Feeling of Today: Why do I go to art galleries when travelling? It was 2003 that I discovered art. Sure, it was all around me before then, but I didn’t really care because I didn’t understand why others liked looking at it nor did I understand what art meant to people. What changed was going to the National Gallery of Ireland, because our Newgrange tour was cancelled on us and my wife wished to see the art there as a substitute. I said sure, we walked in, and it was no cost. That was a bonus so it got me further into the building. In the third room, looking around at the art, a man in a business suit walked in carrying his lunch in a bag, sat down on a nice cushy covered bench, looked at a painting, and slowly started to eat. What the heck was he doing? I decided to give it a go, sat on a bench, and looked at a huge canvas. I let my eye and mind wander. I then asked myself a simple question, as I had a technician’s mind…how was this made? That is all it took for me to become interested in art. The how turned to why turned to what I feel about it. Then the same thing happened to the next painting and all the ones after that. If none of the three answers to my three questions was of interest to me then I move on, otherwise I linger longer. That is why I go to art galleries when travelling.
Full Day’s Events: Rain came down with Jupiter’s thunderbolts so we had time for another load of laundry and some emails sent by my wife while I made notes for my email. By 10am the deluge had ceased, as well as the 2-hour wash cycle. After hanging them on the rack or hangers it was time to walk by the Column of the Immaculate Conception and the Fountain of the Tritons (another one by that name) to visit the Piazza Barberini, now known as the National Barberini Gallery.
We decided to have lunch early at the lovely glassed-in restaurant overlooking the garden on the Museum's property (good thing, too; by the time we finished there was a large line-up to get in). My wife hadn't had lasagne yet, so she ordered that. It was good and a perfect-sized piece for lunch. Not too rich either, with a glass of Primitivo wine (again, really good). I had ravioli with mushrooms and cream sauce, which was nice. We had a veggy side dish (called contorni) of caponata, a Sicilian eggplant dish. It was adequate.
Fuelled up, we went for a quick walk in the garden behind. A garden-dwelling cat had leaped onto a young woman's lap while she and her friend were sitting on the fountain's edge. We saw two more cats in the garden; then saw that sure enough, they were being cared for by the Museum staff.
Pope Urban VIII, who was a member of the Barberini family and became pope after he bought the place, built the Piazza around 1620. Over the years it was also an officer’s club/mess/recovery apartments. After WW2 it was turned over to the government who changed it to an art museum and has paintings from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance eras, but mostly the latter. The building is half the show with grandeur and pomp all around.
Here are some of the art and items I liked.
Bartolomeo Veneto's "Portrait of a Gentleman", 1515-20, oil on wood, 73.5 by 53 cm
Piero di Cosmo's "Mary Magdalene", 1495-1500, tempura on panel, 72.5 by 56cm.
Giorgio Vasari's "Allegory of the Immaculate Conception", 1541, oil on panel, 345 by 230 cm.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Giuliano Finelli's "Portrait of Antonio Barberini", 1626-27, marble, 65cm
El Greco, "Baptism of Christ", 1596-97, oil on canvas, 111 by 47 cm
Il Giovane's "The Exodus from Egypt", 1631, oil on panel, 59 by 82 cm.
Lo Spagnoletto's "St. Gregory the Great", 1614-15, oil on canvas, 102 by 73cm.
Ginevra Cantofoli's "Woman Wearing a Turban" (supposed portrait of Beatrice Cenci), 1650, oil on canvas, 64.5 by 49cm.
Il Guercino's "Saul and David", 1646, oil on canvas, 147 by 220cm.
Antonio Corradini's The Vestal Virgin Tuccia", 1743, marble, 230cm
Marco Benefial's "The Quarantotti Family", 1756, oil on canvas, 245 by 335cm. I imagine a hilarious story behind the cast of characters in this family.
Pierre-Etienne Monnot's "Model of the Funerary Monument of Innocent XI Odescalchi", 1697, painted wood and gilded terracotta, 195 by 119 by 48cm.
Outside I looked at the different creatures and symbols on the side of the building, above the covered “patio” and admired the spitting fountain head.
With a panic-stricken walk by the very crowded Spanish steps, we headed to the nice laEsse grocery store chain to get some vegetables. Natalie was interested in getting some good cheeses, from the wonderful Volpetti dal 1870, so we got some very good salumi, the standout goat cheese wrapped in cabbage that had a good tang and was crumbly in the centre, and some soft cow cheese that was like brie but was smoother. 6.5 km and 8 flights walked.
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