The Sun Sets on Ilaria

I put this up and then posted before I had time to write anything.

This is a sculpture gifted by the sculptor, Paddy Campbell to the town of Fiesole. The town have kind of hidden away the sculpture, of Ilaria 'dressing' apparently, in a little in-between terraced garden that looks little used. It also looks like the sculpture might have been attacked with acid.

It is, to say the least, provocative and a genre that would probably get short shrift in most British cities as an objectification or portrayal that harks back to a 19th century prurience and patriarchy that has no place in the 21st century, unless you are in Hollywood and your name is Weinstein. 

It's quite accomplished (I mean better than anything I could ever do) both anatomically and materially but I'm not sure that really means anything. It's a glamour sculpture, to put in kindly. And pretty much in line with most of Campbell's work (he lives and works in Florence).

And yet, I was taken with the way the last sun was catching on the sensuous curves of the bronze work. Hmmm

Meanwhile. I was also exploring Fiesole's many narrow streets and rocky walkways. I went and visited the Etruscan tomb that dates from the 3rd-2nd century BC. A low construction of massive masonry blocks with a huge doorway lintel. And then the mas town walls that were also built by the Eutruscans.

Who were they, these Etruscans? I've yet to really understand that. They are sort of portrayed as both mystical and somehow more indigenous and somehow more noble and less tainted than the Romans. But it was actually a society very much dominated by immensely powerful elite families.