THE FRENCH REVOLUTION-BEGINNINGS

TANGIBLE FACTS-ABSTRACT LESSONS

I have just finished “Marie Antoinette” by Antonia Fraser and have come a long way in my understanding of exactly what the situation was at that time in France. The volume is very thoroughly researched and this saves us a lot of time because Ms Fraser has performed the labor for us. I now can actually visualize some of those events, such as the march of the market-women on Versailles, 5 October 1789, when the royalty was forced back to Paris for a make-shift imprisonment and a tragic demise that has not been duplicated in the pages of history. There was a bread shortage, so these women wanted to go for the storage silos of Versailles, and that is just what they did. There was some violence at the palace and surely this must have been an awakening of the problems to come for the royals. As their carriage bumped along the road, peasants carried pikes with their servants heads before their eyes. Marie had a great amount of courage and scowled a bit on her ride to the guillotine. Jacques Louis David captured her cleverly in this sketch as she passed him by on the 16th of October 1793. One fact that I learned is that Madam Tussauds waxed Marie`s head at her grave. Okay, it is a benefit for us to have her living visage to still gaze at. The book was so fact filled that I felt as if I was truly there, with details of the court, letters, paintings, and the careful record of those days preserved for us today. So much romanticism has been spun around The French Revolution, such as in this painting by Delacroix (towards bottom); this is a symbolic and dramatized image of the Revolution, imflammatory even. Nonetheless, these events evoke raging passion if nothing else! I have been going back and reading excerpts from the vast body of literature on the Revolution, and have carved out a mere fraction of its corpus. The Marxist historian Georges Lefebvre spent his whole life in archives pouring over the details of the years 1789-1799. We can benefit immensely by reviewing his work, that is still saturated with his toil of purpose. I do not believe that anyone else has ever touched this hallowed ground so carefully, or visited these moments of democracy so vividly. Not just the facts were culled over though, but a synthesis of the lessons were exacted through dedication and struggle for the lessons of these days. Alexis De Tocqueville did this too in “The Old Regime and the French Revolution”; this is a series of maxims that tell how the Ancien Régime came unwound. The writing was done some fifty years after the events, so it is within proximity to the actual time. What it comes down to basically for me, is the destruction of the feudal system that had been into affect since the time Charlemagne. The aristocracy was systematically exterminated and the royalty was snuffed out too (though it reared its head again), or the idea of the divine right of the king. The bourgeoisie came into its own. This is what Lefebvre looks at under a microscope.The unraveling of social classes, the particulars of how this was brought about are the subject of his words. The Terror and the many visits to the guillotine; this is the price paid to soften the class barriers of France. An other change was the elimination of the clergy and the confiscation of their land. They never recovered after that. I have read The Results of The Revolution In France a number times already; this is the last chapter of book two of “The French Revolution” by Georges Lefebvre. It is dense and shows a lot of synthesis and requires concentration and meditation. Over taxing of the rural peasant with the tithe, bread shortages, the debt of the crown and Necker, the confiscation of weapons at the Bastille, the foreign wars as crowns of Europe looked on with horror, left-wing-the sans-culottes-rising lower class that aided Robespierre, the Intendants were the corrupt tax agents of the crown, the influence of the philosophs…What is actually said in The Declaration of the Rights of Men? I am linking it to you so that you can study it! I will do so also! I am beginning to believe that The French Revolution is the most important event in history, so far. The feudal system had to go. The Enlightened Despots such as Louis XIV were a thing of the past. The influence of the American Revolution on the French one was enormous too! Both authors touch on this. Marat was the Thomas Paine of France, I gleaned the other night. It was a proletariat revolution too. That is brought out by Lefebvre, so the Russian Revolution of 1917 had its roots in the eighteenth century. The guild system in the city of Paris was completely destroyed. It was both the upper bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeoisie that experienced victories, until the Thermodor and Napoleon had a right reaction. One must study these issues daily in order to live in the current world!

