Firenze

I'm back from Florence where I spent the week studying the Medici family. It was fantastic. I have never seen more amazing art in my life or been inside of so many museums. I just wanted to drop a quick line and add some photos of me doing the Florence thing.

We've got a lot of pictures of me staring at exciting things in Florence: grabbing an orange from an orange tree, staring at the copy of the David, looking at a ceiling, standing by art. There is a lot of staring that goes on in these beautiful art places.

Reading a Roman Portrait

Roman portraiture portrays the values of the era that it is produced in. During the end of the Republican era the pieces are of older men, wrinkled and lined-not hiding their age. With age comes wisdom, in the Republican era wisdom was a valued virtue and therefore was depicted. With the era of Augustus came a new sort of portraiture. Augustus was the first emperor and therefore needed to preserve his youth and grandeur even into old age. This is why the face of Augustus never changes although his body and clothing might. Augustus needed to revive the hope of the people and showing a decrepit, wrinkled old man would not have solidified the role of emperor as god. Roman portraiture is a tool to represent the values of the era and had uses both as a reminder of the individual, but also as a political or religious tool.
The piece I selected is a portrait of a man named Antinous and was found in the Da Villa Andriana somewhere around 117-138 d.C. The portrait appears to be made out of marble, but was at one time painted because you can see specks of a golden color coating the portrait. The portrait is of the face of a man. He appears to be young because his face is unlined and his hair consists of loosely arranged curls on the top of his head. His face is very proportionate-almost a little too perfect at first glance. His eyes are spaced evenly apart, his eyebrows are shaped perfectly, his nose is a little large, but not disproportionate to his face, his mouth is in a resting position, and his face is framed by perfectly placed, untidy, curly hair.
The bust does not appear to have use as a political or religious tool. The sculpture is of a young man, in his late teens or early twenties. His face is unlined and his hairstyle is playful, which suggests his younger age. The most interesting aspect of this piece is that although his face at first appears expressionless the more one looks the more one can read into the emotions of the portrait. He has an air of concern or confusion, but at the same time and incredible innocence, beauty and youthfulness. At first glance he appears stern, I imagine his sternness acts as a mask of his true emotions. The more the viewer looks the softer his features become and a humanness appears. His face is smooth and unwrinkled, but the strange depiction of his mouth, lifeless and yet at the same time smirking and almost tensing in fear, gives a new dimension to his otherwise serene face. His mouth acts as the conveyor of many emotions.
The portrait is youthful and yet at the same time the viewer feels there is some great event about to occur in his life. His hair gives him a roughish, adventurous look, as though he is preparing for something, but what the viewer is not sure. His face seems scared, as though this portrait was being taken before a great event in his life-a marriage or perhaps before he went off to battle. He has two defining features that help to bring life to his portrait. First, his hair gives him his youthful, adventurous appearance. Second, the shape of his mouth is the feature that gives his portrait the most depth. These two features are unique when I contrasted him with other portraitures in the room.
As I walked around the museum I saw either portraits that were of older men, gods, or athletes. The portrait I chose had none of these characteristics. He was set apart in his room by his youth and beauty. None in the room of portraits could rival his curling locks. I was drawn to the uniqueness of his portrait and captivated by the depth of emotions that could be found on his placid face. This piece fascinated me because it seemed that for a face that looked so young and uncomplicated, so many different interpretations of his mood could be concluded.
I imagine this portrait would have been commissioned for a household. Because he is so young it seems to be commemorating a specific important event in this man’s life. This is why I thought that it might have been made before he went off to war or before he married. It seemed that both of these events might cause a mother to want a portrait of her son. I also do not think that this young man is old enough to hold an official position that might warrant his portraiture being sculpted. This also leads to my conclusion that it does not have a religious or political motive.
In Nodelman’s article he discusses the idea of Roman sculptures as aware of their viewer: “the formalized gestures and self-consciously assumed attitude of a Roman portrait statue, and the equally self-conscious composed, or constrained emotion of a Roman face, reflect an acute awareness of the spectator.” Although my portrait lacks age lines and the serious, angry face of the end of the Republican era, my portrait appears to be aware of his viewer. The lack of detail in his face, in fact, causes the viewer to look more closely, to become intimate with the portrait in order to find more depth to the piece. Nodelman’s theory that Roman sculptures were modeled to engage and also be aware of the viewer seems apparent in the bust I choose. Antinous appears as though he knows he is being watched and the sculpture seemed aware of the ways to engage the viewer.
This piece is unique because as I looked at it I felt more and more engaged by the piece. The image reminded me of the pangs of confusion of youth and the transition from youth to adult. There was a sense of irony and contrast in the image. The bust was made of marble, solid and unchanging, and yet the depiction of the boy was of a period of transition and change.

