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A good friend returns Apr. 30

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www.Oreg

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Next Mtg:Sun., Apr. 30, 3:30pm215 Oswego Summit

Lake Oswego

What makes Raphael special? ………….…..….…………….…… 2The Duke, the Abbot and the artist …………………………………….. 3Vote on this year’s picnic date .…..……………………………………… 4

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Time to brush up onyour Italian?Attention Italian-speaking Portlanders (orthose trying to learn to speak the mothertongue)! There is a new get-together beingorganized by a longtime friend of our club,

Lucia Galizia (left).The longtime hostof KBOO Radio’sThe Italian Hourwants to bringtogether those whoseek to work ontheir Italian-speaking skills.

The first meeting ofthis group will be atthe Caffé D’arte,1615 NE 15th Av.,

on Thursday, May 4 from 2:00-4:00pm. Allthose wanting to practice their Italianlanguage skills are welcome. For details,please contact Lucia at 503.284.6989.

Our next meeting takes place on Sunday, April 30, butnote that we are using a different meeting space this time.We will be using the community room at Gino and AstridPieretti’s condo complex in Mountain Park. You mayremember that we also used that room once several yearsago. For directions, see the bottom of this column.

Our special guest is a friend of the club, Lisa Staley (belowright), art history professor at Clark College in Vancouver.Thanks to George and Donna LaFrazia (with Lisa below)for inviting Lisa to join us. This will be her third talk to theOregonTuscans. This time her subject is the HighRenaissance painter Raphael. See page 2 for more.

If you have GPS, plug in215 Oswego Summit,Lake Oswego. If not, takeI-5 to Exit 295/CapitolHwy. Head south onCapitol Hwy.(towardPCC), which turns intoSW 49th Av. and then intoKerr Parkway. Turn leftonto McNary Parkway andthen left onto OswegoSummit. Just beyond thefountain (above) is thebuilding where we’ll meet.Call 503.522.9911 if lost.

How to get to the meeting…

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No one would mistake the High Renaissance artistRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino for a house painter. Unlessyou were Pope Julius II. In that case, the man known asRaphael was your house painter.

Specifically, Raphaelworked in the early 16th

Century on a four-roomVatican apartment for PopeJulius II. One of thoserooms, known as the Stanzadella Segnatura (above),was completed in 1511, andis Raphael’s masterpiece,with frescoes on all thewalls and the ceiling.

Raphael took the techniques of earliermasters and refined them to create hisown charming style. He was able tointegrate different concepts and expressthem in the Stanza frescoes, tying themtogether by their proximity.

At our April 30 meeting, Clark Collegeart history professor Lisa Staley willshow us some of those frescoes andexplain their significance. Twoexamples of the detail of the frescocalled Disputa are shown on this page.

Raphael’s technique of taking complex things andmaking them look effortless is known as his facilità.

“Raphael’s facilità is really what distinguishes him,”says Staley. “It is aprofound ability to makethe difficult look easy.”

The professor, who iscompleting her Ph.D. inEuropean art history thisyear through the Universityof Salzburg, considersRaphael “one of thesuperstars of HighRenaissance art,” alongwith Titian, daVinci and

Michelangelo.

Staley says Raphael’s special gift“is demonstrated through the savvyways that he interconnectsphilosophy, poetry, theology, andjustice as the themes of the fourwalls comprising this Stanza.”

Join us at the community room at215 Oswego Summit in LakeOswego on April 30 and see foryourself.

A virtual tour of a Vatican apARTment on April 30

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Don’t call Leonardo a lollygag, He’ll find a way to get evenby Jimmie MogliaThe late Middle Ages and the Renaissance are thegolden eras of The Last Supper paintings. The rootcause for the popularity of the theme had to do withdevelopments in the Middle East, after the Muslimsconquered St. John of Acre in 1291.

Now pilgrims looked at the West as locations ofpilgrimage. Christ was to be found not only on theGolgotha at Jerusalem but on any altar where therite of the Last Supper was celebrated.

The representations of the Last Supper are based onthe Gospel of St. John. The term “cenaculum”(cenacolo in Italian, cena = supper) refers both to apainting representing the Last Supper and to theroom where the Last Supper was painted. In factLast Suppers were usually painted in the refectory– the place where monks and nuns had their meals– the representation of the Last Supperconstituting a theme for reflection and meditation.

The most famous is Leonardo daVinci’s, whichdecorates the refectory of S. Maria delle Graziein Milan. The most important characters of theSupper are Christ, Peter, John himself and Judas.In some Last Suppers, Judas is portrayed aloneon the other side of the table (see Ghirlandaio’s LastSupper to the right). In Leonardo’s version (above) heis the fourth from the left.

