Word: argan
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Giulio Carlo Argan, doyen of Italian art critics, believes Michelangelo took the Sistine as an opportunity of asserting the power of what his rival could not do: "Michelangelo, who was always in competition with Leonardo, wanted to reaffirm the traditional buon fresco technique. The Sistine is that affirmation." True fresco did not include the use of glue sizing and dark washes a secco. "No other fresco painter applied such a glue," says Head Restorer Colalucci, "so why should Michelangelo have done so? He knew very well that the final result could not have lasted long. To suggest that he gave...
...restaurants and teahouses in Marrakech to experience, plus gentle hikes in the Atlas Mountains, nights sleeping in the casbah and visits to the aromatherapy garden of Jalil Belkamel in the Ourika Valley. One of the most fascinating afternoons is spent in the village of Fouloust, where the argan tree, prized for its oil, is indigenous. Village women show how they crack the argan nuts in the traditional way between stones. After a lunch of grilled fish, hop on the back of a camel for a romp on a deserted beach...
...here has evoked anguished protest in Italy. Some of this is political (for in the wake of the Sindona and Calvi banking scandals, people are unsurprisingly skeptical of Vatican motives); but much of it comes from art historians of impeccable credentials, like the former mayor of Rome Giulio Carlo Argan, who holds that works like the Belvedere Torso, Caravaggio's Deposition and Leonardo's St. Jerome-all included in the exhibition-should not be exposed to the risks of travel, particularly for a show that has no scholarly purpose. But the Vatican does what it wants...
David Margolin as the notary and Beline's lover is wonderful. He uses his uncanny resemblance to Marty Feldman to make big money with the audience as he and Beline paw each other under Argan's nose. Stacia Zabusky's Beline is sleazy to the point of being reptilian and is very effective...
Likewise, just as act two begins to drag, it is saved by Josh Kratka's walk-on as M. Purgon, Argan's doctor. Looking and acting like Dr. Frankenstein, Kratka devastated the audience while cursing Argan for refusing an enema. With his slapstick antics he stole the scene (and very possibly the show) from everyone...