Sometimes you just don’t know where to look.
Bluesky
BEBINA BUNNY free download here
-
Tassels and Trousers
Keats-Shelley House, Rome
In 1820 at the age of 25, the poet John Keats left for Rome. He had tuberculosis and his doctors hoped that the Italian sun would provide a cure. But Keats, in love with Fanny Brawne, kept postponing the trip. Soon he started coughing up blood and knew it was time to go. But not before exchanging locks of hair with Fanny. A true romantic.
Keats was accompanied by his close friend, portrait painter, Joseph Severn. They rented lodgings in a tiny room facing Piazza di Spagna. Here Severn nursed his friend devotedly. It was a heart-breaking experience, he wrote home. Keats was in so much pain that he would often cry when he’d wake up still alive.
Keats died in his Roman room on 23 February 1821. His last request was to be placed under a tombstone with no date or date. All he wanted written on his tomb was "Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water."
-30-
Keats is buried at the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.
Keats-Shelley Memorial House, Rome
Posted in Art Narratives, People, Rome/Italy
Tagged Fanny Brawne, John Keats, Joseph Severn, Romantic Poets
2 Comments
Squawkers
Book buying binges generally occur at the Feltrinelli’s bordering Piazza della Repubblica. And when we pass the statues of Quattro Fontane, I sigh.
These stone tableaux, one for each corner of the intersection of via dell Quattro Fontane and via del Quirinale, represent an eulogy to rivers.
Intriguing is the statue of Juno, the Roman goddess of love and marriage thus a vital force. She was known as a divinity who sent you omens and warnings if things were going to get bad –like a goose that loudly squawks when danger is near.
-30-
Related: Goose symbolism and meaning + Piazza Quattro Fontane de Roma
Reading in Bed
She never said “Let Them Eat Cake.”
Marie-Antoinette, history has been so unfair to you.
-30-
Spoglia at Trastevere
“Spoglia”* from the Latin “spoils” is the repurposing of architectural elements. And Rome is full of them.
Here is a small house that looks as if it’s been “excavated” from a wall at Trastevere.
Next to a column inserted in the wall is a small marble plaque that reads “Casa di Belardino Ercoli, libera di canone, anno 1838”.
-30-
Related: Spoils and Spolia
- “spolia” is sometimes written as “spoglia”
The Narrative Within 