Convent of San Marco

Though it being my second time in Rome, the past weekend was really exciting because I hadn't gotten a good look at it last time I was there (which, was way back in early September!). Also because I've had the travel-itch for two weeks straight now and finally I've been able to go somewhere. Naturally, we got to see the millions of sculptures, paintings and tapestries housed in the Vatican (of course, Raphael's School of Athens blew me away) as well as tour through the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon. Unfortunately though, the Sistine Chapel wasn't open that day due to the Pope's using it for prayer. Like touring through Genova, I found the most interesting aspect of Rome was simply its differences in relation to Florence. Rome's archaeological sites are much larger (and arguably, more touristy) and the streets are a lot more wide. As well, Rome has an overall different feel- like the difference between New York City and San Francisco (Florence being the latter). The buzzing of the streets in Florence pales in comparison to that of Rome and it caught me off guard how much homier Florence feels now that I've had to navigate a much larger Italian city. I found that mostly though, Rome's beauty lies in its intermingling of stone and nature's overgrowth. It just goes to show how one of history's most powerful cities is still, at the end of the day, is really just on lease from Earth.


On Wednesday we went to the Convent of San Marco, where we saw numerous paintings by Fra Angelico. Arguably the most famous piece by this artist is the Annunciation, which ties byzantine-like figures (see: flat) with three-dimensional surroundings. Writer Giulio Carlo Argan states:

"Fra Angelico was peculiarly adept at handling perspective, well integrated his figures into space, struck light from the contrast with shadow, and brought form through color, which is but a variation of light." (Argan 12)

I think Fra Angelico's goal in this was to show a correlation between the earthly life and the heavenly one. The aim of Byzantine art was to present a world of the divine through flattening of features (as to evoke a world unlike our own) and F. Angelico utilizes this in his figures of Mary and the Angel Gabriel. But he manages to place them in settings where a vanishing point is alluded to, thus describing reality. In creating a harmony between these two components, Fra Angelico masters the depiction of Christianity as a means to escaping the early realm and entering the heavenly one.

I also thought it was interesting to see the library and all of the illustrated manuscripts held there. Many reminded me of the Celtic Book of Kells (which I think is absolutely gorgeous) and it was helpful to see all of the tools (brushes, inks, powdered paints, etc.) used in making them. Also being housed here was the bell used to announce Savonarola's arrest (known as the "Piagnona").

(Savonarola's Bell)

Bibliography

Argan, Giulio Carlo. Fra Angelico: biographical and critical study. Skira, 1955.