Italia!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Sacra Famiglia by Michelangelo

This past weekend I went to Florence and Venice. It was a class trip so I had very little time to explore on my own. In Florence we went to the Uffizi Museum where I saw all the famous works by Botticelli, Carravagio, Titian, Parmigianino, DaVinci, Carravagio, Giotto, Michelangelo, and many many others. The day we spent in the Uffizi was mainly for everyone in the Renaissance/Baroque class to do their oral presentations. I did mine on Parmigianino's "Madonna of the Long Neck." Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take picture's, but I will post images from the internet of what I learned about specifically. I can now interpret these paintings pretty confidently as well!

Bacchus by Carravaggio

The Annunciation by DaVinci

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli

Ognissanti Madonna by Giotto

Madonna of the Long Neck by Parmigianino
This is what I gave my presentation on and will be the
focus of my final paper for my Renaissance class.

Adoration of the Magi by DaVinci

Medusa's head by Carravagio
This is so much more colorful in real life!
It was definitely one of my favorites!

Venus of Urbino by Titian

The Primavera by Botticelli

Monday, January 31, 2011

Bracciano and Ceramics class

This weekend I went to Bracciano, which is about an hour outside of Rome by train. It was a beautiful day and it was one of the first days all week that the sun made an appearance! Bracciano is small medeivalesque (not a word, I know) town. There was a massive castle that overlooked a lake that seemed more like an ocean. There were eight of us; five of them were students that I just met from a different school. They were all American but they all knew Italian and they practiced their Italian with each other so it was nice to be able to catch on to what they were saying. I feel like I'm already getting better at understanding Italian. Speaking Italian is a different story! I'm just glad that I know how to order food and cappuccinos now! "Vorrei un cappucino e cornetto, per favore! Píu píu! Grazie!"

Bracciano

This is a group of kids who seemed to follow each other like wolf pack. Every single one of them looked like they had something devious on their mind! Italian kids are funny to watch!

Oh yeah, Bracciano is also where I found the best and cheapest gelato so far!

Today, Monday, was my first ceramics class ever! So far it's just me, Bonnie and Alyssa taking this class. We went to a place that is in the countryside of Rome called Anguillara where we had to take a train and from there our instructor, Paolo, picked us up and took us to his studio which is also his house. My art history professor, who is Paolo's wife, was there and she made us tea and cake! We worked for about four hours. I made a bowl and a strange abstract tree-like sculpture. I will take photos when they are finished. It was definitely the coolest thing I've done in a long time!

This coming Friday I will be going to Florence and Venice. It is a school trip so I will be going to a few museums and I will also be doing an oral presentation on "The Madonna with the Long Neck" by Parmigianino before the painting itself! I just hope that I can get through a 20 minute presentation without having a nervous breakdown. I hate public speaking! Although, I do love the painting! Here is a picture of what I will be presenting....

Thursday, January 27, 2011

More Pics of Rome

Graffiti based on Jacques-Louis David's Death of Marat
This made me happy to see since I learned about it in Modern Art last semester!

A Bridge at the Tiber River

This was when I went to Tivoli at Villa D'Este

This was at Dr. Touchette and her husbands house when they invited the group to have lunch at their house.
There were over eight different cheeses that we ate. The big one with the knife in it is ricotta; Dr. Touchette explained that what American's think is ricotta is way different from what it really is and she is sooo right! We ate really massive chunks of it with bread and it tasted very creamy and light! So GOOD!!!!

This is the ricotta on bread with pomodori (tomatoes). Delicious.

YUM!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

More pics of Rome and Codie's Birthday

This weekend I've spent most of the time in my apartment, mostly because it's been raining non stop. I can't wait for the sun to shine! Below are some photos of the past week. Bonnie, Alyssa and I went to Piazza di Popolo to attempt to draw the buildings around us. I didn't accomplish much, Roman architecture is too detailed. The photos of Tiber Island are about a ten minute walk from my apartment and Bonnie, Codie and I went to take pics Thursday morning as part of a homework assignment. After Tiber Island we went to class which was held at Musei di Capitolini (Capitoline Hill). Dr. Touchette took the class through the museum and lectured about Greek influence on Roman art/architecture. Inside the museum is one of the latest excavations in Rome; the Temple of Jupiter, which is supposed to be the same size or bigger than the Pantheon. Unfortunately, Dr. Touchette doesn't like us to take pictures during her class, but I did manage to sneek a few of a broken, but massive statue. After those photos are a few pics from Codie Shumann's birthday. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was very good. Enjoy the pics!