Travel Sketches in an Old Journal

Trip journaling is something I've done for nearly my whole life. Not long ago I unearthed a journal of our first trip to Rome, twenty years ago, and leafing through that half-forgotten book found a few watercolor sketches. The entries and sketches brought back vivid memories of the trip, and I'm glad I found it. Keeping a trip journal is fun, but it's even better to find an old one and refresh fond memories.

Back then I "won" a trip to Rome on Alitalia. (I foolishly bid on the trip during a fund-raising silent auction.) On the other hand, it was our first visit to Rome, our first opportunity to stand, mouths agape under the dome of the Pantheon, in the shadow of the Colosseum, and to simply savor the life of one of the world's most ancient cities. Our son and his wife gave m a trip journal suitable for watercolor, so although I had never done such a thing I kept a coherent (mostly) up to the moment series of entries about our visit.The journal went into a bookcase long ago, and was nearly forgotten.

Roman courtyard, wc & ink, 9x5

Entries begin in the Alitalia departure lounge, and continue until our flight home. The actual Roman entries begin with a view out a window just below our room at the Hotel d'Inghilterra. Jet-lagged, I had managed to sleep a few hours but then rose early to wander. The little courtyard wasn't visible from the street, but it got a lot of morning light. The potted plants, closed shutters and ever-present ochres of Rome caught my eye. I sketched this 5x9 page in the journal before breakfast that first morning in the Eternal City.

Bernini's Elephant, wc & ink, 4x2

Later that first day we wandered through St. Peter's, then over toward the Pantheon, using our guidebook. Wandering through the narrow streets of the quarter, we found ourselves in front of the church Santa Maria Sopra Minvera (St Mary's over Minvera), built over an old Roman temple. Whimsically, in the little piazzetta in front of the church is an elephant sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, topped with a small Egyptian obelisk. And just beyond it we found the backside of the Pantheon. I sketched this odd piece of the city before we moved on to visit that astonishing building.

The rest of the day included a visit to the Pantheon, the Galleria Doria Pamphilij and a quick stop at the Trevi Fountain. Any one of those deserves a single, separate entry, but I made no sketches in either place. They were mesmerizing and involving but this post is about drawing.

Temple of Saturn, wc & ink, 9x5

The second day we visited the ancient city--the Fora, Palatine Hill and the Colosseum, mostly, with a tiny dose of Trajan's column. The most ancient part of the city, the Forum is nearly all ruins, some of them leaving nothing but foundations or outlines. I did sketches on the spot and scattered them through blank pages of the journal, then went back to complete the written parts. Some of these sketches were full page (5x9) and others only a tiny corner or foot. The sketch of what remains of the Temple of Saturn.which stands at the western end of the Forum, below the Capitoline Hill is to the right. It was probably a temple even in the early centuries of the Roman Republic, probably 6th century BCE. In that early temple (these are ruins of the third) was the Republic's treasury of gold and silver. These columns are all that remain.

Ruins of Castor & Pollux Temple, wc & ink 2.5x6

Other ruins do have a few standing columns, like those of the Temple of Castor and Pollux which was built originally about 500 BCE as a gesture of thanksgiving for victory in battle. It burned during the time of Tiberius and was restored but may have been at least partly ruined by the end of the Empire.

Literally everywhere you look in the Forum is ancient history, from the Curia (where the Imperial Senate met) to the Rostrum, where speakers like Marc Antony harangued the mobs, to the melted mass of brick that had been the Temple of Julius Caesar. There wasn't much time to spend delving deeply into each. On a first visit we had to be satisfied with a quick overview. Details would have to wait.

Arch of Septimius Severus, wc & ink, 4x3

Not far from the Temple of Saturn (and the Rostrum and Curia) is the Septimius Arch, erected in about 200CE commemorating military victories by Septimius Severus and his sons over the Parthians. It was heavily decorated but has been badly damaged over the centuries, including effacement of the name of Geta, who with his brother Caracalla, initially ruled as co-emperors. Caracalla had Geta murdered and removed his name from all Roman monuments. Their arch is astride the main east-west street in the Forum, the Via Sacra.

We wandered east, along the Via Sacra, to the Arch of Titus (dating to about 82 CE) but I had no chance to sketch it because it was shrouded in scaffolding and fabric, undergoing restoration. The arch was erected by the Emperor Domitian to commemorate his elder brother Titus' victories, including over Jerusalem. We went up the slope just south of the arch to the top of the Palatine Hill, which is said to be where Rome originated. When we visited many of the attractions of today were yet to open. So the site of the House of Livia, for example, could be seen, but there was no access. Instead the hill was a cool and welcome respite from the hotter Forum. We spent some time wandering there but in the end went down again to the Via Sacra, and thence to the Colosseum.

The Colosseum, wc & ink, 3x5

The Colosseum is more properly the Flavian Amphitheater, that having been its original name. I sketched an exterior view in ink and watercolor on the bottom of a journal page, based on our visit and on a reference photo. The Colosseum is probably the most famous structure in Rome. It was built by the Emperor Vespasian on the site of an artificial lake made by Nero. Nero's palace was nearby and a colossal statue of Nero stood in the space in front of the lake. Hence the name "Colosseum." The arena was big enough to hold around 70,000

people and hosted gladiatorial events, shows of many kinds, probably executions of criminals and Christians. It is as blood-soaked a spot as there is in the history of the world. During our visit there was talk of renovation and of re-flooring the oval arena inside, but nothing had yet been done. ("Arena," by the way, is the Latin word for sand.) So the maze of under channels was visible and the walls still harbored all sorts of vegetation. I did a full page sketch of the interior. You can see how the Roman bricks, flatter and longer than ours, were used to form arches and how those multiple round arches were employed to add strength to the very thick and high walls. Roman engineering is still amazing.

We spent the following day visiting the Galleria Borghese, surely one of the top museums in the world. This particular museum is in the Villa Borghese, set in the enormous Villa Borghese Gardens on the Pincian Hill in the north of Rome. The gardens and villa were begun in the early 17th century, the brainchild of Scipione Borghese, a wealthy cardinal and nephew of a pope. He used the villa for a country place and to house his art, including works by Bernini and Caravaggio. The

Borghese Garden Temple, wc & ink, 3x3

collection there is simply superlative. In those days, and probably today, you needed a reservation time to visit. We set up a time after lunch, and spent the time before going into the gallery wandering the gardens. I did a small sketch of a neoclassical"temple" on the grounds in one corner of my journal. The gallery contains gobsmacking work by Bernini, including a beautiful bust of Borghese himself. It was two hours well-spent, though I did almost no sketching inside the gallery, except a tiny one of the face of "David," the sculpture by Bernini showing the Old Testament hero in the act of slinging a stone. The face is said to

David, wc & ink, 2x2

be a self-portrait.

The next day we visited the Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel, but I made no sketches, partly owing to the intense crowds and partly because there simply was no time to sketch. And my own sketches would never do justice to some of the works held in those amazing galleries. I did write several pages of text in my journal, but this entry is about sketching.

Our final day in Rome was in some ways most enjoyable. We spent the morning and part of the afternoon walking about in the old city, soaking up the ambience and flavors. We went up to the Porto Pinciana (which fronts onto the Borghese Gardens), then strolled down the Via Veneto, scene of la dolce vita in the 1950s and 60s. We stopped in a sidewalk

Roman Street, wc & ink 6x5

pizzeria on a side street and had a sumptuous dinner of prosciutto, artichokes, salami and pizza with fresh tomato sauce, then made our way quietly back to our hotel.

The journal brought back a flood of memories of a first visit to a city we've returned to several times. Rome is indeed eternal.