Becky's photoblog

Titian
Cain and Abel, 1542-44
Santa Maria della Salute, Venice

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This is the second in a series of posts about Stories in Art. The first one was about Adam and Eve, and of course, after that comes the story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4). The story of Cain and Abel is incredibly short and incredibly fascinating, but paintings of Cain and Abel are actually kind of boring. Stories about women in the hands of male painters are way more interesting, but we need to get through two important stories before we can get back to the interesting paintings. This is a short post about brothers: the sons of Adam and the sons of Noah.

Cain and Abel were brothers. God favored Abel, so Cain killed Abel. I know very little about the very complicated relationships between brothers so I won’t say anything here about competition, favoritism, jealousy or the inability of primitive men to express their emotions and deal with their feelings non-violently. Nope, I won’t say anything here about that, but I will show you a painting of Cain killing Abel. By itself, this painting is really not that interesting, but Titian painted this for Venice’s Santa Maria della Salute, and he paired it with two other scenes of men raising their arms ready to strike. Click on this image, then click on ‘Other works at Santa Maria della Salute’ to see this painting paired with David poised to strike Goliath and Abraham poised to sacrifice Isaac.

Carlo Saraceni
Drunkenness of Noah
Private collection

The Book of Genesis is full of stories that make us wish we could ask the authors a few follow-up questions and The Drunkenness of Noah (Genesis 9:20) is certainly one of them. We all know Noah’s story: God told Noah to build an ark, Noah and his family spent 40 days on a boat with two of every animal and then had to rebuild after the flood.  The story is rich with vivid imagery, but some artists opted to focus on a strange but important scene that happens after all that. Noah built a vineyard, and he got so drunk that he took his clothes off. His son Ham saw this and told his brothers Shem and Japheth about it. Instead of doing nothing and talking about it like Ham had done, Shem and Japheth went to their father backwards so they couldn’t see him, and they covered him up. This painting by Saraceni does a wonderful job of contrasting Ham with his brothers. By depicting Shem and Japheth with their arms blocking their eyes, it calls attention to the important difference between how the brothers handled the situation.

These are very simple stories about right and wrong that illustrate what not to do. God punished both Cain and Ham harshly by sentencing them to hardships and favoring the descendants of their brothers. In doing so, God established the line of the chosen ones from among the brothers who didn’t do wrong. The descendants of Cain all died in the flood, and the descendants of Ham (the Canaanites) became slaves to the descendants of his brothers. Cain’s brother Seth became the ancestor of Noah, and Noah’s son Shem becomes the ancestor of Abraham, David and Jesus.

We’ll revisit the theme of brothers again when we get to Jacob. Until then, we have the incredibly creepy paintings of Lot and his daughters to look forward to.

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Five years ago, Brian and I spent the day after Christmas at the Met, and we did the exact same thing this year. Several hours of gallery after gallery after gallery – it was wonderful. It doesn’t need to be said that the Met has an incredibly spectacular collection, and I felt like every time I turned around or entered another room, I ran in to old friend. (Yes, I know I’m a nerd).

Every year, the Met has a spectacular Christmas display in one of the Medieval galleries and I always love seeing that. They were also showing an exhibit of Bernini’s clay sculptures. Bernini sculpted many of the famous monuments that we just saw in Rome two months ago, so it was pretty incredible to see his ‘sketches’.

Photoblog entry from our visit to the Met in 2007

[Not a valid template]I was need of some peace on earth and good will towards men, so I went to a favorite familiar spot, Old South Church, for some uplifting music. The Old South Ringers were rehearsing for their Christmas handbell concert.

Click here for a sample of this ridiculously beautiful music.

• Links to previous photoblog entries with photos of Old South Church: 6/16/2009, 9/5/2009, 1/31/2010,
• Link to my painting of Old South Church
• Links to previous photoblog entries with photos of the Comm Ave Mall: 6/29/2009
• Link to my painting of the Comm Ave Mall

Nine years ago, I painted the mansion where the parents of these two little girls were married. It was a wedding gift from the brother of the groom, and I was honored to be able to help commemorate their wedding day. I was even more honored when he contacted me nine years later and commissioned another painting!

