Photo: LeeB

The magic of Buontalenti’s Grotto in the Boboli Gardens

Within the Boboli Gardens of the Pitti Palace, in Florence, lies a magical grotto

Buontalenti's Grotto - entrance
Buontalenti’s Grotto – entrance
Buontalenti's Grotto - watching over the entrance on one side
Buontalenti’s Grotto – watching over the entrance on one side
...and the other
…and the other
Buontalenti's Grotto
Buontalenti’s Grotto

 

Photo: LeeB
Buontalenti’s Grotto – Michelangelo’s Prisoner
Photo: LeeB
Buontalenti’s Grotto

The grotto was a place of shelter for the shepherds

Photo: LeeB
Buontalenti’s Grotto

with Michelangelo’s contribution

Photo: LeeB
Buontalenti’s Grotto
Buontalenti's Grotto
Buontalenti’s Grotto
Buontalenti's Grotto
Buontalenti’s Grotto
Buontalenti's Grotto - Michelangelo's Prisoner
Buontalenti’s Grotto – Michelangelo’s Prisoner
Buontalenti's Grotto
Buontalenti’s Grotto
Photo: LeeB
Buontalenti’s Grotto

 

Buontalenti's Grotto
Buontalenti’s Grotto
Buontalenti's Grotto - Bandinelli's Ceres
Buontalenti’s Grotto – Bandinelli’s Ceres
Buontalenti's Grotto - Helen and Theseus
Buontalenti’s Grotto – Helen and Theseus
Vincenzo de Rossi's Helen and Theseus
Vincenzo de Rossi’s Helen and Theseus

 

What do you think of the fantastic walls of the grotto? I find them extraordinarily beautiful.

Click here to access the beautiful gardens in which this magical grotto lives: The Boboli Gardens

2 thoughts on “The magic of Buontalenti’s Grotto in the Boboli Gardens”

  1. Helloa Ron. Nope – it is indeed Helen and Theseus. Although Homer neglected to make mention of it, there are a few variations of the legend that tell of Helen’s abduction by Theseus and Pirithous. (Perhaps I’ll add a brief account to the Grotto page to accompany the image of the statue, when I get a few minutes). Neither is it necessarily depicting rape (although the lack of clothing certainly creates that impression): in some interpretations of the myth Theseus respected Helen’s virginity, in others he gave her a daughter, Iphigenia. Paris comes later, after Helen had been carried off to Troy. Dangerous times for women. Although, as you say (I think), recent, more contemporary events, seem to show that some things haven’t changed much…

  2. Thank you !

    Vincenzo de Rossi’s “Helen and Theseus” has to be “Helen & Paris” !?

    (“A word more ! After all we’ve seen to-day,
    I call the piece: The Rape of Helena…”)

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