The Honourable Reader slams her Glorious Hand against the table. It aches like a motherfucker, yet as her mind is preoccupied elsewhere she takes littThe Honourable Reader slams her Glorious Hand against the table. It aches like a motherfucker, yet as her mind is preoccupied elsewhere she takes little notice of it apart from registering that it aches like a motherfucker. And for what? She sighs whilst making a fist, but the mind is screaming, "WHAT IS SO DIFFICULT ABOUT PUTTING TOGETHER SOME FORM OF EXPLANATORY MANUAL ON HANDS - WITH EXPLANATORY SKETCHES OF THE SAME BLASTED HAND IN EITHER THE SAME MEDIUM WITH DIFFERENT POSITIONS OR THE SAME POSITIONS WITH DIFFERENT MEDIUMS???????"
Suddenly, a stoic Giovanni Civardi enters the stage. He calmly places this book in front of the Honourable Reader and with a casual tone says, "Nothing. Ecco qua," turns away and exists the stage.
I am irked at the unfeasibility of Learning to Draw by Reading - this only happens by actively drawing and by Looking and Seeing - and clearly I am beI am irked at the unfeasibility of Learning to Draw by Reading - this only happens by actively drawing and by Looking and Seeing - and clearly I am better at Reading than Looking.
Civardi's little manuals are my favourites - detailed, well printed sketches in various mediums and styles, with bits of explanatory text. This puts one in the bewildering position of having to Look more than Read - which is the purpose of this exercise - albeit it is a painful one, perhaps I've built up some tolerance for it recently?
And chiaroscuro is one of the gems in my crown. Georges de La Tour deploys the technique to great success, especially in , and ....more
Goodness, that rice and zucchini torta is the only reason I'm rating this here.Goodness, that rice and zucchini torta is the only reason I'm rating this here....more
I found this to be a tour de force of Italian Renaissance architecture, fans of Italy oughtn't miss it, I've used it as a personal tour guide and rereI found this to be a tour de force of Italian Renaissance architecture, fans of Italy oughtn't miss it, I've used it as a personal tour guide and reread a large chunk of it post-travel, it has just the right whiff of academia to it.
Pienza
In 1405 Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini is born in a small Tuscan village called Corsignano. In 1458, he becomes Pope Pius II. In 1459, he begins the reconstruction of his now lost village of Corsignano and renames it ("city of Pius"). He brings the big guns of the and kickstarts the very first conceptual exercise in urban town planning, a process that was applied to other Italian and European towns. The cathedral façade is just as Pius left it when he set off to fight the crusades, never to return - having put severe restrictions in place not to alter the cathedral design. The street names: Via dell’Amore, Via del Bacio, Via della Fortuna � streets of “love�, “kiss� and “fortune�.
Florence
Randomly sitting on the almighty , there's this interesting thing, , the only survivor of the four towers that once defended each corner of the bridge. In 1565, the Mannelli family who owned it refused to have it altered or demolished so that the Corridor could be built in a straight line. Instead Vasari had to build the corridor to swerve round (see ) the Torre on brackets....more
It's difficult for me to believe that Italy went through the Middle Ages.
Reader, have you ever been to Italy? These people, bless their hearts, put deIt's difficult for me to believe that Italy went through the Middle Ages.
Reader, have you ever been to Italy? These people, bless their hearts, put decorations on the decorations of things, they even embellish the embellishment. But even so, throughout the darkness of the Middle Ages, they forgot to embellish. They forgot about the Aesthetic of the Thing, focusing mostly on the boring function of it. A Corinthian column became a minimalistic pillar with the sole function of cylindrical support. They forgot about .
Somehow, some time after the year 80AD when Rome's was built to include the ornate Composite order, they forgot to Embellish.
Until 1421. When Brunelleschi uses trabeation and reintroduces the Composite Order onto the very streets of Florence, at the - turning away from the "masculine" Doric and the "feminine" Ionic order, Brunelleschi blends these whilst designing the volutes of the Corinthian order to turn diagonally, thus suggesting more momentum and avoiding it being squat - channelling the great Vitruvius himself without knowing it who wrote of using different orders for each floor, superimposing them in ascending order like in the .
Why is this important? Because the game that Brunelleschi restarted here actually existed since Ancient Greece, to be seen even today on the great east portico where the diagonally-oriented Volute was added all rather cleverly into the corner to create more momentum in contrast with the default Ionic.