His brother and sister-in-law are now the proud parents of two beautiful daughters, and this painting was commissioned for his brother’s 40th birthday. I promised to have it finished in time for Christmas, and nothing keeps me motivated like a deadline, so I spent several lovely weekends painting for many, many hours at a time

This blast from my past got me thinking about where I was in my life when I painted that mansion. It was the summer after I graduated from college, I was living at my parents’ house, painting in their basement and job-searching. I had no idea what I was doing, but a year later, I was working in the registrar’s office at a college, living with nice strangers in Brighton and working on another commission.

Life is good.

Sisters, oil on 24×30″ canvas, December 2012

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Disclaimer: This post has nudity, and that’s something to be ashamed of. Just ask Eve.

Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, 1508-12

I like to think of myself as a weekend art historian. I’m no scholar, but I know a few things, and I love love love studying art history. This is my blog, and I can be a big nerd if I want to, so I’m going to.

This is the first in a series of monthly posts about paintings that tell stories, drawing from my ‘Stories in Art‘ project. As the great Maria von Trapp once said, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.” Sorry to start things off with a really corny quote, but as you will see, artists always quote stuff they love.

Adam and Eve

Michelangelo’s Creation of Eve, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, 1508-12

“In the beginning” God created the world, including the first man and the first woman. If you read through a few more books of the Old Testament and do the math, this happened about 6,000 years ago, which doesn’t make any sense AT ALL, but we can talk about that later.

Anyway, Genesis chapter 2 tells the story of Adam and Eve, and we turn to our old friend Michelangelo for some visual references. First, the Creation of Adam, and then the Creation of Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. Then, in chapter 3, things got weird. Anyone who has had some trouble following instructions can identify with this part of the story. God said don’t eat, and Eve ate. Thanks Eve.

This began a long history of paintings that illustrate a simple but destructive notion: “women can’t be trusted.” Check out this painting by Johann Loth (below). This celebration of skin tones tells a simple story: She’s hot, but she’s trouble.

Johann Carl Loth’s Eve Tempting Adam, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1655

Click on Loth’s painting on the right, then click on Loth’s name (top left) to see some of his other images of strong female biblical characters turned into dangerous temptresses. Thanks Loth.

So, Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden of Eden, and this scene (known as “The Expulsion” in art history) became important to a series of artistic “quotations”. When a writer tries to show that he is well-read, he makes reference to well-known literary masters. It’s the same thing with art history. In the Renaissance and Baroque eras, when an artist was trying to make a name for himself, he would deliberately make the viewer think of a famous masterpiece by incorporating a well-known scene into his work.

In a little chapel in an out-of-the-way church in Florence, the early Renaissance artist Masaccio frescoed the scene of The Expulsion (1426-7) (below). It may look ‘primitive’ to us, but at the time, the scene’s raw emotion was so captivating, that other artists began to ‘quote’ this scene. In Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise (1425-52), a similar version of this scene can be found in the bottom-right of the Garden of Eden panel (below). Michelangelo’s scene on Sistine Chapel Ceiling (1508-12) is also reminiscent of his fellow Florentine’s depiction.

The Medici Venus, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Masaccio was also quoting a previous master, and Michelangelo’s Expulsion was also famously quoted. One of the most influential sculptures from antiquity is a sculpture of Venus where the Goddess of Love covers herself with her arms rather than standing triumphantly like a male god. Masaccio recognized that this gesture of modesty applies perfectly to Eve and her revelation that nudity is shameful. 

This ancient Greek sculpture was known by many Roman copies, so Masaccio could have easily been aware of it. In fact, it’s possible that he was familiar with the most famous copy, The Medici Venus, owned by the Florentines for many centuries.

