Siena

On Saturday, one of our free days, Courtney, Jeff, and I all went to Siena for the day. We took a bus there and it took about an hour and a half to get there. While we were there we saw a lot of really cool things! We went in the Duomo which was a gothic church that had really cool green and white stripes inside. There were carved marble bible stories on the floor and one was by Donatello. We went in a crypt that was under the Duomo and it had brick walls with some partial frescos on them. We then went across the road to the Santa Maria Della Scalla. It had a really scary underground chapel and some more underground brick rooms. We also went to the baptistry that had some bronze sculptures by Donatello. After this we went in a museum and saw Duccio's Maesta that Jeff did his project on. The last thing we did was see the Campo where the Palio is run each year. We were really cold by this point so we all got on the bus and headed back to Florence. It was a really good day!!!!!! :)

Mannerism and High Renaissance

By looking at mannerism and high renaissance artwork we can see many differences and some similarities between the two. The high renaissance style is more natural looking with natural positions and when looking at the artwork it is very inviting and pleasant to look at. An example of high renaissance art would be Raphael's Mary with Jesus. Mary is very motherly and kind looking while Jesus is very baby-like even though he has a few more muscles than a normal baby would. This shows that while high renaissance art is very naturalistic, it is not always realistic. The mannerism style is very odd looking, with the people in uncomfortable postitions and the body parts are not proportional. When looking at the artwork it gives one an awkward feeling. Paramigianina's Madonna of the Long Neck shows the odd proportions with Madonna's head being small on a very long, thin neck. Her hips are very wide in comparison to her upper body. The baby is very lengthened seeming not baby-like at all. They are similar because both styles are usually on the same subject matter.

Renaissance Art Differences

I think there are a lot of differences between Renaissance art and artists and art and artists now.
During the Renaissance art was mostly for religious purposes and painted on the walls of buildings. So the paintings were in churches, telling a story from the bible, and including characters from religion. Now paintings and sculptures are of anything, whether it is shapes or lots of different colors. The paintings and sculptures were usuallly of people, including portraits and scenes. Art work was usually commissioned instead of painted just because the artist felt like it. It seems to me that the buildings were constructed to serve a purpose and be beautiful and interesting. I think buildings now are just built to serve a purpose and they are not particularly nice to look at.
I also think artists are not as well known and respected today as they were during the Renaissance. If you were an artist during the Renaissance then everyone in the community knew you and everyone had heard of your work. Now not everyone cares as much about art so the artists and artwork are not remembered as well.
I do think art from the Renaissance and today are similar in the fact that they are constantly changing and breaking boundaries.

Travel

I think the importance of travel is to learn about different cultures and places and how to communicate with different kinds of people. It can make you a well rounded person as well. By learning a different language you can communicate with the people of other countries and knowing a different language may help you with a job that you get later in life. Learning about another culture can make you realize how good or bad your own culture is and you can also understand the opinions of others more clearly if you know something about their culture. Learning about different places can teach you about the history of the world and the things that made it.

I think the best way to travel is in small groups with preferably no more than three people. Traveling with small numbers can more easily allow discussion among everyone about the place you are visiting. To me traveling on foot is more fun and educational than traveling on a train or plane because you can learn things and see things as you walk that you wouldn't get to see or know if you were on a plane or train.

The best places to travel are anywhere. I like traveling most to places that most tourists don't go because it is less crowded, even though I do like traveling to well known main tourist attractions because those places are often the most important in history. I love nature so one of my favorite places that I have traveled to was riding the mules down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It was very peaceful and relaxing to be able to enjoy nature and to be around animals.

In order to achieve the goal of travel I think one should educate themselves about the place they are traveling to before they get there, as we have been doing in class. This way instead of looking constantly at the guide book you can fully enjoy the surroundings.

http://www.thereareplaces.com/Guidebook/pdest/itropts.htm

This is a good website for good places to visit in Rome. It has very useful information on the Colosseum, churches, the Forum, the Pantheon, and many other interesting places.

Seneca's Essays

For the first essay I chose "Instinct in Animals". In this essay Seneca talks of how our instincts are natural, just like animals instincts are natural. He also talks of how everyone has their own constitution and this constitution changes during the different stages of life. Seneca says we must act natural in all situations no matter what it may be because this is how Nature intended us to act. Constitution ties into this idea because Seneca says that during the stages of our life (infant, child, youth, adult) we learn actions that are appropriate for that age and we develop things that are needed for that age. Finally Seneca discusses our souls which he describes as "the consciousness of our constitutions". This is knowing that we are doing something from instinct but we don't know why we are doing it. In relation to our souls Seneca notices that animals show no sign of low self-esteem or carelessness of self so we should try to take after them in this manner.

For the second essay I chose "True and False Riches". Seneca says that it is not that impressive to refuse delicate food and eat common things, but it more impressive to give up common food and eat uncommon food. This causes us to appreciate the delicate foods when we have the opportunity to eat them. The same goes for other items of wealth. He says that as long as we have the essentials we should be happy and we will enjoy wealthy things more than those who experience wealth all the time.

Question Answer

So I guess this is where I'm supposed to answer this question.... if not sorry!!!
1b. For my two world heritage sites, I'm choosing Mantua and Sabbioneta, which are in the Po Valley in northern Italy. Mantua is important to universal cultural heritage because it played a significant role in the start of the opera and opera is now performed by many different people. Sabbioneta is important to universal cultural heritage because of its Hebrew printing-press, which has allowed the Jewish to continue to practice their religion.

Anna

Hi everyone!!!!! I'm Anna and I am a sophomore Equine Science/Pre-Vet major with a Life Science minor. It was nice to meet everyone today and I hope we have a lot of fun throughout the quarter and especially in Italy!!!!!! See you all Wednesday :)