to visit or not to visit

In the past year there has been a lot of talk, discussion and thinking about how to bring more visitors to the National Gallery of Canada. This conversation has hit a certain high note this year with the on-going and numerous, I should say countless cuts to various budgets ordered by our dear Leader Stephen Harper has slowly but surely destroyed many areas of service to Canadians. Many agree that we have entered an age of Corporatist politics, where Corporations are people and their voices count whereas the average taxpayer does not. This means a slow but certain degradation of anything and everything the Federal government does.

In the case of all our National Museums they are Crown Corporations, meaning that they receive a lump sum each year and the rest of their financing must come from the public through sales of tickets and other items such as memberships or donations. It has to be understood that for decades the main source of funding came from the Federal government who financed almost everything. Including building infrastructure and maintaining existing building, renovations, landscaping etc... the public was used to the Providential State stepping in at every turn to maintain these national institutions. Not understanding that they did not pay anywhere near enough taxes to support it all.

In other countries depending on their national history either the King or Emperor maintained private museums of their own collection, i.e. the Hermitage, the Prussian Royal Collections, the Saxon Royal Collection or the collections of the Bavarian Royal House or the Vatican Museums which until not so long ago where not open to the public.

In the USA it was Andrew W. Mellon who was the creator and founder/builder of the National Gallery in Washington DC.  Mellon bought the main European art works from the Bolchevics in Russia after 1919 who were selling off treasures of the Tsars and the Hermitage to finance their endeavours. In turn upon his death he donated to the American Nation all of it for the enjoyment of future generations. In the USA the Spirit with a capital S of endowment and gifts is well and alive, in Canada not so.

In Canada our National Museums were a government creation, unlike the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal which was a private sector creation. In 1905 our first Canadian Museum in Ottawa was the Geological Society of Canada located in a castle like structure named the Victoria Memorial Museum on Metcalfe Street, it is the very popular Museum of Nature today.

The National Gallery had one small room in the basement of that building. Ottawa was a very small town at the time and the development of the museums in general was overseen by Civil Servants. There were some wealthy donors but they were few, unlike cities like Montreal where a well established group of British and Scottish well to do families had their Clubs and Art Circles.

The situation only began to change in our National Museums with the Trudeau (father) era 1968-1982. He had a personal interest in seeing new National Museums built and started a dialogue with the public to get them to involve themselves in the development and enhancement of the collections.
He saw a program similar to the USA where endowment funds and donations would drive museum expansion and not government funds.

The old Lorne building (1959-2012) former seat of the National Gallery until 1987, named after Governor General Sir John Douglas Sutherland, Marquess of Lorne. 

The main idea was that donors would form circles of friends and actively support all the activities of a Museum in particular. This happened with the building of the new Canadian War Museum in 2005, an idea which came about with Barnie Danson (1921-2011), a veteran, member of Parliament and Minister of Veterans Affairs who gathered supporters and to this day continues to thrive on that idea.

The New National Gallery of Canada building opened in 1988, the design alone created a buzz and people where fascinated with it. On the opening year close to one million visitors came to see it.
However this was not a sign that the public was more interested in art in general because suddenly there was a new building dedicated for the first time to our National Art Collections.

National Gallery of Canada (1988)

Whereas in the case of the Canadian War Museum where every Canadian, Veteran or active military is sought after and welcomed, the National Gallery had an image problem very often based on false assumptions and opinions. The public had and has to this day the overall impression that it is a place for the elite and the wealthy. Amongst our French speaking population it is seen as an English institution not open to others. Nothing could be further from the truth but it is a tough perception which will not die easily. Thus an empty museum with the lowest attendance record of all our National Museums including the currently closed under renovation Science and Technology Museum.

The Alarm bell has been ringing and the Board of Directors of the National Gallery have decided that something must be done. I remember prior to 1988 when the National Gallery was located in the old Lorne Building on Elgin Street, a converted office building, the museum was empty then. It was a small dark crammed display area. Not really enticing to promoting the arts and it had that academic approach in the display of the art collection.

This academic approach to the collections is still very present and that is a big turn off for a lot of people in this day and age, when education and intellectual pursuit is ridiculed and seen as worthless in Canada by a clear percentage of the population which includes our Prime Minister who was often quoted in the last 10 years with negative comments towards Arts and Culture. The Media in general has not helped either, a certain popular press is quick to pounce on any type of art which is not appealing to the masses, this includes contemporary, modern and lesser painters of any era.
The tone of the articles is always the same, ''Your tax dollars bought that thing your 5 year old kid can paint'' This type of populist attack which appeals to the lowest common denominator is very popular and sells well.