Keats and Shelley

Today we took a very long walk and visited many of the less touristy sites. My favorite of all of our adventures was to the graveyard that house Shelley and Keats. The cemetary is only for those who are non-Catholic and not native to Rome. The graves were beautiful-so I have some pictures for you to look at.
The first is of Keat's grave.
Second a plaque dedicated to Keats.
Third is Keat's headstone.
Then come Shelley's headstone.
Last the writing on Shelley's headstone.

There is such an appeal to Rome that people want to be buried here so that in some way they will always be a part of Rome. Keats chose this path as well as many of those burried in the cemetary for foreigners.

Roman Fever

Rome is an inexplicably seductive and enticing city. The lure of Rome is unexplainable and yet there is an innate desire to understand the Eternal City, to let Rome slowly and sweetly divulge all of her secrets until you intimately know Rome. Authors use Rome because of this very fact, because Rome is not explainable and yet everyone feels that they somehow know Rome. To me, Roman Fever is a perfect example of how an author can use Rome to give more meaning to their story. In Roman Fever, Edith Wharton uses the Roman Forum to help set the stage of the intricate play between past and present.
Roman Fever is a short story that contrasts the mistakes of the past with the lies and deceit of the present. The girlish impropriety of Mrs. Ansley has forever haunted Mrs. Slade and her own error in writing the forsaken letter has torn at her over the years. Both women are aware of the errors of their past, but are unaware of their consequences in the present. As the two women sit staring over the Forum- Mrs. Slade contemplates the letter she wrote, while Mrs. Ansley is reminded of her midnight romp with Mr. Slade. Both women hold the secrets of the past yet sit together in the present with the unspoken truth permeating the air. Mrs. Slade only intending to injure the pride of her “dear” friend and possibly right the wrongs of her past mistake finds that her whole life has been a lie-beginning and ending with Mrs. Ansley. The Forum is the beginning and the end of their relationship.
The Roman Forum is a testament to the past-the ruins of the once great political hub of Rome. The Forum is the heart of Rome-a place that is shrouded with mystery and inexplicable seduction. Overlooking the Forum from a rooftop restaurant near Trajan’s Forum, as Edith Wharton’s characters would have been, one would be able to see the whole expanse of the Roman Forum. The women would have been surrounded by many of the ancient sites of Rome: the Colosseum, the Palatine, and the Capitoline. These sites have specific relevance for Wharton’s story. The Palatine and the Capitoline gain their significance as the birthplace of Rome because of the myth of Romulus and Remus. The jealousy of these two brothers ended in one’s demise. This is the same in the case of the two women- Mrs. Slade’s jealousy is the catalyst for the tryst between Mrs. Ansley and Mr. Slade. By using the Roman Forum as the setting for her short story Edith Wharton is able to use metaphors and myths regarding the Forum to enhance her story.
The Forum is also linked with the concept of Roman fever. Roman fever is malaria and at one time plagued those who spent their evenings in the Forum. The characters in Wharton’s Roman Fever talk about this illness and how their parents warned them to stay away from the Forum at night or they would catch the terrible disease. I think that Edith Wharton plays with the idea of Roman fever and uses it as a metaphor for the feverish passion that Rome unleashes in all of those who come here. Mrs. Ansley may have caught Roman fever, but it was not the illness of malaria that she was taken by, she was captured by love and the madness of love.
By choosing the Roman Forum for the setting of her short story Wharton chose to use the seductive mystery of the Forum to enhance her tale. As Ovid states in looking for a partner one might venture to “the courts of the law, the bustle and noise of the forum…” (Smiles, 27) Even in the time of Augustus the Forum was a place where love might be found. It seems that now the Forum is still alive with that passion-alive with Roman fever.

