We spent the morning visiting the sights of Rome, the objects of the Grand Tour and now of mass tourism.

Starting with the Colosseum:-

The Arch of Constantine:-

The Arch of Titus:-

Up on the Palatine, the detritus of Empire:-

Down into the Forum:-

The so-called Temple of Romulus:-

The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina:-

It should be sacred ground, consecrated by Gibbon and generations of eighteenth-century and later tourists, but I found it hard to view it, maybe too influenced by reading David Watkin’s book on the Forum, as much more than a complex archaeological site, excavated too radically and much of it reconstructed.

We had a nocturnal visit to the Villa Medici, starting in the loggia:-

We explored the gardens by torchlight, finding the painted decoration by Jacopo Zucchi which was only uncovered in 1985:-

And the gipsoteca which was established ever more recently when Frédéric Mitterand was Director:-

We walked down the Viale dell’Uccellaria, past the eponymous aviary:-

Down to the British School of Rome, founded in 1901 and now housed in a building constructed by Lutyens in 1911 for the International Exhibition of Art:-

We called in at Canova’s studio:-

And so back to the hotel:-

Hoping that S. Ivo might be open in the afternoon:-

We headed off to the Borghese Gallery.

Scipione Borghese by Bernini, based on sketches.   The first version:-

Second:-

Raphael:-

Titian:-

Bernini:-

Antiquities as well:-

I crept out in the cold light of the Roman morning into S. Maria sopra Minerva, the nearby Dominican church, where they were singing mass.

Outside, the Pantheon:-

Next door, S. Ivo:-

Then back to the hotel:-

We spent the morning in the Louvre, a whistlestop tour of major works:-

Up into the Grande Galerie:-

Not a bad morning.

I went for a short walk in the deuxième.

Through the Place Vendôme:-

And the Passage Choiseul:-

Down the Rue Vivienne past the Bibliothèque Nationale:-

To the Galerie Vivienne:-

And back through the Palais Royal:-

I came back from São Paulo to join my last Patrons’ tour (to Paris and Rome).

We started with Versailles:-

Then, into the Queen’s Apartment, starting with the Salon d’Hercule, with ceiling paintings by François Le Moyne:-

Through into the Salon de Vénus, with its statue of Louis XIV by Jean Warin:-

And ceiling paintings by Le Brun:-

Next door is the Salon de Diane, with the bust of Louis XIV by Bernini:-

The Salon de Mercure with ceiling paintings by Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne:-

The Salon d’Apollon with Apollo in his Chariot by Charles de la Fosse:-

The Salon de la Guerre with Louis XIV by Coysevox:-

Then into the private apartments of Louis XV with its wood carving designed by A-J Gabriel in the late 1730s:-

Finally, we visited the ground-floor private apartments of Madame Victoire:-

I was brought up not to like or admire the architecture of Versailles: too rich, too opulent, too Louis XIV. I wish I had paid its history more attention.

I was waiting for permission to post pictures of the Glass House, where we spent the most utterly pleasurable and interesting morning meeting people who had known not only Lina Bo Bardi, but also, her husband Pietro Maria, who remained Director of MASP into his late seventies.

It was the greatest possible treat to have it to ourselves, secluded in the midst of a suburban forest:-

It’s not just the house, but the garden as well – the sense of organic nature and Lina Bo Bardi’s love of the outside, the back-of-house, the pathways through the undergrowth – her experience of Brazilian vernacular as well as her importation of European modernism:-

My last post as if from São Paulo (actually, I’m back) is of the Ibirapuera Park in the south-west of the city, which they consider as their equivalent of Central Park, but it’s not that central, or of Hyde Park, but it’s not that rural.   It was opened in 1954 in a period of what must have been great post-war prosperity and liberal optimism, with their version of the Museum of Modern Art opened in 1948 and the bienal in 1951 (both were founded by Ciccillo Matarazzo).   The park is full of pavilions by Niemeyer.   Not just the Bienal pavilion:-

But also, the Oca Ibirapuera:-

The Pavilhão das Culturas Brasilieras, which hosted the Bienal in 1953:-

And the very impressive Museu Afro Brasil, which fills the Manoel da Nóbrega Pavilion, originally opened in 1959:-