Il Duomo di Firenze
Original oil painting by Matthew Holden Bates
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Il Duomo di Firenze - oil on canvas by Matthew Holden Bates
130 × 160 cm | Florence, Italy
Original painting sold / Prints available
About this painting
Il Duomo di Firenze is one of my largest and most important cityscape paintings. Measuring 130 × 160 cm, the painting presents Florence Cathedral not simply as a monument, but as a living center of the city, surrounded by movement, scale, memory, and everyday life.
The Duomo has always been more than architecture. In Florence, it acts almost like a compass, a mountain of marble and geometry rising above the streets. This painting attempts to capture that feeling: the physical presence of the cathedral, the rhythm of the piazza, and the way people gather around history without always realizing they are standing inside it.
Like many of my cityscape paintings, this work began with direct observation and photography, then developed slowly in the studio through drawing, composition, and many layers of oil paint. On this scale, the painting becomes almost immersive, allowing the viewer to enter the space of Piazza del Duomo and experience the city through detail, light, and atmosphere.