When in Rome...the Vatican

I can summarize the effect of seeing so many famous works of art up close and in person with one thought: very few of the works are what I would expect based on the pictures of a textbook. At the same time it's fun to recall information and apply it in person. Though we learned a great deal before seeing the works, the hallmark features I memorized are sometimes more prominent, often less, than I expected. For example, the detailed decoration and architectural elements that characteristically frame renaissance works were so much more interesting and a more important element than I expected. When we study works, it's usually the main figure or prominent character in the narrative that receives the focus; in person, the surrounding detail and extra painted sculpture becomes just as interesting as the focal point.

I began this train of thought while in the Vatican Museum, observing the walls painted by Raphael. Many of the works are beyond famous; The School of Athens comes to mind. This means that just a glance at the painting makes it instantly recognizable. But perhaps the familiarity of such paintings keeps us from noticing the elements which are not the aforementioned "hallmark" features that let us make such quick identifications. While staring up at The School of Athens (as well as the other Raphaels, including The Mass at Bolsena, one of the works I studied in depth during our class) the features I had dismissed when looking at a 4x6 illustration became equally if not more interesting than the representations of famous thinkers. The borders, decorated to blend in with and mimic architectural elements contain so many complex figures that they are paintings in their own rights! I can not imagine painting a masterpiece, and then painting life-size bodies, realistic looking stones, and complex figures in impressive perspective around the edges. All that to say, looking at the realistic looking "statues" painted as though holding up the "main" painting was just as impressive as the "main" painting itself.

Perhaps my interest in the detail has to do with its ability to allude to the time that must have been put into the works; seen in their original setting, the process and daily life associated with the works is in the forefront of your mind. In many of the places we've visited all over Rome and Florence, it's been the daily life, of historical characters captured in ancient ruins and of modern day citizens in the shops and subways that has most captured my attention.

-Abbie