A Vacation in Italy

Montepulciano

About the time Bill DeBlasio was being criticized for not being enough of a workaholic to be mayor of the Big Apple, I too was vacationing in Italy with my family. We did spend several days in Venice but, unlike the DeBlasio's, we spent most of our time in Tuscany. Home to Florence, Siena, medieval hilltop towns, superb cuisine, Roman and Etruscan ruins, vineyards and olive groves, Tuscany is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Florence is the home of the Italian Renaissance - the great burst of knowledge and creativity that led through the Enlightenment to the modern age. Home to the Medici's, one of the world's richest and most powerful families, Tuscany's politics today are firmly to the left with regional elections predictably giving landslide victories to leftist or center-left candidates since 1970 when the first regional election was held.

Tuscan sunrise

Italy's museums and churches are filled with paintings and sculpture, most notably of the medieval and Renaissance periods. Renaissance (in Italian, rinascimento) means "rebirth". The rediscovery and re-appreciation of Greek and Roman texts and sculpture provided the momentum to begin to bring Europe out of the medieval era. That classic, more realistic, more observation-based way of representing the world combined with the fortunate presence of creative geniuses and patrons who supported their work produced the Renaissance.

Titan's Assumption
Licensed under public domain by Wikimedia Commons (1)

During the Renaissance, paintings went from two-dimensional to three-dimensional representations of the world. Linear perspective was developed. Color became more vibrant.  The painting medium changed over the years from fresco and tempera to oil, and artists began to paint on canvas rather than wood panels and plaster. Sculpture turned to Greek and Roman models of the idealized human body and statues of amazing fluidity were created by the hands of master sculptors. New architectural techniques were brought to bear on the building of great churches and cathedrals. Thousands of volumes have been written about the Renaissance and I don't pretend to any great knowledge of the era but here are a couple of works I enjoyed while in Italy.

The painting at the right is the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, painted by Titian (Tiziano) between 1516 and 1518.  It's in the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosi del Frari in Venice and an example of the revolutionary use of vibrant color for which Titian is noted.  The painting below, The Birth of Venus, is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.  Painted by Botticelli between 1482 and 1485, it is one of the most famous paintings in the world and, according to the Uffizi webpage, the first example of painting on canvas in Tuscany. The theme comes from Ovid's Metamporheses.  The painting has "clear references to the 'Stanzas', a...poetic work by Agnolo Poliziano, a contemporary of Botticelli and the greatest Neoplatonic poet of the Medici court. Neoplatonism was a current of thought that tried to connect the Greek and Roman cultural heritage with Christianity.  The Neoplatonic philosophical meaning is then clear: the work would mean the birth of love and... spiritual beauty as a driving force of life."

The Birth of Venus
From the Uffizi website (2)

Creativity and creative genius are much studied by psychologists and neuroscientists. The July/August issue of The Atlantic has several interesting articles on "how genius happens". There are no firm answers yet - and may never be. But one thing is clear to me. Some of the seemingly untractable problems of our generation require a more creative approach if we are ever to solve them. That plus a re-dedication to the common good, an empathic appreciation of our common humanity and a facts-based approach to problem-solving should be fostered everywhere they can be. These may be our best, perhaps only, hope to develop the political will to save the 21st century.

Robin Williams

From the BBC News post

The sudden death of actor Robin Williams yesterday shocked us all.  The beloved actor was a comic genius. For millions, including me, his over-the-top humor and improvisational skills made him the favorite stand-up comic of his generation.   Kind words (BBC News, Aug 12) have been pouring in non-stop since his untimely death.   Mourners visited sites from Williams' movies..., laying flowers and memorabilia to honor the late star. This kind and humorous man will be greatly missed by all of us.

Links to The Atlantic Articles on Creativity

"Secrets of the Creative Brain" by Nancy Andreasen

"The Power of Two" by Joshua Wolf Shenk

"Five Creative Solutions"

Photo Attributions (Renaissance Paintings)

1. "Tizian 041" by Titian - The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

2. Uffizi Gallery Museum Website - home page