Our perspective, however, constantly reminds us that time is limited and that we need to make good use of the days. Today we slept in a bit.......8:30, had breakfast and had another cup of coffee to help us figure out what to do.
The weather continues to be more than we could have hoped for. This will probably be the big jinx, but we have had two weeks of continuous bright sunshine since we got here......temperatures in the day up to the mid-70's and cooling off by almost 20 degrees at night. Today was more of the same. We decided to go downtown to see the Turner exhibit in the Bramante Cloister, which is attached to the church of Santa Maria della Pace. This is all about 3 or 4 block from Piazza Navona, so in the true heart of the city......and one where cars are an issue! We thought about taking a cab, but elected to jump in the Lancia and give it a try.
We did our slalom course down the hill, circumvented St. Peters, crossed the Tiber, and were close proximity in about 12 minutes. We were headed for one of our 'slightly legal' parking spaces that we had used before when we saw a space right on the street, a block from Piazza Navona. There were 7 other cars parked here in what was clearly marked as no parking.....but we elected to join the crowd! It was a bit of a risk, but we did not have many options.
Anyway, we jumped out, meandered through the narrow streets and entered Piazza Navona. The sunlight was really beautiful today, but we also noticed more crowds than previously.
We bypassed most of the piazza and headed for the exhibit. The Bramante Cloister turned out to be quite beautiful. It was obviously not designed as an exhibition venue, but it ended up being a great place to have a show like this.
We spent about an hour and a half, mesmerized by the breadth of the Turner work on display. It was a large part of the collection that he left to the Tate Museum in London. The exhibit included many of the sketches and studies that he did for more finished paintings. What we love about Turner is just this aspect of his amazing work......the paintings that are more fluid and suggestive and not as representational. After the visit we both agreed that it had been one of the more powerful exhibits we had ever experience. We are including a fairly hefty range of images here because we don't want to misplace them. Apologies for some of the reflections.......the light levels were low for conservation purposes and photography was a challenge.
Before diving into the images, it is worth noting that we had lunch in the Cloister Cafe, really a fantastic informal meal in an amazing setting outdoors in the upper level of the cloister.......and some astonishing risotto. One was with asparagus, and the other with saffron, zucchini and mint!
J.M.W. TURNER - Part 1 (pictorial views)
These first images were from the beginning of the show, illustrating earlier work which was more realistic and more complete. As the exhibit progressed, somewhat chronologically, the work became more abstract and 'sketch like' in character. As this work was from Turner's studio, it represented a range of very loose studies and sketch paintings which were not intended for the commercial market. It is this work which, over time, has come to represent the genius of Turner, clearly illustrating his influence on modern art forms.
J.M.W. TURNER - Part 2 (the sketches)
The most interesting part of the show for us related to the more abstract and interpretive paintings. The dynamic quality of color, light and bold brush strokes became a powerful characteristic of his work as his career advanced.
After lunch we wandered back to Piazza Navona and grabbed some gelato at Tre Scalini. It was awesome.......and not as expensive as we had expected. We found our way back to the car, somewhat in trepidation as to whether it would be there or have a ticket, but all was just fine! We jumped in and drove back up to the Academy.......with a few tense moments!
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| Santa Maria della Pace |
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| Chigi tomb |
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| typical Roman street to the west of Piazza Navona |
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| Hotel Raphael.......famous for its ivy walls and rooftop bar/terrace......on our list to try! |
This afternoon, I worked in the studio for a while and we basically just lazed around. We had planned on having a cookout in the back lawn, so went over around 7:00 to set up and enjoy some prosecco before starting a fire in the grill. It was a bit of an adventure getting all the wood organized and deciding on the best strategy to get the fire going. We used a combination of newspaper, pine needles and twigs. Fortunately, there was some cut firewood, relatively dry, in one of the sheds.
Everything worked out wonderfully and we cooked more than we could eat. It was a beautiful evening, highlighted by our first sighting of the famous parrots that live on the grounds. We didn't believe it at first, but it is true! Beautiful parrots flying around.......this all seems so crazy!
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| you have to look for the parrot in this one |
We finally packed up our picnic and headed back to the apartment around 9:30. It was a wonderful evening!
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