Arte, Musica e Letteratura Italiana

Just some relative thoughts on art from the Rinascimento. Profesor Ivanova gave an excellent overall presentation of what the Rennaisance was all about. These are just added thoughts, that were not mentioned. If one looks at a painting from Raffaello one notices that for the first time there was a sense of field percetion in the paintings. The human figures were all in the front and the landscape was behind. In Medieval art this was not evident.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Giotto_Madonna_In_Glory_Tempera_on_Panel_1305-10_582px.jpg If one continues looking  especially at the elbows, one notices triangles forming, be patient,  I see six. The reason for the triangle is that it is a symbol of the Holy Trinity and Classical Structures (Roman, Greek and Egyptian arquitecture.)After all the Rennaisance was a re-birth of Classical Ideas.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Raffael_027.jpg    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Raphael_Spasimo.jpg

Paris! Oh I remember it well!

What a week I had, while reading Faubert. All of a sudden I started thinking about Paris with its flair and excitement. Though the trip was 20 years ago, my fond memories were vivid. Without noticing it, this past week I put on my favorite opera “La Boheme”which takes place in Paris, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sc%C3%A8nes_de_la_vie_de_Boh%C3%A8me, the Pavarotti-Freni edition (Alanza-Gerorgiou, a husband and wife team gives the opera a more realistic love element). Of course with most operas someone dies, but not before Puccini (a Romantic) mesmerizes you with his unforgettable melodies “O soave fanciulla”.

I of course took out pictures of the Paris trip, focusing on the impressionist art which I love.(Monet my favorite),

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/paris/capucines.jpg

all of which can be seen in the Muse de Orsay, the most unique museum in the world, a 19th century train station.

To top off the week, I was disappointed with the movie “Marie Antoinette”, was a bit unrealistic  especially with the music selection starting with Blondie.

Of course all the guys in the class are asking themselves, “where do I a get a job like Frederick’s, able to support four women at the same time?”

Dore & Dante

http://triggur.org/inferno/big/005.jpg

According to Dr. Conway, in the poem “Benedetto sia’l giorno, e ‘l mese, et l’anno”  Petrarca’s references and passion to love and nature has Romantic elements in it.This interpretation of Dante and Virgilio in the Inferno Canto I by Dore (famous for his illustration of Don Quixote), takes us to a naturalistic part of the outer shell  of hell (below Jerusalem). Can Dante’s poetry also be considered  Romantic? Is hell part of Nature? Is it the artist’s interpretation the only part that is Romantic?