The other problem, and this is one of society in general, the lack of conversation in Canada about what kind of society do we want to live in. Everything in the last 10 years has come down to the notion of not wanting to pay taxes, having lots of rights and no responsibilities for anything or anyone, the promotion of excessive consumerism, not needing education, i.e. traditional schools, we need more babysitting services instead, not needing arts or culture which is seen as too expensive as long as we have big name sports team and stadiums and prioritizing shopping malls and highways.
As one of our Conservative politician put it so succinctly, ''We are not in Europe here, we don't need that stuff'' meaning arts and culture. A good example of this current political way of thinking is the sudden announcement two weeks ago of the renovations and rejuvenation of the National Arts Centre of Canada on Elgin Street. This is a much needed project however if you look at the details you will quickly notice that we are renovating all the public areas, bar, restaurant, lobby, parking and toilets, nothing is done to the concert halls themselves. This does not mean that more people will be coming to the performances.

The same is true with block buster Art exhibits, one quick solutions to bring people in. Two years ago we had a Summer exhibit of works by Van Gogh, which gave the National Gallery the highest attendance records in decades. However other Summer shows by equally great names like Monet and Renoir have failed miserably to attract record numbers. We did have a show organized with the Tate Modern London in 2010 entitled Pop Life with artists like Andy Wharhol, Jeff Koons and many others, it was a flop despite being a North American exclusive. The cost also of mounting theses big name exhibits has become exorbitant, one cost is the insurance, transport and logistics. Such exhibits need a minimum work of 5 years in planning.
It would appear that Ottawa, the region and as a tourist destination fails to promote/market its museums or maybe the interest is just not there in the Ottawa Valley.

The National Gallery could for starters become more visitor friendly, while retaining a certain academic approach could vulgarise and popularize exhibit space, market the museum as open to the public and at the same time tell the public at large of what we have in our collections. Many Canadians are not aware of the vast richness and diversity of our collections making the National Gallery of Canada one of the truly great world museum.  Maybe the public in general should be asked to support financially the NGC and make a donation upon entry or at any other time. Why rely only on big name donors who are a few hundred at most.

Given that our public often has no information or knowledge on art and may not know artists beyond a famous name and is unable to recognize a work of art by any artists it is crucial to bring things down to a level that is inviting and inspire the imagination. Before we jump to the conclusion that our National Gallery is not at the level of museums in Europe like the National Gallery London or the Louvre in Paris or any other museum in Italy or Germany, we should remember that Europe suffers from the same problem. The Louvre director was saying recently that if it was not for 5 works of art everyone wants to see, the museum would be empty, same phenomenon in Rome, St-Petersburg, Vienna, London or Berlin. Because we live in an anti-education age, the dawn of a new Middle-Age perhaps, the attention span of the public is extremely short, they must be brought to climax quickly because they have other things to do.

The secret of our success in Ottawa depends on how far we are willing to go to reach
a public who is difficult to please or simply unaware of the beauty around them.

Reading and then more reading

As you probably know by now I have very diverse taste in my reading, currently I finished a short biography on the Painter and father of German realism in painting Otto Dix, entitled Otto Dix, The art of life by Philipp Gutbrod.  A fascinating man who led an incredible life in Germany, acclaimed as a great artist and condemn by others dodged by controversy and terrible dangers for himself and his family during the Nazi dictatorship to received accolades and honours after the War but was generally ignored by the Art scene. I wish I could have met him.

I am also reading Teaching in the Art Museum by Rika Burnham and Elliott Kai-Kee. This to help me in my volunteer work at the National Gallery of Canada. A very good guide to develop techniques  on interpretation of art works and how to entice the public in participating and looking at pictures.

I started on a novel entitled to Wake the dead by Marina Belozerskaya, her book is the history of archeology as she follows a man Cyriacus da Pizzicolli also known as da Ancona,(1391-1455) a merchant who has a keen interest for all things antique especially the monuments of ancient Greece and Rome. He wrote but never published many manuscripts on ancient monuments and was read by many powerful people of this time, friend of Popes and Princes, he was highly respected. The story is around 1421 when the Renaissance in Italy was about 120 years old and the Popes in Rome where returning from  their exile in Avignon and rebuilding Rome. There was no archeology before the Renaissance and little knowledge of what the classic Roman or Greek had been like before the start of the Middle Ages around 500 AD. It's an easy read and it is fun.

