Vaccinations, Panini, and Humidity

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

Art, A Film, and an M.D. Appt.

The DIA has 4 wonderful paintings by Panini.  I have already showed two of them in some detail, and I will now show a third landscape.  The 4th painting they own shows the interior of St. Peter's, Rome, but does not fit my outdoor landscape theme.  It is such a great painting, though, that I may decide to show it anyway.  Tune in next time to find out.

 Ruins of A Triumphal Arch In The Roman Campagna, Giovanni Paolo Panini,

painted 1717-1719.  Oil of canvas, 29" x 24", unframed.  Detroit Institute of Arts. 

  Panini and his patrons were obsessed by classical ruins, and I am very happy for that, as so am I.  My most significant encounter with such ruins was in Spain, especially in Barcelona and along the coast nearby.  These paintings are wonderful fancies to look upon, and to project oneself into the picture.  See me there with my dog?

Detail of the central foreground.

 Detail of the left foreground.

 Detail of right side.

 Detail above the arch.  

This is the earliest of the four DIA Panini paintings, and was one of the first paintings to enter the museum's collection, in 1889.  While I would be happy to have any of the four hanging in my living room, I would prefer if I had them all.  Wonderful stuff!

My choice for a Criterion movie this week was called "Dragon Inn," a martial arts film from Taiwan and made back in 1967.  It has recently been fully restored.  It was the first of the great, extremely weird Chinese movies where ninja-like warriors can fly up onto roofs and into trees, and fight for hours against an opponent who is their equal.  This wide-screen, colour movie is worth the price of admission just to sit and gasp at the incredible scenery and locations.  the fighting is just something you have to put up with.  The movie has much of the American "western" genre about it, with much of the movie set in a lonely, extremely isolated Inn near Dragon Pass.  The tension and the dialogue, especially in the movie's first half, is incredible.  Everyone is so polite, while wanting to destroy one another!  Things bog down a bit near the end when it becomes a silly, non-stop ninja-like battle, but for most people this is probably the highlight.  As usual, we got to watch it in a perfect print.  Recommended.  There are still some extras yet to watch.

Now showing on the Criterion Channel. 

I had a meeting with my M.D. today.  I am officially getting old.  My blood pressure was great, but my cholesterol was a bit high.  I am starting a low dose of meds for that.  Also some meds for an enlarged prostate, not unusual in a guy my age.  And I also got a prescription for a shingles vaccine.  Deb and I are both getting one, as we did have chicken pox as children.  Apparently these vaccines are 95% effective, though not fun to get.  Deb gets hers Thursday.  If she lives, I get mine on Monday.

Mapman Mike

Memorizing Music, and a DIA Painting

July is music memorization month around here, at least for me.  My goal is to have the 1st movement of the Haydn sonata in my head, along with the Couperin piece, the Debussy Prelude, and the massive Bartok Allegro Barbaro.  I will report back in 26 days to see how I'm doing.  I would like to have all pieces memorized for the next recital, excepting the Schubert, which is too long, and the Bach fugue, which is too complex.  We shall see.

Deb is officially free of her arm sling, after nearly five weeks.  She also has started her Physiotherapy, though the next two weeks involve just a few easy steps to do at home.  She returns to her center in two weeks to up the program a bit.  So far so good, though some pain is involved.  At least 6 months to go.  Today has been five weeks since her surgery.

I am now commencing an all-painting unit for my DIA exploration portion of this blog.  We begin with a Panini painting.  Take your seats, please.

 View of the Colosseum, G. P. Panini.  Italian, 1735.

29" x 53".  Detroit Institute of Arts.  

One of four paintings by the master in Detroit, Panini's paintings of Rome were popular with tourists of the day.  I remember discovering Panini on our earliest visits to the DIA, back in 1978.  His pictures opened up the world of landscape painting to me, and I have never looked back.  His works mix fantasy with reality, and we get a somewhat romanticized view of Rome at the time.  Everything in the picture is authentic, just not necessarily actually placed where it is. These large pictures are fun to look at, and the more you look the more you see.  Panini is good at mixing ancient ruins with those of more recent Christian edifices.

Detail of left side.

Detail of left half, which seems to make a complete painting in itself.

 A closer detail of the lower left, again seeming to make a complete painting.

 Right half of the picture.

 Further detail of right side.  Who wouldn't want to spend a lazy day exploring the area?  

More Panini next time, showing the companion picture to this one.

Mapman Mike