In Brunelleschi's Florence, it completely changed the dynamic of the game, with big names following in his steps: , , , , , , - all returning to the original writings of Vitruvius and restudying to reconstruct and rework the theory of the calculated harmony between Proportion and Ornament for the purpose of Beauty and Decorum.
What became of this game?
Italy herself would speak through Dante's words:
“Apri gli occhi e guarda cosa sono io: tu hai visto cose tali che ti sei fatto potente abbastanza da sostenere il mio riso�. -Paradiso, canto XXIII
[“Open your eyes and see what I now am; the things you witnessed will have made you strong enough to bear the power of my smile.”]
And what do I see, looking at Italy? Proportion, Ornament, Beauty, and Decorum....more
*insert all the swear words in the history of the universe here + some of my own invention* over that chapter that I knew nothin*insert all the swear words in the history of the universe here + some of my own invention* over that chapter that I knew nothing about until this book....more
Sleep on, in shadowy rest, bold, beauteous !� Sleep calmly on, as if thou ne'er hadst drank The richest blood of Carthage and of Rome.
Sleep on, in shadowy rest, bold, beauteous !� Sleep calmly on, as if thou ne'er hadst drank The richest blood of Carthage and of Rome.� Dream on beneath Cortona's sheltering hills, And lend thy freshness to the olive groves Which bending kiss thy brow,—as if thy care To nurse the plant of peace, might deftly hide From nature's all-pervading eye, the stain Of thy blood-guiltiness.—But she who rests Her tablet on the wing of time, and flies With him o'er every region of the earth, Hath written of thee with her diamond pen, And told thy secret to each passing age.� —Shrank not thy placid waters from the plunge Of Hannibal's plumed helmet, when he sought To slake his battle-thirst? He heeded not The awful redness of thy breast,—but drank Free, as he pour'd that day, the priceless blood Of shuddering Italy.—Rememberest thou
The rush of those firm cohorts, when the earth, Trampled and trembling,—and the echoing hills Attested the dire onset?—With deep groans A mighty earthquake rent the rocks, and made Cities an heap,—yet smote not their mad ear Who mid the clash of sword and buckler fought, With hatred horrible.� —Man's passions mock The strife of nature.—Her worst deluge spared The righteous household.—The storm-stricken main In wrath remembereth mercy,—wrecks not all That to its bosom cling.� —Vesuvius saves Even in the height of his mad victory, The little Hermitage that timid asks Mercy of him, and bids his molten fires Ripen to richer zest its vineyards green.� —But the blind haste, and headlong rage of war, What know they of compassion?—Bid him speak, Who in thy dark and watery deep doth rest,� The stern ,—he who saw defeat The eagle standard quell, and fled to hide His burning shame with thee, holding the frown And grasp of pitiless Death, less terrible Than Rome's upbraiding eye.� In earth he dream'd To strike a root eternal, and to hang Unfading garlands on the fickle sky Of stormy honour.—Even then was spread Thy bulrush pall for him,—and from their cells Thy scaly monsters throng'd at his approach To gaze upon him.�
So farewell, pure Lake!� I am thy debtor for this musing hour Of fancy's sway,—for the bright pageantry Of other days,—the men of mighty soul Which thou hast call'd around.—Oh Italy!� The beautiful,—the fallen,—the worshipp'd one,� The loved of Nature!—whose aspiring cliffs, And caverns hoar, dart inspiration's rays Into the traveller's soul.—Yet what avail The burning glory of thy sunset beam, Thy cataracts rainbow-crown'd,—the hallow'd domes Of thine eternal city,—or the throng Of countless pilgrims kneeling on thy breast, While like the mutilated kings who fed At Agag's table,—thou dost bow thee low Beneath a proud hierarchy, and lay The birthright of thy sons at papal feet.� —Bethink thee of the past,—thou glorious land!� And purge that dark "Mal'aria" which doth blast Thy moral beauty;� —So shalt thou be found A second Paradise,—by serpent's wile, And vengeful sword of flame menaced no more....more
Great - I read it for the detailed accounts of the mosaics in Ravenna and got much more on Ravenna's history (particularly the Ancient History chapterGreat - I read it for the detailed accounts of the mosaics in Ravenna and got much more on Ravenna's history (particularly the Ancient History chapters) and its historic monuments and palaces that can still be visited today - here's to soon looking at you, .