Fast forward to 1610 when the Baroque era was in its infancy, and so was the career of Artemisia Gentileschi. If male artists quote other artists to show that they know what they’re doing, then female artists needed to do so twice as much, especially when the live in a ‘library’ like Rome. Gentileschi’s father took his young talented daughter all over Rome to see the famous frescoes, especially the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. In one of Gentileschi’s early works, Susanna and the Elders (1610), she quoted Michelangelo’s Expulsion by reversing Adam’s defensive gesture. Susanna was spied upon while bathing, and in the same way that Masaccio saw Eve in a sculpture of Venus, Gentileschi saw Susanna in Adam’s anguished objection to being expelled.

Don’t get me started on Susanna, but it was not her fault that those guys were spying on her and they deserved their punishment when the truth was finally discovered (Thanks Daniel). Same as with depictions of Eve, artists have spun Susanna’s story to make it look like she was far from innocent. This brings us full circle back to Eve, her ‘mistake’, and the notion that women can’t be trusted because they are temptresses who are just trying to lure you into big trouble.  Biblical stories of women were spun by artists to downplay the importance of the woman’s role in the story, and to draw attention to the horrible fate of man if he trusts a woman. Suckers.

Masaccio’s The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, 1426-7

Lorenzo Ghiberti’s The Expulsion, detail from the ‘Garden of Eden’ panel on the Gates of Paradise, Baptistry of St. John, Florence, 1425-52

Michelangelo’s “The Expulsion”, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, 1508-12

Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, Schloss Weissenstein, Pommersfelden, 1610

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In mid-September, I accepted a painting commission and agreed to have the painting completed by Christmas. This seemed like a perfectly reasonable deadline to meet, but if you factor in various other obligations (like my job), the limited daylight hours in Fall, the time it takes for a painting to dry, and our 10-day vacation in October, I have about 6 days to finish this painting. I have set aside all of the other things I’m supposed to be doing, and I’m dedicating this entire weekend to painting. It’s a rough life …

Every November, one of my favorite events takes place in one of my favorite venues, and for the last year or so, we’ve been going with two of our favorite people. The Boston International Fine Arts Show at the Cyclorama with Merry and Jeremy. A perfect way to unwind on a Friday night after a long week.

In 2007, I began a website called Stories in Art. It’s a a searchable database of paintings and sculptures that tell ancient stories, and I’ve been adding entries to my collection slowly but surely. Today, thanks to my parents, I added my 500th entry.

‘Stories in Art’ (which is not the nerdiest project I’ve ever done, but it comes close) started with a paper that I wrote in 2001, while I was studying art history in Florence. I wrote a paper comparing the themes of David and Goliath and Judith and Holofernes in Baroque painting (also not the nerdiest thing I’ve ever done). David and Judith were two biblical heroes who decapitated their enemies, against all odds, and saved their people. Depictions of these two heroes are endlessly fascinating and surprisingly common. Every time I went to a museum, I would notice another one, so I started a list.

When my parents came to visit me in Italy, I told them about the paper I was writing, and about the paintings I was studying. This started a very strange game that we’ve been playing ever since: keep an eye out for the decapitated heads in museums. My parents have been helping me collect images of heroic decapitators for eleven years, and they recently found yet another one.

Hans von Aachen’s Judith and Holofernes is my 500th entry in Stories in Art and my 115th Judith.

During our trip, we visited several churches that I had been to a few times before. I already have more than a few photographs of these beautiful places, so I decided to try something new this time. At every church we visited, I stood in the exact center of the main aisle, with my back to the front door, and tried to take a perfectly centered shot looking straight down the aisle towards the altar. The unique character, grace and immense beauty of each church is crystal clear from this spot.

We had signed up for a guided tour that would take us all over Palermo, and up in to the hills to a town called Monreale. The only good thing about having to get up early on vacation is being able to enjoy the sunrise, and it was a pretty incredible sunrise.

Here’s one of my favorite photos from our trip – the sunrise as we arrived in Sicily

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The story of our morning in Palermo is an easy story to tell: two towns (Palermo and Monreale), two cathedrals, an incredible view, shopping and gelato. Our tour guide was great – she filled us in on lots of fascinating details about Palermo and Sicily while pointing out beautiful buildings left and right. We arrived with several other tour buses in Monreale, and climbed up many steps to the piazza and the cathedral. The Cathedral of Monreale is a masterpiece of mosaics that depict the biblical stories, with a massive mosaic of Christ above the altar. Absolutely spectacular.

