Day 2 of School
After a long day of over eight miles of walking, waking up seemed impossible this morning. We checked the forecast at least five times to check if it was going to rain. Steve guaranteed that it wasn't going to rain as well, so I left the hotel with just a sweater instead of my raincoat. What a fool I was to not consult the clouds in the sky.
Most of the day took place at the Capitoline Hill, which is one of the 7 hill of Rome. Though it is the smallest, it is considered to be the most important. Legend states that it was on this hill that the Sabines were led into this city by a Roman woman. This act of treason resulted in her being thrown down the hill which led to the tradition of it being an executioners hill. In addition to one of the many historical events involving the Sabines, it was around the year 600 (probably BCE?) that the Temple of Jupiter was built, which was the largest and most important temple in Rome. Now, only a portion of the foundation survives. In the 12th century, a pope (and future popes) were tripped of secular power when a wealthy family came in and took over everything; they set up camp on this hill. This can be the reason why certain buildings are called "Capitol Buildings."
Anyway. Also in the 12th century, there was a reconstruction of an older site on this location. In the 1530's, Michelangelo reconfigured it but it would take several decades for it to be completed. These buildings from ~around~ the time of Michelangelo still stand today, which resulted in the Capitoline Museum.
This museum was originally formed by a pope's art collection, which included a number of very rare bronzes (bronze artwork typically got melted down into weapons or coins (RIP)). As archeological studies were done around the time of Michelangelo, they would be added to the collection.
Kyndle, a girl in the program, gave a presentation on this sculpture of Marcus Aurelius. The original is inside the museum due to the centuries' worth of pollution; it also dates back to the time of Marcus Aurelius, which was a very long time ago. It is larger than life size and set the standard for equestrian statue. You might be wondering why he doesn't have anything to put his feet into when riding the horse. That's because that thing wasn't invented yet. I've never ridden a horse, but I think they're called stirrups. Could be wrong, but I'm just an art student. A fun fact about this sculpture! When the Christians kind of took over Rome way back in the early CE (AD for you persistent Christian folk who need to get with the times), they did not melt down/destroy this statue because they thought it was either a sculpture of Constantine or an apostle. Incredible.
Okay, so this work of art might seem weird but it is THE symbol of Rome. The She-Wolf dates back to about the Etruscan Era, which is Pre-Rome, which is a very, VERY long time ago BCE (Before Common Era). The two babies are Romulus and Remus who were added in the Renaissance. This sculpture tells the story of when Romulus and Remus were taken care of in Rome before being raised by that shepherd and his wife (see previous posts).
On our walk to see works of art, we just breezed past rooms, which just killed me. The image below is one of the rooms full of portrait busts. We spent a lot of time discussing a Caravaggio painting. The one we studied isn't one I want to use to introduce this artist because he is Kind of a Big DealTM (If you're interested in checking it out, warning, it's weird: St. John the Baptist. It's the one with the ram). Okay, so Caravaggio.
He was born in the 1500's and died in the 1600's. He was a very turbulent man who got in a lot of fights and caused a lot of problems. There has been speculation that he was homosexual and dealt with mental illness. He's dead now, so who's to say. Anyway, he broke a lot of boundaries when depicting various subjects in works of art. He used poor people from the streets to be his models for the Virgin Mary (big NONO) as well as other significant individuals. He would show the figures jutting out into the viewer's space, which was unprecedented. Ultimately, he changed the world of art as we knew it and it's for the best. He died early and now his works of art are just priceless and valuable collector items. When the time comes, I'll show you a good one of his. But this one is just weird.
After only touching on a handful of works of art we moved on to the Theatre of Marcellus, which was a nephew of Augustus; it was dedicated in 12 BCE but in the Middle Ages, it was subdivided into apartments, which I think is horrendous. It was 335 feet in diameter and could seat 11,000 people. It would have a major impact in the building of the Colosseum.
We broke as a group for the rest of the day so me and a few other people went out to find food. Pizza is the least expensive thing here so we found a place that seemed good and ordered our food. I didn't realize this particular location sold pizza by weight.
Most of the day took place at the Capitoline Hill, which is one of the 7 hill of Rome. Though it is the smallest, it is considered to be the most important. Legend states that it was on this hill that the Sabines were led into this city by a Roman woman. This act of treason resulted in her being thrown down the hill which led to the tradition of it being an executioners hill. In addition to one of the many historical events involving the Sabines, it was around the year 600 (probably BCE?) that the Temple of Jupiter was built, which was the largest and most important temple in Rome. Now, only a portion of the foundation survives. In the 12th century, a pope (and future popes) were tripped of secular power when a wealthy family came in and took over everything; they set up camp on this hill. This can be the reason why certain buildings are called "Capitol Buildings."
Anyway. Also in the 12th century, there was a reconstruction of an older site on this location. In the 1530's, Michelangelo reconfigured it but it would take several decades for it to be completed. These buildings from ~around~ the time of Michelangelo still stand today, which resulted in the Capitoline Museum.
This museum was originally formed by a pope's art collection, which included a number of very rare bronzes (bronze artwork typically got melted down into weapons or coins (RIP)). As archeological studies were done around the time of Michelangelo, they would be added to the collection.
