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Coronavirus and the Last Supper in Italy

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This week the news hit that the novel coronavirus that has plagued central China continued its expansion around the world, with the northern Italy Lombardy region the hardest hit. A friend in Venice posted a note saying her family opted to drive to the Italian Alps rather than take a chance flying in an incubation tube. I’m happy that my trip to Italy was several years ago and I have great memories.

Milan is the capital of the Lombardy region, which also encompasses Como and the lakes. My time in Milan was precious. Our arrival by train brought us into Duomo Station, not far from the intricate façade of Milan Cathedral, the largest church in Italy. As soon as we entered the square we were besieged by men giving out “free” colored thread wrist bands. Free in the sense that they tied them to your wrists for free before haranguing you for payment. Still, the square was lively and the cathedral magnificent. Between eating pasta near the Duomo and dinner on Via Dante, a pedestrian side street featuring international flags and a plethora of sidewalk cafes, we explored the Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle) and environs. As much as we enjoyed it, the next day in Milan provided the highlight.

After a morning roaming the new architecture of the Missori neighborhood, and the archeological ruins along Via Ticinese, we made our way to Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie with its famous convent. Entering the attached refectory at our ticketed time, we joined a small group waiting for entrance into a anteroom separated from the main hall by glass doors. These elaborate precautions are taken to limit the number of people – and more importantly, volume of warm air – allowed in the refectory at any given time. Inside we are given a scant fifteen minutes to view, and be awed, by Leonardo da Vinci’s pseudo-fresco masterpiece, The Last Supper.

The Last Supper

Perhaps the world’s most recognized painting (in competition with Da Vinci’s other masterpiece, the Mona Lisa), The Last Supper is even more amazing to see in person. Taking up one wall on the short end of a long ancient dining room, the painting depicts Jesus dining with his twelve apostles, moments after he says that one of them will betray him. This dramatic moment is perhaps exceeded only by the drama the mural has undergone during its over 500 year history. Surviving a bombing that destroyed much of the building during World War II, the delicate nature of fresco (or in this case, da Vinci’s modified version of fresco) has meant repeated damage and restoration. At one point a doorway was cut in the wall, chopping off the feet of Jesus and others originally seen under the table.

I’ve been to Rome several times, as well as Venice on a separate visit, but this trip offered me the greatest appreciation of the wonders of Italy. Taking trains between cities, I saw the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City; the Leaning Tower in Pisa; Michelangelo’s David, Brunelleschi’s Dome, and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence; the two towers of Bologna; and now The Last Supper in Milan.

As I read about the encroaching coronavirus in Italy, South Korea, and the world, I’m reminded that my travel schedule has been lessened in recent months. Perhaps it has been a good thing to stay home for a while, but hopes are that the current epidemic doesn’t turn into a pandemic and limit travel for much longer. My heart goes out to friends in China who have been sequestered by government order for many weeks, especially knowing how small most homes are there.

Italy will again be on my radar once I get back out into the travel world, as will the other two dozen “must-see” places I still haven’t seen. Until then, it’s write, write, write.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Raphael and The School of Athens

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Today* is the birthday of Raffaelo Sanzio da Urbino, or as we better know him, the painter Raphael. A contemporary of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael sometimes gets lost in their long shadows of memory. His art and capability, however, can arguably be said to outshine even those two masters.

I had the pleasure of seeing in person what is perhaps Raphael’s greatest work; it is certainly his best known. The School of Athens is a fresco decorating an entire wall in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.

The School of Athens - Ru

It took two years to paint the fresco, all while Michelangelo was down the hall painting the famous ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Raphael also painted many other walls in the Vatican, but The School of Athens was to be the apex of his career.

And he had fun with it. The School is one of four paintings on the walls of the palace depicting the four distinct branches of knowledge (Philosophy, Poetry [including music], Theology, and Law). The actual title given to the fresco is Causarum Cognitio, which translates roughly into “Seeking Knowledge of Causes.” While Raphael left no explanation for the figures, many have been identified as famous philosophers.

Plato and Aristotle detail - Wiki

The only two undisputed figures are the two most obvious in the center of the crowd. Carrying their respective master treatises, Plato (Timaeus) on the left with his protégé Aristotle (Ethics) on the right.Their hand gestures are said to signify central aspects of their philosophies. Plato’s upward point at the vaulted ceiling contrasted with Aristotle’s more down-to-earth horizontal plane positioning. These may suggest a divergence of the two philosophical schools: the elder Plato arguing a sense of timeliness while the younger Aristotle focuses on the present and the physicality of life.

