traveling largely afoot
requires you to have ready
the Rainy Day List, so today
we quickly determined it was
Art Museum Day!
but - first - of course!
time for breakfast,
Parma-style,
where we encountered
this helpful diagram
of the perfect cup of cafe'
which is...
(if i've translated correctly)
the delicate* balance of
aroma, body, bitterness, & acidity
*i was surprised to discover
that morbidezza means delicacy
(or softness)
not death as i supposed
(haha)
going away from the city center
and up towards the train station,
we were enlightened to find
google maps had
- most definitely -
taken us the long way
the day before
ah well!
in quick time,
we were at the historic
where we showed our
improving Italian coffee vocabulary
by deftly ordering
as the streets in the city center
(& it was still raining...)
but it was warm & cozy inside!
& the company couldn't be beat -
even after almost three weeks 24/7 :)
we took a stroll several blocks down
& - of course - for the Art
that ranged from familiar Christmas poinsettias
to an elaborate gold-framed & hot pink
Madonna and Child
from subtle stained glass windows
to another impressive, enthroned
Madonna and Child
and the beautiful wooden confessional
(with the musical Italian directions
"to call the Confessor")
we moved onward, down the street
to our rainy day destination,
The Pilotta* Palace
*during and since our trip,
i've assumed this referenced something naval,
as in pilots & boats...but
the Great Wikipedia indicates that it is
an Italianized version of the Spanish
word for "ball" (pelota)
due to a time when Spanish soldiers were stationed
in Parma and played a game involving this object
outside Palazzo della Pilotta
is a monument to Parma's fave,
built in 1618
within the Pilotta Palace
sadly, it was almost completely destroyed
during world war II, then reconstructed
in a much less rushed manner
than its initial build by Ranuccio I, 4th Duke of Parma,
to impress one of the Medici, then Grand Duke of Tuscany,
as he passed through Parma on his way to Milan
the architect of this amazing renaissance theater
was Giovan Battista Aleotti -
he was also a hydraulic engineer
(which would come in handy later)
due to the untimely death of the Medici
whose visit prompted the construction,
the inaugural event at the Farnese Theater
was actually the 1628 marriage of
linking the families
the marriage spectacle culminated
in a tournament and naumachea
which involved flooding the floor of the theater
in order to commence a theatrical naval battle!
to me, this much better explains
the palace's name Pilotta -
so i do counter Wikipedia's current claim...
either way, it is an astounding space
the majority of Pilotta Palace
is given over to The National Gallery,
but - truly - we had no idea
how vast this art museum was!
it completely filled our rainy day
with hall after hall of absolutely exquisite art
10 out of 10 recommend!!!
Healing of the Blind 1571 Domenico Theotokopoulos
(El Greco - yes!)
El Greco left his home on Crete for Italy at age 26,
first painting in Venice then in Rome.
He moved to Toledo, Spain in 1577
& more fully developed the style we associate with him
of elongated figures and highly saturated colors
Annunciation 1524 Antonio Allegri (il Correggio - yes!)
Portrait of a Noblewoman ("La Schiava turka")
1532 Francesco Mazzola (il Parmigianino)
floor tiles 1471-1482 by
an anonymous Majolica craftsman in Pesaro, Italy
Nativity and Episodes from the Life of the Virgin
end of 15th century - anonymous artist
view of an interior courtyard, Palazzo della Pilotta
Enthroned Madonna with Child among Angels and
St. Dominic, St. John the Baptist, St. Peter Martyr, St. Paul,
St. Lawrence, St. Thomas Aquinas, & Praying Nun
(do you see the praying nun? she's TINY,
down in the left corner - she's the smallest
figure in the entire painting)
1375 by Agnolo Gaddi of Florence
from the Church of Santa Maria Novella
St. Benedict Blesses the Monks
1383 Spinello di Luca Spinelli (Spinetto Aretino)
Herod's Feast and Beheading of the Baptist
1383 Spinello di Luca Spinelli (Spinetto Aretino)
Adoration of the Magi
1383 Spinello di Luca Spinelli (Spinetto Aretino)
Madonna with Child Reading
1320-30 Bernardo Daddi
Madonna with Child
(but this artist was active in Florence around 1400)
Madonna with Child and Angels
among St. Benedict, Michael, Gioacchino and Anna
(on the cusps: Announcing Angel, Blessing Savior, Holy Virgin)
1400-20 Maestro di San Davino
close up of Archangel Michael
close up of (nursing) Madonna and Child
close up of Anna
Enthroned Madonna and Child with
four Musician Angels,
St. Steven, St. Giulian, St. Lawrence, St. Antony abbot
1420-30 Maestro di Barga
Enthroned Madonna with Child and Four Angels
1433 Bicci di Lorenzo
close up
Madonna with Child and St. Francis of Assisi,
Bartholomew, John the Baptist, and James the Apostle
1440s Neri di Bicci (son of Bicci, who was son of Lorenzo)
Assumption of the Virgin
with St. Benedict, Thomas the Apostle, and Julian
1500-10 attrib. to Sandro Filipepi (Botticelli - yes!)
