09/06/2019
BREAKING C-SPOT UPDATE FROM CIVITA CASTELLANA: My recent discovery of a C-Spot (C for Corot) which he painted during his first Italy sojourn and now in the collection of the Metropolitan NY, and which I recently posted about, keeps unfolding toward an ultimate climax; all innuendos intended… Follow link https://tinyurl.com/y5ujqdby for details and context or you won’t understand what this is about.
Having arrived in Civita 13 days ago for the summer, the first order of business was a highly anticipated meeting with a family who are today’s proprietors of this venerable guest house situated on what is the ancient Via Flaminia Vechhia, a mere 10 minutes from our house.
With reproduction in hand, I was immediately taken up the tower which sat upon an impressive tufa stone protrusion where I ascertained based on a drone video, Corot painted this from.
That Corot lodged and painted from there has until now been completely uncharted and totally unknown to anyone.
As we came out unto the roof of the tower and looked in the direction of the landscape with reproductions in hand, it became clear to everyone with us beyond any shadow of doubt that it could not have been painted from any other spot since the tower is the only elevated perch in what is essentially a flat plain. Though the angle was absolutely spot-on it felt to me we were 2 or 3 meters too high and suggested we have a look from the window just below in what was then, and still is an inn/ guest house. As we pushed open the wooden shutter, there it all was - the C-Spot, virtually unspoiled since 1826.
The next day I received an official email recounting how delighted the family is with this discovery and and new addition to Civita’s painters' lore and that the tower (which is a historic landmark) will henceforth be named Corot’s Tower. There’s more icing on top of this cake: Yael Scalia and I have been generously invited to spend the night in the room Corot slept in. We were also given free reign to set up our easels to paint from the tower or any other spot in this hidden and glorious corner of Civita Castellana.
My recent discovery of a C-Spot (C for Corot) which he painted during his first Italy sojourn and now in the collection of the Metropolitan NY, and which I recently posted about, keeps unfolding toward an ultimate climax; all innuendos intended… Follow link https://tinyurl.com/y5ujqdby for details and context or you won’t understand what this is about.
Having arrived in Civita 13 days ago for the summer, the first order of business was a highly anticipated meeting with a family who are today’s proprietors of this venerable guest house situated on what is the ancient Via Flaminia Vechhia, a mere 10 minutes from our house.
With reproduction in hand, I was immediately taken up the tower which sat upon an impressive tufa stone protrusion where I ascertained based on a drone video, Corot painted this from.
That Corot lodged and painted from there has until now been completely uncharted and totally unknown to anyone.
As we came out unto the roof of the tower and looked in the direction of the landscape with reproductions in hand, it became clear to everyone with us beyond any shadow of doubt that it could not have been painted from any other spot since the tower is the only elevated perch in what is essentially a flat plain. Though the angle was absolutely spot-on it felt to me we were 2 or 3 meters too high and suggested we have a look from the window just below in what was then, and still is an inn/ guest house. As we pushed open the wooden shutter, there it all was - the C-Spot, virtually unspoiled since 1826.
The next day I received an official email recounting how delighted the family is with this discovery and and new addition to Civita’s painters' lore and that the tower (which is a historic landmark) will henceforth be named Corot’s Tower. There’s more icing on top of this cake: Yael Scalia and I have been generously invited to spend the night in the room Corot slept in. We were also given free reign to set up our easels to paint from the tower or any other spot in this hidden and glorious corner of Civita Castellana.