I am also reading about Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrona, daughter of Tsar Alexander III and sister to the last Tsar Nicholas II. She fled the Revolution in 1920 with her family to Canada and lived until her death in 1961 in Toronto. The family still lives in Toronto today and are active within Romanov Circles promoting the restoration of the Dynasty in Russia. This book entitled; 25 Chapters of my life: Memoirs of my life,  is a diary of the Grand Duchess and her life in Russia when her father was the Tsar and then under her brother and the violent end of the Monarchy and aftermath. It is an interesting read as it gives you an idea what life was like at the Imperial Court.

I also finished reading the short stories of Prince Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Professor and the Siren. What an incredible writer he was and it is so sad that his greatest literary success came after his death and that he wrote only in the last years of his life. Imagine what a success he could have been during his lifetime. He is the author of one of the most famous modern Italian novel The Leopard. Lampedusa is the archetype of the Sicilian nobleman, stuck in the past and unable to move forward or even wondering why he should move at all. I remember one passage where he explained that all the Nobles in Sicily and there were quite a few, did not see any reason to change after Sicily was annexed by Italy in 1870. They had lost everything but since they were Princes, they did not see why they should change just because now they were part of Italy. Many cloistered themselves in their Palaces in Palermo and continued to live as if nothing had happened, life became more and more financially precarious but it never occurred to them to find a job.  This was his world, educated, erudite, well traveled, it is and was the dilemma of Sicily then and now. Not really belonging to Italy and no longer part of a greater Kingdom with ties to Spain.
I find him a fascinating character and his writing is beautiful.

I have many other titles waiting for me to read and I have to be more disciplined in my reading schedule.

Celebrating World Pride Day 2014

In Canada and around the World we are celebrating Pride Week.

The Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art (MOCCA) in Toronto has a special exhibit for World Pride Day.  Website: www.mocca.ca

Attila Richard Lukacs, Coo coo Ka-chhoo, Mr. Robinson (1999)

Yes the Liberal Party of Canada under Justin Trudeau as Leader our next Prime Minister is celebrating World Pride Day! The agenda of the Just Society born in 1968 with his father the late P.E.Trudeau is back with us to make our Canada great again.

Canada at the 55th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale.

Marc Mayer Director of the National Gallery of Canada speaks of the art of Sherry Boyle at the Canada Pavilion in Venice, Italy.

If you are in Venice this summer you can visit this exhibit. 

Travel to Italy anyone?

A few weeks ago I became an associate with a group of people who are promoting Italy as a travel destination. Our group offers Italian language courses, Cooking classes and Wine tours in Italy. We can also offer guide tours of Italian regions, advice and services on villa and apartment rentals in Italy, preferred hotels to fit your budget and what ever other services you might need if you wish to travel to la bella Italia.

We are all Italian speakers and we have all lived in Italy, some of us even have family there. Our advice is based on sound knowledge of all aspects to ensure that you will find enjoyment in any part of what we have to offer.

Have a look at the website

 If you want any questions on the information on the website you should mention my name as the associate who referred you, Lorenzo. You can contact me directly here and I will forward any request you may have or you can contact Stefania at the following email: stefania@esploritalia.com

Marcus-Aurelius, Campidoglio, Roma

Piazza Venezia, Roma

Pictures

I started working as a volunteer with the education program of the National Gallery of Canada. We received a good training and much help from the staff of the Education department of the Museum.

I went with some old time Museum volunteers to my first school to see how this is done, much trepidation wondering what are schools like these days in Canada. Needless to say they are nothing like when I was in school 50 years ago. Schoolrooms look like a playground with lots of colours and material for the students to interact with, some classes have a computer on each desk. So the task is to prepare carefully all the material and make the presentation as interesting as possible and hope that the kids will be engage and find the presentation interesting. The teachers also have a role to play, that is if they are interested, this is not always the case.

National Gallery of Canada on Nepean Point.

Inside the Great Hall of the National Gallery of Canada looking at Parliament on the hill across from the Rideau Canal.