Etruscan Places

Walking through the ancient Etruscan tombs I was taken aback by the vibrancy and life depicted on the walls. Instead of mourning death, death appeared to be a celebration. Death was not a sorrowful event, but instead a continuation of the splendor of life on Earth. When one thinks of a cemetery in the United States ghostly, haunting images comes to mind. Cemeteries are a place where bodies are housed and await judgment day, where it is decided if they will reside in Heaven or Hell. This negative concept of the afterlife instills the idea that death is a terrifying, unknown experience. In the Etruscan tombs there is no feeling of morbidity, the colorfully painted walls depict and afterlife that is full of fancy, fun and more celebration. In this light, death is not a scary experience.

In Etruscan Places D.H. Lawrence uses diction that denotes his contradicting concept of death. As they two travelers walk towards Ladispoli Lawrence notes the contrast between the “ancient” “ghostliness” of the town in contrast with the “new concrete villas, new concrete hotels…” (Etruscan Places, 49) that also fill the place. The town is a mirror for Lawrence’s divide between the ancient Etruscan belief of the afterlife and his own concept of death. In the town the new villas and hotels taint the streets, sucking from them the life and vibrancy of the past, just as the Christian belief of the afterlife has removed celebration of life. Lawrence begins to struggle with the contrast between life and death when he visits the effigies and see the tombs “the carved figure of the dead rears up as if alive from the lid of a tomb…” (Etruscan Places, 62). Although the image is made of stone there is still an eternal life to the image. It is this eternal life, this continuation of life even after death that fascinates and simultaneously contradicts Lawrence’s own concept of death.

D.H. Lawrence witnessed the Etruscan tombs only a year or two before his own death. Instead of shying away from the experience of death Lawrence chose to visit the tombs. In his writing he struggles with the European concept of death as dirty, tainted and impure in contrast with the Etruscan celebration of the afterlife. The idea of the afterlife as continuation of the good of life on Earth would have been a foreign concept to someone who lived entrenched in Christian ideology of the afterlife. Lawrence knowing of his impending death looks to the Etruscans and their understanding of the “mystery of the journey out of life, and into death; the death journey, and the sojourn in the after-life” in order to find another solution to the question of life and death (Etruscan Places, 86). Knowing that this is a journey he will soon be taking, but appearing unsatisfied with European concept of the afterlife he begins a dance with the concept of death as a celebration. The reader is aware that this dance is not smooth, a series of jerky motions, as Lawrence struggles with his internalized notions of death as the end. It is the idea of death as the ending point of everything and not a continuation that appears to be the most daunting idea surrounding death.

The Etruscan concept of the afterlife as a continuation of the celebration of life on Earth is very clear in the images depicted on the walls. One feels death is not the ending point, that with death life continues, upon entering and viewing the tombs. I felt such awe at witnessing celebration surrounding death instead of the typical American mourning of passing. The idea of celebrating death struck me so strongly that as I walked from tomb to tomb I had to think of what death and the experience of death meant to me. I am not afraid of my own death, but what I fear most is the death of loved ones around me. The idea of the afterlife and where one goes when they pass does not concern me. The idea of loss and the concreteness of death is what scares me. The idea of not getting to say goodbye or not saying everything I meant to, thinking of all of those missed moments, has always been my greatest fear. Walking through the tombs enabled me to take a step back from the absoluteness that we perceive as death and take a moment to think about death in another light. To think about death not as an ending point, but as another step in life, gives life another meaning. The desire to constantly question and fixate upon death is absolved and there is a feeling that life can be a celebration. The Etruscans seem to have shared this belief. Because death was not the focus of life, life could be lived vibrantly and with a passion that has been lost to this age.
The tombs, however, did not feel like cells for the dead, but places of celebration. The aspect of rejoicing at passing and knowing that the afterlife is only another experience of life helps to curb the terror of loss.

Rome

Yesterday we spent the morning at the Roman Forum. The walk to the Forum is absolutely incredible because as you walk up the stais it opens to this wonderful statue of Marcus Araleus (that is spelled wrong) and you walk into this magnificent compo. The compo is symmetric with huge building on either side and a fountain with an image of Rome in the center flanked by two river gods: the Nile and the Tiber. Then you walk behind one building past a garden and the Forum appears. The buildings are weather beaten ruins, but the buildings that are still standing are magnificent. The arches from the triumphs still stand and are massive, intricate things with pictues depicting war, feasting and the triumphs. They are also adorned with many little doodley-bobs, otherwise known as intricate designs.