Putti or Cherub in Bicycle Thieves

Everywhere I turn I seem to find some Putti or cherubs. I'm still working on how to tell the difference, this is apparently a much argued topic. I'll be sure to keep you posted. For now, I'm still getting excited whenever I see one and this week I found some in a non-traditional place, a movie. In film class on Monday we watched Bicycle Thieves and at the part where Antonio is chasing the old man through the church and the ladies are trying to kick him out, he goes running around a corner and we see the Putti staring down at him. It made me wonder if they chose to have them in the shot intentionally or if they just so happened to be there. I doubt the director meant anything by it, but everything is choice and sends a message to the audience, whether intention or not. If they were Putti and they're signifying misfortune or mischief they definitely have a place being in this movie. Just something interesting to consider. :)

Cherubs

Today we visited the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva Church. This church was a gift for any cherub or enthusiast. There were cherubs absolutely everywhere! The artwork in every church that I have visited in Rome is amazing but this one in particular had an exceptional amount of beautiful sculptures decorating the ceiling and walls. Here are some of the most beautiful cherubs that I found. I should also mention that I'm simply calling these cherubs because they're in a church and therefor assume a religious connotation. Here are some of my favorite pieces from the church. This last one is especially interesting because it is on this tomb almost as if the cherub is protecting the woman or bringing her to heaven. I think this would be an interesting symbol even more than normal angels because the youth shows a new beginning. Like when the cherubs are with you, your life has just begun again.

Putti vs. Cherubs

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the Capitol Museum which is just an overall amazing place to be. Everything you see is beautiful and full of history. Of course, I found a few putti and got some fantastic pictures. The one above is a picture of some dancing putti that I found really fascinating. So after doing some research on Putti the first thing I found is that my statement in my previous entry about them being like cherubs is wrong. Putti are associated with Italian Rennaissance art and cherubs are associated with the Old Testament. Unfortunately I don't know how to tell the difference between cherubs and putti so I'm going to refer to all of the ones in Rome as Putti because Putti are most often found in Italian Rennaissance art, which Rome has in abundance. Though most often Putti are found in groups, in singular form the name is Putto. Putta is the name for a female, but female putti are almost never seen. Resources: Putti. <18 May, 2008. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. <29 April 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putto.