In the 1560s, Giorgio Vasari wrote his well-known,comprehensive biography, The Lives of the MostExcellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (of Italy).

Thanks to this we know a few details about Leonardo’sapproach to painting, and other peripheral eventssurrounding this great work of his.

For example, the Abbot in charge of S. Maria delleGrazie kept harassing Leonardo to finish the job.“It seemed strange to him (the Abbot), thatLeonardo would spend half a day in abstractmeditation, whereas he should do what thepeasants do when working the land. That is, neverstop using shovel, trowel, scoop, rake or spade.” Inthe same fashion, the Abbot expected that(Leonardo) “should never keep the paintbrushidle” (... che egli non avesse mai fermo ilpennello).

The Abbot even went to the Duke of Milan(Ludovico il Moro), to voice his complaints.Whereupon the Duke called Leonardo to courtand promptly told him he had no intention tointerfere with his painting, his methods nor theuse of his time. But then telling the Abbot that

his complaints had been relayed to the “culprit” wasthe most expedient way, for the Duke, to get the Abbotoff his bottom.

Leonardo, “knowing the prince forbeing intelligent, discreet and sharp,” decided todiscuss with him some aspects of the art of paintingand how he got his inspirations. Notably, imprinting inthe mind, through the use of the imagination, the

Leonardo’s version

Ghirlandaio’s version

Judas

(see DUKE, page 4)

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The final event in this abbreviated program year issomething which has become a bit of a tradition over

the past several years: a BBQ.Audrey Perinoand Ken Kanewill host thisinformal affairat their home insouthwestPortland.Burgers, Italiansausages, andpotluck sidedishes are the

Our final get-together of the year is coming up in June … or July. You be the judge.order of the day. As these photos from the 2015 BBQattest, whether inside or outside, there’s room and funfor everyone! Two dates are under consideration, bothSundays – either June 4 or July 9.

We will decide at our meeting on April 30. If youwon’t be at the gathering at the end of this month, butwant to weigh in on a BBQ date before the meeting,e-mail your vote to OregonTuscans@gmail.com or call503.246.6462. The date will be announced atOregonTuscans.com, on our Facebook page and in aLa Lettera Toscana before the event.

La primavera dovrebbe essere alle porte, invece ilmaltempo continua ad imperversare, non solo sullacosta del Pacifico ma in quasi tutte le parti delmondo, stagioni anomale che seguono le previsionidi un drammatico cambio del clima in tutto il mondo.

Mentre io non mi preoccupo penso ai miei bisnipotiche affronteranno la vita con davanti gravi problemiche si potranno risolvere solo con una unioneglobale di intenti, unione che non appare almomento a portata di mano. Percio’ speriamo in bene e intanto godiamoci i giorni a venire, sperando che siano pieni di sole, di serenita’e di pace.

Duke, Leonardo see eye to eye(continued from page 3)perfect ideas that eventually would be converted intopainted images.

Leonardo confessed that he had still two heads tocomplete, Christ’s for which he did not want to rely onany human model. For no human face could convey thebeauty and celestial face of a God incarnate. In fact,even after completing The Last Supper, Leonardo wasnot satisfied with the rendering of Christ.

The other still-missing head was Judas’, for Leonardocould not conceive of a man who, after receiving somany benefits and attentions, would stoop so low as tobetray Christ. However, on second thought, he askedthe Duke if it would be OK to use the petulant Abbot asa suitable model for Judas. The idea “moved the Dukemarvelously to laughter” (“la qual cosa mosse il Ducameravigliosamente a riso”) and he agreedwholeheartedly.

Therefore, most unpredictably, the Abbot got hismorsel of immortality – verifying what Oscar Wildesaid 400 years later, “It doesn’t matter what people sayabout you, as long as you are talked about.”

Ludovico il Moro became embroiled in the turbidItalian affairs involving France, Spain, the (in)famousBorgia Family and the equally (in)famous Borgia PopeAlexander VI .

Ludovico il Moro ended up a prisoner of the Frenchand spent his last years in the castle of Loches, one ofthe cluster of castles on or near the River Loire inFrance. He died in 1508.

Those interested in the turbulent lives of the Borgiasmay watch the two videos produced on the BorgiaFamily. Go to the websitewww.yourdailyshakespeare.com. From the menuchoose “Historical Video Sketches” and scroll downuntil you find episodes 43 and 44.