The presentation is in several parts, first introducing myself and who I am, secondly, speak of the Museum, ask if the students have been or heard of it. Luckily so far the groups I spoke too most if not all the kids had been to the museum. I also say a few words on the Artissimo program which is dedicated to kids from 5 to 11 years of age and introduces them to art with a mixture of adventure, treasure hunt which is fun and easy. Finally I make my presentation by asking them questions on the art work presented and on what they think of it. That can be a problem, some students will not answer or participate, others want to participate and have all the answers, but I find that thinking about what you look at is not always easy for them. A painting or a sculpture is not always giving away all its secrets and it requires some observation, some critical thinking. This is where students have the most problems,
thinking and critical thoughts are not their strong points. I wonder if this is the phenomenon of what is called Snowplow parents, this expression comes from the fact that parents today will do everything for the kids so they do not have to think for themselves.

I also find that children are not terribly aware of their surroundings or geography or history or time periods. They cannot understand anything outside of their immediate world and time period. Now so far I have only done French Immersion schools in Ottawa but I am schedule to speak at French school in Quebec on the other side of the river in Gatineau. I was told that I would find that the students in Quebec are very different and much more engaged and aware. It could also be a factor of language, the vocabulary of the English student in French Immersion program is not as developed as that of a native French speaking student. I will have to wait and see what I discover.

My first presentation on my own was a series of 3 portraits, one by Tintoretto, one by William Breczy and one by the American artist of Pop Art fame Wayne Thiebaud. The students loved the painting by Thiebaud, it is closer to them in time period and it is Pop Art, so easier to digest.

I have now decided to change my presentation and go for representational painting, I have one of the Montmorency Falls near Quebec City in the winter of 1815, another of the Port of Hamburg, an allegory on Canada and one painting by Simon Vouet, the Fortune teller, because of the subject matter and action in the tableau. Vouet sought his inspiration from Caravaggio. Will see what happens and how it is received by the students.

It is hard work and I am usually very tired afterwards but it is great fun.





   

Conference at the National Gallery of Canada

I was invited to attend a conference today in the auditorium of the National Gallery of Canada organized by the Director of the NGC and the French Embassy. The theme of this conference was entitled ''Visions: Art Museums in the 21 Century'' a discussion on the transformation and challenges facing museums today and the role of directors.

Invited guests where Xavier Dectot, Director of the new Louvre-Lens (pronounce Lance) in the small city of Lens (pop 36,000) in the Nord du Pas de Calais, which is near the Belgian border, an old coal mining area.
This new museum will open on 4 December 2012 designed by a team of Japanese architects, it is enormous and sits on 22 hectares of land formerly known as Pit no.9. It is an all glass building, each single pane of glass measures an impressive 6.80 meters or 22 feet in length.
The other guest speaker was Laurent Salomé, Chief Curator at the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Grand Palais in Paris. who spoke on what they were doing to bring more people to the museums.

Paul Lang, Chief Curator of the NGC was hosting and Marc Mayer, Director of the NGC was present as was the French Ambassador and his spouse. There was probably about 150 museum members present. The conference was in French with English simultaneous translation.

It was interesting to hear both guests who painted a difficult picture of the realities of Art Museums today, the average French Citizens goes only once per year to any museum. Only 50% of the population of France actually goes to visit a museum. Most people who visit museums are women over 50, usually retired with some money and a University diploma. The challenge for the director in attracting visitors to the New Louvre-Lens is as follows; the new museum is situated in an economically depressed area, the coal mines all shut down in the 1970's, largely a young population, poorly educated with high levels of unemployment. Lens in its description reminded me of those mining company towns in novels like Germinal by Emile Zola. The construction of the new Louvre-Lens follows the democratization and decentralization of museums, a movement which is popular in Canada and now being copied in France. So what will be on show at the Louvre-Lens will be borrowed for 5 years from le Grand Louvre in Paris. It will also feature temporary exhibits and contemporary artworks.

Canada and France have numerous collaborative efforts in the organizations of exhibitions and studies. This brings about a sharing of exhibits touring cities around the world, to save money and to generate revenues for each museum. Our guests bemoaned the fact that in France the budgets for Culture have been slashed severely. We were told that we should be thankful our Canadian Government which reduced the budgets of all National Museums has not been more drastic in comparison.

Reliance on private donors and private funding for exhibits is now the game and multinational companies are being courted assiduously, they are taking up where national governments have left off. In the last 15 years major exhibits have been funded almost 100% by private enterprise in Canada but also now in France and probably elsewhere in the world. Though our French guests admitted that there was still a big debate in France between generations of Curators on the merit of having private companies finance Art exhibits, many see that as cheapening the process.

