THE QUIET AFTER THE STORM – Reggio Calabria / Italy: the long wait of the Riace Bronzes
For some time now, the Riace Bronzes breathe the air of Italy, in the Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria. After a long journey and a storm of which the memory was lost, they look at you calmly, in a room that is equipped with a climate control system (held on 20 degrees during the winter and around 25 in the …
Read More »THE BRONZES OF RIACE IN REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY – Next to the sea and after a long journey, they waiting for you
MASTERPIECES OF ART IN THE CENTURIES / BERLIN0 & ANTWERP – Jean Fouquet: the Melun Diptych
The “Melun Diptych” is a painting on wood, probably made around 1450 for an altar of the cathedral of Melun, attributed to Jean Fouquet http://meetingbenches.com/2015/08/jean-fouquet-14201481-french-painter-the-master-of-panel-painting-and-manuscript-illumination/ The origin of royal impulse, it was a desire to Charles VII, to perpetuate the memory of Agnes Sorel, his mistress. The diptych – from whom is also the small portrait of the artist, preserved …
Read More »POEMS OF LOVE THROUGH THE CENTURIES – Eduard Morike: Pilgrim
PILGRIM The faithful mirror of those dark eyes, the interior retains a golden reflection. It seems that it draws from the deep chest, the light therein placed by grief. And you invite me, innocent girl, to dive in that your nighttime look. You want me to turn on you, and me with you, the crazy love, and in the cup …
Read More »MASTERPIECES OF ART IN THE CENTURIES / URBINO – Piero della Francesca: The Flagellation of Christ
“Flagellation of Christ” is a painting made around 1450 by Piero della Francesca http://meetingbenches.com/2016/02/piero-della-francesca-14161492-italian-painter-a-myth-through-the-centuries/ That painting, made with the technique of tempera on panel, is preserved in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in Urbino, hosted in the Palazzo Ducale (extraordinary princely residence of the fifteenth century, commissioned by Duke Federico da Montefeltro, lord of Urbino). http://www.guideurbino.it/en/default.aspx After the apartment of …
Read More »POEMS OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE – Matteo Maria Boiardo: The birds
THE BIRDS The singing of the birds in frond frond, and the fragrant wind in the flowers, and lighten transparencies languor, which make our lives more joyful, because they are the Nature and Heaven favors her, that the world wants to fall in love. So, sweet voices and sweet smells, the air, the earth and the waves are already filled. …
Read More »MASTERPIECES OF ART IN THE CENTURIES / FLORENCE – Masaccio: the payment of the tribute
The “Tribute Money” is a wonderful pictorial creation of the Italian painter Masaccio http://meetingbenches.com/2015/06/masaccio-14011428-italian-painter-shades-of-giotto-brunelleschi-and-donatello-for-vivid-landscapes-and-figures-perfect/. The fresco, is part of the decoration of the Brancacci Chapel (in the Carmelite church of Santa Maria in Florence). The work was born around 1425, and depicts a scene of the stories of St. Peter. In the fresco, Jesus invites Peter to pay tribute, as …
Read More »POEMS OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE – Pietro Bembo: The golden hair
THE GOLDEN HAIR Golden hair and clear and pure amber, which has the aura sways on snow and flies. Gentle eyes and clearer than the sun, to do the dark night a clear day, it could dispel any rough and hard sorrow. Rubies and pearls, where words come out so sweet, that no other good soul wants. Ivory hands, which …
Read More »FRANCESCO NESI, ITALIAN PAINTER – When dreams are the main feature of the painting
COLORFUL HILLS AND SMALL VILLAGES – The wanderful world of Francesco Nesi
FRANCESCO NESI 1/3 – Francesco Nesi is born in a September day in San Casciano Val di Pesa, Tuscany. At present, he lives and works in Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. He is a self-taught artist, and his love for art allowed him to transform a passion in a full-time work. Dreams are the main feature of his compositions, and all …
Read More »DARK MOTHER – Poetry, by Nikos Gkatsos
DARK MOTHER I brought you up with soil and water, a young swallow to be and yet a wild creature, to have you as my alphabet-book in the times, and as my unfading nightlight in memory. But you, looking for the source of dreams, near the Virgin Mary, developed wings, refused the land our dark, our first mother. (Nikos Gkatsos)
Read More »500 KM IN 28 DAYS, FROM EAST TO WEST – The Cretan way, a new European path
http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/greek_islands/crete In the heart of the Mediterranean he was born “I Strata tis Kritis”, a new path that is added to the great Europeans Paths. If your holiday destination is Greece, not to forget the “Cretan way”, a journey of 500 km in the island of Crete. If you love to walk in contact with nature, listening to you, certainly …
Read More »AS MUCH AS YOU CAN – Poetry, by Costantine Cavafy
AS MUCH AS YOU CAN And if you can’t shape your life the way you want, at least try as much as you can not to degrade it, by too much contact with the world, by too much activity and talk. Try not to degrade it by dragging it along, taking it around and exposing it so often, to the …
Read More »THREE SUMMERS – Novel, Margarita Liberaki
Three sisters are living – over three summers – the transition from adolescence to maturity, a journey filled with love and expectations, disappointments and illusions. Protagonists of their stories, the characters are made of sky, land and sea: the brightness of the landscape and the red earth of Greece, together with the Athens shops and what birds draw in that …
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