After we visited the cathedral, we had about an hour before we had to be back on the bus. That was plenty of time to buy four gifts, and take in an incredible view of Palermo. Back on the bus, and back down the hill for a drive-by of a few more gorgeous buildings and piazzas. Our last stop was the cathedral, which is far more ornate on the outside than the inside. We started our trip with a church that has massive sculptures of the 12 apostles lining the nave, and Palermo’s cathedral has statues of female saints lining the nave. Very beautiful.

Then, we returned to the ship to spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the view before heading back to our cabin to pack our two massive suitcases.

I am incredibly fortunate that I’ve had opportunities to go to Spain not once but twice in the past eighteen months, although this time we had to do without our fantastic tour guide (my mom).  We arrived at 10am so we got to sleep in and take it slow — at this point, we had been traveling for almost a week, we had been blown away by three cities so far and we’ve been keeping a pretty active pace, so we were still half-asleep when we got off the boat and found our way to one of Barcelona’s double-decker open-air headphone-narrated hop-on/hop-off busses. It was touristy but perfect — Barcelona is all about architecture, and the bus gave us the chance to look at so many buildings that we wouldn’t have seen from the sidewalks without walking with our eyes up and walking in to people.

[Not a valid template]We got off the bus in Placa Catalunya and walked around to see the fountains, the shops and street market of artists. Then, we wandered through the Gothic Quarter and made our way to Barcelona’s cathedral. You might think that after seeing so many churches, it’s hard to be wowed by yet another one, but that’s really not the case. We saw two spectacular, very different churches in Barcelona, and both blew me away. Barcelona’s cathedral reminded me of the Gothic cathedrals in France — impossibly tall columns, graceful arches, vaulted ceilings, dark stone and spectacular stained glass windows. Very different from all of the marlbed Roman Baroque churches we saw a few days ago. We wandered in to the cathedral’s adjacent courtyard, which had several lovely chapels, and for some reason, a little pool with several geese.

Then, back to Placa Catalunya and back on the bus. Barcelona is full of buildings designed by Modernista architect Gaudi, and most of the rest of our afternoon was spent exploring Gaudi buildings. First, the bus took us by Casa Mila, which is one of the few Gaudi buildings I could recognize before I started cramming for this trip. Then we got our first view of Sagrada Famiglia (Gaudi’s finest, and THE thing to see in Barcelona), then got off the bus and walked up to Park Guell. Park Guell is an unfinished park designed by Gaudi, full of that characteristic colorful fragmented broken tiles. It was worth the walk up the hill and the many stairs just to see the view of Barcelona (despite the fog).

[Not a valid template]Back down the stairs, then a cab back to Sagrada Famiglia — it was finally time to see this masterpiece for ourselves. I will say this for the record. I was wrong, and I stand corrected. I had thought that I wouldn’t care for this modern architecture stuff, but Sagrada Familia blew me away. The exterior is not really my thing – the sculptures on the facade are so blocky and it made me miss the impressively elaborate drapery of so many marble sculptures in Rome. But the interior of the church took my breath away. Sagrada Familigia is so new that it is still being built, but Gaudi’s vision is crystal clear. He paid homage to thousands of years of church architecture while completely redefining and inventing his own architectural language. The stained glass windows were the most beautiful thing I saw that day.

It was around 5pm at this point and we stopped at a little sidewalk cafe for a late-lunch/early-dinner, then back on the bus! The sun was starting to set, and I love seeing buildings lit up at night, so we spent the rest of our time in Barcelona (2 more hours) riding the upper-deck of the tourist bus. We saw Casa Mila again, and neighborhoods I should probably learn more about, then up to Montjuic, the section of Barcelona that includes the Olympic stadium (from the 1992 Olympics), and the Royal Palace. It was really breathtaking to see this neighborhood lit up at night, with skyline views of Barcelona, and we even got to glimpse inside the Olympic stadium as we drove past.

