Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Turkish Slave



A new set of eyes is looking inside my bedroom windows from banners on Franklin Street.



They are advertising the three-month visit of Parmigianino's Schiava Turca, a famous 16th century painting from Parma, Italy which stopped for a visit at New York's Frick Museum in Manhattan before settling in at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco until October 5th.



Her official unveiling was on Saturday where there was a concert and a lecture by Aimee Ng below from the Frick museum.



She explained that the "Turkish Slave" of the title is a misnomer, since it's undoubtedly a painting of an upper-class Northern Italian woman wearing a balzo, which was a fashionable headdress of the time that looked like a Turkish turban.



The Italian Consulate and the Italian Cultural Institute helped sponsor a lovely welcoming party with prosciutto, Parma cheeses, Italian wines, and museum curators such as Melissa Buron above...



...but my favorite moment of the afternoon was watching a wedding party in the courtyard going gonzo before the security guards told us all to get the heck out of there and stop having fun.

4 comments:

Nancy Ewart said...

Looks like one false step and the wedding guys would be twerking right through that glass pyramid.

Patrick J. Vaz said...

I love what you did with the series of women's faces, and I love the groomsmen in the last shot, particularly the exuberant one on the far right.

Civic Center said...

Dear Nancy: I hope the glass pyramid is sturdier than that.

Dear Patrick: Thanks. I think the arty part of the post with the progression of women's faces was more accidental than planned, but I'll take credit for my genius whether conscious or not.

AphotoAday said...

Those security guards at the Legion have absolutely no sense of humor. Bet they're even going to have less of a funny-bone when I make it out the fire exit with that Monet I've had my eye on for several years now.