My eye followed the Rio de l’ Arsenal to one of the two towers of the Venetian Arsenal. I envisioned the scene as if it were part of an old three-dimensional map.
Work began on the church of San Giorgio Maggiore on the Venetian island of the same name in 1566. In a sense, however, the church “existed” centuries before in the form of a 10th century monastery on the same spot. I decided to leave in the sailboats on the left side notwithstanding their relatively recent design. In a way they connect us to the site, literally and figuratively, as did their ancestral sailing vessels over a thousand years ago.
Looking out of my hotel room window into Central Park, I spotted this fin de siecle scene. The monochromatic image was shot in full color; it s not a colorized black and white.
This sculpture appeared to be nearly two stories tall, gleaming white and sitting high on a hill in front of yet another cloudless blue sky. Something had to be done. I converted to black and white. Nope, not there yet. But something in the conversion made me see the image as an etching. Enter another antique paper scan. Voila!