Alcune fotografie di Roma

Non c'e dubbio che Roma e' una città molto conosciuta e' molto bella. Ci sono tanti cose belle, che sarebbe difficile di attaccare solo quattro oppure cinque foto. Purtroppo non posso aggiungere tutti i miei fotografie di questa bella città, pero posso infatti mettere foto delle cose che me hanno piaciuto di più.
Per esempio la fontana dei fiumi fatti per Bernini, dinanzi di Sant'Agnese che stata fatta per Borromini cui era il rivale di Bernini.


Questa chiesa bella se chiama Il Gesù. Questa facciata ha avuto molto successo. E' stata usata come punto di riferimento per fare tante altre chiese. La cosa più bella e più unica di questa chiesa e il soffitto, anzi la volta che e' stata fatta per il studente di Bernini, Gaulli detto Bacciccia. La volta ancora ha il pensiero del gran bel composto barocco.


La volta


Questo e' Porta Pia. E' stata disegnata per il gran maestro rinascimentale Michelangelo Buonarotti. Fu finita un anno dopo della morte di Michelangelo, in 1565.



-R

Some work from Roma

I was in Roma for four entire days. I completed a 15 page Arches sketchbook. Here are a couple of pages:

This is Borromini's famous church Sant'Agnese in piazza Navona. With a piece of Bernini's Fontana Dei Fiumi.





This is the Tempio Di Elagabalo inside the Palatino. It's an Ancient Roman temple.





This is the town hall building in the beautiful Campidolio square, which was designed by Michelangelo. The sculpture is an equestrian sculpture of Marcus Aurelius.





These are the chiese gemelle in Piazza del Popolo. The left one is Santa Maria in Montesanto and the right one is Santa Maria Dei Miracoli.





These are a couple of places I visited and enjoyed. I'll post more photos and work later one tonight.

-R

Back from Rome

I'm back from Rome, but I'm very tired. I will try to get some stuff posted up tomorrow. In the meantime here is a photo you might enjoy.


St. Peter's Basilica by night.

-R

I am currently in ROME !

I am in Rome and my hostel doesnt have internet access, it just has one computer with a wifi connection. Which means I cant upload photos. When I return to Siena I will post some of my photos, and a lot of my artwork. Please stay tuned.

-R

Biblioteca di Fiera vecchia, Siena.

I was sitting in the garden of one of the many libraries here in Siena. This is the view of the building from the inner courtyard.



-R

Secession Gebäude

This is a very important building in Vienna. It's the Secession completed in 1897, and designed by secessionist architect Joseph Maria Olbrich.


The Secession building was constructed to house and show the works of secessionist artists such as Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Egon Schiele, Oscar Kokoshka, etc.
It's a concrete demonstration of a unique artistic movement in Vienna, which displayed a truly Viennese style.


-R

Polnische-kirche

Church in Vienna, Austria.



-R

Schloss Schönbrunn, Wien.

My time in Austria is almost up. I have done a nice amount of work, but I think that my photos are much more important to show right now. I will upload some art work when i return to Siena. I was able to see and visit one of my all time favorite buildings that happens to be here in Vienna. This is the beautiful Schloss Schönbrunn. Designed by the very important architect, Fischer Von Erlach :


I think it's important to mention that Schönbrunn also has one of the most well groomed and aesthetically beautiful gardens. My friend Enzo and I walked up to the hill on the opposite side of the palace where you find the Gloriette which was a pavilion built to balance out the architecture on the property. It's on this hill that the famous Venetian painter Bernardo Bellotto did his famous painting of the palace.


This painting of the Schloss Schönbrunn can be found at one of the most important museums here in Vienna called the Kunsthistorisches Museum. This museum houses the works which were owned by the monarchy here in Austria. The museum focuses on italian, spanish, dutch and german works of the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th century. I still have to write about the Belvedere and certain small buildings that I think are important such as the Karlsplatz train station designed by Otto Wagner in the late 19th century. I have to thank my fellow art historian and Viennese guide Enzo Meisel for informing me and helping me with the German words and names.

-R

Wien, Österreich

My travels have brought me to beautiful Vienna, Austria. My friend Enzo and I took a night train from Florence and arrived in Vienna at about 8 am. We came to my friend's apartment dropped our things and head out.
We walked all around and I was very impressed by the city. The architecture here is stunning. I studied some of the buildings before, mostly buildings by Von Erlach and Otto Wagner, but there are many more important architects such as : Adolf Loos, Olbrich, Theophil Hansen, Gottfried Von Semper etc. Here is a photo of one of my favorite buildings here in Wien, this is Von Erlach's Karlskirche :


Walking through the central part of the city you bump into so many impressive buildings and the architecture here is very much Austrian. I think one of the buildings that embodies this individualism is the Secession building designed by Olbrich:


This is the Hofburg palace which was home of the Austrian Emperor and of the Holy Roman Empire, and actually the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire are kept in this enormous late 1800's palace. This building was designed by Gottfried Von Semper:


There are so many things to write about, but it can be very overwhelming and I will add more later, but before I really want to post a photo of the interior of the Austrian National Library. This interior was designed by Von Erlach to be a perfect Austrian baroque interior, and it was made for Charles the VI. The photos I took do not do this interior justice.


This is just a quick post, that i thought was necessary to show my first day in Wien. I will post more photos and artwork as soon as possible. There is a lot to see here and I've only been here one day so far. I have a couple of museum visits to make to see some Schiele, Klimt, and Kokoschka.

