Tag: cityscape

Trajan’s Column near the Roman Forum

Trajan’s Column was built in 113 A.D. at the edge of the Roman Forum to commemorate the Emperor Trajan’s victories over the Dacians in what is now Romania and its neighbors. What is so amazing is that it is still there, in the same place, looking much like it did two thousand years ago. It is the model for every memorial column put up ever since. A pope put a statue of Saint Peter on the top in the sixteenth century, but that didn’t have much effect. Susan and I were just returning from lunch in the café at the top of the Vittoriano when we saw this scene from the front steps. It had rained several times that day and was about to pour again. The dark clouds that were coming out of the East were moving very fast.

Oil on canvas
24”w x 36”h

$950.

The Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum

This is the Roman Forum as seen from the tabularium which is the taller building at the Northern end of the forum. The triumphal arch at the South end of the Forum is the Arch of Titus. It was erected to celebrate the defeat of the Judeans and the looting of Jerusalem. From this view, the mass of the forum is a chaotic confusion of masonry and trees, with only the Arch of Titus clearly seen in the distance.

My aim was to capture the confusion of the middle ground and the clear white shape of the Arch of Titus. The stacked perspective is more like a medieval painting than like a modern one.

Oil on canvas
24”w x 36”h

$950.

Siena from the Loggia of the Palazzo Publico

Siena is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It is composed of a series of ring shaped streets on a hilltop, with terra cotta and yellow ochre walls and roofs everywhere. It was one of the great competitors to Florence in the Middle Ages, and still has a gracious Medieval appearance composed of wonderful architecture and lots of money. This is the view from the town-hall tower on the Campo in the center of town. I’ll only go to this level, near the bottom of the tower because I’m afraid of heights.

In this painting, I tried to capture the complexity of the hundreds of planes and variety of terra cottas, all seen in the brilliant Tuscan sun. I used lots of linseed oil in the paint to get a fat, rich paint that would carry the intensity of the colors. I also painted it on a large canvas to show off the view.

30”w x 40” h

$1100.

San Andrea delle Valle, Rome, Italy

This was the view from our window when we used to stay at the Hotel Pantaleone in Rome. The hotel was in a palazzo, but is gone now, and we rent our own apartment. We were on the top floor, in the cornice. If I leaned out the window, I could see the Chiesa de San Andrea delle Valle. It is one of the most spectacular Baroque churches in Rome, and therefore in the world. I think it’s great in the ‘smack you between the eyes’ way that Roman counter-reformation churches were. Looking down at the street, we could see the late afternoon sunlight and the gathering storm.

Oil on canvas

24”w x 30”h

$900

On the Palatine Hill in Rome

The Palatine Hill is adjacent to the Roman Forum and is where the greats of ancient Rome built their palaces. The word palace actually comes from the name of the hill. Now, two thousand years later, it is a honeycomb of rooms in ruins with cave-like holes where the original outside walls were. A few rooms have survived and can be visited to see the wall paintings and the arrangements, but overall it is quite spooky.

The freestanding ruins and the medieval houses that were built out of the salvage are very vertical and very impressive. Susan is peeking over the wall, and a Chinese girl and her boyfriend with droopy trousers are in the foreground.

Oil on canvas
24”w x 36”h

$950.

Nocturne in Blue, Our Lady Star of the Sea, Cape May

I had to visit the Acme supermarket early one winter morning to get eggs for the bed and breakfast. When I came out, I noticed the dark mass of Our Lady Star of the Sea across the parking lot. The pavement was wet and the dawn was dark and misty.
The scene reminded me of James McNeil Whistlers’ Nocturnes, especially those of the Houses of Parliament. He used to say he used his “special sauce” to get the liquid night effect. I guessed that his “special sauce” is glaze made of linseed oil and ultramarine blue – which is what I used.

Oil on canvas
20”w x 16”h

$750.

Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Italy

This is a view of the Santa Maria della Salute from the Riva degli Schiavoni in Venice, Italy, during Carnival. Susan always wanted to go to Carnivale in Venice, and one year, Easter was very early, so we could arrange Carnival in our schedule. We were staying in a hotel right on the Riva degli Schiavoni, recommended by a friend and neighbor in Cape May. Every morning, we’d go walking in our costumes, attracting lots of attention and having hundreds of Japanese tourists take their pictures with us. I went as a giant Turk and Susan went as an eighteenth century Frenchwoman.

My aim in this painting was to convey the crush of the crowd on the Riva degli Schiavoni and the other-worldliness of the pink light shining on the dome of the Salute. I used much more linseed oil than usual to make a rich, fat paint to carry intense color.

36”w x 24” h
Oil on canvas

$950.

Fifty-second Street at Night New York

Susan and I were in Manhattan to see a play at the invitation of our friends and neighbors, the Krebs’s. We were going in to dinner at The Iron Bar, when I saw this scene. It was a drizzly, misty night and the street lights lit up the fog from below. The street level was bright with glare and the nineteenth century buildings were shining with reflected light. The newer towers in the neighborhood loomed in the background against the inky sky.

This scene made me very homesick and I wanted to capture the liveliness of the scene and the wild contrasts of the evening on 52nd Street near Times Square. It’s a large painting to reflect the large scene.

Oil on canvas
36”w x 48”h

$1100. SOLD

Tavira, Algarve, Portugal

This is a very small painting of Tavira in the Algarve region of Portugal, painted soon after our first stay there. I love the roofscapes of Mediterranean towns with the myriad planes and varieties of terra cotta.

This is thickly painted and depicts a patch of sunlight falling on the main street of town, several blocks away.

Oil on canvas 24″w x 18″h

$750.

The Senate in the Forum

Susan and I were hobbling back after a long day of walking around Rome. We walked along the Via dei Fori Imperiali looking for a bus. I looked right and saw the back of the Roman Senate in the forum right next to the baroque Chiesa di Santi Martina e Luca. The simple brick Senate building (the Curia) next to the elaborate church made a wonderful contrast between ancient Rome and counter-reformation Rome; and the pruned Roman pines made the whole scene much more graphically interesting.

Oil on canvas
36”w x 24”h

$950.