Magnificent Michelangelo!

Artistic endeavours at a complete standstill this week, time to look back at past travels! Here we are in Rome on the Capitoline hill, the civic centre of Rome since ancient times. Site of many dramatic scenes, peppered with ancient ruins and spectacular views over Rome ancient and more modern. This sketch was done between rain showers and another sketcher was working beside me on a large scale drawing of the Piazza del Campidoglio. 

Sketching was tricky as the light changed rapidly from sunshine to threatening clouds and more rain, so speed was of the essence. 

Here we are looking down at the Piazza del Campidoglio from the balustrade of the neighbouring church St Maria in Aracoeli, this spectacular piazza was redesigned by none other than Michelangelo in 1536-46 and it is breathtaking. My sketch is of a closed bridge between the Palazzo Senatorio and a neighbouring building, and doesn’t appear in an engraving done at the time of Michelangelo's original plan, we are looking at the Palazzo dei Conservatori, now part of the Capitoline museums. 

Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Paul III to design the piazza to impress The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was due to visit in 1538. I don’t know whether Charles was impressed, I certainly was! That paving is just amazing!