I just read that it's Michelangelo's birthday today and thought I'd take a break from reading about job losses, sinking fortunes, etc. and remember the time I visited Florence, Italy and saw, for the first time, the sculptor's David.
I wrote about it here, along with my favorite painting, Fr'a Angelico's Annunciation.
A very moving piece. I found out about the literary magazine Slow Trains sometime after I created my blog. There's also an erotic online magazine with a similar name.
ReplyDeleteKathleen and I visited the San Marco monastery in 1983, when I was working for CIT Tours. I wondered whether the monks in the cells with, say, the Annunciation, or the Flight to Egypt, had a more positive outlook on life than those who had to meditate on the Crucifixion each day.
We have a copy of Fra Angelico's Flight into Egypt, and perhaps because of the familiarity, it's become one of my favorite works of art.
I just read your article and it is deep & beautiful. It's amazing to me that you had that series of events in your trip. I don't know what it means, but like you, I love fine art (it was my major in college) and mystics of all faiths. I suppose art and mysticism are full of symbols that can mean any number of things to each of us, and that they can bless us as we need them. Perhaps these experiences of yours were quite different for each person who witnessed them. That would be a beautiful chapter in a book, to write from the perspective of several people who were there. You, with your deep awareness and compassion for the lady who fell, would see it totally differently than a pair of lovers, a policeman or a businessman.
ReplyDeleteAnd Michelangelo's DAVID changed my life, when I first saw it. I love classical sculpture, and it certainly changed the way I looked at men! I also love "The Kiss" by Rodin; have you seen it in person? I'll always recall that moment, too.
You made me stop & reflect on good things and hard things, and I feel your positive energy. Thank you for that.
Mysticism of any kind fascinates me. I wonder if you've read Expecting Adam?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know it until I did some research on the David sculpture recently - but the famous viewpoint we all have is actually the side of the statue.
ReplyDeleteMy personal favorite sculpture is the Picasso in Chicago. It is now graced with a lovely Miro across the street who seems to have her arms outstretched, "come here my love!"
Isn't art wonderful with the way it touches us?
"Birth of Venus" did it for me. I could sit and look at every square inch of that painting.
ReplyDeleteBack to the sea thing again...