Kyndle, a girl in the program, gave a presentation on this sculpture of Marcus Aurelius. The original is inside the museum due to the centuries' worth of pollution; it also dates back to the time of Marcus Aurelius, which was a very long time ago. It is larger than life size and set the standard for equestrian statue. You might be wondering why he doesn't have anything to put his feet into when riding the horse. That's because that thing wasn't invented yet. I've never ridden a horse, but I think they're called stirrups. Could be wrong, but I'm just an art student. A fun fact about this sculpture! When the Christians kind of took over Rome way back in the early CE (AD for you persistent Christian folk who need to get with the times), they did not melt down/destroy this statue because they thought it was either a sculpture of Constantine or an apostle. Incredible.
The fragments of Constantine were one of the first pieces we saw of the museum. During the trip we took with the class, we had only an hour and thirty minutes inside the museum but most of that was spent lecturing. I about died, but we'll come back to that. Anyway, CONSTANTINE. So remember the previous post which discusses Constantine? Same guy. This statue would have been around 30-40 meters tall, which is crazy. He kind of looks weird but that's because this abstraction was a standardized formula of showing Constantine. These large eyes are symbolic of the other worldly quality of Constantine because he received that vision from the Heavens on how to win in the battle. It was more important to be symbolic than to provide an accurate rendering of the subject. I've included a picture of me and Steve so you can get a good idea on how crazy massive this would have been.
The museum looked out over a crazy gorgeous view of the Roman Forum. WOW!
On our walk to see works of art, we just breezed past rooms, which just killed me. The image below is one of the rooms full of portrait busts. We spent a lot of time discussing a Caravaggio painting. The one we studied isn't one I want to use to introduce this artist because he is Kind of a Big DealTM (If you're interested in checking it out, warning, it's weird: St. John the Baptist. It's the one with the ram). Okay, so Caravaggio.
He was born in the 1500's and died in the 1600's. He was a very turbulent man who got in a lot of fights and caused a lot of problems. There has been speculation that he was homosexual and dealt with mental illness. He's dead now, so who's to say. Anyway, he broke a lot of boundaries when depicting various subjects in works of art. He used poor people from the streets to be his models for the Virgin Mary (big NONO) as well as other significant individuals. He would show the figures jutting out into the viewer's space, which was unprecedented. Ultimately, he changed the world of art as we knew it and it's for the best. He died early and now his works of art are just priceless and valuable collector items. When the time comes, I'll show you a good one of his. But this one is just weird.
After only touching on a handful of works of art we moved on to the Theatre of Marcellus, which was a nephew of Augustus; it was dedicated in 12 BCE but in the Middle Ages, it was subdivided into apartments, which I think is horrendous. It was 335 feet in diameter and could seat 11,000 people. It would have a major impact in the building of the Colosseum.
This is the Temple of Fortune. it was built in about the second century BCE in an Etruscan Style, so it was built on a podium, or a raised level and had one entrance as well as a deep porch.
Me, Paula (Steve's wife), and two other students got lost on our way to the Pantheon. Thank goodness for smart phones because we found our way eventually. We passed by more beautiful buildings and fun shops; there was even a massive market place! Despite every class I've taken on it, I was not prepared for just how massive the building is.
The original building was built by Agrippa in 25 BCE to commemorate a battle victory but in 80 CE, the building was destroyed by a fire. The Emperor Domition decided to replace it but Hadrian (an important emperor) rebuilt it after. The round portion (rotunda) is Roman, but the columns and the porch are definitely Greek; the shape of the building would have a great impact on other important pieces of architecture such as America's Jefferson Rotunda. The dome is the largest surviving dome from antiquity. It was one of the largest buildings in the world; just being inside the building was dizzying. The dome is 142 feet in diameter and the occulus (large hole in the ceiling which is there on purpose) is 27 feet in width. Crazy! The pictures honestly just don't do it justice. It's open to the public to visit, but it's still a place of worship, so be respectful when visiting.
We broke as a group for the rest of the day so me and a few other people went out to find food. Pizza is the least expensive thing here so we found a place that seemed good and ordered our food. I didn't realize this particular location sold pizza by weight.
After lunch, I knew I wanted to go back to the museum because we only saw a fraction of what was there. So me and some friends headed back, prepared to pay for re-entering the museum. Luckily, though, our ticket was an all day use so we didn't have to pay! Because there weren't history lessons on everything, these are mostly just pictures of cool things. Enjoy!
Okay, I actually know a lot about this particular piece. This sculpture is by grand Italian Baroque artist Bernini (we'll talk about him later) and it is a portrait bust of Medusa. Let me tell you about her.
So my home girl is a gorgon, right? Anyway, she was raped by Poseidon (Not CoolTM, dude). As a way to protect her from further harm by men, a goddess gave her the power to turn men to stone. Well, that punk Perseus saw her pain as a challenge (men, right?) and he went out there and chopped her head off. Honestly, if she was terrorizing towns, I would understand. By all means, go chop her head off, but she's just hanging out in her secluded cave. Anyway, that's the story this sculpture tells. You can just tell by the emotion on her face just how upset she is by the events which are about to unfold, because obviously Perseus hasn't chopped her head off yet.
After we saw everything the museum had to offer, we took the subway back to our hotel and made it back in time for dinner.
Okay, so what I post on my blog is most of the day, but it's just highlights. So if there's something you want to hear more about or want to learn about, comment and let me know!
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