one of our favorite churches in Florence, mostly for its age and the age and historic importance of its art. We visited in 2011 and 2013, and I blogged about SMN twice, at http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/santa-maria-novella.html and at http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2013/10/santa-maria-novella-2013.html. Photography is now permitted in the church, and consequently I have scores of new pix that are composed and not clandestine. Nonetheless, I'll focus below on art not mentioned in the previous posts, some of it very newly restored and displayed.

Interior view of the great 14th century Italian Gothic, Dominican

A large, exquisite Botticelli Nativity, high above the main door

Water conservation measures in effect...

OK, I've posted this twice before, Massacio's Trinity; can't do
this church without noting its greatest masterpiece

Rene Ssance, Saint Stabbena, 1489

Detail said to be of Dante in the Strozzi di Mantova Chapel

Brunelleschi's Crucifix, done as a reaction to Donatello's rather
more famous one; nude

Stained glass, designed by Ghirlandaio, who did the great frescoes in the apse
(previous posts)

High up there, three boys, done, it is said, by Ghirlandaio's pupil, Michaelangelo
Buonarrotti

In the Strozzi chapel, Filipino Lippi's St. Philip Driving the 
Dragon from the Temple of Hieropolis

After being driven from the temple, the dragon farts

Dragon farts are particularly noxious

Most interesting umbrella stand ever, so far

The large cloister at SMN is covered in 14th century frescoes, many faded beyond
recognition (not pictured here department: the Spanish Chapel...see 2011 and 2013
posts for this pretty incredible place and its beautifully-preserved 14th century
frescoes by Andrea di Bonaiuto)

Among the cloister frescoes was a Genesis cycle by Ucello, thought to have been
damaged beyond saving in the 1966 flood; its most interesting instance, this
Flood scene...

And others, now miraculously restored and prominently displayed

Detail: orchard scene; note the Serpent is a woman, a Medieval convention that
will shortly disappear

Part of the whole glorious room of restored 15th century Ucellos

Same area, refectory, a painting now restored simply by having removed the
painting below, which had covered the older scene's lower center for centuries

Gotta have a food scene in the refectory; incredible church; always our first stop
in Florence