Bernini & Caravaggio!

Hi there!

I went to yet another amazing museum this afternoon, the Borghese Gallery.  Mr. Borghese was a wealthy cardinal who built a grand villa outside of town surrounded by a big park.  Over the years he filled it full of fantastic art, acquiring in particular many sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini & about 6 Caravaggio paintings.  Today, the villa has been transformed into an incredibly lavish gallery.  There are two floors, the lower is full of sculpture and the upper is full of paintings, called the Pinacoteca or picture gallery.  

You have to reserve a ticket ahead of time as they only allow about 300 people in for each 2 hour slot.  It is frequently sold out and you aren't allowed to bring in cameras, purses, water, anything really.  I had been wanting to go since arriving in Roma.  Here are some highlights.  I apologize, these are images from the internet because you can't take photos.  A little background on Bernini's style, these sculptures are HUGE and are meant to be viewed in a 360 degree view.  Unlike other sculptors around his time, these are not just one figure standing there.  

This is Daphne & Apollo.  It was gorgeous!!  The story goes that cupid shot the naiad Daphne with an arrow of lead to inspire hatred & shot Apollo with one of gold to induce love.  Apollo is in love with her & she detests him & asks her father to change her into something so that he will leave her alone.  Her father turns her into a bay laurel tree & this sculpture is of that transformation.  Wow!

Detail of her hands turning into leaves:

her legs are also turning into a tree trunk.

This next one is The Rape of Persephone.  Here you see Hades (Pluto) god of the underworld capturing Persephone & kidnapping her.  She ends up becoming queen of the underworld.  This is a fantastic depiction, again it is huge!  You can see Cerberus, the 3 headed hell hound at his feet.  

 Look at the detail of him grabbing her.  This is marble!

Then there is Caravaggio, a master of his time.  He became well known for depicting real looking people by using regular folks he met on the street as models.  In particular whores & beggars.  He started as a still life & portrait artist & often shows his figures brilliantly lit with the rest of the picture very dark.  At that time, this was revolutionary.  He often used himself as a model too, like in this Bacchus:

This is one of his most famous paintings, Boy with a Basket of Fruit.  Caravaggio is also known for his homoerotic depictions.  What do you think?

come hither.  looks sort of like a young winona ryder.

Madonna & child with St. Anne.  This one was controversial because the model for Mary here was the most popular prostitute in Rome.  Also, the christ child is buck naked.

Another famous figure at the Borghese Gallery is this Venus based on Borghese's daughter Pauline.  Here you can also see all the artwork in the rooms.  They all looked like this & all the ceilings were frescoed up as well.  

Here are some other works from Bernini around Rome!  I did take these photos:

fountain in Piazza Barberini

The ecstasy of St. Teresa.  Bernini is so theatrical, note the sculpted theater box watching St. Teresa get murdered by an angel!

Ok, I lied, I didn't take these next two.  I wanted to show you the details of this one and with my crappy camera I couldn't get a good shot.  I was particularly interested in The Ecstasy of St. Teresa because I just read the book, Cutting for Stone, in which it was prominently featured.  Did you read that book?  It was good!

look at St. Teresa's face, she is enraptured by the lord!

angel on the ponte Sant Angelo

another on that bridge

Fountain sculptures in Piazza Navona.  My school is 5 minutes walking from here.

Fontana dei quattro fiumi in Piazza Navona

In other news... nothing much new to report.  I got a 65/70 on my Italian mid-term exam!   I've made a date to do a language exchange with an Italian so, maybe that will force me to speak Italian more.  In many situations it is very easy to revert to English because a lot of people know it.  

I have really been getting into the coffee bars here.  Here is the method:  First, you pay @ a cashier & get a receipt.  You bring the receipt up to the bar & get the barista's attention.  Then you say, un caffe per favore!  A caffe is the most common thing to get, it is just a shot of espresso.  Most everyone dumps a sugar packet in, stir it up & then drink it in a couple sips just standing there.  Then you say grazie & get the hell out of there.  The whole process takes about three minutes, it's a quickie.  Italians scoff at to go cups, I don't even think they exist.  No massive quadruple shot starbuck's lattes in two paper cups, that's for sure.  Italians don't drink cappuccino after noon, if you do it's a sure sign that you are a...  tourist!  God forbid!  Possibly a macchiato.  Once you get the hang of this coffee process you can really act like a local.  Start wearing high heels and carry a louis vuitton bag & you are IN!  :)

I looked at an apartment today that was... unappealing.  I am going to look at some shared housing to cut costs & meet people.  I know I mentioned moving into some free fabulous flat options earlier on, that isn't panning out quickly enough.  

Have a great week everyone! :) xo