Day 99: Angelo Mai
Have you ever heard of Angelo Mai? I hadn’t either until I painted this bust of him in the park at Pincio today.This park is the perfect place to be on a hot day. It is shaded by a dense layer of trees and above the city, giving it one of the best views around.This place is hardly ever crowded and has an abundance of fountains (including a water clock!) and people taking it easy, enjoying the day and relaxing in the shade.
Angelo Mai, Pincio6×8″Oil on Panel© Kelly Medford, 2012I’ve wanted to paint one of the hundreds of sculpture busts lining this park for a long time now – it’s such a unique element of the park that makes it stand out from others. Some of the sculpture heads are so life-like that if you catch one out of the corner of your eye it can really give you a fright and think you’re being silently stalked. I didn’t know who this sculputre was of when I stopped to paint it, I just wanted to capture the light of the sculpture against the deep green, blue and purple shadows. When I was finished painting I went and had a look at the named engraved on the pedastool, Angelo Mai. What a lovely name, almost sing-songy and poetic. He was mostly known for his work restoring old texts for the Vatican and an important cardinal with the Catholic church during the 19 century.The entire park is lined with the busts of important figures in Italian history thanks to Italian super hero politician and one of the heads of the party for Italian unification, Giuseppe Mazzini.This painting was a first attempt at painting one of these sculptures. I hope to return one of these days with a larger canvas to give the idea of the effect they create when you see so many nobile Italian historical figures lined all through the park in light and shadow.You can buy today’s painting here for $120 from my website.And as promised, here is a better photo from yesterday’s painting competition in Marcialla, Tuscany.
Under the Arches, Marcialla30 cm x 20 cmOil on Panel© Kelly Medford, 2012If you like this painting, you can own it by clicking here and buying it for $120 from my website.Thanks so much for following the 120 day project!