close up of Catharine in Deesis with St. Paul and Catharine
1520 Giulio Pippi (Giulio Romano)
i'd never heard the term 'deesis'
but you can find what it means here
this next one...
i stepped around the other side
of a small partition,
continuing on down a somewhat narrow
and dark gallery hall of religious art
(well, it was pretty much all religious art!)
...and i saw this...
a fairly small painting,
just quietly and unremarkably positioned
on the inside wall and -
oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my
what is it about his style
the tilt of the head?
the soft curves?
the tiny smile?
that makes you truly gasp
(literally...GASP)
at the beauty
Head of a Woman (called La Scapigliata)
or The Lady with Disheveled Hair
1492-1501 Leonardo da Vinci (YES!!!)
close
closer
for quite some time
i was the only one with her
Portable Altarpiece (front)
1330s Paolo Veneziano
Portable Altarpiece (back)
p.s. this was the more interesting side to me!
St. Michael Archangel Fights the Devil
& the Assumed Virgin Among Angels
1533 Giovanni Luteri (Dosso Dossi)
(possibly also Battista Dossi, his younger brother)
close up of Michael and the Devil
Madonna venerating the Child
with St. Francis of Assisi and Chiara
in the Presence of the Almighty God and the Angels
last quarter of 15th c. - Anonymous Lombardy Artist
Naval Battle 1608 Aert Anthoniszoon
Portrait of Isabella Gonzaga
1599-1602 attrib. to Frans Pourbus (il Giovane)
close up of amazing lace collar
Portrait of Margherita de' Medici
(she of the marriage tournament naval battle
at the Farnese Theater)
1649 workshop of Giusto Sustermans
close up of transparent collar
La Scartocciata 1778 Johan Zoffany
as far as i can tell, scartocciata means 'the unwrapped'
or - in this case - maybe playing music with abandon?
letting it all hang out, so to speak?
close up Still Life with Fruits and Chinese Porcelain
first decades of 18th c. Christoforo Munari
Annunciation 1670s-80s
Lorenzo Haili
carved from wood, as you can plainly see
- so, wow! just amazing skill
close up David with the Head of Goliath*
mid-17th century Anonymous Genovese Artist
(possibly Luca Saltarello)
*complete with slingshot injury
Portrait of Dorotea Sofia of Neoburgo
1700-10 Anonymous Parma Artist
(mother of the future Queen of Spain,
Elisabeth Farnese...after the death of Dorotea's
first husband, Odoardo Farnese, his brother
- not wanting to give up Dorotea's dowry
from the Farnese coffers - married her.
while they got along like you might expect,
her daughter & only child Elisabeth
adored her uncle-slash-stepfather, Francesco)
if only they hadn't relied solely
on passing dominion through the men,
these dynasties would have lived on
forever
for those of you interested,
here's a little bit on
the House of Bourbon
Portrait of Elisabetta Farnese
c. 1714 attributed to Pier Ilario Spolverini
(due to a lack of male Farnese heirs,
Elisabetta was highly sought after.
