Art Reading

So, here are two small artsy topics I meant to post last week that I never got around to putting up. I think some of you might find them interesting. So if you can use some weekly reading, check these out.

Roberto and Margarita, as they often do, ventured on yet another medical conference/golf trip last week. In flight, Roberto discovered this article in Vanity Fair and sent me an email with the info. The story is about the two years in which the Mona Lisa was missing from the Louvre due to the fact that it was stolen right off their wall. If you have a free ten minutes or so, I would suggest reading it. It was really well written and very interesting. I real live art historical mystery people! Dan Brown should turn this into another multi-million dollar novel.

Stealing the Mona Lisa

Secondly, last Thursday I attended a guest lecture by Prof. Manfredi Piccolomini. He is a leading scholar and private collector of one of the newest art crazes, Chinese Contemporary Art. To begin with, he was an excellent speaker. He is a good friend of my Michelangelo in Rome Professor so she gave us the background info on him (he is married to the producer of The View!). He splits his time between the US (prof. of Italian culture) and China. He also serves as a liaison between major US museums and those of Europe and coordinates the exchange of major art pieces for shows. Pretty important guy.

While much of the art was not exactly my favorite, it is an important, fast-growing art culture that is sure to be studied intensely in the next few decades by contemporary art historians. One of my favorites which he talked about and has been collecting is the artist Ai Wei Wei, designer the "Birds Nest" stadium for the Beijing Olympics and one of Beijing's most important artists. It was a fascinating discussion which I enjoyed very much. If you are at all interested in contemporary art, check out his web site New Chinese Art. Go to "the collection" and check out the strange and beautiful art (mixtures of appropriation art, pop art, portraiture, hybridity, etc.)

Best, Lauren

Sadly all my brothel shots wont load...go figure

Mosaic

Triclinium (dining room)

Take a wild guess...

Public Baths

Mnt. Vesuvius about 5 1/2 miles from Pompeii

Pompeii

Positano from the sea

Sally and Anne-Marie don't like the speed

Venturing out on our naval expedition

Indecency on the beach

Because I have to take a picture of a dog no matter where I go

Coral!

Ceramics!

Positano, wish you were here!

View of Anicapri

Michelle, Gina, Myself, and Lauren B.

Ciao!

Lemon tree grove on Capri

Blue Grotto

Handsy guide...Rachel got more than she bargained for

Natural Coral

Tiny rowboats

Into the blue grotto

Black Grotto

Strange face in the rocks

Green Grotto, not to be confused with the blue

Group shot...yes it was a girls weekend

Into the Coral Grotto we go!

Coastline of Capri

Famous lemon tree's everywhere

Amalfi Coast aka Heaven

Travel quote of the week: "There is no way they would let us do this in the United States."

Well, I managed to suffer through yet another gorgeous travel weekend, this time in the Amalfi Coast. I have decided that if heaven is anything like Positano, sign me up! The art historical side of me would like to say that Northern Italy can take Southern Italy any day of the week. However, my inner luxurious, Zsa Zsa Gabor side prefers the large yachts, rich food, jewelry, and beaches of the South.

We arrived in Sorrento late Thursday night to adorable, bungalow style hotel rooms. The next morning we awoke and headed to the island of Capri (pronounced Caapri, long a) for the day. We arrived on the island and immediately were bombarded by solicitors for boat rentals. Using our impressive bargaining skills, we went with the first guy who didn't try to behead us with a map of the island's prime cliff diving locations. Yes, Vincenzo was our man. We embarked on a two hour boat tour of the island's famous grottos. Ingeniously named, the white grotto had beautiful white rock formations, the green grotto had greenish water, the coral grotto had lots of coral around it, and so and so forth. Most famous was the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzura). This cavern in the rocks is illuminate bright blue when the sunlight hits the water in a particular way (this is what I was told....I am no marine biologist). The entire experience was completed by our rowboat captain (it's a very small space so you have to transfer mid-sea from one boat to a row boat...so Italian) who got particularly handsy as he "took photos" of us. The rest of the day was spent at the top of Capri taking pictures and sampling lemoncello.

The next day we set out for Positano, a small mountain town about a half hour away from Sorrento. For me, this was "piu belle", the most beautiful. Though the journey was perilous to say the least in our giant bus on the small winding roads, it was well worth it. we arrived and wandered through the lemon and coral lined streets. We finally hit the beach! It was to die for. Surrounded by the city-scape nestled in the hills, the volcanic rock beach and blue Mediterranean water were quite literally picturesque. I loved every minute of it. Of course, because this is Italy, for eight euro per person and a driver's license from any country, you can rent a speed boat stocked with beer and take off into Mediterranean. Don't be afraid people, I think a professional boating license might be in my future....oh yeah, I drove! Later that evening, we headed back to Sorrento and had the most amazing meal I think I've had so far this entire semester, caprese salad, grilled calamari, roast chicken, spaghetti with claims and prawns, peppers stuffed with eggplant and cheese....as you can imagine, I was quite full (don't worry, we went back the next day for lunch).

Sunday we headed to Pompeii, a place I have been eager to see for a very long time. As a former classics major, this was a long overdue trip. I soon realized that my professors had left out the majority of the racy details when examining Pompeii back at Wisconsin. Our elderly tour guide, Giovanni, had to ask many a time if he could "speak frankly" as he pointed to the various male genitalia which litters the city streets and establishments. When we arrived at the brothel, he told us he was going to have to go to confession for taking a group of young girls to a brothel. Needless to say, it was sort of like going to see ancient porn with your grandfather....no thank you.

Later that night, we sadly had to head back to Rome. Now, I feel I am really heading into the home stretch. With just 15 days left I have two presentations, an oral exam, two major term papers, and four finals....this should be fun! Sadly no trips left. There is the possibility of a day trip to Cinqueterre...pray for me!

Best, Lauren

Music of the week:

Feel in love without you (acoustic) - Motion City Soundtrack

Teach U a Lesson - Robin Thicke

Les Artistes - Santigold

The Girl you Lost to Cocaine - Sia

Better Man - James Morrison

Green Light - John Legend

The Annunciation by Fra Angelico!!

Crucifixion by Fra Angelico

Courtyard of San Marco

Brunelleschi's interior

San Lorenzo

Random farmer's market

Expulsion of Adam and Eve

The Tribute Money

The Brancacci Chapel!

The Ultra Arno

Santa Maria Novella

Courtyard of Santa Maria Novella, Florence

View of Siena

View from lunch

Baptismal Font

Donatello's Angelo

Donatello's Feast of Herod

Pisano's pulpit

The most amazing library!!!

Me and Sarah on our way into the library

Piccolomini Altar (worked on by Michelangelo in his younger years)

The Duomo facade

The Campo

Siena!