HO CHI MINH IS A SON-OF-A-BITCH

I still feel guilty about admiring Ho Chi Minh when I was a kid. Please read: "Ho Chi Minh" by William J. Duiker; now all is revealed, and the tale of how Ho was trailed and hunted by the authorities for many years is layed bare. And his astounding vision to free Vietnam from the yoke of oppression by the French is inked in; these events, including the American involvement, did not have to go down this way. This kind of information was not available back in the days of the Vietnam War. Now we can see that Ho Chi Minh was more of a Nationalist than strickly a Marxist/Communist. This was not known at that time. The Johnson Administration saw him as a proxy to Red China and The Soviet Union. This, in a nutshell, is the tragedy of Vietnam. The Vietnam War was a malignant outgrowth of The Cold War. I`m still hiding my portrait out of fear and guilt; the fear of retaliation or accusations of treason. Maybe we are not yet enough years away from those events to be in calmer waters. He implored FDR to embrace his cause of a United Vietnam, at the close of WWII. When FDR died, Truman let the French re-colonialize Vietnam. This was the beginning of the debacle. My collage just capsulizes some of the puzzling events of the war. When I was growing up, the collage medium was the newest thing! The Marshall McLuhan idea that the medium is the message resounded with me. Maybe I learned that from John Lennon too and the first solo album: The Plastic Ono Band. Mama don`t go...daddy come home...mantra repeated a thousand fold...

SHAPES

Shapes is refreshing; a hodge-podge of irregular forms pieced together randomly. It is an oil that Claude Bovee did about a year ago. The song Shapes of Things by The Yardbirds is the inspiration, and is meant to be played while you meditate on the painting. Then you may want to view "Blowup" (Michaelangelo Antonioni) where Jeff Beck raves and breaks-up his guitar. This is the way Swinging London needs to remembered! I own a copy of the DVD now, and it is my favorite film for now. It defines the idea of conspiracy, (& implies that photography has the key to many riddles) that reared its hideous head in the 1960s!

THE PASSENGER

Michelangelo Antonioni departed on July 30th, 2007, but left behind some of the greatest films of all time. It is better to watch his films than write about them because it is best to get into the images, such as the 1975 film “The Passenger”. The shots of the desert`s pink sand of Algiers, Jack with the turned down beach cap, blowing sand, the stranded jeep, pans the sand dunes, and an isolated village strip pass by naturally. You are lost somewhere, and then a cool blue hotel. Watched it last night and felt like I have left my body and the confines of my immediate problems. The journalist David Locke leaves his own identity and enters the personage of Robertson and a shady gunrunner for rebels in Chad. Everything is desolate, empty, isolated and the fan whirls continuously with bottles of liquor, and the tape recorder playing his conversations with Robertson. Jack says identity change is the central concept of the film. Body is dragged on hard tile floor…David Locke is dead…authorities alerted and wife…Maria Schneider appears, Robertson`s casual companion, Parisian movie star, long shots of Victorian mansion, mustache on Jack now. Airport with orange plastic chairs.The file of guns, old pink pane, the white carriage, garden with a cross, graveyard with flowers, church with a wedding. A fire burning old belongings…he looks around and sees the rebel organizers, the exchange and then a large bundle of money…”The second installment will be payed in Geneva.” Odd angle shots, gold ornaments, an on going documentary, the Chad government is in control, the United Liberation Front is still active. Almaria and Barcelona in Spain is where much of the picture is shot. Hotel de Gloria meet Daisy on September 5, 1972. Loses mustache Live execution real. David Robertson is being followed. He wants to get away but discovers Maria and tells her the truth. He is trailed by an old acquaintance. Gowdy building. Winding stairs, chipped tile, totems from Jack…real events…buys a car to get away, but takes the girl. She gets luggage and car, television producer from England trails with taxi but loses her…shot of bar…shot through bar window…”What are you running away from?”…outdoor cantina, verando cigarette smoke guns and amoo…thought of Iggy Pop song…don`t know if connection…maybe not.. “Last Tango In Paris” pain killers love scene gun passport plates bathrobe woozy unsteady “Daisy seems to be a favorite… “ Nicholson owns film good commentary perfect film a work of art really a painting but using a camera cold shots lonely loses self flashbacks he disappears…London streets masterpiece takes you out a cup of coffee a walk a hotel a bum you leave and gain peace the masters leave The United Liberation Front radicals troublemakers birds eye oblique shot satchel taperecorder Forget everything that happens look into the soul but see nothing…Plaza De La Iglesia. Sound of cars whistles oranges bridges tunnels grass orange trees wind she wants to try dust is blowing mad lonely groves dusty streets she leaves bye bye hedgerows and mountains dust pillars mosaics palms moonlight arabesque relections hotel green and rows of cypress police are following long streets and swimming pools Moors Caliphates of Arabia ruled onve harp music large cross lobby with palms chatter sounds of city double room in lobby wife in phone booth chase racing car and mountain tunnel cops stop Ammeria sneaks away lose the police out in desert car breaks down blowing weeds escape slowly clear blue skies white bungaloes bar Fatima crates roosters policia searching wife nowhere homeless Ameria to Tangiers boat lost caught story starts in North Africa…meet again? Maybe bus is coming bicycle broken down cars San Maguel all are traveling roaming nowhere? Tree blinds and white nowhere alone bugs die civilization smushed! Goat herders Hotel de la Gloria white with palms built by Italian crew for last shot…busy lone window into room Maria is there she meets david sink and lamp dusty window with bar coat rack final unction old phone colors landscapes poorer ugliness blind alone and cross the street sad…turquoise shirt trees nature what is is not she leaves again Antonioni seeks truth according to jack...another cig bars on window old man & dog car pulls up girl in frame boy runs in frame a new car black man walks up thug girl sees thugs entering was that a gunshot? Longshot of walls bullfight music ambulance police horde of kids isolated characters wife trouble bars on bedroom sink and hotel clerk bends over jack sunset andalucia red sky magic…