-R

San Galgano

Here is the end part of my Japanese Moleskine. It took me about seven days to finish. I'm pretty happy about it, it seemed like a never-ending project but it wasn't as bad as I expected. This is San Galgano, part of the Lettere e Filosofia department here in Siena.


I think this might be my last post in Italy for now. I'm going to Vienna, Austria for a couple of days.
I'm excited to see Austria and even more excited to see the capital city, which is an important art city in my opinion ( although I would never say that in front of my Austrian colleagues ! )
Hopefully I will have the opportunity to make regular posts from Wien. I plan on doing a lot of art and looking at a lot of art. More to come

-R

Sienese landscape

-R

New work for a possible show

I frequent a bar here in Siena, and the other day one of the employees approached me about showing some of my work. I was flattered and happy to be considered. I do most of my work in my sketchbooks, but I did buy some Fabriano blocks. One which I finished but not all the paintings are of Siena ( which i suppose is the theme) So I have about six pieces I would show and I decided to do a couple more just for this event. This is one of the newer pieces.


This is a beautiful rustic alley way near my place. I've drawn it before, but It was a quick sketch. This is a longer painting, that I'm content with.

If you sketch outdoors a folding chair is a must. I'm very happy I decided to bring mine to Italy. It's a big help.

-R

Torre del Mangia

I was enjoying the sun on the main piazza here in Siena (piazza del campo) with some friends and I decided to do some painting.
I started to draw the top of the beautiful tower, which is one of the 3 most important landmarks here in my opinion.
About half way through my painting we were joined by some French students here on a school trip. The kids were from 12-14 years old and didn't speak English, Spanish or Italian. Thank goodness for me I was with a friend who's French. She translated and we had a small conversation going.
The kids were very well educated and I actually enjoyed their company (usually having children around while you're painting an be rough). After I finished we chit-chatted a little longer and then my friends and I went to have some coffee.


Watercolor in Arches sketchbook.

-R

Action shot in Monteriggioni

Here's a photo of yours truly on the outside of the fortified walls and towers of Monteriggioni, Italy.


Photo courtesy of my fellow art historian and traveler Enzo Meisel.

-R

Watercolors, Monterrigioni and Dante Alighieri

però che, come su la cerchia tonda
Montereggioni di torri si corona,
così la proda che 'l pozzo circonda
torreggiavan di mezza la persona
li orribili giganti, cui minaccia
Giove del cielo ancora quando tuona.

—Dante Alighieri, Inferno canto XXXI, linee 40-45

Monteriggioni is quickly becoming one of my favorite cities in Tuscany. I apologize for the bad cropping on the photos, the paper is warping somewhat.

-R

Japanese Moleskine in Italy

This is a Japanese Moleskine sketchbook I brought to Italy with me. It's been sitting in my desk drawer here for three and a half months. I needed a small easily portable sketchbook, where I can doodle when i don't feel like doing watercolors. I think I was originally somewhat intimidated by the book, which is why I haven't used it yet, but I'm glad I started to.
Choosing what to draw has been difficult. I have a lot of books filled with scenes of Siena and other Italian cities, but for this book I've concentrated on entire streets ( or portions of streets ) and façades. I want to keep the continuity so I wont add entire buildings, I want to concentrate on the beautiful windows and doors of Tuscany.



Hopefully I will finish in a couple of days. I've been pretty excited by this project so drawing has been a priority, more than usual.

-R

Technical difficulties in Siena.

For some reason my Internet access has been horrendous. Not only at home but at school as well. I am trying to figure it out. I will post Some work soon. In the meantime, please enjoy this beautiful sculpture on a Fontana here in Siena, which has a Sienese shield.


By the way the Sienese colors are black and white, doesn't get much classier than that ! Hopefully I will be able to post regularly again.

-R

S. Sepolcro a Siena

Una piccola e carina chiesa a Siena.


-R

Modern buildings in Siena

These are some buildings near the train station in Siena. These buildings are way outside of the city walls. I haven't seen many other modern buildings here and that's one of the nice things about the city inside the walls, it's medieval look.
I do enjoy these modern buildings as well, but they would look awkward next to a palazzo from the 1300's. So it's placement is perfect.

-R

Balcony on the Piazza del Campo

After my class I made my way to the Piazza del Campo to have a cup of coffee. I frequent a cafe with a nice balcony overlooking the main piazza.


As usual when I have free time, I started drawing a little. This is a cafe on the opposite side of the piazza. It's pretty expensive, and as far as the students are concerned it's for tourists.

I was satisfied with my product and then proceeded to tackle the Cappella di Piazza, which is attached to the Palazzo Pubblico.


There's an awesome profile view of the Cappella from the balcony, which I had to take advantage of.

I haven't been doing many watercolors, but I feel good about these drawings. I can execute them decently quickly and it really forces me to plan out the drawing and think about light and shadow way more.

-R

Watercolor of Sta. Maria Assunta Monteriggioni

Santa Maria Assunta a Monteriggioni, fatto con gli acquerelli.



-R

S. Maria Assunta. Monteriggioni, Italia

Today I went on a small trip to a city very close to Siena called Monteriggioni.
I went with two good friends, and we spent the day enjoying the sun and Piazza Roma.



This small church is on the piazza and commands attention with it's tower, which stands much talked than any other building in the city.

-R

La torre del Duomo Senese

I'm back in Siena, and as usual when I return I try to draw or paint a landmark. Here is the tower of the beautiful Sienese Duomo.


-R