The Art of Raphael

I spent longer creating this show on IMovie than I did any other show since I started doing my own videotaping and editing with show # 124. The reason was that although I have good knowledge of art history, especially from the Florentine Renaissance, there was a lot to be desired with regard to Raphael. I then had to video several parts to the show which took place over the course of weeks. Most of the responsibility for the delay in finishing the project, however,  had to do with the fact that over the past week and a half, I was out of the house for about 75 % of the time.The end product is very satisfying, and although art history is still largely uncharted waters for me, I think I did ok. The other show regarding a solo analysis of the art of a famous Italian Renaissance artist was the one I did on Ghirlandaio. This was better than that, although that show has had a lot of viewers. Recall I have done several art shows with help from Rick Hirst, my dear friend and artist. The improvement was based on my new method of creating episodes on Alan's Italy. Each time I use IMovie, I find another aspect of the process I didn't know before. This always seems to enhance the finished product. There is no telling where I can go with iMovie, but it is both fun and exciting. Laura pushed me forward with this and as always I am very grateful to her. I tend to move slowly to change. She knows this and although it is very frustrating for her, she stays with it until I move myself in the right direction; it has never been the wrong direction. She has very good instincts. Laura herself has been heavily involved in curating a gallery show for Saturday, November 26, but still has given me a lot of her time including today when we honed the product to its current, finished form. The video was uploaded to Youtube only minutes ago.

It was, of course, challenging to try to give proper regard for anything involving one of the greatest artists of all time, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. I was assisted by the fact that I love his work, and have seen much of it throughout Italy and France (the Louvre has a significant number of pieces stolen by Napoleon during his occupation of Italy in the late 18th century). I did have several favorites at the Palatine Gallery which helped to narrow down the scope of the show. Nonetheless, to provide appropriate background material, I had a lot of research to do. One hold-up centered on the famous portrait of Agnolo Doni. The story I originally heard centered on Doni's relationship with Michelangelo. In the early 16th century Florence was privileged to have living in it at the same time the three giants of the High Renaissance, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Imagine that. All three played a prominent role in my show, but the story revolving around the so called Doni Tondo was the sticking point. The story I always believed was the one which Vasari told in his famous Lives of the Artists used by the author Irving Stone in the Agony and the Ecstasy, a book I read in 1992 before my first trip to Italy on the advice of a friend who told me it would enhance my visit to Florence (which it did). I then re-read the book twice more until I fell in love with Michelangelo and Ghirlandaio. That story told by Vasari of the Doni Tondo was widely accepted in the art world as well. Then I read another interpretation leading to the theory that the Dono Tondo should have been called the Strozzi Tondo. I didn't know what to tell my audience was the real story, so solved the problem by telling both stories. Other than that pretty much everything else was accepted by the art world. It is fascinating and reminded me once again that iconic figures in history were as human and "normal" as anyone who ever lived. I once sat on a bench in Florence and imagined seeing pass by me all three of the greatest artists of Florentine History.  If I spoke Italian fluently, I wouldn't know what to say except that they had no idea how famous they would become; or did they?

My next show will center on an interview we did in an extraordinary shop on via della Spada in Florence. I then realized that this street is a favorite of mine and will throw in some talk about our favorite restaurant, La Spada, and one of our favorite museums, the Marino Marini, both of which are on that street. I will not do too much on the two last ones, because each of them had their own shows years ago. I, of course as my viewers and readers know, love streets in Italy having already produced shows on via della Scala in Florence and via dei Fori Imperiali in Rome. I think I also did one on streets in general in Florence as I recall focusing on via Tornabuoni, via Calzaiuolo, etc. Anyway that will be show # 131 which I am eager to begin and will do so soon. My semester at the college ends soon and I will have plenty of time to get into a lot of themes that I am eager to do namely shows on the "perfect tours of..." I will include Florence, Rome, Venice, Milan, and Tuscany in separate shows. Then I will do my long desired show on explaining to my audience how to plan a trip to Italy the way Laura and I travel. I would also like to choose my favorite photos which have some extraordinary characteristic and base a show on that. So there is a lot to do and I cannot wait to begin.