BLACK SHEEP BIG BANG Bs-(OR SOME PHANTASMS OF CECIL B. DEMILLE)

CULT CAMP CLASSICS 4-HISTORICAL EPICS

A VERY NIFTY THREE-PACK INDEED!

A SWORD AND SANDEL, SPECTATOR, AND/OR EPIC GENRE MEDLEY PACK

This Warner Brothers` three-pack is welcome and really packs a wallop! A trifle technical here, but I do not consider this to be a box set, since there are only three films. The three-pack is laced with the DNA of what I am calling the marginal spectator genre. Legitimate spectator films would include: Cecil B. DeMille`s “The Ten Commandments”, "The Robe", or Stanley Kubricks` “Spartacus”. These are the best models for Historical Epics, but a handful of others could be added to the list. The flicks in this Warner Brother`s set are almost Drive-In fare, but slightly more legitimate, they are also a cut above the dollar-movie circuit. Come to think of it, they are too old to fit into that niche anyway. I have never seen any of these films before, and while they are not total flops, they are obscure enough to warrant another gander. The only review I could find was this one on Volume 2, which has a film that I am anxious to see; “The Big Cube” is about a prank by demented hippies to cause unsuspecting victims to eat acid sugar cubes, then watch the results. This entire picture is dedicated to the mission of showing the downside of psychotropic drugs (8/03/2007-I have since purchased The Women in Peril three-pack and love it). I digress here, back to volume 4. All three films have copious commentary by trained, canny film historians replete with observations, facts, or indeed, oodles of trivia that are helpful, but deplete the sizzle in the steak, like blood letting in the Middle Ages, these ramblings drain the mystery out drop by drop of coagulated, curdled bluid . “The Colossus Of Rhodes” is a sword and sandal affair, an upper-crust machiste film, directed by Sergio Leone, and provides clues to his future voice. “Land Of The Pharaohs” is an epic film directed by Howard Hawks, is wonderful to watch, but is something of an anomaly for his otherwise spectacular career. “The Prodigal”, directed by Richard Thorpe and starring one dolled-up Lana Turner, sheds light on the age-old dichotomy of flesh verses the soul. I am very curious now to view other films like “The Last Days of Pompeii” (1960) or “Quo Vadis” or some of the Steve Reeves` Hercules stuff, ya know.

THE PRODIGAL

This 1955 production was directed by Richard Thorpe and stars Lana Turner, Edmund Purdom, and Louis Calhern. It uses Cinema Scope and is photographed in Eastman Color; these ancient technologies are unusual to our eyes today. Lana Turner plays the pagan priestess Astarte who holds the people of Damascus in check through her charms, and for the benefit of the greedy leaders.

My favorite actor in “The Prodigal” was Louis Calhern who plays the villainous pagan high priest with panache; he manages to dodge much of the dodgy quirks of this production with his brilliant acting. His goal is to keep the people down and under the spell of Baal and Astarte. He wears a jewel be-dappled circus shrine hat that is Fort Knox for a Halloween Hoot-nanny! The grossed-out money lender wears some garish outfits too.

An audio commentary is provided by Dr. Drew Casper and he provides excruciating bits and pieces about the microspecs of the picture. This seems to be a popular trend amongst the companies providing these DVD releases of these old films. I suppose that more people want to know about cinematic history-I know that I do!

