Tuesday 21 Sept - Seriously, it's Marble

The morning talk was about the Roman Empire's (wise) ability to allow for cultures to be absorbed and incorporated into their own. Not just cultures, but religions. Rome was tolerant for the most part of the various religions of their subjects and rarely enslaved a region they conquered. Citizens of the empire were (again, for the most part) allowed to move freely about the empire. Considering the Romans were responsible for crucifying Christ in Israel and they martyred Peter and Paul right there in Rome, within only a few hundred years Christianity had a firm grip on what was left of the Roman Empire. This is the condensed version, of course, but hopefully you get my drift.

While as tour leaders we tend to "make" the clients go off on their own during free time, Rome is a little different in that it's a very large city and easy to get lost in. Yes there are taxicabs galore, and the buses and the Metro, but it is a large city that is confusing when translating a map to what you see in front of your face and it can get overwhelming very easily. One thing about cities in Italy, the name for a street changes VERY often, sometimes from block to block.

Frank was offering to take people on a quick morning walk for those that wanted to leave breakfast early. A trip to the Trevi fountain and over to the Spanish Steps, before everything got too crowded. Before 9AM is a great time to see these sites; afterward it gets incredibly crowded. I prefer walks there at about 7AM myself, and have dragged my family out at ungodly hours to do just that. Watching Rome wake up is pretty magical.

I stayed behind for office hours in the hotel while Frank traipsed off with about half the group. I assisted a group of six with making reservations for the Borghese for later that afternoon, almost the same time I had a reserved spot for, so I told them to look for me in the lobby we would walk together. I gave instructions to a few others about purchasing a 4Euro one-day tourist ticket at the Metro station and marked out maps for them to various sites. We had to be back and ready to depart from the lobby at 6PM for our private tour of the Vatican and dinner in the Trastevere area. Don't be late!

I sprung myself from the hotel and walked over to the Borghese to meet the museum entrance time. It's a huge public park now, but was the Borghese estate. They have a small zoo there, multiple playground areas, and even have a small hot air balloon rigged up to take passengers about 100 feet up to survey the city at 360-degrees while remaining tethered. No floating off. I will have to do that at some point in the future. The Galleria Borghese is an amazing collection of art the family amassed (and paid for as direct patrons) over hundreds of years. The villa itself is a work of art - the walls of the rooms are floor to ceiling stuccoes, friezes and trompe l'oiel paintings in themselves. Much like the Uffizi in Florence, there is so much to see that it takes repeated visits to see everything. But here, I concentrate on the statues. The absolutely amazing statues of Bernini.

There are almost a dozen works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini at the Borghese; they were major patrons of his. Three of his most moving statues are here: "David", "Apollo and Daphne" and "The Rape of Prosperpina." All are studies of capturing movement with stone, all are unforgettable and all are incredibly moving to me.

David is a depiction of the biblical character in mid-throw of the stone that is going to take down Goliath. While Michaelangelo's David is a study in the calm before the storm and of the perfect form of man, and Donatello showed him as a fey and naked young boy, Bernini's is in full-throttle video game action hero mode. He manages to stop frame a moment for us to see the power and conviction of David's action.


Plus, he looks like a young Laurence Olivier, which adds to the hot "hero action figure" in a Shakespearean version, so it works for me.

Next up, "Daphne and Apollo." How do you capture a transfiguration in one shot? Bernini gives us a very good example in this piece. It shows us lovestruck Apollo reaching out to catch the nymph Daphne, just as she turns into a tree. Her hair and fingers become leaves and branches, the toes on her feet grow roots. (Note - these photos are not my own, I couldn't get any with guards in the room.)


And now her hands and feet in transfiguration:



It's just mesmerizing. You want to blink and watch the metamorphosis continue to reach its conclusion.

Finally, The Rape of Prosperpina. This is the telling of the abduction of Prosperpina/Persephone by Pluto/Hades. He's taking her to the Underworld, as promised to him by her mother Ceres/Demeter for six months of the year. Even though it's Persephone that ultimately gives us seasons and vegetation harvests, she doesn't have to be happy about being taken away from sunlight and her mother.




This is a study of violent movement, of touch, and of the mastery of the medium, that Bernini is working with. Pluto is using his might to keep her from writhing out of his grip. Prosperpina is pushing at his face, twisting to escape. Cerberus is at their feet, alternately staring and snarling at what is going on.



What grips me in this statue is how Bernini uses stone and is capable of rendering supple flesh. Pluto's hands indent and impress into her thigh and torso. You can feel the bruising she's receiving. And yet, it's marble.



It just stuns me. Every single time.



I mean honestly, does this look like marble?


Taken out of context of the whole piece, this looks like a passionate embrace. Which, it is, but not passion that's exactly being reciprocated by Prosperpina.

Sigh. Okay, Kris' Art Lecture 101 is over for now...

We boarded the bus in the late afternoon for our private after-hours tour of the Vatican. While we don't spend a lot of time there - a couple of hours is enough time to make your brain seize up with all the things to see we do have the amazing opportunity to see the Sistine Chapel without a thousand of your most non-intimate friends in attendance. It is definitely a wonder.

Dinner afterward in Trastevere at an old trattoria we regularly reserve a banquet room in. Musicians also take part in the evening's festivities, playing songs and getting the guests to dance about with them. A lot of fun is had by all, depending on how much you drink!

It's our "Rome sendoff" for tomorrow we leave for Florence, stopping in Orvieto and Siena along the way.