PJ's Studio: Rome

Showing posts with label Rome. Show all posts

Sunday, June 28, 2026

School of Athens

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I believe that “School of Athens” in the Vatican City is Raphael’s finest work. He painted it in 1509-1511. It is part of the Stanze di Raffaello in the Apostolic Palace.

Most of the attention paid to the work focuses on the figures represented – said to be every great Greek philosopher, although not all have been identified. Hence a guessing game that has lasted for centuries.

The key figures are Plato on the left – holding his book “Timaeus” and Aristotle on the right holding his book “Ethics.” As was the fashion of the day, real people were used to represent historic figures – Plato is based on Leonardo da Vinci.

We can recognize Pythagoras by his harmonic scale. Telauges is on his right. But we don’t know if that’s Anaximander or Boethius on his left.

Raphael included himself – in the black hat second from the right facing us, mixing with Ptolemy whose back is to us and either Zoroaster or Seleucus on his left.

The lone woman included in the painting is Hypatia of Alexandria who was a renowned Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer and mathematician in 4^th century Egypt.

Socrates (on the right) praised her as a brilliant philosopher and condemned her tragic murder during Lent 415 CE by a Christian mob who dragged her into a church, stripped her and brutally murdered her.

Perhaps my favorite story about the mural is that Raphael was painting it at the same time that Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel. After sneaking a peak at his work, Raphael was so impressed by what he saw, that he decided to add Michelangelo to the painting.

While it’s fun to play “guess who,” what makes this painting so extraordinary is its flawless one-point linear perspective. While other Renaissance artists were also making strides in their use of a single vanishing point, most of their paintings tend to just have a background and a foreground.

But Raphael creates multiple middle layers too giving the piece an incredible sense of depth. If you stand in front of the painting as I was when I took this photo, you feel like you can just walk right into it. That’s how realistic the sense of three-dimensional space is.

Definitely worth a visit – even with the crowds.

Here are some links to other Rome blogs…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2016/01/rome.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2021/01/rome-3.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2023/11/roman-wedding.html

Cheers!

Sunday, August 3, 2025

Rome digital collage

This month’s digital collage features this photograph from Rome, which I took on my visit in 1997.

There’s actually an interesting story about it. I liked it so much, that I bought the negative into a photo store to have it blown up to 20” x 30” for my walls at work. Yes, it was pre-digital.

When I returned to pick up the enlargement, I was horrified to find that they had given me someone else’s photo. Presumably they had not lost my negative, but merely had sent it and my photo to whomever owned the one I was looking at.

The people at the store asked me what the subject of the photo was so they could attempt to retrieve it. I told them that it was a photograph of “The Roman Forum.”

Several days later, I received a phone call asking me if the missing photo was of “three columns.” I responded yes. But I also realized then that not everyone knows what the Roman Forum looks like. Go figure. 😉

When I began teaching/training, I used the story to illustrate the fact that communication doesn’t work if your audience has no idea what you are taking about.

I combined the photo with this drawing of olive oil and cherries for the final collage.

Here are links to previous collages…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/02/tulum.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/03/venice.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/05/spain-collage.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/07/salzburg-digital-collage.html

Cheers!

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Roman Wedding

My friend Doug is an awesome travel guide. He loves art and now that he has relocated to Rome, he has mastered the art of winding through the alleys to find hidden treasures.

Since we had a few minutes free before our 3:00 visit to the Pantheon, Doug put the Basilica Santa Maria Sopra Minerva on our itinerary.

The church houses a Michelangelo statue – “Cristo della Minerva,” also known as “Christ the Redeemer” and “Christ Carrying the Cross.”

But when we arrived, we discovered that a wedding was taking place. So, I figured we would need to come back later.

As it turned out, I was incorrect. We along with a few other tourists entered, albeit while trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

We had a great view of the ceremony,

the walk down the aisle,

and the pelting of the rice when the happy couple emerged into the sunlight.

Best of all, from our perspective the congratulations included stellar views of Bernini’s Elephant & Obelisk.

I was especially thrilled to see it, because the book I had brought to read on the plane was “The Pope’s Elephant” by Silvio Bedini. The book is about Hanno, the elephant that Manuel I of Portugal gave to Pope Leo X in 1514. Hanno was a big hit with all, including Bernini who in addition to creating this sculpture, also drew him several times.

Here are some other Rome blogs…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2016/01/rome.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2018/03/rome-2.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2021/01/rome-3.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2023/02/villa-deste.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-rape-of-proserpina.html

Ciao

Sunday, October 8, 2023

The Rape of Proserpina

I’ve waited 26 years to see this statue by Bernini.

Back in 1997, on my last trip to Rome, we were unable to get reservations at The Villa Borghese so I was only able to get this glimpse of it through the window from the adjacent gardens.

I could see that it was worth a better look, so seeing it up close was my number one goal for our recent trip to Rome.

I was not disappointed.

As Edward has often remarked - a great statue is beautiful from every angle. (He took this photo. 😊 )

In fact, it was difficult for me to pick a favorite.

But there is no doubt that Hades’ fingers digging into the flesh of Proserpina’s thigh resonated with me the most. Incredibly life-like.

And of course, Bernini is the master of folded cloth.

I am sure that part of my joy in seeing this sculpture is due to the fact that “The Abduction of Persephone,” as she is known in English, is my favorite Greek myth.

For those of you who haven’t read Bulfinch – because she ate six pomegranate seeds while captive in the underworld, her mother, Demeter, was only able to get her released from the underworld for six months each year. Hence the birth of the seasons.