One good point you can make is that the sets look marvelous. The art director was Cedric Gibbons who won many academy awards for his sets such as “Julius Caesar” or the “Gaslight”. Just look at the shots of Damascus, the slave market scene with the graffiti, or the ceremonial scene with the god Baal and the human sacrifice after Lana gives him a farewell kiss on the forehead. Another plus was the charnal-bones-gravel-pit fanfare with the leviathan vultures trying to slurp down Edmund Purdon for lunch! Again, this stands out like sore thumb because of the sets by Cedric Gibbons. Drew Casper points out too that Alfred Hitchcock drew inspiration for “The Birds” from this scene. Yes, you can really see the veracity of that fact when you look at this sequence!

No matter how long I watched “The Prodigal”, it would just not end. It went on and on forever, and had I seen it in the theater, I well may have dosed off and sawed logs of slumber! Just like the film itself, the commentary of Dr. Drew Casper was over-laden with incidental facts about the film industry; a bit of pruning and prudence would have been a more fitting welcome-wagon! Indeed, the film specialist took the scenic route on the flick-freeway, and his banter was a parrot`s cacophonous chatter. Drew tried to squeeze in too much cultural baggage; if I wanted to take that road, I would just dust off my copy of “Hollywood Babylon”.

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS

This film was also released in 1955 and was directed by the famous Howard Hawks. It is a spectacle picture in the tradition of Cecil B. DeMille, and uses more than 10,000 extras to create its sweeping effect, and this is done nicely in the Cinemascope format. Apparently it was a big flop, but projects itself as lost treasure today; anything Howard Hawks touches seems to be laden with a cinematic mother lode, for the most part.

The story, partially written by William Faulkner, recalls the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza, another of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, for the Pharoah Khufu, and deals specifically with the puzzle of how that was accomplished. William Faulkner and Howard Hawks had a strong working relationship, and produced some of the greatest films of all time like “To Have and Have Not” or “The Big Sleep”, but “Land Of The Pharaohs” gave them a little more trouble.

There were plenty of aspects to the film that really were keen. The first aspect is the way Hawks tries to solve the mystery of how the pyramids were built. How did the slaves get the heavy stones to the site? The main question that he tries to answer, is how could the tomb of the pharaoh be built securely so as to prevent thieves from purloining its treasures? This engineering feat is very cleverly portrayed! Another cold and stoney characteristic is the personage of the second queen played by Joan Collins. She is conniving, sultry, and downright evil, even at the age of twenty two, as she thirsts for power and riches, a favorite thing for many people back then and even now, especially Joan. Nellifer (Joan): “It feels almost soft as if it`s something to be caressed, only gold feels that way!”

Another preferred loop was when the traitors to the pharaoh were tossed off the cliff to the alligator pit. Too, there are many shots of the Pharaoh`s massive personal stash that is to be buried with him in his pyramid grave after his departure-this was dazzling to say the least. It is easy to see why the greedy Nellifer (Joan Collins) was eager to purloin it! You are going to have to see the humongous necklace that appears in several scenes; Nellifer`s lust for the gem seems to drive her to the dark side! And just listen to the majestic score of Dimitri Tiompkin, with many shorter, staccato phrases that accent the importance of the building of the pyramid and the worship of the pharaoh. His music often fills the cracks in weaker scenes. A terrific loop was where the people demonstrated their homage to the heroic dead; the oracles are spoken through the stone head idols of the Egyptian Gods, who utter the consecrations through the hard throats of Big Heads mysteriously !

Jack Hawkins was credible as the Pharaoh Khufu who spends much of his time fondling his gold, his queens, and making proper preparations for the afterlife. One could not help but notice that he seemed more like Monty than Tut, more English than Egyptian! Peter Bogdanovich does a right good job on the commentary, as he is a Howard Hawks expert!

THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES

This 1961 film, an Italian-French-Spanish co-production, is directed by Sergio Leone only a few years before he broke out with “A FistFul of Dollars”. It was shot in Northern Spain, uses many grottos for sets, and centers around one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the gigantic statue that stood prominently in the harbor of Rhodes for sixty years, starting in 260 BC. The picture follows the medieval myth that the Colossus bestrides the harbor, but it really was atop a hill in the city of Rhodes. The actual statue was 105 feet tall, but in the movie it is three times as big. Also, the real time span of its existence is 60 years, while in this film it is created and destroyed within one year`s time. Colossus was a bronze statue of Helios with rays of the sun projecting out of the head, according to Christopher Frayling the film historian. Films in the Herculean ilk, played by Steve Reeves, were very popular in Europe in the late fifties, and this one continues with this trend, but focuses on a period of antiquity little dwelled on, the time after the death of Alexander The Great, (I actually saw that mosaic of Alexander fighting the Persian king Darius III when I visited Naples in 2000) the Hellenistic Age. It is in a widescreen format as well, but is called Supertotalscope, the Italian take on Cinema Scope.

