Caravaggio + Zoo + Cy Twombly + Paint + Wine = The Past Week

I am writing this sitting in bed this Friday morning, listening to the Decemberists’ concert from SXSW this year, in which they played through the entirety of the new album. It sounds pretty decent, back more to their old style but harder. So far nothing stands out like some of the songs on The Crane Wife, but I’ll wait until I hear the studio album to make judgments.

Last week on Saturday a smallish group of us ignored the impending doom of the swine flu to brave a trip to Roma. We traveled with our director, Matt Doll, his wife Sharona, and his small children Silas, Ronan, and baby Chiara, because the main event of the day was to go to the zoo! It was a hot and humid day (it actually thunderstormed for half an hour while we were in the zoo) that started incredibly early, but it was well worth it. Matt and a sub-group of students took the early train so that we could see the Caravaggios that we missed last time – the St. Matthew cycle. My life is now complete! The Calling of St. Matthew is extraordinary, a very powerful painting. I was a little surprised at how much I loved the painting facing it on the opposite side of the chapel, the Martyrdom of St. Matthew. It is a very balanced painting compositionally, but also completely violent. The black emotion in the face and tensed and twisting body of the assassin begins a swirling vortex of fleeing figures and reaching angels. There is so little architecture in the painting, and the foreground is essentially a black pit. What struck me the most was how the assassin was set up as such an image of perversion through his act of wrenching St. Matthew’s outstretched arm away from grasping the olive branch of martyrdom that the angel is extending towards him.

Feeling utterly satisfied, we set out towards the zoo, which is contained in the Borghese gardens. It’s a fantastic feeling to now have some idea of what I’m walking past in Roma, knowing that there is a good caffe and here is the Ara Pacis and here is a good wine bar and now we are passing a church with Caravaggios or Michelangelos and we are not stopping to see them again. It is a city loaded with potential.

We had stopped at the open market in Campo del Fiori to assemble a picnic lunch (and eat the best cornetti I’ve had so far) before we quested for Caravaggio, and so we ate in the park after meeting up with the rest of the group at the zoo. Matt prepares the best food, and there were ancient hollowed out trees that we had fun climbing on.

The zoo was decent; the hippos were pretty sweet, and the monkeys were entertaining as always. The seals were not entertaining. The pens were kind of depressing, though, not very well constructed. It was still fun to wander around, though.

When we had about an hour left, I walked out of the zoo and down to the bottom of the hill, where resides the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna. Luckily I was able to get in for free since I am an art student, because my main intention (given my time limit) was to see the Cy Twombly exhibit that was going on there. I did not know before how much time he had spent in Italy; some of the painting had even been painted at Lake Bolsena, which is not far from Orvieto (we have plans to go there next weekend). The exhibit was alright, not every painting or drawing was really strong, but it was great seeing a body of his work again. I will be returning to Rome for a day next weekend as well (lake one day, Rome the next!) with Abby, and we’re going to go back to the museum and look at the rest of its offerings, as well as stop by the Gagosian gallery to see the Anselm Kiefer show (!).

With the exception of a great wine tasting in the convent last Sunday, the week was largely uneventful, mostly more painting. I am loving this class, and my painting skills have drastically improved over this short time. Catherine Prescott is wonderful. It’s also been great having the Perrins here, Christine and I have had some great conversations about everything. Yesterday in particular was a great day, we “finished” painting Elle Perrin (I’m very pleased with it so far) and played calcio/football/soccer at a local field for an hour or so in the afternoon. I then went down to the Perrin’s apartment to talk with them, which ended up being delightful and extending over dinner time.

Another highlight of yesterday was after dinner when Abby and I went to a highly recommended wine bar in town, Il Vin Caffe. They are serious about their wine there, and we decided to maybe splurge a little bit in the pursuit of la dolce vita. I had a red from Veneto (which was just ok), and Abby had a glass of Grechetto. This is one of the main grapes used in the white Orvieto Classico (the main wine of this area), and has a really tangy citrus taste, slightly bitter – it is the reason I like the Orvieto Classico. I like the pure Grechetto even better, because it is not sweet at all. I ordered a crostini plate with sweet tomatoes, oregano, and some small type of fish. Delicious. Abby and I shared a torta that was chocolate and apricot marmalade, and to compliment it we ordered a glass each of a dessert wine. This is not something I normally get; in fact, I’ve really only tried sips of it at different times in the past. We made the right choice in ordering it. Abby’s tasted (and smelled) like less viscous honey, and I ordered a local specialty – Muffa Nobile. It had been explained to me before that this is made (in a similar way to Canadian ice wine) by leaving the grapes on the vines past the normal harvest time. There is a type of “nobile mold” (muffa nobile) that they cause to slightly rot the grapes on the vines, which shrivels them and brings out the sugars – almost like making wine from raisins. It blew me away. The bouquet was delicious and complicated; there were scents that I had never smelled before. The taste was also wonderful, like apricots and caramel. I will do all I can to bring a bottle home.

Tonight I am going to see the Buena Vista Social Club at the local theatre, courtesy of Catherine Prescott. I’m excited because I’ve heard really great things about them, and they’re pretty famous. So that should be fun.

I think that is all for now. I love you all.