Saturday 20 June 2009

Roma - part three : the Vatican

So I just wanted to Giotto down some thoughts on the Vatican art treasures...and ...'yes'...that is probably the worst pun you'll read this month !

The first thing that struck me,as I walked from the Ottaviano metro station towards the Vatican was the very large lingerie shop called 'Intimissimi' .

(Have a look at their latest advert at http://vimeo.com/4197532)

Now given that the Clergy supposedly have vows of poverty and abstinence it seems like a really cruel and inhumane punishment for them to have to pass this shop on their way to work...of course,its entirely probable that some of the Nun's...and perhaps even some of the Priests, do in fact shop there...the mind boggles.
Secondly, the queues for the museums are long...loooooooooooooooong...its estimated that at least 30 thousand visitors a day pass through the turnstiles paying an adult ticket price of Euros 14...about £12/$20
Now I have to say that you get to see a lot of art...more than you could realistically see in six months apparently...but given the amount of revenue that is generated,I do think that they could buy something a little more modern...really ...they can't afford a Picasso??

Anyway...the three statues included below are apparently were all crucial in the development of Michelangelo's work...the head of the first was the inspiration for both his 'David' statue and for the painting of 'Adam' in the Sistine Chapel.
The second was the template for the figure of God in the Sistine Chapel.
And the last sculpture apparently changed his style forever...incidentally,he is supposed to have made the apophrycal statement that 'no one who ever painted a ceiling became famous'!!






Finally I include a copy of the museum ticket which rather bizarrely features the middle section of "The School of Athens" painted by Raphael.
The two men are those well known Christians ,Plato and Aristotle...elsewhere in the painting you will also find Socrates...now the painting is allegorical and full of hidden meanings and codas which frankly are too much for a boy from Johannesburg.



And on the way out from the first art gallery part of the museum, don't miss the stunning Caravaggio representation of the Crucifixion...it is mind blowing.

He was the first painter to popularise the chiaroscuro technique...

I had always thought that it was a type of cured pork sausage from the Iberian peninsula!!

(Please note that there is no copyright to the photos as I took them all myself-although they were helped immeasurably by Picasa)

No comments:

Post a Comment