With 20 minutes to spare, we got back on the ship and decided to spoil ourselves with some late-night room service. The following day (today, as I write this) is our full day at sea, and we were very much in need of some extra sleep, some sitting around, and a day without a schedule.

[Not a valid template]Our first port of call is Livorno. The cruise offered several opportunities to explore various Tuscan towns such as Pisa, Lucca and Siena, but for us, it was a no-brainer. We signed up for the bus ride to Florence, an hour and a half inland. We only had five hours of free time to wander Florence before we had to get back on the bus, but there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to introduce my husband to the city where I lived for my junior year. Florence is a beautiful dreamworld, and it was simply mind-blowing to take this five-hour journey to my past. This is my handsome husband in front of il Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the world.

Brian was not completely unfamiliar with Florence – three of my paintings in our house are of three of my favorite things to see in Florence, including one that we saw a copy of in Williamstown, MA (see photo). Plus, we had been to an exhibit on the Gates of Paradise in NYC a few years ago, so he had become familiar with those gorgeous gilded panels before seeing them in person.

We had an incredible lunch before making a dangerous but inevitable venture in the nearby  mercato nuovo. Can’t go to Florence without buying leather, so we did.

[Not a valid template]We wandered and explored some more, then all too soon, it was time to go. I knew it would be hard to leave, but it was harder than I thought. Fortunately, our tour guide read my mind, and added a little extra treat to our visit. We got back on the bus, then drove up a nearby hill to Piazzale Michelangelo – the best place to get an incredible view of the whole city, and especially its spectacular cathedral. Not enough time for us to go up there on our own, although I had really wanted to, but I was extremely happy that the bus took us up there on our way our of town.

We got back on the boat just in time to enjoy a spectacular sunset before dinner.

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Some of my favorite churches in Rome are right near our hotel, so before leaving Rome, we visited five more churches. The first three all have something in common, and they’re all very different from so many other churches: they’re round.

[Not a valid template]First we visited San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, better known as San Carlino because it is tiny … tiny but gorgeous. Designed by the Baroque architect Borromini, San Carlino is a masterpiece of geometry and curves and it makes incredible use of a small space.

Next, Sant’Andrea al Quirinale — beautiful gilded dome — and then San Bernardo. This one is much easier on the eyes after seeing so many overwhelmingly ornate churches. San Bernardo is a plain round room of gray stone, with pale yellow walls and large sculptures in niches all around. Perhaps one of the quietest places in Rome.

The last two were Santa Maria della Vittoria, famous for Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, and a rather violent scene in Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. Warm golden brown tones all around, and a gorgeous ceiling. Last stop was Santa Susanna, the American Catholic Church of Rome, and the only Roman church covered in frescos. One of my favorites because it’s like walking in to a book – you can walk around and ‘read’ the story of Santa Susanna.

[Not a valid template]And then our trip to Rome was over. It was around 1pm, and it was time to catch a train to Civitavecchia and board the Noordam. We got settled in to our cabin fairly quickly, and then spent the afternoon exploring the ship. Ten decks of dining options, entertainment, pools, bars, comfortable chairs and incredible views. Hands down the biggest boat I’ve ever been on: three laps around the promenade deck is one mile.

We had an incredible four-course dinner with some lovely people, then continued exploring the ship. The shops were a bit distracting, and we were eager to sign up for internet access so we could let our parents know we had set sail!

[Not a valid template]First full day in Rome, and we covered A LOT of ground. Rome is full of piazzas, fountains, museums, cafes and churches, and (maybe not a surprise?) I tend to focus on the churches. We went in to eight churches on our first day in Rome, five on our second day, and we finished off with six churches on our last morning in Rome.

That said, one of my favorite pictures from this day is of the forum. After a long day of walking around, we picked up the pace once we noticed that the sun was setting because of I know of a great spot to catch a view. We climbed up to Piazza del Campidoglio on the top of the Capitoline Hill, and viewed the ancient ruins of the Roman Forum (including the Colosseum a block away) just after the sun finished setting.

