Deb went to physio today, and does not need to return for two more weeks. She will continue to do her exercises at home. She also got the shingles vaccine, Shingrix, too, with mild symptoms afterwards. She seems fine now. She still does not feel ready to drive again, but soon.
We are getting walloped with humidity, and Friday and Saturday we get our first extreme heat of the year. We have been at and near 90 for several weeks now, but the high 90s are coming, with high humidity. It will feel tropical. I did some weeding today, one large bag full. About 7 large bags of the stuff are still awaiting. Hoping to do a bag a day until Sunday. We have also began our basic 28-day walking program once again, to get into some kind of physical condition. It's difficult for me to be motivated if I do not have a major walking trip coming up. Nothing on the horizon except Cincinnati in late August, though a trip to California for late autumn is still on the back burner.
I am going to show the fourth and final Panini painting from the DIA's amazing collection of Italian baroque art, one of their strongest holdings.
Interior of St. Peter's, Rome, Giovanni Paolo Panini, 1750. Detroit Institute of Arts.
Oil on canvas, 133 cm x 146 cm.
The painting is large enough, and detailed enough, to take ones breath away. It is as close as most people, including me, will get to the real thing. And it's not a half bad substitute! Panini not only excelled at landscape and architectural art, but he also skillfully painted all of his own figures, too. This painting has a lot of them, and they provide nearly as much interest to the viewer as the interior itself.
Detail of above. I love the perspective.
Detail of the right foreground.
Detail showing St. Peter's chair. The DIA has the only surviving sculptural sketch for the chair!
Bernini's surviving model of St. Peter's chair, 1658, made for the Basilica shown in
Panini's painting. Scenes from the life of the saint are shown. Detroit Institute of Arts.
Also in Detroit is this study for the "cattedra," from 1658, from the workshop of Bernini.
51 x 34 cm. Pen, brown ink, wash heightened with white, over black chalk.
Detail of the main ceiling.
Detail of upper right ceiling.
Detail of figures in the church, all painted by the artist.
One may not be able to easily get to Rome, but living across the river from Detroit is sometimes the next best thing! Next time we move away from Panini, but remain a while longer in Italy, as we resume our peek at outdoor landscape art in the collection of the DIA.
Mapman Mike
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