Plato vertically, upward along the picture-plane, into the beautiful vault above; Aristotle on the horizontal plane at right-angles to the picture-plane (hence in strong foreshortening), initiating a powerful flow of space toward viewers. It is popularly thought that their gestures indicate central aspects of their philosophies, for Plato, his Theory of Forms, and for Aristotle, his empiricist views, with an emphasis on concrete particulars. Many interpret the painting to show a divergence of the two philosophical schools. Plato argues a sense of timelessness whilst Aristotle looks into the physicality of life and the present realm.

Of course, since no one knows what Plato actually looked like, Raphael painted him to look a lot like a certain Leonardo da Vinci. Similarly, Aristotle is painted in the visage of sculptor Giuliano da Sangallo.

Beyond these two the identifications get dicier. The following comes from the Wiki page for the painting (click on the link to see the names):

The School of Athens numbered - Wiki

Those that are more or less identified with certainty, in addition to Plato and Aristotle, are Socrates, Pythagoras, Euclid, Ptolemy, Zoroaster, Raphael (painters love to paint themselves into their art), Sodoma, and Diogenes. Others are more speculative. Since Raphael and Michelangelo were not particularly friendly rivals, the rather frumpy looking depiction of pre-Socrates Greek philosopher Heraclitus (#13 in photo above) just happens to look like Michelangelo.

By the way, the two big sculptures in the background are Apollo (left) and Athena (right).

A quick note about fresco. Derived from the Italian word for “fresh,” fresco is a technique of mural painting in which pigments are mixed in wet lime plaster and applied to walls and ceilings. As the plaster dries it becomes an integral part of the wall. It is notoriously difficult to work with, which is why they are so amazing to see today. Other great examples are down the hall in the Sistine Chapel.

Ironically, today is also the anniversary of Raphael’s death in 1520, apparently caused by a fever caught after a debaucherous night of excessive sex with his mistress. He was only 37. Raphael’s influence was so great that he was buried in Rome’s Pantheon.

*There is some question as to whether his birthday was April 6 or March 28 (Good Friday). Either way, he was born in Urbino, a small but “artistically significant” city in central Italy.

[Photo credits: 1st: Ru Sun; 2nd and 3rd: Wiki]

David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His next book is on Abraham Lincoln, due out in 2017.

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Gondolas in Venice – New Header Image

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James JoyceAh, Venice. Italy. One of my favorite stops on my world tour. I have added another image to my header, joining the five other images that rotate from page to page. The photo was taken near Piazza San Marco – St. Mark’s Plaza – in Venice during a beautiful late summer day.

The vagaries of the cover photo requires some cropping to fit the space, so here is the full photo.

Venice, Italy gondolas

In the background you can see the 16th Century Benedictine Church of San Giorgio Maggiore located on a small island called, not surprisingly, Giorgio Maggiore.

I’ll have more photos of Venice in a future post. In case you missed it, check here for a photo of the Campanile, the bell tower in the Piazza San Marco.

Read about the other cover photo images here.

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A Conversation Overheard – The Pope’s Swiss Guards

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When in Rome do as the Romans do.  By which I mean speak Italian and/or Latin, drink a lot of wine, and constantly carry an ice cream cone – gelato – when walking.  At least that seems to be what they are always doing in Rome.

So assuming you’re not Roman and are visiting Rome as a tourist, and specifically if you are a tourist visiting the Vatican, then you must visit St. Peter’s Basilica.  And as the invariably long line snakes to the entrance – soon after going through the security checkpoint – make sure to look to the right just before making that hard turn to the front of the church.  And you’re likely to see the Swiss Guard.

Swiss guardYou would be hard pressed to tell from the multi-colored – even garish – ceremonial uniforms of today’s Swiss guards to know that historically the guards were some of the fiercest fighters of the middle ages.  The guards were called in by Pope Julius II to help fight wars with those pesky Venetians and the French, that is, when Julius wasn’t bossing around both Michelangelo and Raphael as they created their respective masterpieces – the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the School of Athens.

Today of course the Swiss Guards are purely ceremonial.  After all, an easy lifestyle of standing around with a pike and retiring with a papal pension is almost worth wearing those colors and feathered helmets. But admittedly there are days even a Guard would rather not be caught dead looking like that. The day I was there I overheard this short conversation:

Hey, Luigi, do these yellow stripes make me look fat?

