We walked around Rome today and most sites had some art from the Baroque period, for which I say, look for abondaza! Above and below are two fountains in Piazza Navona. In terms of fresh water, Rome is also abondaza.
Two smaller things that caught my eye were the family getting ready to bike under the piazza sign, and the Virgin Mary who seems to be keeping watch over the gelateria.
At the church of St Louis of the French, we looked in on Caravaggio’s The Calling of St Matthew, where the light falls on Matthew’s face and bag of coins, and the faces look like very ordinary people. Sorry about the lighting in my photo, but at least you can recognize the painting if you want to look it up elsewhere.
The next stop was very fun, new to us, and gave me a sore neck. We visited the church of St Ignatius of Loyola, dedicated to the founder of the Jesuit order. Given that, I was not surprised to find such cleverness within. The church has a dome and a vaulted ceiling…or does it? If the Jesuits had build a dome, it would have shaded the light in the library of the nearby Dominican’s library. Instead, they have a trompe l’oeil dome, and even with the sacrifice of a sore neck, I just could not see it as the flat canvas that it apparently is.
Similarly, the vaulted ceiling is not very vaulted, and what seem to be massive columns are painted. People line up and wait for a while to be able to use a mirror to see the ceiling to its full dome effect and take a selfie, but I really felt I could see it without needing any more enhancement. It’s an amazing and brilliant work.
The church also has ornate tombs, and an ornate nativity that was made in Naples.
We had a lovely lunch and then a gelato from Giolitti, one of Rome’s best gelaterrias. Carmel fig was my cono piccolo today.
Fully fortified, we headed to the Carmelite church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, which has the Bernini sculpture, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. Abondaza!
We spent quite a while sitting there. The altar is also interesting.
We walked to Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps to end the day. There are so many people in Rome right now. These two famous attractions were really too busy to view; we’d seen them before, so I don’t feel it was a loss.
The Baroque will probably not become my favorite art period. The fountains outside are the most interesting. Seeing the sculptures that are inside actually made me want fresh air. As for Caravaggio, I like the faces, and then after a while there is an aspect that makes me feel like I am a little too close to a private scene. I suppose that is the sign of a successful painter, even hundreds of years later.
We are on the move in the morning.
