Milano

For my Women and Art class, we had a day trip to Milan. We went to see the exhibition of Artemisia Gentileschi, whom our class has been focusing on for the past four weeks. We saw two of her portraits in Rome but the rest are usually located throughout all of Italy is places such as Naples, Venice, Florence and Bologna. Some of paintings are also located in different countries like England. Luckily, it just so happened that an exhibition was being dedicated to this famous female painter for four months in Milan, a short three hour train ride from Rome. The fact that this exhibition was being offered at the time that we were studying here in Rome was absolute luck.

Milano is the fashion capital of Italy, and it did not cease to impress me. Once our class walked up the stairs from under the metro, we ran right into the Duomo di Milano dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente. This church was different from those of both Rome and Florence because it had numerous statues dispersed throughout the entire exterior. It was constructed in 1386, by Archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo. The design was very medieval and had sharp points throughout the entire exterior. The inside was very large and since we arrived on a Sunday we were actually able to see a mass going on.

The actual exhibition was very intriguing. To enter the exhibition you have to enter through red curtais and a bed was in the first room with dimmed lights and notes hanging from the ceiling. This room represented one of Artemisia's most famous paintings "Judith Slaying Holofernes." The bed represented the bed Holofernes is laying on when he is beheaded by Judith. The story of Judith and Holofernes related to the deuterocanonical book of Judith. In the story, Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because of his desire for her. Holofernes was an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith's home, the city of Bethulia. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith. This represents the strength of Judith and her protection of her people.

The walls of the exhibition were painted a dark red for dramatic affect. The lights throughout the exhibition were very dim, slightly highlighting the paintings. Our professor had amazing information about multiple paintings and interesting stories to go along with. The best part for me was how I was able to see the actual paintings from the artist I had been researching and reading about for the past four weeks. These fabulous paintings that are usually dispersed throughout all of Europe were in a single place for a limited time and I was able to see the pieces of art in front of me.

I would describe Milan itself as very sheik. The antiqueness of Italy was still prevalent, but in an altered modern way. My friends Jasmine Jessica and I walked around Milan and bought a few canollies while window shopping and looking at places such as Prada and Louis Vuitton. We hopped back on a train around 7pm and were back in Rome around 10, it was a perfect day trip!