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May. 23rd, 2007 10:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smokingbootStruggling with an ensuing sense of the grimness, I return to record more of Italy, the last before I have to face life, work, all that stuff...
Pisa,mmm. I didn't want to see Pisa at all really, a tourist trap built around a medieval cock up. Who cares if a tower leans? But the lean is the least important thing about the piazza del miracoli; Truth is, after 900 years the whole square is full of stone lace buildings gorgeous and improbable, and in the Camposanto lies treasure.
There are huge frescoes there, often attributed to Buffalmacco, a larger than life figure around at the right time (14th century). No-one knows who painted these frescoes, and none of Buffalmacco's work remains, so one can see how the poetic imagination might pair the two up, but beyond wishing, I don't know if there's any real evidence.
Il Maestro Di Triomfo Della Morte remains anonymous, and that's a real shame,* because these frescos have as much vitality and imagination as anything I saw in the Uffizi.
Knights and ladies come across open coffins, worms slithering out among the fat fresh bodies of the dead; one knight holds his hanky to his nose; horses prick their ears in alarm at the sight and smell, one horse curls its lip, and the hunting dogs creep forward; each and all so expressive! Unconcerned, a man milks a goat in the corner - the Mastro is not creating realism, but all his characters are so vibrant, so alive! Then follows a scene where demons and angels wrestle for the souls of mortals - and we see some paradisical gardens where happy souls sit under fruit trees guarded by cherubs; one nurses her little dog (first depiction I've seen of an animal soul in heaven) while a would be lover smiles at her, and the musician plays his lute. Clearly, Heaven is Earth without bitterness...
There is also hell, and the Maestro allows his imagination to explode. It is a powerful depiction, the strongest I have seen of the devil, a mad-eyed thing, an eidolon to fear as he stares at us. Brrr! Disturbing!
On an almost unrelated note, another artistic amazement awaited us - an effigy ofphiloko as part of a sculpture in the Cathedral. I can't find a picture of it, but it's definitely him. He looks surprised, but not as surprised as we were;-)
And so then; where are the best bits, the fondest memories? I have spoken of the big cities, but the tiny places had as much charm; hippocras drunk at the fair in Serre De Rapolano, along with the sweetest cherries I have ever tasted,time standing still for a moment by the tall tower of Rigomagno, the San Luciano vineyard where a man introduced us to his award winning red, named after his father, and the almost entirely mythical bastion of Gargonza, cursed with a name too big for it.
But most of all, where we stayed, La Colonica, a beautifull restful place. Bye Bye for now Italy. I write one more piece, foreating_out and then I put you aside. Time to begin work again...any minute now...
*sort of. I can't resist a mystery...
Pisa,mmm. I didn't want to see Pisa at all really, a tourist trap built around a medieval cock up. Who cares if a tower leans? But the lean is the least important thing about the piazza del miracoli; Truth is, after 900 years the whole square is full of stone lace buildings gorgeous and improbable, and in the Camposanto lies treasure.
There are huge frescoes there, often attributed to Buffalmacco, a larger than life figure around at the right time (14th century). No-one knows who painted these frescoes, and none of Buffalmacco's work remains, so one can see how the poetic imagination might pair the two up, but beyond wishing, I don't know if there's any real evidence.
Il Maestro Di Triomfo Della Morte remains anonymous, and that's a real shame,* because these frescos have as much vitality and imagination as anything I saw in the Uffizi.
Knights and ladies come across open coffins, worms slithering out among the fat fresh bodies of the dead; one knight holds his hanky to his nose; horses prick their ears in alarm at the sight and smell, one horse curls its lip, and the hunting dogs creep forward; each and all so expressive! Unconcerned, a man milks a goat in the corner - the Mastro is not creating realism, but all his characters are so vibrant, so alive! Then follows a scene where demons and angels wrestle for the souls of mortals - and we see some paradisical gardens where happy souls sit under fruit trees guarded by cherubs; one nurses her little dog (first depiction I've seen of an animal soul in heaven) while a would be lover smiles at her, and the musician plays his lute. Clearly, Heaven is Earth without bitterness...