she eventually married by proxy
to Phillip V of Spain
through what appear to be very wily calculations
by Cardinal Alberoni, the ambassador of Parma,
who told Elisabetta one thing &
the influential Princesse des Ursins quite another)
the Bourbons were in place
via Carlo di Borbone
(aka Charles III of Spain,
Elisabetta Farnese's son with Phillip V of Spain)
but, then, the French Revolution in 1789,
led to Parma being controlled
not by nobility but by French statesmen until....
through the typical complicated machinations
of royal intrigue, Marie Louise of the Hapsburgs
seems to have been part of the truce package
between Austria and France -
marrying Napoleon in 1810 in a surprise move.
they had a son before things for Napoleon
started to crumble...
after Napoleon's stuttering Russian campaign of 1812,
the Germanic Europeans banded together
against France, exiled Napoleon to Elba,
& handed Marie Louise
many things not French, including Parma,
& for her lifetime only
Marie Louise's Austrian family
(her father was Holy Roman Emperor)
apparently did their utmost to prevent
Marie Louise from joining Napoleon
in his exile on Elba
Maria Luigia d'Asburgo personifying Concord
1810-14 Antonio Canova (yes!)
instead, she had an affair with Count Neipperg.
they had four children together
and married after Napoleon's death in 1821.
Maria Louise's third & last husband
was a French nobleman.
both of these post-Napoleon marriages
were "morganatic" in that
they were between vastly different social ranks
(which was a big deal, especially when
one of was the eldest daughter of
the Holy Roman Emperor)
c. 1778 possibly Johann Zoffany
interestingly, she quite resembles the dog!
Maria Amalia had the misfortune of being the child
of an ambitious Empress Maria Theresa,
ruler of the Hapsburg dynasty for forty years
and mother to sixteen children
(the youngest one being Marie Antoinette!)
[side note: many children of Maria Theresa's
contracted & died of smallpox -
she, herself, survived the disease...
due to this devastation & after the 1767 epidemic,
Maria Theresa sponsored vaccination trials
which all members of the royal family received]
Maria Amalia was married off
to the Duke of Parma (now the House of Bourbon),
whom Wikipedia describes as
"rude, obstinate, and debauched....
[whose] favorite pastimes were ringing church bells
and roasting chestnuts..."
though they did have children
(nine, in fact)
they also each had many affairs
but somewhat reconciled later in life.
Thetis gives Achilles to Chiron
1759-61 Pompeo Batoni
Thetis, daughter of the ancient sea god Nereus,
was loved by Zeus; however, when he learned
she would give birth to a child
more powerful than him,
she was sent away.
Thetis married a mortal, and
Achilles was her mortal child.
[She attempted to make him immortal
by dipping him in the River Styx
while holding onto his heel.]
Eventually, Thetis gave Achilles
to Chiron, a centaur, to raise.
close up of her sea serpent brothers, perhaps?
close up of Thetis
Portrait of the Daughter
close up
then there was this one room -
paintings by an artist i've never heard of
& which absolutely captivated me
(google has a bit more here)
maybe it was partially
just a breath of fresh air
after all the religion and royalty...
or the ethereal and unfinished feeling
of these after galleries of weight & precision
(much like the GASP when i faced
Leonardo's Disheveled Woman)
this was not a gasp but
more of a sigh
of relief
The Red Skirt 1931
Amadeo Bocchi (b. 1883 in Parma / d. 1976 in Rome)
i tracked down all the Amadeo Bocchi
i could find over the next few days in Parma
(so there's more to come!)
[he was influenced by Klimt,
meeting him in 1911 at the Great Rome Exhibition;
so my response to Bocchi makes perfect sense]
A Young Girl Dressed in Mauve 1913
The Annunciation 1920
colors doing all the work
just sublime
The Three Sisters : The Cultured One 1916
The Three Sisters : The Wise One 1916
The Three Sisters : The Eccentric* One 1916
(*la folle literally translates to the crazy one, actually)
beautiful art
in beautiful rooms
then we were right back at it
Crowned Virgin 1500-10
Cristoforo Caselli (said to be Temperello)
St Lawrence Comforted by an Angel
c. 1460-70 possibly Maestro di Roccabianca
from the Church of St. Peter the Martyr, Parma
close up, detatched fresco
Enthroned Madonna with Child among Angels
and God the Father Blessing
1471 Jacopo Loschi
close up
(interested in the wrap around Jesus' belly?
i was...so i googled it & found this...
do you think that's the reason?)