As I’m writing this on October 15th, we are aboard the Noordam somewhere in the Mediterranean.

[Not a valid template]We arrived in Rome on Friday, October 12th around lunchtime, settled in, napped off the jet lag, and made our way over to Vatican City. The Vatican Museums offers the option to the tour the museum at night on certain Fridays in the Fall, and since it fit in perfectly with our itinerary, we jumped at the opportunity. First, we visited St. Peter’s Cathedral – we got a pretty wet (see photo) because it started pouring, but still completely worth it. There is absolutely nothing more amazing in the world.

Then, to the Vatican Museums. I’ve been to there a few times before, and it was AMAZING to see the galleries at night. I’ve spent a lot of time learning about the Raphael Rooms, especially the room that has the School of Athens, so it was pretty incredible to be able to share that with Brian. I’ve been in that room 6 times before, and it still floors me to see it in person. Brian was really awestruck by the Map Room, and of course, the Sistine Chapel Ceiling is a must see.

Sidewalk cafe for a very late dinner, back to St. Peter’s Square to see the dome lit up at night, then back to the hotel to pass out.

[Not a valid template]Us (just before the rain started), just moments in to our Roman adventure, jetlagged and failing to take a photo of ourselves that includes the largest cathedral in the world right behind us.

Today is Day 1 of our 10-day honeymoon!
We are in Rome until Monday, then we board the ms Noordam for a 7-day Mediterranean cruise to Livorno (near Florence), Monaco, Barcelona, Tunisia and Palermo.

Check out our google map  ‘BD Luna da Miele 2012’, which marks the places we expect to visit.

View BD Luna da Miele 2012 in a larger map

Stay tuned for lots of pictures!!

[Not a valid template]There’s a mysterious park next to my supermarket. Above it is more like it. Melissa ‘discovered’ this park when we first moved here, and she told me I would love it. It’s not that I didn’t believe her, but the park is at the top of a hill (Mission Hill), and it always looked like a pretty steep climb. They recently built a staircase in to the side of the hill (not that stairs are any easier for me than hills) so I finally decided to check it out before buying my groceries.

Worth it.

Just as I figured, this hill-top park has an amazing view of the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, better known as Mission Church, better known as the church where Ted Kennedy’s funeral was held. It was pretty amazing to be eye-level with the bell tower of a cathedral, and it was incredibly quiet and peaceful up there in the middle of a busy neighborhood. So many hidden gems in Boston!

Kevin W. Fitzgerald Park:

Click here to see more of my photos of Mission Church

[Not a valid template]They renovated my favorite gallery at the MFA. No one asked me, they just went ahead and changed the whole thing. It was fine the way that it was, but you know what? It’s still gorgeous, and it was wonderful to re-explore this incredible space.

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This is my favorite gallery in the new wing — gorgeous red silk, shiny gold frames and pristine white marble. I think they like this room so much, they decided to make the Koch Gallery more like it. Who can argue with that?

[Not a valid template]Photography is permitted on the first floor of the Gardner Museum‘s new wing, and I finally got around to snapping a few of my own photos. I have a ways to go because the new wing is gorgeous, but let’s start with the greenhouse. The first thing I see every time I arrive at the Gardner Museum is the new greenhouse. The flowers for the museum’s signature courtyard used to be grown and cared for at an off-site greenhouse, but one of the many gems of the new wing is an onsite greenhouse, complete with a greenhouse classroom for teaching school groups about Isabella’s gardens. And my favorite, purple orchids.

[Not a valid template]Maine is a treasure, and the Greenleaf Inn in Boothbay Harbor is a gem. Five DiMattias spent a lovely New Englandy weekend wandering in and out of shops, eating incredible meals, sitting on shady porches and watching the sailboats.

[Not a valid template] Another groupon, another important item checked off my list. To honor the national holiday that is Mel’s birthday, we had afternoon tea and scones at a fancy cafe on Newbury Street (using a groupon).