There is also hell, and the Maestro allows his imagination to explode. It is a powerful depiction, the strongest I have seen of the devil, a mad-eyed thing, an eidolon to fear as he stares at us. Brrr! Disturbing!
On an almost unrelated note, another artistic amazement awaited us - an effigy of
philoko as part of a sculpture in the Cathedral. I can't find a picture of it, but it's definitely him. He looks surprised, but not as surprised as we were;-)And so then; where are the best bits, the fondest memories? I have spoken of the big cities, but the tiny places had as much charm; hippocras drunk at the fair in Serre De Rapolano, along with the sweetest cherries I have ever tasted,time standing still for a moment by the tall tower of Rigomagno, the San Luciano vineyard where a man introduced us to his award winning red, named after his father, and the almost entirely mythical bastion of Gargonza, cursed with a name too big for it.
But most of all, where we stayed, La Colonica, a beautifull restful place. Bye Bye for now Italy. I write one more piece, for
eating_out and then I put you aside. Time to begin work again...any minute now...*sort of. I can't resist a mystery...
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Date: 2007-05-24 01:37 pm (UTC)I was afraid.
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Date: 2007-05-24 08:44 am (UTC)or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buonamico_Buffalmacco
What a glorious Triumph. I agree-its fantastic. So Pisa WAS worthwhile. And its an appropriate thing to catch your attention if the scholars who link Trionfos or Petrarch with the early Tarot are correct. Were there other Triumph paintings there as well? Love, chastity and so on? From what I can see it is just a death Triumph- a bit grim without the others, but popular thematically around then. The dates are very very close though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarch
http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/timeline.html
If Buonamico Buffalmacco was active 1315-1336 and Petrarch wrote his I Trionfi in 1352 there is either no real connection, or the Buonamico Buffalmacco piece is a precursor which is why it just shows death. The whole theme of 'triumphs' was incredibly fashionable at the time though. You can almost see the fashions of thought inter weaving and influencing each other. Did they attach a very firm date to when the fresco was done? Or was a loose range of dates? I kind of like the idea of it being something made after I Trionfi not before- a racy new image following the latest literary fad...
Thanks for posting that!
Wow!
Date: 2007-05-24 01:43 pm (UTC)I can't recall when precisely the fresco is dated, I'll try to find out, right now all I know is that it's 14th century. There was also a last judgement there and another great fresco I could not identify at all. The Camposanto was bombed by the allies and damage has been done to quite a few of the frescoes, so it's hard to say.
Thanks for all these links,you have given me a huge amount of food for thought:-)
Re: Wow!
Date: 2007-05-24 03:28 pm (UTC)http://www.comune.pisa.it/turismo/itinerari/piazzaduomo-gb.htm
has a bit more info on the other paintings.
Its certainly the case that painted wall decorations of death and judgment (I think they are often called 'dooms' in the UK) were pretty common in the middle ages. Its the whole triumph connection that is intriguing, mostly because of the strong links of the Tarot to Italy and that period.
Kaplan's Encyclopedia of Tarot has a pretty good section on Petrarch and the origins of the Tarot and John Shephard's 'the Tarot Trumps: Cosmos in Miniature' has a stunningly clever analysis of the potential link between Petrarch's I Trionfi and the Tarot. Its all theory of course, but very interesting none the less. I suspect it is probably pre-Petrarch and not in itself actually a proper 'triumph' at all, but more in line with a 'doom'.
Its an odd coincidence though, because I am currently writing a section of my Tarot based rpg to do with a hidden doom fresco in a fictional English church which I am linking to the book of revelations and the Tarot. Nothing all that scholarly there-just plain old fun imagining. I am actually going a little OTT and will create the entire fictional area the church is in (the village, nearby towns, countryside etc) complete with 'fake' booklets and histories on various places and events. They will be linked to the Tarot, secret societies, troubadours and mercenaries, alternate worlds in another dimension, Greek myth-all sorts of stuff. I am having fun making connections and linking it all together into an enormous set of puzzles.
Re: Wow!
Date: 2007-05-24 03:29 pm (UTC)http://www.paintedchurch.org/doomcon.htm