Art History in Vatican City

My apologies for not posting in the past few weeks. Homework took control of my life for a little bit, but now most of the stuff has been turned in! We are now over the half way mark, and I've determined that my assignments can move to the back burner a little bit allowing some more time for extra fun. I currently have A's in all my classes-- that includes a 100% on my Made in Italy test, which was possibly my first 100% in college! It only took until senior year. :-)

On Wednesday we had a review day for our interior studio. The project was to redesign a museum into a lighting showroom. We had to develop an 'atmosphere' or concept in photos and then carry out that idea through our design. I toyed the idea around of creating an oversized lamp object to become part of the two story structure of my face. I see it as a light-hearted, interactive design. As I was nearing the final stages of completing this project my computer got attacked with a virus this past Friday. The virus wouldn't allow me to open any of my programs and use them. It definitely created a major hiccup in the completion of my project. So, on Saturday and Sunday I worked at school on their computers. On Monday, the IT guy that comes in every other day was able to remove it manually. However, I discovered later that all my licenses to use programs like Adobe Photoshop and Revit were removed; thus, I still can't use the important programs on my computer. I'm hoping to get that solved tomorrow. Anyways, my critique went over quite well and now I just have to make some minor adjustments for Monday's due date.

This past Friday I went on a night tour of the Vatican Museum with my art history instructor. She had put in the time and effort to take us along this tour outside of class time because it didn't fit in with our schedule well. The majority of the class ended up passing up their typical Friday night to attend this tour together. I think that really shows how much we LOVE our art history instructor. She spoils us with baked goods almost every week! Oh right, and the information that she shares about the pieces of art are very enticing, too. She can definitely speak about art very well to keep the average person's attention (non-design people). Touring the Vatican Museum at night provided a nice ambiance and made for a great evening. Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures of the Sistine Chapel but I did get one of Raphael's The School of Athens, which displays a bunch of different philsophers like Plato and Aristotle in the center.

Do you notice how in the fresco the guy in the front and in purple stands out different from the rest of the figures? That's the philosopher Heraclitus. Heraclitus wasn't looked highly upon because he never finished a writing, was grumpy, and always kind of kept to himself. Raphael included him because he's actually giving a tribute to Michelangelo. At the same time when Raphael was painting his frescos in this room, Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel. One night Raphael went into the Sistine Chapel to spy on Michelangelo's work, which was a big no-no. Raphael wanted to show that he, too, can paint like Michelangelo so he placed this figure by using that technique and show homage to Michelangelo's work in the Sistine. Raphael also included his portrait as a face peeking out behind people on the lowe right side of the painting. I could go on and on about this piece and Raphael, but I'll resist.

Today for Art History we visited St. Peter's Basilica. It was my second time being inside of it and still was quite remarkable to see. Some quick fun facts about it are:

• La Pieta is not placed in its original location and before 1972 you were able to physically touch it and admire it up close.
  
• Mary is shown as a young woman in La Pieta and not at the right age she would have been at the time (near 50 years old). She is also displayed in a much larger proportion than Christ to help emphasize his fragility.





• In the crossing, there are 4 large statues of saints completed by 4 different artists. Three of them appear to be cohesive while the last one done by Bernini appears to be softer looking. Upon closer examination one can see that he left his statue unfinished, without a polish placed over it.


• St. Peter's Basilica is 10 stories tall along the nave and 15 stories tall in the dome area, but there is still a sense of closeness due to the same materials and colors being used on all parts of the interior.

Things are now quite regular here. I have to remind myself that I'll be going home soon and I need to bask in as much as possible! On Tuesday we leave for our North Field Trip. We'll be staying in Milan for two nights and in Venice for another two. On Saturday Katie and I are extending our trip by going to Verona (the location of Romeo and Juliet). The weather is chilly here now with being in the low 60s. Next week might finally be the time where I'll have to start wearing a jacket. I've been okay in sweaters so far. I can't complain-- it's much better than the weather that is happening back in the Midwest. :-)

Happy Halloween! This is a picture of real children's bones and other human bones around it as decoration. Over 4000 friar bodies were placed in this crypt known as "The Bone Church". It was eerie but cool!