Before that, we played tourists in our own city and crossed yet another item off my list — we visited a Boston landmark: King’s Chapel. Mel used to work at King’s Chapel, one of Boston’s oldest churches, so she knew the inside scoop, but she had never been on an ‘official’ tour. Only recently, they have started offering a special tour called ‘Bells and Bones’ — up to the bell tower and down to the crypt. I probably should have asked a few more questions to get a better idea of what I was in for, but instead I decide to follow along. First we went down to what is possibly the creepiest basement in Boston. Dead Bostonians in bricked-up vaults partially blocked by filing cabinets, rubbermaid bins of office supplies, clothing racks with Christmas pageant costumes and stacks of broken antique chairs. Also, it was extremely warm. Then, up a few flights of steep stairs to yet another flight of steeper darker dirtier stairs to the refreshing cool breeze of the belltower and a 2437 lbs. bell cast in 1860 by King’s Chapel parishioner Paul Revere.

Then we sat down for a nice cup of tea.

Finished another painting!

I started a handful of paintings in 2010, then a few things came up in 2011 – a few painting commissions and several months of wedding planning kept me away from other projects. So now I’m putting the finishing touches on paintings that were about 80% finished two years ago.

I take a lot of pictures for a lot of reasons, and one of them is that some photos eventually turn in to paintings. In September 2009, my dear friend Maureen and I went out to lunch on Boylston Street — two photos from that day would eventually become paintings (one’s not done yet).

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Old South Church
Copley Square, Boston
oil on 12×20″ canvas
2010-2012

[Not a valid template] This is a painting of Old South Church — a gorgeous church in a city full of gorgeous churches. In September 2009, I snapped a photo (on the right) that contrasted the colorful early-Fall leaves in the church’s award-winning garden with the sun-lit stone work of the church. The following winter, when I decided to begin a painting of this scene, I realized that I needed more pictures because I wanted to include the church’s beautiful bell-tower. So I grabbed this photo, hopped on the T, found the exact spot that I had been standing and re-framed my shot to include the tower.

Then, I heard the most beautiful music coming from inside the church, and suddenly it dawned on me — it was December 24th!  I stepped in to the church, which is gorgeous on any day, and absolutely stunning when it’s decked out for Christmas (photo on the right). I sat down and enjoyed a magical, beautiful, peaceful organ rehearsal, then headed home to start a new painting.

The church’s founders chose an incredible location for their church. Old South Church was built in 1875, next to the Boston Public Library (built in 1848), and across Copley Square from Trinity Church (built 1872-1877). The finish line of the Boston Marathon, established in 1897, is steps away from Old South Church. In 1914, the Copley T station was built right next to Old South Church, and now thousands of commuters and tourists pass it each day. The John Hancock Tower, New England’s tallest building, was built across from Old South Church in 1976.

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• My photoblog: Link to my photoblog entry from 9/5/2009 (lunch and coffee w/ Mo, and Old South Church) and my photoblog entry from 12/24/2010 (Old South Church, interior and exterior, at Christmas)
• Architectural Landmarks of Boston’s Back Bay: One of my web projects is a series of pages with photos and information on several of my favorite landmarks in Back Bay — please visit this site, especially the pages on Old South Church, the Boston Public Library, Trinity Church and the Hancock Tower
• Please visit Old South Church’s website to learn more about their fascinating history and their wonderful programs
• Please visit beckydimattia.com to see more recent paintings

I had a groupon for a Cape Ann Whale Watch, and we used that as an excuse for an incredibly pleasant daytrip to the beautiful town of Gloucester, MA (click to see google map). One of the many things I love about living in Massachusetts is that there are gorgeous vacation spots right under our noses. Gloucester is right on the ocean, and the weather was picture-perfect.

First, we wandered around Rocky Neck, one of American’s oldest artist colonies. I went to art school, so I have some idea of what it’s like to be surrounded by artsy-types. This is much different. These are serious and talented artists running cozy galleries, and living the good life in quaint houses with incredible views.

Then, we crossed an item off of our list by visiting the Sargent House Museum. The house was built for Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820), who was (among many other things), the great-grand-aunt of John Singer Sargent (one of the few artists that Brian and I can truly agree on). The house was lovely and the tour guide really knew her stuff, but we had to duck out before the tour was over because the whales were waiting.

