Scuola di San Rocco

This is the one picture I took in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, before I got yelled at about no photography inside. It was also closing, so I couldn't get any info on the place either, but I found this: http://www.scuolagrandesanrocco.it/

I wish I could write more about it, but I was inside for literally two minutes, tops, took a picture, then was hastily escorted out.

Various Castles

I've seen a couple castles/keeps now, here are some photos from a few. I have a fascination with castles, and going to William the Conqueror's castle was amazing and just inspiring. I work in medieval and renaissance fairs in the states, and the very first one I was a part of did the theme of King Henry vs. Duke William, with the battle of Hastings in 1044 ad. So it was pretty amazing to be able to walk around the grounds of this place, and already knowing a bunch of the info on the placards stuck up everywhere :)

The first two are from the keep of William the Conqueror, in Caen, France. The second two are from a castle in Ghent, Belgium.

Museum of Contemporary/Modern Art and Oriental Art; Venice, Italy.

Not the exact name, it was very long, but close enough to give the idea.

Coming soon! Hopefully with pictures if I can make the external work.

St. Mark's Basilica; Venice, Italy.

Now, I don't know if they just don't care or if I'm simply an amazing ninja photographer, but there were signs EVERYWHERE saying "no photos". But I am stealthy, and apparently so is every other tourist that came in. And there were billions. Sheer ridiculousness. Anyways, moving on.

The building is absolutely span-tankin' BEAUTIFUL. I almost felt like I was in a video game(Assassin's Creed, takes place in Italy :D). Just, absolutely amazing. Waiting in a long line of tourists to go in, it's always a sort of ominous feeling walking through the front door, looking up and seeing the arches full of saints looking down on you, almost saying "Yeah,  you're ******." I can definitely see why people would want to confess after walking by all those eyes and pointing fingers and holy people.

It was very cold inside, though I've noticed most cathedrals and big stone buildings here are, no matter how warm it is outside. In one cathedral I could even see my breath. Anyways. The walls inside were covered in gold laquer or paint, there was just so much pure wealth on the walls, it was ridiculous. Further in the cathedral, there was a lot of Byzantine art all over the walls of saints, angels, Jesus, Mary, any person from the bible you can think of. On the upper floors(Which you had to pay to go to, you pay for every section in the Basilica, though I hardly think it's in need of money), there is a mini museum, with some small scale replicas of the Basilica, as well as samples of the original tiles, some of the original paintings, etc. The four original horse copper horse statues that used to decorate the roof above the entrance arch were also moved inside where you can see them(They were replaced with replicas, who were made genderless I guess due to vandalism of the horses' private parts? That's usually how it goes.)

The museum goes on and around the second floor, into areas with smaller statues, mosaics, and there's a big room with a bunch of tapestries. Some of the tapestries had gold thread in them, but not much was left of the original work, they were all retouched and restored so much to try and keep the original image in tact.

The whole time tourists are running through the basilica, there was also a service going on as well. Turns out, the basilica is still a functioning church. We had to be quiet as we came in and walked around, though for me it wasn't too hard, I was too in awe to say much.

Museum of Fine Art; Venice, Italy.

 Unfortunately, I don't remember the exact name of the museum, but it was a fine arts museum in Venice.

I have SO many photos from this one of the paintings, along with pictures of the artist's names so I would remember them later, but my external hard drive is being weird and won't work on my laptop.

There were SO many beautiful pieces here, most of them were religious sorts and painted pre 1600s I believe. The layout was also organized so that where you started in the museum, it was the oldest paintings, and as you progress you can see the paintings and styles and mediums advance and grow and take on new forms.

The first paintings were the very old religious ones, with mostly flat figures, dominance in the painting influencing the actual size of the figures(There were many paintings of Mary, where if it was real, she would be a twenty foot tall giant with little monks running around her feet), and LOTS of gold flakes used in the paints. The first inspirations for future artists', most definitely.

It progressed from there to more realistically rendered religious subjects(Like in the two photos provided, stolen from my facebook before my harddrive was being difficult), going more into the sorts of paintings I'm interested in. Nice compositions, realistic styles, almost a story being told within many of the paintings. Even the grand halls the paintings were kept in added to the effect. Big, swooping ceilings, and there were several paintings hung up kittycorner to the wall/ceiling, or even ON the ceiling. I didn't think people hundreds of years ago could warp their canvases the way I saw there, but it was really, really neat. There was one painting I actually got a severe neck ache looking at, I stood looking at it for almost ten minutes, head craned back, because it was a large, circular painting attached to the ceiling. The painting was beautiful, made obviously with the intention of being on a ceiling, because it looked as if you were looking through a window into heaven. Warm colored cloudy landscape, with small laughing cherubs and angles looking through the frame. Beautiful.

I'm going to try and get my external to work at school, see if I can't get any of the artist's names at least...