And I have a free pass.
To get in whenever I want.
So I decided, since I'm not in Ravenna right now, that I would visit this cultural Mecca. I went on my own, of course, because it's unfathomably difficult to get in contact with potential friends when no one really has a working cellphone. That was okay, though, because it meant I could stand and stare at/draw anything for as long as I wanted. Plus it's a lot easier to maneuver among Japanese tourists if you are only one relatively small person. I bumbled around the entrance to the building for a while before I found out how to a. get in with my student pass and b. get a ticket with my student pass and c. present said ticket to the ticket people. That process took a lot longer than you would imagine because I get lost easily and there were a lot of people around.
Needless to say I had a wonderful time wandering and sketching. I was stared at by lots of different tourists of many different nationalities, and a few of them paused to observe what I was drawing in case it was an important monument that they should pay attention to. This was infrequent though because the things I chose to draw were interesting to me because they were objects that looked fun to draw, not because they were Very Important Art. Here are the sketches I did while I was there -- I apologize for the bad quality of the photos, but I forgot when I was packing that a scanner might be a good idea.
In the first room of the second floor, where the gallery actually is, there were these two statues of dogs looking upwards. I loved them. I think they were my favorite sculptures that I saw. Of course I had to draw one -- I spent a long time working on his muzzle. The other drawing is a bust of Seneca, who I chose to draw because he was one of the only actually aged-looking busts I saw*. He had an interesting face.
A boy and his goose. A lot of the statues didn't have any signage or plaques to point out what they were. I liked this one, though, because the youth appears to be leaning on thin air, or possibly his drapery, and the goose had an excellent expression on its face with the drapery clamped in his beak. I saw a few other versions of "Youth and Goose", and I'm still not sure what myth it refers to.
Two quick sketches of figures in interesting poses: one gladiator-type who was lunging with a spear, and a satyr perched on a ledge who was either trying to tempt the youth playing panpipes beside him, or take the panpipes away. In any case I liked his feet.
I've recently become enamored of drapery. I used to hate drawing it, but now I love it. This lady had a lot, so I took a seat and drew her. The notes are paintings which I wanted to look up for later reference.
I also took a look at the paintings -- a lot of paintings. I discovered an artist who I'd never heard of before, Filippo Lippi, whose Madonnas all looked to be, to my eye, what Madonnas should look like. They were young women with soft expressions and messy hair. I liked that. Also his hands were pretty.
I wandered into a room of Botticelli soon afterwards. I love Botticelli. The figures in his paintings all have such open, lively faces, and that makes me happy. Also he paints badass armor. Check out this lady!
*Maybe he was the only old-looking one because he's named Seneca? I don't know. I'll have to ask Blair.
No comments:
Post a Comment