Attendance is also down in Museums and I can vouch for that, I can see it at the NGC in Ottawa but also at the other National Museums like Civilizations and the National War Museum how very few people visit everyday.  Xavier Dectot was saying that if you took out only 3 famous art work at the Louvre, people would probably stay away, he mentioned the Venus of Milo, the Mona Lisa and the Victory of Samothrace. Entire galleries like the one devoted to the 17th century painter Nicolas Poussin are deserted. We saw that in Italy where people went to a museum to see one art work and ignore the rest, comes to mind the David by Michelangelo in Firenze.

The French are promoting now something we have been doing in Canadian Museums for a long time which is to make use of technology to promote museums, sending docents out to schools to promote art works and interest in the arts in general. Offer school teachers free programs to help them with their class curriculum. I was pleased to hear our guests compliment Canada and the NGC for our modern approach in trying to attract the public back to our museums.

I was relieved to see that our problems in Canada are the same elsewhere, a factor of a changing world and interest and falling educational standard. They are not insurmountable but a major challenge for any  museum director.

I also learned that a major retrospective of the work of Marie-Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun will be held at the NGC in 2014. She is said to be the most important female painter of the 18th century in France. She was the official painter of Marie-Antoinette. She also worked in Italy, Russia at the Court of Catherine II, in Switzerland and in England. There has never been a retrospective of her work.

Marie Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842)







  

Countryside

Getting out of Ottawa and into the countryside is easy, we are surrounded by parkland and agricultural land. In a matter of 10 minutes you are out of the city.  We went to Wakefield or La Pêche as it is also called in the Gatineau Hills on the Quebec side of the Outaouais river, these are the hills North of Parliament Hill and it is cottage country for many people who live on the Ontario side of the river. There are also many golf courses and the Prime Minister's Official Summer Residence at Meech Lake. The hills are very ancient, this is why they are so low, erosion and time, millions of years, have whittled them away. The forest covering is not so old, maybe 100 years at most, prior to that the forest was almost exclusively giant Pines, all cut down by the lumber industry between 1810 and 1920. Nowadays the trees are a mix of variety but Pines still exist, some groves preserved because they were on land owned by the Crown. The lumber industry has largely disappeared.

Wakefield has always been a picturesque village with lots of artists and prosperous city dwellers who inhabit the area. The Gatineau river runs along the old rail road tracks and there is also an old wood covered bridge, you could almost say that it is Ottawa's version of the Russian River near San Francisco.
On a sunny day it is very pleasant to go up to Wakefield and enjoy a lunch in a nice restaurant or visit an art gallery or friends who live in the area.

Gatineau River at Wakefield

The old wood covered bridge

the old homes in the village, keeping much of the flavour of an earlier time.

I also love to buy preserved made locally by people in Wakefield. In this case to help a local charity, QUAIL which supports independent living in Chelsea, Quebec for people with handicap or elderly.

or buy some of the heritage variety vegetables grown locally, species of vegetables you can no longer find in supermarkets. The Russet potatoes are excellent in stews or soups as they do not fall apart when cooked and the purple carrots or the yellow squash.

Here are the famous Wakefield Grannies or at least 3 of them with Will and Robert.
They are local grandmothers helping out other grandmothers who live in South Africa and are responsible for bringing up their grandchildren left orphans by AIDS. The Canadian Club of Rome invited Brenda and Robert last year to attend a fund raising event in Rome held by the Club and the Canadian community in Italy. See their web site for all details: www.thegrannies.org
The Wakefield grannies have raised important sums of money and have greatly helped their African counterpart. They are truly wonderful ladies.

It is such a peaceful place and the quiet is so relaxing. In the fall when the leafs on trees change colour the area becomes spectacular.

That European feeling

Will and I were talking recently about going back to Canada and how it will be difficult to re-adapt ourselves to life in North America. It comes down to a feeling, un état d'âme, a view of life and of its priorities. There are important differences between Europe and Canada, in Europe there is a certain attachment to traditions, history, the arts and culture. There is a certain respect for knowledge and experience. People are more attached to their society and their group, maybe it is the age of the continent, its ancient history, traditions which are connected to the beginning of Western culture.

