Today we had our first studio time in the garden at the bibliotec internacionale. It’s a pretty romantic and picturesque place to draw. I started off the Parma work with drawing a moth and some explosion with conte crayons. Yesterday we went to Fontanellato, a quant little town out in the country, a bus ride from Parma, where there is this old 13th century castle with amazing furniture, weapons and art inside. The San Vitale family lived there until 1948, when the family gave it to the town, because the family line had ended. There were glisteningly beautiful paintings of fish and meat in the dining room and billiard room, by an artist whose tag is a cat, whose name escapes me. There was also a camera obscura from the 19th century which was obviously amazing, but best of all was the Diana and Acteon fresco by Parmigianino. It was stunning, words cannot give it any justice, neither can any reproduction. The colors were so rich and the figures so alluring.
This is a picture of the entrance to the garden by the library.
That sounds so exciting! …I bet you’ll have a hard time finding dead things to draw there. I bet Italian animals are much too classy to croak in public.