Rory Calhoun, an American actor and a veteran of western B-movies, plays a Spartacus- like character and a sort of proletarian Cary Grant according to Christopher Frayling. Rory plays Dario, a Greek who is on holiday on the island, but is drawn into a web of conspiracy and civil war. He does not shine brightly, but Rory manages an efficient performance. Lea Massari plays the femme fatalé, a possible lover for Rory Calhoun; she had appeared in “L`Avventura” with Monica Vitti, and is a bit over-pleasant in “The Colossus of Rhodes” as the schemer of political power in the decadent Rhodean court. The Argentinian actress Mable Carr brings home a nice performance as a lady freedom-fighter. Roberto Camardiel, a star in the spaghetti western “Django Kill”, plays the tyrant of Rhodes, Serse, who makes an alliance with Phoenicia to plunder the Greeks by way of piracy along the coast. He wears a red beard and elaborate garb and conducts lavish symposiums with the obligatory slaves, court girls, and food spreads galore.

A useful commentary is provided by Christopher Frayling, a film historian, and provides much trivia that rounds out your knowledge about Sergio Leone, Italian cinema, and the multi-layered network of actors, set-designers, music score composers, and screenplay writers; he connects the dots with lots of other flicks. When you have that precise of command of the facts it makes it a delight to see these old films, not too analytical, mind you!

Angelo Francesco Lavagnino is the composer of the soundtrack; one can only speculate that he would have been the great partner to Leone had he not run into Ennio Moricone. Ramiro Gomez does the production for the set design and provides cavernous grottos, palatial labyrinths, and bountiful banquets. Both had worked on “The Last Days of Pompeii”, the 1960 version with Steve Reeves. And Vittorio Rossi did a really good job with the costume designs.

SUM UP

The “Colossus of Rhodes” was my favorite of the lot; lots of western-like action, a serpentine political conspiracy, and my favorite coup d`etat plot, and gorgeous shots of the Mediterranean coast were the vital factors in my choice. Also, the commentator for that film, Christopher Frayling, was the apple of my eye; he is a Brit with more panache and has a rather theatrical presence that shines brighter than the others. He cues his comments off the action more exclusively, and has a graceful English bravado that compliments the gumptios gusto of Sergio Leone. Christopher is tight on the sword and sandal genre and the gladiator thing, and is comfortable and comprehensive, but not overbearing. I felt like I was in Rhodes in 280 BC and I love the statue too, maybe even more than Lady Liberty; no doubt I would worship the Colossus had I lived 2,300 years ago. Lea Massari is an unlikely femme fatalé, but this is subtle and sits well with me. Rory Calhoun is smooth and cowboy-like and perfect for the pro-freedom fighter Dario. There is a nice burning oil being poured on the freedom-fighters scene too! Another clever thing is the fake-lip-synching where the characters seem to be throwing their voices like ventriloquists. The sound guys may have being playing some mixing-games in the post production editing. This continued on in the classics of Leone and gives it a comic effect as if you are watching a cheap foreign film. And an outstanding discovery that I made was of the composer Angelo Francesco Lavagnino; the use of echo and reverb on the soundtrack sends you into the past totally! My least favorite flick was “The Prodigal” because of its lumbering progressions (digressions), but Louis Calhern almost salvaged it with his golden circus shrine caps and his evil turn of phrases. An odd thing is that the Stoller and Leiber song “Idol with A Golden Head” kept popping up in my head in conjunction with all of the movies! An irony is that the song was a success and the films were flops mostly. I did like “Land Of the Pharaohs” however, but the dialogue was uncomfortable, as if these Egyptians were Southern gentlemen on a Georgian plantation, but this can be pointed to the fact that the screenplay was largely penned by Bill Faulkner. The sets and costumes made up for it though, and Joan Collins plays a perfect bad girl, possibly a prototype for future roles. Overall, I highly recommend this three-pack!

CLAUDE BOVEÉ`S FUN FACTORY OF FILM CRITICISM

JONESTOWN: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PEOPLES TEMPLE

THOSE WHO DO NOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE CONDEMNED TO REPEAT IT.