Berlin, Charlottenburg

Not that in Canada you do not find similarities with Europe, there are lots of similarities but life and how it is lived is very different. In Canada people are in a hurry, the idea of being efficient or being cost effective, of multi-tasking, of managing every minute of your time are very important. Taking time for a coffee break or having lunch is seen as a waste of time. How often you see managers scheduling a meeting at lunch time. You do not leave on holiday before the end of the day or take an extra day off during a major public holiday. Those are not values you find necessarily in Europe or at least they are not at the same level of importance in every day life.

Dresden, Saxony

Europeans see life differently and this is what suits us so much about living here. Family, friends, socializing is important. Arts and culture are important, appreciation of food and wines are important, people have time for conversing. It is all in the approach, how you see things and what is important, compared to a career and alway trying to accumulate stuff.

In many ways returning to Ottawa will be a big adjustment. Maybe we are just more European in out look. A question of appreciation in living well versus rushing through life.

Borghese Gallery, Rome

Located in the vast Villa Borghese grounds just outside the Pinciana Gate (Via Veneto), the Gallery is the creation of the Cardinal Nipote (nephew) Scipione Cafarelli Borghese (1576-1633) whose uncle was Camillo Borghese known as Pope Paul V (1605-21). The Gallery is largely unchanged today with its original core still intact. The building is built according to the suburban architectural model of the Classical age, it is conceived from the beginning as a microcosm of every form of art. The Borghese family used it as a seat for its diplomatic enterprises and to allow Cardinal Scipione's passion for collecting. The enormous park of the Villa Borghese was acquired by the purchase of many parcels of land just outside the Aurelian Walls of Rome prior to 1609. Originally vineyards, he went about transforming it all into formal gardens in the manner of the 17th century.

Entrance to the park of the Villa Borghese at the Aurelian walls and the Pinciana Gate.

Entrance to the Gallery is by reservation only and tickets must be purchased in advance, often days ahead. The wealth of the collection is overwhelming for any visitor, the opulence is over the top, it conveys to the visitor the image of the power and the wealth of the Borghese Family. Many artists of the time came under the patronage of the Borghese Family and of Pope Paul V, Bernini and Caravaggio to name two.

Galleria  Borghese on a summer day, facade as it has been since 1903.

If you visit the Borghese Gallery take an audio guide, it is well worth it. It will tell you not only the story of the collection but also how Cardinal Scipione went about acquiring the works, he used threats, bullying, prison and the power of his uncle the Pope to get what he wanted. Given that Rome came within the rule of the Papal States at the time, the wishes of a person like Cardinal Scipione were nothing less than direct orders to the people under him. The position of Cardinal Nipote was basically the number two of the Holy See. It also gave him enormous wealth and unlimited funds to buy just about any art work he wanted.

While visiting I learned that several of the Caravaggio's were given to Cardinal Scipione, two of them, the boy with the fruit basket and the Bacchus malato were in the house of Cesare D'arpino, the teacher of Caravaggio. Cardinal Scipione had him arrested on the pretext that he had ammunition and prohibited weapons in his house, Scipione threw him in jail and Cesare D'arpino faced a possible death sentence. However if he was willing to give up the paintings the Cardinal wanted, all could be forgiven and forgotten. He gave the paintings to the Cardinal and all ended well for everyone concerned.  The same thing happened to another painter Dominichino who had painted a figure of the Goddess Diana for Cardinal Aldobrandini. Cardinal Scipione used his position to get that painting.

the sick Bacchus, a self-portrait of Caravaggio at 31. He will be dead by the age of 37.

Boy with the basket of fruits. His name was Mario, a Sicilian from Syracusa and he was a close friend of Michealangelo Merisi Caravaggio

The inside decoration of the Gallery today is the work of another Borghese, Marc Antonio Borghese who in the period 1776-1800 had the intricate colored marble in-laid floors installed and all the ceilings painted with allegorical scenes of ancient mythology, the walls are also decorated with grotesque designs, various marble and other rich decorations all this to enhance the already rich furnishings and the wealth of the art collections.

The Gallery is also used to present as is the case now other collections, at this time there is an exhibit of 60 works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, the master of Northern European Renaissance Art. So one can compare Italian Renaissance with German Renaissance art, it makes for a too rich exhibit, the brain overloads quickly with such sensory stimulation. The works on display are priceless and unique, security is tight, visitors must check before entering all bags including ladies handbags, no food, no drinks allowed, no cameras, etc... There are lots of guards around, mostly in civilian clothes so they can be more discreet, only a small badge identifies them as staff.