No Giuseppe, you look fine. Don’t worry about it.

Are you sure, Luigi? I’ve been putting on a few kilos lately. All that gelato I think.

I said you look fine. We go through this every day. You ask me if the stripes make you look fat, I say no, you yammer about eating too much gelato. This job is boring enough as it is, the least you could do is talk about something interesting for a change.  Hey, is that your girlfriend over there?

Giuseppe glances to the side (see photo).  Oh mio, it is…it is my beloved Bianca. Cazzo, I told her I was the Pope’s right hand man.  I cannot let her see me dressed in this silly outfit. Luigi, rapido, run me through with your pike. Oh Signore, portami in cielo ora.

Okay, maybe I heard wrong. But seriously, wouldn’t that be your reaction?

 

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When Life Imitates Art in Bologna – Oscar Wilde Would Go Wild

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Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time…with a camera.  Such a place and time happened in Bologna, Italy.  I’m sure many will recall an old saying that goes something like “art imitates life.”  Or perhaps you remember the reverse, as in Oscar Wilde’s The Decay of Lying in which “life imitates art.”  Or to put is as he did:

“But you don’t mean to say that you seriously believe that Life imitates Art, that Life in fact is the mirror, and Art the reality?”

So life imitates art. Or art imitates life. Or perhaps both.  But let’s take it a step further.  What happens when art actually mocks life mercilessly?  Take a look at this:

Life imitating art

First, see that the jogger positions himself – unwittingly, no doubt – exactly as the artwork on the wall depicts.  Ah, you say, perhaps the artist observed many joggers over the years stopping to stretch right at that spot. Perhaps.

But then look closer.

The artist apparently had a wry sense of humor.  Not only does the artwork imitate the jogger, it pokes fun of him in a bizarre burlesque.  Little does the pausing runner notice that the permanently paused mirror, though manfully bearded, is wearing high heels, a thong, and flowers in his athletic hair.  Who could believe it? After all…rouge on his cheeks while jogging? Unheard of.

Seconds after I snapped this photo the jogger toddled off oblivious to the suppressed laughter that so desperately wanted to escape my lungs. I had seen this scene unfolding as I watched the jogger approach from afar.  Providence itself couldn’t have delivered a more perfect ending when he stopped to stretch against the light pole.

Sometimes it just pays to be lucky.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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I Walked 77 Miles Through Italy – For This?

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I recently returned from a well-deserved (at least in my mind) trip to Italy, during which my total walking mileage was about 77 miles. In 9 days. The trip started in Rome, passed through Pisa, flourished in Florence, broke in Bologna, and mingled in Milan before coming to a close in Geneva.  And in those places there was the Sistine Chapel, the leaning tower, the naked David statue (another David, no relation), the two towers (no, not the Tolkien ones), the Last Supper, and a mostly not spurting jet d’eau. Oh, and then there was the guy who picked my pocket.

But I’m not going to talk about those now.  I’m going to talk about the weirdos.

There are weirdos in Italy.  Did you know that? To be honest I really shouldn’t be shocked given that I’ve seen this sort of thing everywhere I’ve gone in Europe (not so much in Asia for some reason).  Mostly they are the street performers, if you can call sitting or standing with no movement performing.

First there was the guy sitting on the corner of piazza that keeps Trevi Fountain from running down the street. I think he went by the name of Ronnie Raygun.

Trevi street performer

Nearby was a slightly lost Praetorian Guard.  I believe, but cannot confirm, that he was checking the GPS app on his iPhone to locate the colosseum (two miles east).

Roman praetorian guard

Not to be outdone was this finely dressed gentleman.  Something strange about him – Not quite sure I can see what it is though.  I think he’s hiding something.

invisible man

This guy isn’t really a weirdo. In fact, he played the most extraordinary guitar.  On a most extraordinary guitar.  Very talented and a real treat to hear.

guitar player

Now this guy – he was weird.  But environmentally friendly!

The Tree Man

Even the horses got into the act.  Now I know what they mean by that old expression – “tying on a feedbag.”

horse and feedbag

Too bad we can’t teach the folks here in DC how to wear a costume and stand still for hours.  They would make a lot more money begging that way.

So this was my weirdo, er, street performer post for Italy.  I assure you that there were a lot of incredible sites along the way and I’ll definitely come back to share them with you all soon.  Here’s some art to whet your appetite. Anyone know who this is (who they are)?

David and Goliath