'Poets - unlike other people - ,' wrote Ivo Andric, in Disquiet, 'are loyal only in misfortune and they abandon those who are doing well.' This always struck me as an odd thing to write. It is like saying the collective noun for poets is a 'glum'. But I don't find this to be the case at all. There are preconceived notions about all art, of course. We tend to think of medieval art as a bit religious and that would be true, but that doesn't mean its not a colourful world. The painting above is in the Uffizi and is the Adoration of the Magi by Ghirlandaio but look at the colours. Of course it was painted right at the end of the medieval, indeed where it overlaps with the Renaissance. Though some of the Caravaggio and Rembrandt stuff can look as though they were painted in a dark room. I am in Florence as I write this and its the most remarkable city, the people are wonderful, the waiters especially and they take such a pride in serving what is fairly routine but wonderful Italian food. GF spaghetti and clams in a light tomato sauce sprinkled with oregano and washed down with a glass of chianti, roll me up and send me to heaven. And now its Saturday morning and I am off for a run - nay, waltz (que the music) - by the river.
