Adventure weekend/week

Last Sunday, I signed up for the Temple University Wall Walk.  This adventure circles around the Aurelian Walls.  The walls date back to ancient Rome, but many parts have been restored by Popes or altered to allow the city and traffic to expand outward.  The hike was about 13 miles and took about 8 hours to complete.  I was amazed that nearly 50 temple students showed up for the walk.


The trip was lead by Professor Jan Gadeyne, who specializes in archaeology of the ancient Roman Empire.  Jan Gadeyne created the Wall Walk for a few reasons.  One is that it is a good way to get a sense of where different parts of the city are.  Another is to show us that the city of Rome is much bigger now than its size in antiquity.  95% of Roman citizens live outside of the walls, according to Professor Gadeyne.  He wanted to specifically walk on the outside edge of the walls, so that we could see the city beyond the heavily touristed area within.  The goal was to show us that Rome is more than the big tourist sites and apartment’s passed down through families in the wealthier parts of town.  Rome is also a city of smaller residential houses, Italian university students, steep hills, and history that most visitors overlook.


Like everywhere in Rome, the wall is a constant reminder of both the past and present, and an example of the differences and similarities between the two.  For example, we passed The Baker’s Tomb, which is an ancient Roman Tomb dating to about 50-20 years B.C.E.  The tomb was strategically positioned near one of only a few entrances to the inner city.  Jan Gadeyne said the tomb acted like an ancient advertisement.  The baker who died decorated his tomb with images of the baking process.  Those entering the city might have looked at the tomb and made a mental note of the family name and apparent excellent baking, which would draw customers to the Baker’s family business.  I was amazed at how this ancient tomb acted like a modern-day billboard (which are actually pretty rare to see in Rome).


We ended the walk back where we started, and got a refreshing pop (or soda if you prefer) to drink.


In my Baroque Art History class, we went to the Doria Pamphilj Gallery on Via Del Corso.  The Galley is in the Palazzo of a family that owned the property since the Baroque.  Decedents of the family still life in the Palazzo.  Some of their ancestors were Cardinals and Popes, allowing them to spend enormous amounts of money on their favorite art and music.  They paid for Handle to live with them for a time.


Their collection includes this early Caravaggio, which I loved the second I saw it.  The painting is of the Repentant Mary Magdalene, and was radical for the time for many reasons.  One is that she is depicted clothed, as opposed to the semi-nude previous tradition that reflected her work as a prostitute.  Another reason is that her repentance is internal, it is psychological.  Traditionally, her repentance was depicted with raised arms, tearful face lifted towards the sky, and anguished mouth.  In Caravaggio's version, she is focused inward, quiet.  I love the color in this painting more than anything.  It actually reminds me of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, but I may be strongly influenced by the long red hair that Caravaggio favored.  The second painting is an incredible painting by Velasquez of Pope Innocent X.  The painting was such a likeness to the Pope, that the Pope was slightly disturbed by it, similarly to how people will be weirded out by pictures of themselves.  The image looked just like the Pope, but it was a flat painting.  The peering eyes in the Painting certainly would make me feel weirded out.  This painting is absolutely incredible to see in real life, the digital image does it no justice at all.  The space is so real, and the Pope figure has such presence.  It's nearly scary to look at the painting.  I can't even begin to describe how much the Pope feels alive in the painting.

I said I would include some of my art in this post, but I don't have my camera on me at school and would like to publish this now.  I will say that the Doria Pamphilj Gallery had a special exhibition of paintings with "vanitas" symbols.  These symbols represent the passage of time such as fruit and flowers.  There was a Baroque painting of a pile of dead finches with red and black feathers.  I was amazed.  Here was a Baroque painter using this same symbol that people (such as myself) use today, making it a pretty universal symbol of time.  I made a sketch of this painting.


I'm going to be exploring the Baths of Caracalla next weekend and will make some drawings there.  This is a video of some of the Wall Walk.  When I wasn't filming, I tried to be as close to Professor Jan Gadeyne as possible so I could hear him better.