Gallery Borghese entrance from the park

Despite the crowds initially at the entrance door, all in all I found that the visit goes very smoothly, quietly, people speak softly.  You are given 2 hours to visit the museum but usually after one hour most visitor on the  scheduled visit have already left, leaving an almost empty museum to oneself to contemplate the works of art at leisure until the next group is scheduled to enter.

Detail of the Villa Borghese Park with the towers of the Villa Medici

Once the visit completed you exit unto the beautiful gardens and the splendor of the sight continues to accompany you. The museum is not a building by itself but is surrounded by two secret gardens of rare plants and flowers of the period of Cardinal Scipione (open only to pre-arranged escorted tours) and an imposing aviary once housing rare exotic birds as was also the fashion of the 17th century in Italy. Cardinal Scipione wanted a complete  Theater of the Universe, a collection of wonders.  The Villa Borghese was open to the public in 1903 but it is really only since 1997 that we are able to see it in the splendor of the time of Cardinal Scipione.

I got the book on the different works of art in the collection, there are so many it is difficult to remember all the details.  I find that being surrounded by such beauty is very relaxing and transports you to another world, the classical age, which appeals to me, I also learned about the secret gardens and their history.
I can think of Tivoli and the gardens of the Cardinal d'Este a UNESCO site with its water organ playing music of the Renaissance and of other such great garden in Italy that we have visited. Such wondrous places all.

Caravaggio in Rome

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (29 September 1571, Milan – 18 July 1610) was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His intensely emotional realism and dramatic use of lighting and darkness had a formative influence on the Baroque school of painting.
Presently at the Scuderie del Quirinale Museum an exhibit of all of his major works is on display. It is next to impossible to get tickets and you have to line up just to see if there is some cancellations. Museums and private collections have loaned works from their collections for this very special and important exhibit.

Caravaggio used ordinary street people as his models, even once using the corpse of a drowned prostitute fished out of the Tiber river in Rome as the model for a dead Virgin Mary. This in itself was a revolution in painting, his works are very different from the other painters of his era and though he was totally forgotten after his death, his rediscovery in the 20th century makes him very popular today.

This brings me to last weekend when after our visit to the Church of the Santissimi Apostoli in Rome and to the Palazzo Colonna we went for lunch. At the table next to us was this lady who told us she had seen a report on CNN (a news channel I avoid like the plague) which talked about the current sex scandal at the Vatican and the whole paedophilia story which is now consuming the Holy See. More lurid revelations this week and now it extends back to the days of Jean-Paul II and his friends, truly disturbing.
So this lady asks our friend the Art Historian if Caravaggio was a pedophile. Our friend asks her why she is asking this question.
The lady goes on about how she saw the documentary on CNN about the Vatican and the sex scandal and how she also saw the exhibit of Caravaggio paintings at the Scuderie and was wondering about this because she did notice lots of young naked boys in Caravaggio paintings.

Our friend was taken aback with this association which leaps over 400 years to today. She pointed out that Caravaggio lived in a very different time and it is not possible to associate his paintings with what is going on in the Church today, there is no link. The world and people of the 16th Century did not think the way we do and did not see or feel things in the same way,
it was a very different time. Our friend then pointed out that in the 16th century, classical thought was still very much the leading school, the male body in classical thought is the expression of an ideal, of beauty and perfection.

The lady was not satisfied, she wanted to know why not little girls, why little boys. Again our friend patiently explained to her that women or girls in the 16th century were considered property and simply kept under key at home. It was unthinkable to represent women in a fashion other than what was allowed by the Church who then controlled tightly all expressions of art.
She explained that works showing the Virgin Mary breast feeding baby Jesus which were acceptable before the Council of Trent were not appropriate after the Council in response or as a reaction to Protestant ideas. Works that did not conform where destroyed and the artist could face severe punishment. A woman could be a mother, working in fields or at home taking care of children or she could be the Virgin Mary. Society was also divided in strict social classes which did not mix and from which you could not escape. She also pointed out to her that in our way of seeing things today, we often forget how different the world was then compared to today. Women became objects of beauty about 150 years ago and still very gradually as society changed. She also explained to her that the whole concept of childhood or children as we know it simply did not exist 100 years ago, children were nothing more than little adults, only in the 20th century would all this change.

