THE holy state

2.23.2010 was field trip day and resulted in an impromptu trip...to...THE VATICAN. our previous destination has had too much rain precipitation, which was resulting in land/mud slides.

first we toured the vatican museum. a quick tour with susanna (one of the prof. from school) through an extensive collection of art. the museum housed many beautiful pieces of artwork dating back to the byzantine era. byzantine art is my ABSOLUTE favorite. i love the simplicity and the use of metallic (because it is common knowledge that i am a complete sucker for anything metallic). the backgrounds of the pieces all have metallic gold backgrounds.

LOVE IT.

A room full of restored (and moved) frescoes. these pieces of art were all relocated to the vatican from their previous location. the thought of moving a wall mural, BLOWS MY MIND. after learning about the installation of frescoes (definition- technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a thin layer of wet, fresh, lime mortar or plaster) in my high school spanish class i honestly can not comprehend how this form of art could be 'picked up' and moved. hopefully we will be visiting a person who does art restoration this semester and he can answer my questions.

frescoes!

example of medieval gothic art.

medieval art (or 3-D gothic art) was the next stop on our tour. Now art was being expressed with relief. originating from french gothic architecture, this three dimensional art form was becoming popular with artists.

vaticano gatti! found him in the courtyard.

also found this in the courtyard.

a famous statue at the vatican.

a room that was made to look like the pantheon.
doesn't it look familiar?

one corridor of the museum housed GIGANTIC tapestry's of christ. handcrafted in belgium (been there done that) - a looonnnngggg time ago? i can't remember the exact years. no flash was allowed - which explains why the picture is so dark.

the first christmas...literally.

intense ceiling.

believe it or not that this entire ceiling has HAND PAINTED details to look like architectural elements. everything looked real and tangible (if i was a bazillion feet tall...). crazy.

small modern art gallery we walked though on the way to the sistine chapel. don't get too excited. you are not allowed to take pictures (even without the flash) in the chapel.

my favorite piece.

found a bunch of cool tombs on display in st. peters. some people said that they were stone statues made to look like the saints and some thought they were the 'real thing,' just covered in wax. but the verdict is still out on the authenticity...

st. jerome.

chigi pope tomb. (check out how large it actually is-
using that little lady in the black jacket as a scale figure)

the text at the top of the wall is 6' tall.
too make sure it is legible to the people below.

*don't expect a blog about the the thursday field trip (2.25.10) i was sick and missed the BEST field trip of the entire semester. st. fancis of assisi and deruta (this awesome pottery place- everyone brought tons of cool stuff).