Enthroned Madonna with Child,
St. Hilarius and John the Baptist
Angels Playing Music and
God the Father Blessing
1499 Cristoforo Caselli (said to be Temperello)
close up
The Palatine Library
in Palazzo della Pilotta
founded by Elisabetta Farnese's 2nd son, Phillip,
and established in 1761 as a
public library
a beautiful wooden rolling stepladder
i wish there had been a little bit of labeling
and description of some of these books
all i know is
they're old
it was, most definitely, time
for a lunch break!
& i had just the place
in mind!
along the way was
the location at which i purchased
(and later consumed)
a Kanzi apple - yum!
as you can see, it was still
a drizzly day
we ducked down a small side street
(felt more like an alley)
feat. Piero
while Piero made our pizza,
he kept us busy with a variety
of leftover bits from earlier baking
(it was just about siesta time*,
so i guess he was trying to use things up)
*Italian lunch wraps up by about 2pm,
& everything shuts down until at least 6pm -
no early bird dinner in this country!
i actually thought that
this was our lunch...
it wasn't until Piero brought us
our actual yummy pizza
that i realized these were appetizers!
i am not a huge lover of bread
- or so i thought -
we had such a fun lunch
in this little out-of-the-way place
(the best kind of place)
when Piero made our ham biscuits,
the ham was from one of these!
he just reached in, hauled out the entire thing,
and hacked off some thick slices
i have no idea what they discussed,
although i did overhear some conversation
(and understood it mostly)
regarding how much to charge us 🤣
it was all worth it!
the very last thing Piero made for us
was dessert!
which was a slather of chocolate spread
in these flat biscuits...delicious!
the yummy pizza!
made by Piero!
paying the bill so they could
go home and rest
& we could go to a...
small (quite small)
inside Palazzo della Pilotta
i think the usual galleries of this museum
were closed for renovation, so
we were ushered around to the back side
& taken in through a locked door
up to a very small & temporary exhibit space
this Greek/Roman stuff isn't really my thing,
but i enjoyed the view
the Egyptian scarabs were interesting,
with some as animals and others
as human or divine figures
and some beautiful detail on this hair (below)
&, of course, who isn't riveted by these?
that wrapped up the Palazzo della Pilotta,
and the rain had cleared
(though the skies were still a stormy gray)
so we headed for a walk about
across the river in
Parco Ducale
within Parco Ducale,
now houses office for the local police
& didn't appear to be open for tourists
perhaps quite splendid at one time
since we hadn't explored this side of the river,
we took a bit of a meandering stroll
i cannot recall what this was listing
& google translate doesn't help me out at all
universal word, i guess
possibly leaves on a grape vine
lots & lots of bicycles
lots & lots of Parma Ham
that festive time between
December 25th and 31st
big decision:
which animal do you pick?
we actually returned to this church,
but this was our first visit.
it sits on a nice square
& was constructed between 1604-19
it's apparently called Santa Maria del Quartiere
because soldiers were quartered here
(or, at least, in this location)
the cupola frescoes are stunning
& titled Trinity with Angels and with the
Ascended Virgin and Saints in Paradise
completed between 1626-9 by
upon reflection, i think this is an icon
(reminiscent of ones we saw in
St. George's Cathedral in Istanbul)
also an icon, i think
these, upon close inspection,
appeared to be teeth
labeled with the names of saints
we, actually, went inside this one a couple of times
over the course of our days in Parma, too.
it was quite large & active,
close to the river
they had a really wonderful Nativity scene, too
probably my favorite one, in fact
back on 'our' side of the river,
we wandered towards home
picking up a few treats
& enjoying the lovely Christmas tree
in the main square
our walk became quite familiar
in such a short time
Home Sweet Home