It just reminded me of how unfortunately we today are ignorant of the past and how our concept of what is acceptable dictates what we think was good or bad in the past, as if we could go back and correct the past. We are always ready to apologize for our ancestors. How often we hear today people say, back then they were not as open minded as we are or knowledgeable or advanced. I am sure that 50 years from now the same will be said about us.

Unfortunately for this lady, she did not like Caravaggio's paintings because she believed that they encouraged paedophilia, seeing evil behaviour where none existed. She was unable to understand classical thought, she probably did not know about classicism, forgetting that Caravaggio was only expressing the ideas and ideals of his time, nothing more. The so called boy angels is beauty not something disgusting. Caravaggio had a dissolute life, murdered 2 people, had debts and a terrible temper and was himself murdered on a beach by his enemies, but he was also a very great artist, not a paedophile.

I pointed out to her, that in the following centuries other artists would use putties and cherubs to decorate Palaces and Churches, are they not naked male babies one would think, no they were merely the expression of an ideal at a time in history, because if you study those putties you will see that their faces represent innocence, playfulness and that they are unaware of sin.

Her comment and questions reminded me of my visits to Greece where there is plenty of male nudity both adult and youthful, Praxiteles the great sculptor of the classic age followed the ideal of beauty expressed in the male body. Male nudity expressed in painting or sculpture may not be acceptable to some for whatever reason, but it is nonetheless the expression of timeless classical beauty.

Privilège, Privilegiato

It has been a busy time in Rome of late. We have been to the Rome ICE bar on Via della Madonna dei Monti near the Roman Forum. Then last weekend we walked along the Via Appia Antica a wonderful road, known as the Queen of Roads (Regina Viarum) built by Appius Claudius in 312 BC making the road 2322 yrs old with its original paving stones intact.

Today was the highlight a private visit made possible only because we knew someone who could ask for special access to the Casina of Pope Pius IIII in the Gardens of the Vatican. This Casina built in 1553 as a pleasure retreat for the Pope is never open to the public and no one is allowed to visit period, the only people allowed in are the staff and special guests invited by the Pope. It houses today the Pontifical Scientific Academy, along the lines of the Academy of Athens in antiquity and is headed by an Archbishop. You can imagine our delight at being allowed to enter and visit the building. We could only enter by one door in the new wing and exit via the garden, we could not sit, nor touch anything, any pictures we took cannot be published. I wish I could show you the inside it is marvelous, the colored marbles alone on the floors are unique. Our guide was Nancy de C. who is extremely knowledgeable and makes any visit truly interesting.

We entered the Vatican State by the Porta Santa Anna on Via Di Porta Angelica, this is the official entrance to the Vatican State and is used by people who come on business to the Vatican, meeting an official, etc... but it is not a gate for the public. We walked along the drive between buildings, on our left above us the Palace where the Papal apartments are located, and then through a large courtyard with a fountain with the coat of arms of the Borghese Pope and then under a large archway and up a coffered brick ramp which led us just outside the walls of the Sistine Chapel, the effect of brightness inside the chapel is created by high powered lights aimed at the outside windows, (see picture). Then a sharp turn right and we are behind the basilica of St-Peter and in the Vatican gardens. Even in cold weather and heavy rain the gardeners were busy. There it was the Casina.

Set amid the Vatican Gardens, the Casina was begun in 1553 by Pirro Ligorio and Sallustio Perruzzi, and completed between 1560 and 1562. This villa consists of four separate sections, with two pavilions and two arched gateways or Propylaea, connected by an oval inner court like an ancient nymphaeum, decorated with statues in the round, high reliefs, bas-reliefs, festoons, friezes, escutcheons and frames in stucco, where putti ride on waterspewing dolphins. It was here that Pius IV used to enjoy moments of peace and solitude. Also his nephew, St. Charles Borromeo, then Cardinal Secretary of State, held his famous literary dinners in the evenings. All this came to an abrupt end in 1565 when the new Pope Pius V closed down the Casina and it remained in a decaying state until 1920.

Since 1926, it has been used as the seat of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which encompases both the Academy of the Sciences and Social Sciences. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences consists of eighty scientists (Sciences and Social Sciences) selected from around the world who are appointed for life by a sovereign act of the Pope.

The aim of the Academy is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences and to advance the understanding of the history and philosophy of Science.

A very good day despite the cold and rain.