We boarded the Hurricane II, and enjoyed the views, the wind and the salty air as we headed out to visit the whales. It was such a clear day that we could see Boston in the distance the whole time we were out there. Brian actually listened as the guide taught us about the different whales that we saw, so you’ll have to ask him. I just wanted to see something you don’t see every day — an animal so huge that it reminds you how small we are, in its natural habitat, an ocean so huge it reminds you of how little we know.

After the whale watch, we decided to take a little drive and ended up in Rockport, MA (click for google map), another great town with lots of galleries, cute shops and beautiful views. After some wandering, it was time to find some dinner. We had just stopped in to a small restaurant to try their chowder and their seating area was crammed with picnic benches and loud children. That’s exactly what I didn’t want for dinner, and I was getting frustrated with the tiny keyboard on my phone, searching among an overwhelming array of local options. So Brian said “let’s just try this place” and we walked in to the restaurant across the street.

I can’t say this enough: we are two incredibly lucky and fortunate people. The hostess at Brackett’s Oceanview Restaurant apologetically offered us the last available table at the restaurant – a tiny, out of the way, private room with a big window. The table was perfect, the room was perfect, the view was perfect, my drink was perfect, the fried seafood was perfect, the lobster ravioli was perfect and my husband is perfect.

Then we walked off dinner on Pier Avenue, just in time to catch a beautiful sunset over Sandy Bay.

I finally finished a painting that I’ve been working on for a while. It’s not my masterpiece, but I love it.  Life occasionally gets in the way of painting, and this one may have sat on the back-burner for quite a while. I started this painting two years ago, almost to the day.

You might not be surprised by this: I love going to museums. On the day after Christmas in 2007, Brian and I spent the afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, again this might not surprise you, I took a lot of pictures.

It’s not just that I love art — I love galleries, and Gallery 810 at the Met is perfect — deep dusty rose walls, parquet floors, columns, arched doorways, and a huge skylight, not to mention the shiny gilded frames holding glimpses in to other worlds, including the world of the mysterious Madame X.

Gallery 810
Metropolitan Museum of Art
oil on 12×18″ canvas
2010-2012
beckydimattia.com

John Singer Sargent
Madame X (Portrait of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau)
1884
Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1884, John Singer Sargent exhibited his gorgeous portrait of Madame Gautreau at the Paris Salon, but it was not well-received. Critics argued that it was obscene, and Madame Gautreau was humiliated. Despite demands, Sargent refused to withdraw it from the salon, although he later repainted the sitter’s right shoulder-trap so that it was on her shoulder rather than loosely draped on her arm.

In 1916, Sargent sold the portrait, known as Madame X, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, commenting to the Met’s director “I suppose it is the best thing I have ever done.” In 2004, Deborah Davis wrote Strapless, a fabulous book about Sargent and Madame X. In 2007, when I got to see Madame X, she was hanging in Gallery 811, framed beautifully by the arched doorway of Gallery 810.

According to the Met’s website, she can now be found in Gallery 711. At some point, she was moved from the European paintings to the American paintings. Apparently, John Singer Sargent has been hard to classify since he was an American born Florence and he lived and worked in Paris and London before painting wealthy New Yorkers and Bostonians (such as Isabella Stewart Gardner) when he was my age.

click here for the Met’s page on Madame X 

My painting is based on a composite of these two photos:

And this is the Met’s photo of Gallery 810 from their page on the gallery:

Please visit beckydimattia.com to see my other recent paintings. 

A beautiful brand new canvas …
hand-stretched tight as a drum, two layers of gesso, sanded smooth, and ready to go.

We brought a friend to the MFA this morning, and headed straight for our favorite gallery (partly because the bathrooms are right there, but that’s beside the point). We found out that our favorite gallery in the entire museum is being renovated! This photo is from a few years ago, and we’ll never see this again …

One of my favorite ways to spend a day off is visiting some of my favorite spots in Boston

Old meets new in Boston’s South End (corner of W. Newton and Columbus)