Another post in honor of Women's Fashion Week in Milan: a 1930s mosaic

This lovely lady decorates the exterior of a building in Porta Volta, by now on the edge of Chinatown in Milan.

I snapped this photo with you in mind on the 11th of September, 2010, at about 2:45 P.M.

If you're interested in my (freely shared) needlepoint/cross-stitch diagram of this image, go to my blog on hand done needlepoint, Ars acupicturae stellae - Star's Needlepoint Art, http://arsacupicturaestellae.blogspot.com/2011/09/milan-monday-43-lovely-lady-in-1930s.html.

Enjoy!

So, it's a New Year

So, it's a New Year.

Too much whirling around to make resolutions? Here's another possibility to add to the whirl...More......

I'll give you a hint. The sculpture is called "To Blood Donors" ("Al donatore di sangue"), by Eva Olah Arre', 1994, and is on the far side of the park on Corso XXII Marzo (so far that it's visible only from the other side).

The sun and clear blue sky was a relief, after a rainy few days around Christmas, but didn't last long. Epiphany has come and gone, but the drizzle remains.

I snapped the photo on January 1st, 2011 at about 3:45 P.M.

A river goddess to chase away the rainy day blues

It rained, yesterday. It's raining, today. Hopefully, it won't rain tomorrow. In the meantime, it's cold. And dreary. Too uncomfortable to go outside, and the light is useless, anyway. Doesn't make for cheery photos. So, I decided to hunt through my files,...More......

...and found this "little" beauty: a recently restored river goddess, on the Porta Garibaldi gate in Milan.



The gate was commissioned from G. Moraglia, and erected in 1826 at the expense of local citizens (aka, "collective kissing up") in honor of the 1825 visit of Emperor Francesco I, at a time when the Hapsburg family of Austria still was in possession of a great portion of northern Italy. It was rededicated to Garibaldi after the final breaking away of these areas from the empire in the late 19th century.

The inspiration for the figure and its companion on the other side of the gate obviously was to be found in the figures by Michelangelo for the de' Medici tomb in Florence.

The gate was under scaffolding for years, and only recently has been revealed, lovely and white and clean (for how long?).

I took this shot on the 19th of September at about 2:15 P.M.

To see the needlepoint diagram of the goddess, go to my needlepoint blog, Ars acupicturae Stellae - Star's Needlepoint Art: http://arsacupicturaestellae.blogspot.com/2010/11/milan-monday-13-river-goddess.html, thanks!