This documentary "Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple" is the best treatise on this subject that I have ever seen. All of us feel at sometime that the world will end, and this is the way that Jim Jones felt on November 18, 1978. This catastrophic event was very carefully captured, and we can watch these confusing events unfold in real time. I have seen many specials on The Peoples Temple and this PBS work is the most carefully researched, the most objective account. There are no reenactments, just film footage, the careful placement of photographs against events, and the painful commentary of former members, most of which were stricken with the tragedy of the multiple loss of family members.

The best aspect was the thorough coverage of the early church in Indiana and then the move to California. You can hear much of the preaching of Jim Jones and see footage of the early church. Jim Jones was clear at that time, and was an early champion of the rights of blacks, even in the 1950s. Also he was a socialist and used the communal teachings of Jesus to persuade new members to join the congregation. Some of the frauds were revealed too and the ways he held these poor people in his grip. He used sex to control them also. Jones: "...If You see me as your God I will be your God". It is surprising to see his popularity unfold early on, but one has to put on blinders, reminded of the darker aspects of this story unfolding. In the mid-seventies Jim started taking drugs and got very paranoid. This I suppose is the basis for his messiah complex which made him conscious that everyone was out to get him and his people.

The extras are really good and provide many of the individual stories that have been so carefully preserved. Through the years I have gone through this sorted tale many times, wondering why this happened, and it is still a mystery, even as it seemed that something miraculous was to happen, but suddenly the devil took hold. One suspects that you must be careful who you worship, who you hold up as a messiah. I recalled how shocked I was when I learned that JFK had so many affairs, even when he was the commander in chief. This was troubling. Jones had many affairs with men and women and then hushed it up. People could not talk with one another. His taped voice was a constant drone on the loudspeakers in Guyana, just like the FBI did in Waco with David Karesh. I also saw how gospel music played a deep role with the Peoples Temple. Jim was very in tune with the African American experience, and almost seemed black himself. I was reminded of Elvis and his miraculous crossover.

This tale has been told over and over again. It will be told many more times. A much more precise assemblage of photos, facts, and footage was applied in this American Experience special. This PBS documentary is the best retelling of these twisted events to date and will be included in my collection, as I still attempt to probe how these bizarre incidents could have come about. One new thing that I saw was that the Kool-Aid murder/suicide had been rehearsed many times before. Noone tried to stop him before that time, and then when Leo Ryan went to Guyana and actually tried to stop his crazy plan, he had a back-up strategy to counter him.

TORRE PENDENTE

This is my absolute first oil painting. It was conceived and executed some three years ago. The oil is a rendering of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and I used a bewitching, embellished (touched up) postcard as its model. I traveled to Pisa in October of 2000, and in many ways it was perfectly preserved and in tune to the late medieval city-state of the distant 14th century. All around the Campo dei Mirocoli, the grounds for all three buildings, were many souvenir peddlars selling curiosities, prodigious wares in the way of tower trinkets (you know the drill-tee-shirts, mugs, postcards, ball caps, larger prints, sculpture, pendants etc....) This was a mind blowing experience for me as I had dreamed capriciously of witnessing this phenomenon, this architectural quirk (or better oddity), all of my mortal days! I believe my painting came out right handsomely as a result of my strong devotion for the edifice. Please read up on its history because it is of a consummate fascination; a labyrinth of unusual events are baked into the cake of the Torre Pendente. The most noteworthy is that Galileo may have dropped cannon balls off of it to prove that mass and gravity are two unique wonders of physics, indeed a rare marvel! I had first learned of this on Fractured Fairy Tales, a cartoon written by Jay Ward. The Torre Pendente was begun in 1173 and commenced to lean almost immediately, so it amazing that it is still standing.

My work was painted on a piece of maple wood and is 11.25 inches square. I used Winsor & Newton oil paints for it. There is a strong use of impasto, or the thick application of paint to give it a pronounced, three-dimensional surface. I do not believe that you can quite detect that characteristic in the photograph for this blog posting. There is the use of foreshortening and a teeny bit of the application of chirascuro. I`m proud of that because those are lessons that I learned in art history class; those techniques were conceived by the Italian Renaissance artists. The tower itself is teeming with detail and quite a bit of toil is etched into the surface of the maple. The sky is a deep azure blue (and gave me a bit of trouble) just as it was on that crisp October morn in Italy some seven years prior! The lawns and cypress trees are rendered with accuracy and some TLC. That day in Pisa was one of the best days in my entire life, so I hope that my painting too reflects that rare mirth, that visits us so infrequently!