Well, well, last night was the night of Roman art history. Perchance I found in YouTube, that fountain of banality, misinformation and good stuff a video by the BBC, Bernini (The Power of Art) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XvDUFgjxWQ. It is almost 50 minutes long, very entertaining and extremely informative (the narrator is not as enthusiastic as the Italian in Penny's video about Bernini, just a phlegmatic Brit!). The highlight of it was the statute of Santa Teresa's ecstasy; the almost erotic expression of Teresa and the mocking face of the angel, together with all the flowing marble. Cathy says the church http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_della_Vittoria is close to where we will be staying; this is a must-see for me. The video ended abruptly, not uncommon in YouTube, so following the BBC clue I found one about Caravaggio https://www.youtube.com/watchv=YDMZE_05tlQ . A very good video, almost an hour long. This painter Caravaggio was a revelation to me. I did not know much except for his final painting (David with the head of Goliath -- actually the painter's).
Who needs TV if you can have all of this good stuff? I would be very interested in seeing more of Caravaggio's work --which I believe is in the Galleria Borghese (a very definite must see for me).
Well, one thing is sure, I'll never forget Caravaggio. Except I might get his life mixed up with Bernini's -- they both are portrayed with goatees. Who's next? Raphael or Michelangelo? Will they have goatees too??
ReplyDeleteOh no...you can't mix up the two personalities. Bernini has his moments of violence but in the end turned into a model citizen, something Caravaggio never did and probably would 't have, even if he lived long enough. I have to admit that C.'s art is more appealing to me. The drama is more direct and now cluttered up with all that baroque frofro. Fernando, keep up the good work. I look forward to more postings. But Cathy I know what you mean about the goatees. I have great difficulty fuguring out who is who among his underlings
ReplyDeleteAnd last night we watched the BBC video on Raphael. Another goatee and another early death from too much carousing. Now on to Michelangelo and DaVinci!
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