A Life, Lived

Let Me Tell You a Story . . .

This will be all of us . . .

and 2021 and 2022 . . .

Travel Tuesdays - Basilica of Santissimi Apostoli, Rome

The Basilica of Santissimi Apostoli, the Holy Apostles, is a large church that hosts the bodies of the disciples of Jesus, Philip and James the Less. It was built in the 4th century by Pope Julius I, it was the only Roman church not to be built on the site of a previous ancient building, although building materials came from the Constantine Baths., the original plan was that of the Apostoleion in Constantinople. During the Byzantine era, under Pope Pelagius I and the rule of Narses, it was reconstructed with a greek-cross plan. Adrian I writes to Charlemagne praising this building for its width and its amazing mosaics. In 1348 it was destroyed by an earthquake and only the two sculpted gate lions survive from that building. 

The two Renaissance cloisters contain a bas-relief of the Nativity by the school of A.di Cambio.

The interior, divided into three wide naves by big pilasters and matching Corinthian pilaster strips, with three chapels per side, each one roofed by a dome, ends up being splendid for the decorations and frescoes. This was the tomb of Clemente XIV by Canova.

There were stairs heading downwards on either side of the altar. They weren't blocked and since I was already wandering the church when it was supposed to be closed I headed down. There I found a crypt which isn't as old as it appears. Designed to look like an ancient a catacomb even though catacombs were never allowed within the city walls. During this construction in 1879 the remains of the apostles Philip and James were found in an ancient crypt underneath the church. They had rested there for 1200 years.

Things You Never Say

Humour in art . . .

Keep this in mind as the holiday entertaining season approaches . . .

Travel Tuesdays - Torcello

Today someone I follow on Instagram posted some pics of their visit to Torcello yesterday. It got me thinking of our own visit to the island in the Venetian lagoon.

After wandering Burano for a few hours we took a short vaporetto ride to Torcello - a ghost town many people call the original Venice. Torcello is one of the most popular islands to visit in the Venice lagoon yet it is still extremely peaceful. The main reason for visiting the island is to see the spectacular Byzantine mosaics in the seventh century Cathedral of Santa Maria Dell'Assunta. Much of the island is a nature reserve, accessible only on the walking paths.

Travel Tuesdays - Ravenna

On the weekend I had signed up for a virtual tour of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Emilia-Romagna is a region in northern Italy, extending from the Apennine Mountains to the Po River in the north. It's known for its medieval cities, rich gastronomy and seaside resorts. The capital, Bologna, is a vibrant city with an 11th-century university and arched porticos lining the streets and squares of its medieval core. Ravenna, near the Adriatic coast, is famed for its brightly colored Byzantine mosaics. 

When our guide introduced herself she said that she lived in Ravenna.

Of course that got me thinking about those gorgeous mosaics that I have been lucky enough to see twice.

For this edition of Travel Tuesdays I am going back to Ravenna to look at these fabulous mosaics again.

The Hill We Climb

Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster.

First up was the euphoria of watching Trump leave Washington. Heck, even Jake got into the action and followed the chopper as it flew away from the White House.

The ceremony itself was intense. Not the least because of the undercurrent of uncertainty after the January 6th insurrection.

There were lots of inspiring moments - the first black, SE Asian woman sworn in as Vice-President and Biden's address were both impressive. Lady Gaga singing the national anthem. All impressive.

Nothing blew me aware more than a self-assured 22 year old who took the podium to recite the poem she had written as the youngest Inaugural Poet Laurette.

There have been many well-known Poet Laurettes but none are as likely to be remembered as Gorman will certainly be.

None of her predecessors faced the challenge that Gorman did. She set out to write a poem that would inspire hope and foster a sense of collective purpose, at a moment when Americans are reeling from a deadly pandemic, political violence and partisan division.

As she recited “The Hill We Climb,” in front of the Capitol in the bright sunlight, her voice animated and full of emotion, Gorman described her background as a “skinny Black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother,” who can dream of being president one day, “only to find herself reciting for one.” She spoke about the weight of loss that the country has endured, in verses that reflected the fragile state of the country.

The poem and its delivery was a stunning success given the reaction it received. So many on social media were talking about the way it made them feel. I can't help but reflect upon the importance of Arts education in schools.

Hope

I was out for a walk today and someone had gone a bit wild with their knitting. The tree in front of their house was decorated colourfully with symbols of hope.

Travel Tuesday - Philadelphia

Given last Friday was Valentine's Day it seemed appropriate to post this pic from Philadelphia for Travel Tuesday this week.

Robert Indiana debuted the design for his famous sculpture as a painting in 1964. After constructing the aluminum piece, Indiana lent it to the City of Philadelphia as part of the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976.

LOVE remained in John F. Kennedy Plaza, which has since become known as LOVE Park, for two years.

The sculpture moved briefly to New York until a local businessman bought it and donated it to the City of Brotherly Love.

An iconic image synonymous with Philadelphia, the piece’s likeness has been recreated on items ranging from postage stamps to jewelry.

A Mixed Bag of Art

Because Thursday had been such a day on the go we hadn't made any really significant plans for Friday. In fact, we had no plans at all.

For breakfast we went to a restaurant near the apartment that had been recommended by two of my friends plus the tour guide the other day. It was deserving of the recommendations!

Next up was some shopping - there were two of London's better chocolate shops nearby and with Easter coming it made sense to purchase some treats.

Later we headed out to the Whitechapel Art Gallery. This small gallery focuses on modern art. The Whitechapel Gallery was founded in 1901 to bring great art to the people of east London. The Gallery’s history is a history of firsts: in 1939 Picasso’s masterpiece, Guernica was displayed at the Whitechapel Gallery on its first and only visit to Britain; in 1958 the Gallery presented the first major show in Britain of American abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock; and in 1970 and 1971 the first shows of David Hockney, Gilbert & George and Richard Long were staged to great acclaim.

The major exhibit featured groups of artists and architects working together to envision the future. It was a modern iteration of a similar exhibit from 1956. Anther exhibit told the story of when the gallery held the first exhibition of Jackson Pollock's work outside of the US. There were also two video art installations.

After leaving the gallery we wandered Brick Lane - a street we had heard a lot about from everyone we spoke to who knows this area of London. It was easy to see why: eye-popping street art, street food markets, vintage finds and cutting edge designers, it’s everything that makes East London such a vibrant wonderful place, distilled into a thin cobbled street that’s seen more action over the last 100 years than possibly anywhere else in town. This street has seen waves of immigration which has caused it to develop such an interesting mix of things - at one time this was home to poor Jewish immigrants - hence the two dueling bagel shops sitting side by side at the end of the street. Now there is a large Muslim population giving rise to a mosque and middle eastern restaurants. In between there was a wave of Bangladeshi immigrants - this group gave the street its nickname 'curry lane'. The end result is a fascinating mix of everything.

Oh yes, along the way we found another chocolate spot.

The clothing market near us was in full swing. We wandered through but we weren't looking at the clothing instead we were looking for the food trucks that Paul had read about. There were about 20 and they served up just about an type of food that you could think of. We both got a chicken katsu wrap and headed back to the apartment to eat them.

It had been a lot of wandering around but we weren't done yet. After a nap we were talking about heading out for a drink and somehow that morphed into a visit to the National Gallery. The gallery is open late on Fridays so we headed there. We only saw about a third of the exhibits but it was a great bookend to the est of the art we had seen during the day.

One thing about London - there is always something to do and no matter how hard you try, it is difficult to do more than scratch the surface.