![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/raphael-sketch.jpg\")
<\/a> It wasn’t a very good sketch – let’s just say I did better with the drapery – but I got what I came for. She steps outside of the sweetness that is Raphael’s main fault and his greatest asset when he’s doing virgins. Wait, that didn’t come out right. Like La Fornarina, she’s colored outside his elegant, graceful lines.\nGroups had flowed in and out of the space while I was sketching, and one group of college kids was led by a lively English woman, who was entertaining as hell. She threw herself into capturing their interest\u00a0and aiming it towards the art. I’ve noticed that the most interesting guides have a theatrical bent and perform their material rather than recite it. No audience is more restive than adolescents and guides that can compel their attention are really good at what they do. I lurked at the edges, shamelessly eavesdropping. Her explanation for the death of Raphael was masterly innuendo. “Let’s just say, penicillin\u00a0had not yet been invented.”
\nAfter Raphael, I moved to the painting of St George. I asked security via Google translate\u00a0if I could position a chair facing the painting. \u00a0One guard shook his head and said no no no and the other came over, smiled and moved the chair for me. You never know, so maybe the lesson is I should just summon\u00a0up the nerve and ask.
\nAnother\u00a0mediocre drawing, but I flipped the page and tried a quick sketch of just his head and found it. Sometimes starting over is better than erasing. He reminds me of Robert, of course.
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/St-george.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0Closing in on 11am and the tours groups were overlapping now. I noticed the room was opened that was been roped off before. I wandered in and found Caravaggio waiting for me. I said a quick prayer of thanks that I hadn’t missed it. ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/peter.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis is an amazing painting, pure Caravaggio with the intensely directed light and the deep, velvety shadows but what I absolutely adore is this thread. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was hit with food poisoning Tuesday, like an intestinal\u00a0version of an IED, and dealt with it Tuesday night, all night. I was sick as a dog. In fact, I was sick as a\u00a0whole litter of puppies. I stayed in bed Wednesday. This wasn’t something\u00a0spoiled, this was e-coli\u00a0territory. Gah. I blamed the person who handled\u00a0the\u00a0melon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rome","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/va-st-geo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7OBxc-Mt","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3005"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3118,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3005\/revisions\/3118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>I meandered on, not expecting much. Turns out there were another five rooms. I recognized several pieces as works that were displayed at that Scuderie del\u00a0Quirinale exhibition of items ‘requisitioned’ by Napoleon. \u00a0More than one model for\u00a0Bernini’s\u00a0angels, made of plaster over\u00a0a metal and straw support, later cast in bronze. Such humble materials transformed to the sublime.\u00a0I plonked myself down and drew again. This went better. Sculpture often does. <\/a>Though I’m still a bit unsteady and my digestion uneasy, I walked toward the pinecone courtyard, which as become my favorite spot to eat a pastry and chill. Parts of the courtyard has been swathed in cloth while renovation work is done, and brought to mind Christo’s installation art.\u00a0Partially Wrapped Vatican<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n