Monday 12 April 2010

Roma

Al and Clare are in the Eternal City on a short break enjoying the sunshine and checking out the historic and iconic sites in-between ice creams.  The card is of the exceptionally long Piazza Novona (in the historic centre of Rome), looking north.   The main attraction are the three fountains, the square also has many outdoor cafes and restaurants.


It came with a 'posta ordinaria' stamp which is one of the women in art (donna nell'arte) series. The woman in question is the Princess of Trebizond.  This put me in mind of the Rose Macauly book 'Towers of Trebizond' which has the famous opening lines of "Take my camel said my Aunt Dot as she climbed down from this animal on her return from high mass"  Nothing to do with this stamp, just the way things are filed in my brain.
This is actually a detail from a fresco by Pisanello or as he is also known Pisano (1395-1458) called 'St George and the Princess of Trebizond' which is in the Pellegrini Chapel of the Santa Anastasia church, Verona.  Here is the full fresco, the princess on the right

the city in the background is Pisano's native Verona.

2 comments:

Christine H. said...

Thanks to your mind's filing system, I may have to go out and buy Towers of Trebizond. I love the opening line.

Joy said...

Yes must be one of the best opening lines, and like you was the reason I first picked it up, but a very long time ago, so my memory of the rest of it is very hazy.