The illustrations by Harald Sund are .
The problem: Hutton is Catholic and he wants his readers to be aware of this on almost every page, - it almost feels mentally deranged to insist upon Catholicism (or any other religion) as the OnlyThingThatMattersInLife based on his own retelling of a meeting between Pope Leo I and Attila the Hun where, according to Hutton, it was only through the power of Catholicism that Leo convinces Attila not to attack Italy.
This continues throughout the book, Hutton purposefully ever so slightly altering historical events in favour of Catholicism, completely forgetting the purpose at hand being a study on Ravenna - I almost feel sorry for him as he sounds quite senile. ...more
Fléctere si néqueo súperos Acheronta movebo. - Aeneid VII, Virgil.
***
According to Lacan (eyeroll, no other way to start this, I've tried) and his mirrFléctere si néqueo súperos Acheronta movebo. - Aeneid VII, Virgil.
***
According to Lacan (eyeroll, no other way to start this, I've tried) and his mirror stage theories, a mirroring relationship forms between Dante and Beatrice, where an individual's sense of Self depends on the positive response of the other. This is easily encountered even in the Bible when Eve and Adam meet - the illusion being that it is possible to create perfect harmony between the Self and the Other, the object of desire.
To accept the impossibility of this basic human desire is to transcend the mirror stage and to find ones place as an Individual in the real world of Language and Order, Lacan describes it as a Journey towards or away from the impossible desire, something that can only happen through obedience to a much higher authority: Philosophy. Cognitive Intelligence. Scholasticism. Enlightenment.
Dante himself admits that the allegory of Beatrice is at least multifold.
To paraphrase Charles Williams off The Figure of Beatrice: A Study in Dante, from Purgatory onwards Beatrice is Dante's way of Knowing and the rule is to "Take stock and observe well!" - she is the attention that is demanded of him and her expositions are the very results of his attention.
"This is the description of the very act of Knowledge, where Dante is the Knower, Scholasticism is the Known and Beatrice is the Knowing."
Her eyes - they are not in the Hells because there is no true knowing in Hell, they are not in Purgatory because that's where Dante is once more learning what he forgot; they are on Earth and in Heaven - this is unsatisfied desire seeing itself in Beatrice satisfied and satisfied desire sees itself in Dante unsatisfied.
Beatrice is indeed his Knowing beyond any actuality, crimson garment or femininity for we are discussing complex concepts surrounding Knowledge that cannot be confided to default romantic love as this is something else entirely.
"Apri li occhi e riguarda qual son io." -Paradiso XXIII 23 (Open your eyes and see who I am)
Lacan speaks of "courtly love" towards Beatrice as a "woman from the beyond" for she represents abstract desire echoed throughout Vita Nuova: the idea of some otherworldly creature - the object of desire - that cannot be touched by impure thought, with the iciness of the "woman from the beyond" that Dante himself crowns his Lady Philosophy of "nobile intelleto" because he now understands that she is his act of Knowing.
Desire metamorphosed into Self Realisation - echoing the Pygmalion myth I dare say it is like loving a statue from the beyond, with better heads having already echoed the same thought:
"I suffer terribly, in body and in the soul, from the feeling of this impossible; � the Thorn Shooter, the Apollo Saurochthonous, the mutilated torso of Diana at rest � the look does not make me drunk � it alters me; […] And then I still suffer to think that they would not sense my caresses." - André Gide
We know it was from Boethius that Dante conceived the idea of representing Philosophy as a "lady full of all sweetness, adorned with virtue wonderful in knowledge and glorious in Free Will".
For Boethius she was a stately Lady consoling the Roman senator, "a woman of a countenance exceedingly venerable who seemed not of our age and time", the "pargoletta bella e nova" (the maiden beautiful and rare) from Rime LXXXVII who is to be wooed in Language and Passion by her lover - and imbued with fresh poetry of Dante's own dolce stil novo, she is transfigured in the glorified Beatrice, the symbol of wisdom revealed to man.
Stepping away from his recognised discorded love, in these Cantos he addresses his readers "donne ch'avete intelletto d'amore" (Ladies who have intelligence of love) or "voi che 'ntendendo il terzo ciel movete" (you who by understanding move the third heaven) that echoes across time all the way to Paradise VIII and it is here in Vita Nuova that he clarifies: “Here is a god stronger than I who comes to rule over me.� - discorded eyes see carnal desire, enlightened eyes see Philosophy - both wearing crimson.
Desire for Beatrice had led Dante to knowing himself. The journey is not neccesarily unique, others will walk in his footsteps up and down the same Mountain path, including dearest Hans Castorp, dragging his own agalma behind him, see Daphne's ring finger part.
For Dante, Purgatory is important as it represents his soul's purification from discorded love as well as the harmonising of all loves with the one supreme love, something that can only occur if one ascends the Magic Mountain of Self-Knowledge.
Where pathological love actively meets its terminus. And the healing process can begin.
In Earthly Paradise, as the Soul attains the knowledge of the Self, it purges out vices and harmonises Love, thus regaining Moral Freedom - the basis of Dante's system of ethics, where Free Will reigns.
The final words of reason to the Soul once the purgatorial process is complete, "per ch'io te sovra te corono e mitrio" (thee o'er thyself I therefore crown and mitre) becomes the literal crown of il poeta "moderno" as the ability to rule himself morally, in complete command of his Free Will and love is purified as the ultimate Empyrean heaven, binding the Universe back into One:
"O grace abounding and allowing me to dare to fix my gaze on the Eternal Light, so deep my vision was consumed in it! I saw how it contains within its depths all things bound in a single book by love of which creation is the scattered leaves."
It doesn't get more literal and Dante cannot be more specific:
"Qual è 'l geomètra che tutto s'affige per misurar lo cerchio, e non ritrova, pensando, quel principio ond'elli indige, tal era io a quella vista nova: veder voleva come si convenne l'imago al cerchio e come vi s'indova; ma non eran da ciò le proprie penne: se non che la mia mente fu percossa da un fulgore in che sua voglia venne. A l'alta fantasia qui mancò possa; ma già volgeva il mio disio e 'l velle, sì come rota ch'igualmente è mossa, l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle." - Paradiso, Canto XXXIII
(Like a geometer* wholly dedicated [*surveyor, stock taker, Hans Castorp] to squaring the circle, but who cannot find, think as he may, the principle indicated- so did I study the supernal face. I yearned to know just how our images merge into that circle, and how it there finds place; but mine were not the wings for such a flight. Yet, as I wished, the truth I wished for came cleaving my mind in a great flash of light. Here powers failed my high fantasy But by now my desire and will were turned, Like a balanced wheel rotated evenly By the Love that moves the sun and the other stars.)
I bring up Thoreau in Walden comparing the written word to Stars: "There are the stars and they who can read them", emphasising that "to Read The Stars ought be done astronomically, not astrologically" because -
- it's not really about stars and romance, it's about Desire and Will seen through cognizant eyes, steered by Cognitive Intelligence. For Dante, love is guided by Enlightenment from beginning to end, leading him in search of the absolute truth and absolute beauty where even for a few moments, there is Silence in Heaven (brain) - an experience that some might take as romantic, religious or sensuous, but for Dante it is an Intellectual one.
By reading the stars astronomically (i.e intellectually) everything is on equal ground, "all parts of the circumference are equal" when before he was "as the center of the circle to which all parts are equal but with you"- and this is the entire purpose of the Journey, to create the distinction between these two states as now his Desire and his Will are in balanced motion and Dante himself becomes the motion and even Beatrice's eyes can turn with everything in correct motion.
Vita Nuova represents carnal love sublimated into intellectual ecstasy.
It is the bravest act of an Individual that has transcended the mirror stage: a self-autopsy without anaesthetic - the palpable, readable result of Dante embracing Cognitive Intelligence (i.e Philosophy) as his mistress of Beatrician quality through a Journey inspired by his Love in Grief after the death of (discorded desire for) the real Beatrice, as he says himself here, that gave him power by discovering the "language of authors, sciences and books".
A Dante that has indeed Transhumanised (see ) - Dante coronato e mitrato by the Self.
The reality is that I could have written all this as a Commedia review as he himself could have written the entire thing on the title page of La Commedia. They go hand in hand - maybe even a bit too much.
"All manner of things in this life act like mirrors."...more
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